Well, my life’s never been saved by a basset hound, and nobody I know has died in a Pinto crash, and I don’t have weight issues, and I’m not too violently religious, nor am I too short, too tall, too thin, too fat, too smart, not a geek, don’t have halitosis, nothing’s growing out of my back, skin tone is okay, and I have skin…
WOO HOO! I’M NOT A FREAK! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
The Alabama stuff was over the top and I don’t even believe it. It is convenient - albeit inappropriate - when you feel you have been personally insulted.
Basically I am polite right up until someone calls me an “insensitive prick” and insinuates that I abuse animals or people. Then, well, I am not polite. If there was an edit function things would be different.
Note to self: count to 10 before hitting submit.
It’s okay, I got it, and I’m all that matters.
Sorry, Ethilrist, there’s something kinda freaky about someone who doesn’t have anything wrong with them.
FREAK!
Good OP, by the way.
I forgot the most important part.
That was the sound of me getting whooshed big time. I cannot remember getting whooshed like that ever. Jokes are on me.
Yes, people DO look for offense. Your own post is a very good example of what the OP is talking about. So you had occasion to use handicapped parking and some people jumped to a conclusion and treated you shabbily. So what? Is there some sort of official “I’ve been offended before, so everybody better make sure it never happens again” rule?
Your comment about some people not having ever experienced prejudice is ignorant. Do you know for a fact that Sam Stone or Scylla have never been the victims of someone else’s thoughtlessness? If not, then how do you know you’re not offending them? How do we know you’re not deliberately offending them? You seem awfully sure that THEY have done this to YOU. Which brings us full-circle - you were looking for offense.
I love the term “Professional Offenderati” and hope to use it MANY times in casual conversation this weekend.
What are the requirements for Professional status of the Perpetually Offended? Do I need to start as an Amateur?
DalovinDJ: You ain’t the only one.
Although Scylla is a terrible case to base Sam’s good point. He takes personal umbrage to generalizations in the SUV thread, then immediately calls the same act by others one of “professional complainers.”
Not terribly suprising from an admitted hypocrite, I suppose, but still not going to win many friends.
Funny how the most vicious of the posters in this thread have stopped replying.
SOP, Sam, why did it take you so long to notice?
Let’s go through a checklist, shall we?
Was I offended at Scylla’s thread? No.
Can I see how others would be offended? Yes.
Did many of them overreact before asking for clarification? Yes.
Did Scylla offer an apology to those people? No.
Should he have? Perhaps.
Did others calmly explain why they were offended? Yes.
Did Scylla offer those people an apology? No.
Should he have? Yes.
Finally, did Scylla take the easy way out by ignoring all the rational posts and focusing solely on the frothing at the mouth posters, thus attempting to justify why he was being unfairly attacked and why no one would get an apology? Yes.
No, but when this happens every fucking day, it starts to get a little old. Being an offensive jackass is wrong. Duh.
Once again, you are ignoring the fact that in this case, and in every case where “lighten up buddy” is used as a defence, those who are attacked have to deal with this shit on a daily basis.
Actually, I’m not ignoring that, grendel72 - since I have been caring for a paraplegic for the last four years, I’m pretty sure I have at least as much experience with handicapped-designated parking spaces as you do. But you wouldn’t know that, because I did not jump all over Scylla’s post crying “FOUL!” I thought his post was funny, regardless of whether I agreed with the sentiments he expressed. I don’t believe he intended to offend anyone. And I don’t believe he owes anyone an apology. And if you feel that you are OWED an apology, then the problem is YOURS.
I didn’t jump Scylla’s shit either. I didn’t post in that thread because could see that he was using those few who expressed their anger a little too forcefully as an excuse not to deal with the many reasonable posts calling him on his attitude.
That doesn’t make his attitude right, and it doesn’t mean he should be clapped on the back and congratulated for being an asshole.
I don’t think Scylla has to apologise or that I am owed an apology. I think his OP was asinine and revealed aspects of his personality which are deeply unattractive.
I did jump his shit and if that offended him or hurt his widdle feelings, well, tough shit. I didn’t notice him responding carefully and respectfully to anybody no matter how they phrased their responses to him.
My Humble Opinion: The OP is bullshit.
Allow me to clarify. While I agree with the sentiment, it doesn’t apply to the point of contention.
If someone rants about the fat bastard next door – he is attacking a specific individual, using offensive language. If someone then says, “Hey I’m overweight and I’m offended” … I’d say you have a case of over-sensitiviy.
Scylla’s little screed was fairly clear on a general level. He has a an active dislike of people who drive Vipers, and he doesn’t give a shit if they’re handicapped. While the vitriol in that thread was indeed impressive, it is an offensive stance. Towit: don’t handicapped people have enought trouble without being hated for the choice of vehicle? A point I tried to make as calmly as I could – after he came in and clarified his stance, even.
And Ender’s right. I never got any sort of explanation. Scylla just went off on a “Fuck You Right Back” jag on the freak outs.
Whatever. No skin off my nuts. But that thread had nothing to do with oversensitivity.
Wait, is this a joke or not?
I hate it when I get left behind.
Esprix
The thing I still don’t get about this thread is why saying “fuck you” to someone who offended you is somehow much worse than being offensive in the first place? To say “it makes me mad to see handicapped people driving Dodge Vipers” sounds like a harmless, if minorly inappropriate, observation to some. To others, it sounds like a flippant judgement on what is acceptible behavior for a group of people who already face enormous difficulties and prejudices. If you are one of those people, or have a close loved one who is one of those people, hearing someone dismissively decree what handicapped people should and should not do is not just minorly inappropriate. It’s infuriating.
So if someone posts an OP in the Pit for no other reason than to advertise observations/opinions which I find infuriating, I think it’s really quite reasonable to explain to them, in length, why they are a complete and utter twat. If further posts reveal that their offense was unintentional, I would happily make up and forget about it. In this case, Scylla gave no indication that the offense was unintentional or incorrect. He merely stuck to his right to assert his opinion, which is fine. But it also means that everyone reading the thread has a right to tell them what they thought of his opinion. Clearly, many people thought it sucked. So what?
You thought the level of anger was higher than the OP merited? Maybe it means you’re a better, calmer person. Or maybe it means you are simply lucky enough to not be able to understand that anger.
Squink: Awesome comment about Jeffords scoring the Minivan. That was hilarious. Forgot to mention it before.
Beagle: Don’t worry about being whooshed. Hell, millions of people voted for Ross Perot, so it’s easy sometimes to miss the joke.
Ethilrist: You worry way, way too much about being a freak. Unfortunately, that makes you a freak. Trust me - you can’t win this game.
Wring: I forgot to say thank you for the nice comment in the other thread. So, thank you. It was an honest oversight.
Stoid: I have a confession to make. I didn’t really have much of a real point to make here. I just thought of the phrasing of the OP while reading the Scylla thread, and I thought it would be funny. It just popped in my brain, fully developed. Just like “Yesterday” came to Paul McCartney. Only, he made more money from his epiphane.
All of you who ‘got’ what I’m saying: I’m glad you got a chuckle out it.
All of you who didn’t:: WHAT ARE YOU, STUPID???
Y’know, I think there’s a book idea in there somewhere…