Okay folks. Let's talk.
Telling Jews they are overly sensitive about the Holocaust is about as rude and stupid as you can get. Telling blacks that they are overly sensitive about slavery and lynchings is about as rude and stupid as you can get. Telling women they are overly sensitive about Rape and domestic abuse is about rude and stupid as you can get. Telling...look I can go on. Do you get the idea? I could talk to Turkey about Armenians. I could talk to Japanese about Koreans. I could talk about Native Americans in America, Biafra in Nigeria, blacks in South Africa...I could go on forever with examples.
The bottom line is when some really horrible thing has been done to a group of people it is really rude and stupid to ever tell them to "get over it" or tell them they are exploiting it, or tell them they are overly sensitive. You just shouldn't fucking do it!
History is full of massively horrible things done by one group against another. Sadly, when people talk about history repeating itself THIS is what they really mean more often than not. Catholic against Protestant, Protestant against Catholic, Serb vs. Croat, Hutu vs. Tutsi, and on and on and on....and through it all rape and abuse of women by both sides. THIS is the stuff of history and nothing seems to change.
And the anger lasts. The anger lasts for centuries.
One of my favorite Pogues songs is a grudge song, remembering events of centuries back, against Oliver Cromwell: (found a better version)
When genocide, rape, murder, atrocity is committed, it leaves a memory in our collective history that lasts centuries...and anyone who thinks they are so smug and superior that they can look in the face of people who were raised on the memory of that genocide, rape, murder or atrocity and say in an offhand way "get over it," "don't exploit it" or otherwise down play the historical suffering of another people should be slapped hard and told to grow up.
Daily Kos has seen some back and forth on this kind of crap recently. I don't want to point people out. But Jesus Christ on a biscuit (or maybe as a Jew I should say Moses on a biscuit) can you REALLY look to a group who has a historical memory of a massive wrongdoing, or an individual who personally or whose family suffered a massive wrongdoing and basically say "get over it?"
I think the "get over it" has to come from within the community, not without, and even then WILL and SHOULD be resisted.
Some specifics below.
Comparing Obama to Hitler is rude and stupid. Period. Full stop. There is NO historical value to it. Calling people Nazis or making reference to Auschwitz, unless you are actually referring to genuine Nazis and the actual place of Auschwitz, should fucking be avoided as rude and stupid. You are bound to come off as an idiot if you do this. Obama has NEVER COME EVEN VAGUELY CLOSE to being like Hitler. And America, though we have done some horrible things, has not come close to the horrors of Auschwitz with the POSSIBLE exception of some of the crap we did to Native Americans, which may differ from Auschwitz largely on the level of scale (diseases aside) rather than intent. Not sure about the last.
Comparing verbal attacks to lynchings is rude and stupid. Period. Full stop. There is NO historical value to it. Lynchings were very real things that we can still find pictures of and occasional INSTANCES of happening right now. Thinking someone calling you a poo-poo head or hide rating your comment is equivalent to lynching is insane.
Again, you get the point.
This community is made up of reasonably intelligent, reasonably caring, and reasonably, well, REASONABLE people. So why do people still double down on idiotic comments that either misuse or downplay genocides, rapes, murders, etc of historical note? Or even, sometimes, PERSONAL note.
Folks, this MEANS something to people. If you ignore what it means to the community most affected, you are making a mistake.
Some instances seem trivial to me. The use of the word "cunt" is one example. But my view is MEANINGLESS! If people find it offensive, then why would I use it if I want to effectively communicate my ideas? I don't have to UNDERSTAND why someone finds something offensive to realize it is not really okay to offend them. Learning to avoid the offense is USUALLY a better idea. Hell, it is the adult, intelligent, and REASONABLE approach to things. Be better. Be adult. Be intelligent. Be reasonable. Try to understand and RESPECT it when people are offended.
By the way, just so people know, I got massive HRed for some stuff people thought anti-Semitic which could have been cleared up if they clicked on one link. People who know me know that the accusation of anti-Semitism is so crazy that ANYONE could have figured out it was inappropriate. HOWEVER, the fact that so many people found my presentation of a VERY REAL thing offensive did not lead me to double down and insult them. I took the HRs, explained, and realized I could have presented it better. I was right in what I was trying to say, but the fact that how I said it offended people INTERFERED with my message. So why cling to the inefficient delivery when it is the ultimate message that is important? I never seriously criticized people for HRing me then. I did think they were wrong, but I respected their offense, backed off, and presented my ideas differently. This is not such a radical idea. Offending people is poor communication. Period. Full Stop. EOM. Etc.
People who whine about "PC" usually are just being assholes. Usually if you are doing that you are solidly in the wrong. 99% of people who whine about people being "too PC" are in the category of "asshole" and/or "should be slapped silly." However, I do want to emphasize that things CAN go too far...I don't like when we start stepping on, if I may raise his ghost, George Carlin's toes:
This could be the flip side of the issue...maybe we all need to keep George Carlin in our thoughts when judging offense. But then again, if I mention lynching in a casual way, how can I possibly feel surprised if someone objects. Lynching is something that MEANS something to a whole community (or really communities!): (disturbing images follow...but anyone who uses "lynching" as a casual term NEEDS to SEE those very real, very disturbing images)
Okay...my point(s). FIRST, if someone tells you they are offended, don't be rude and stupid. LISTEN to why they are offended. They almost certainly have a real reason for it and you could learn something but exploring their reasons. THere may be some history there that you don't appreciate yet! Educate yourself rather than doubling down.
Second and secondary, though still important, let's all keep the likes of George Carlin and Lenny Bruce...and hell even Nina Simone who got a lot of undeserved crap about things she said...in mind when we get offended. Let's even remember our own jbou!
You get the point. You are all adults and pretty intelligent. But it seems sometimes we forget that being adult and intelligent means thinking about what we say, sometimes in complex ways that have to account for history and may need to take other people's adult and intelligent views into account.
Okay. Now go back to whatever you were doing...no, I DIDN'T mean go back to squabbling and HRing each other!