"Where else would you go when you have an ax to grind?"

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Offensisensitivity
Many have tried over the years to craft the perfect response to the stunned cunts who complain about bad language and incivil invective on the interweb tubes. This magnificent bastard has at last succeeded.

I hate offended people. They come in two flavours - huffy and whiny - and
it's hard to know which is worst. The huffy ones are self-important,narcissistic authoritarians in love with the sound of their own booming disapproval, while the whiny, sparrowlike ones are so annoying and sickly and ill-equipped for life on Earth you just want to smack them round the head until they stop crying and grow up. Combined, they're the very worst people on the planet - 20 times worse than child molesters, and I say that not because it's true (it isn't), but because it'll upset them unnecessarily, and these readers deserve to be upset unnecessarily, morning, noon and night, every sodding day, for the rest of their wheedling lives.

I nominate him for spiritual leader of the month

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

that certainly takes the cake.....oops, was that whiny or huffy...shoot me!

RossK said...

Only twenty times worse?

Really?

.

Rev.Paperboy said...

"20 times worse than child molesters, and I say that not because it's true (it isn't), but because it'll upset them unnecessarily, and these readers deserve to be upset unnecessarily, morning, noon and night, every sodding day, for the rest of their wheedling lives."

Alison said...

Ahem : ProgBlog Proposed Code of Conduct : *cough*

JJ said...

I must be desensitized to offensivity. I laffed.:p

Anonymous said...

Why write something so contemptible with the specific intention of offending people? Just to demonstrate that you yourself are an asshole?

Ti-Guy said...

Now don't be tedious, Holly...

Yep, whiny and huffy. What they rarely bring to the table is any meaningful.

Rev.Paperboy said...

I urge you to read the original article in full Holly (and the rest of you). I think the author is arguing against those who are so easily offended that a four-letter epithet sends them screeching to the keyboard to complain, hand-wring, and ask frantically "what about the children? Dear god, won't someone think of the children?"
I don't think he's talking about people who are offending by things that are worth being offended by (war, racisim, mindless hatred and ignorant intolerance) but the kind of dingbat who thinks teenagers shouldn't be allowed to read "Catcher in the Rye" because it has swear words in it.

And he's right, such people deserved to be upset as often as can be managed - it isn't difficult after all - until they grow a skin and stop with the pearl-clutching and whiny indignation.

Rev.Paperboy said...

Oh my, I seem to have hit a nerve among some of the commenters over at the Galloping Beaver - Holly included - with the use of the dreaded "C" word. Well, bring on the firing squad...

JJ said...

FWIW, I wasn't offended at all, I use the c-word myself on occasion. Context is everything.

Rev.Paperboy said...

Well, it is nice to see things are still relatively calm over here - the same thread at GB seems to have developed into a flame war between the riot grrrls of Bread n Roses and my humble self. Well, vive la differance, I guess.

Chimera said...

"...the same thread at GB seems to have developed into a flame war between the riot grrrls of Bread n Roses and my humble self."

Huh...rather to my surprise, I think I've just joined you on that pile of wood. And some of the girls over there are running to fetch torches.

Do you prefer medium or well done?

JJ said...

Well, rev, I think the problem is that the c-word, although some of us have reclaimed it, still carries a lot of baggage. Most women really aren't comfortable with it, even I only use it for *special* people.

I found it interesting though that the context you used it in was probably the least offensive possible context -- a general reference to a group of unidentified people, male and female. Far less offensive than how I use it. But then, I'm not a guy, so coming from me it doesn't have the same kind of impact.

It's one of those words like "faggot" -- it hasn't been sufficiently reclaimed and defused that it's ready for prime time yet.;)