On Tuesday, 18 March 2014 at 13:05:31 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote:
I think the issue there probably isn't so much "offense", but the fact that american discussion of politics is notoriously volatile, and in a mixed-group is pretty much guaranteed to erupt in a flame war.
Well, it was right after his re-election and the person who told me not to talk about it agreed with my sentiments, and nobody complained about it either. This was on closed guild chat. It was a case of "somebody might be upset" where nobody actually was upset.
That mildness of "shit" is true of probably around half of americans, too.
Yes, again nobody was upset, it was a case of "somebody might get upset". I actually don't consider "shit" to be cussing at all. :-)
I keep reading comments from people on the net claiming that Linus Thorvalds is acting like a jerk, but I've never seen a comment from anyone from northern Europe suggesting it.
Disney-ish way to say "ouch", "oops" or "stuff". But then, the US was also home to Puritanism way back when, so there's still a lot of those intolerance-disguised-as-ethics attitudes too.
Yes, but it goes deeper I think. Because we are getting more of it in my country after we got immigrants (a fairly recent phenomon). E.g. the neutral term for a black person in Africa was "neger" (no negative connotations, but a bit exotic and interesting), while the insulting version was "svarting" (blackish). Then the immigrants took offence at the neutral term because they associated it with "nigger" and didn't want to be associated with tribal Africa, so now the neutral version is taboo and many children books have to be scrapped (books that are describing tribal Africa in terms that aren't racist).
So, with more "sensitive issues" beneath the surface you get more of the superficial politeness. In the US that has been going on since the early days when various religious groups fled from Europe. BUT, some people in the US that has not really been much outside the US thinks that this level of surface-level politeness is meant to be universal and global.
However, I am upset about the widespread US term "caucasian", not because it is a bad word, but because of the Aryan connotations that has some seriously bad vibes to it after 2WW and the nazi worship of "scandinavian genes".
The term "caucasian" is incredibly bad taste, and I find it offensive. I cringe when I cross off "caucasian" on US papers. It is if I am forced to declare myself Aryan.
the world: "Uhh, what's the big deal?" Personally, I think it's positively bonkers to worry about kids being scarred by seeing something they themselves used to suck on, but whatever.
Actually kids are more scarred by being told that such things are taboo. Being relaxed about the human body of others is a good path to feeling good about your own body.
What is worse: higher rape rate is tied to cultures that make sex and nudity taboo than cultures that are more relaxed... (rape becomes a more potent source of power and control if sex and nudity is a big deal).
(Again, just about all american I've met has expressed that they have no problems with nudity themselves, and I believe them. But I've been told that I cannot go swimming in my boxer shorts that look like swimming trunks because they are underwear and I could get into trouble over that… i.e. someone MIGHT be offended. Which is kinds of odd, cause in my own country I can go swimming naked and basically nobody would be offended, if spotted they might be amused, but not offended.)
Ola.
