at least as mfm said, claiming they’re a “giant pile of sub-human shit that no one would miss if he died tomorrow.”
That’s a lie actually, I didn’t claim that or say that anyone else claimed that. I said that we literally know nothing about this person other than that he was mean to one guy at Starbucks. I said that for all we know he could be the most charitable guy on earth, or a “giant pile of sub-human shit that no one would miss if he died tomorrow,” or anything in between. I was basically just voicing a thought that I had about how easily people label others as bad without really knowing any of their contributions to society.
You can say something racist, sexist, or dickish and still be an okay person.
That was my point.
I almost see something of a contradiction here. You say that we shouldn’t call someone a dick unless we know their whole life story. Then you admit that being a dick (at least once) doesn’t define one’s entire life. What I don’t get, what exactly is the issue with calling someone a dick for an isolated incident?
I don’t know that there’s an issue. I just think it’s interesting.
In this instance, sure. But I don’t know if he’s a total dick. He probably is, but who cares? Everyone else is too.
It seems like you care quite a bit actually.
I care about the hypocrisy of people’s reaction to this ludicrous story. That doesn’t mean I care about the people in the story.
I’m not sure to what “hypocrisy” you refer.
There was a very obvious implication that I was in the wrong for finding this a little bit amusing, even though we all find things funny sometimes that are hurtful to some other person. I used the example of someone falling, which can sometimes be really funny. It doesn’t mean you’re glad that the person got hurt or that they fell.
I think there’s maybe a difference between laughing when someone falls, and laughing when someone trips someone else.
Is there? I’d say it also depends. Plus tripping someone is actually worse than typing their name as a stutter on a receipt.
I think that depends too. Maybe the more accurate (in some ways) analogy would be to say there’s a difference between laughing when someone falls, and laughing when a disabled person falls.
It also depends, and probably also depends on the disability. I’m not above laughing at a stuttering person falling down.
Still not perfect, but more to the point of why this specific making fun of isn’t cool.
I never said it was cool.
Person B is rarely (if ever at all) saying something is “irredeemably horrible.” It’s almost always just Person A overreacting and assuming they are.
To be precise about this case, it was a series of snarky and dismissive jabs. But reading between the lines isn’t that difficult. Maybe you think I exaggerate with “irredeemably horrible,” but I think you can get the essence of my meaning.
It’s not just semantics, it’s people imagining things that aren’t really being said.
Maybe the discussion hasn’t gone on long enough, but I have faith you’ll get there.
I’m not wrong. Just calling someone a “dick” is pretty fucking far away from “irredeemably horrible.” It’s a gap that goes beyond hyperbole, and won’t be closed no matter how long the discussion goes on for.
This smells like semantics to me. Granted I enjoy the probably unintended irony of “a gap that goes beyond hyperbole” which attempts to chart the supposed outer limits of hyperbole. Answer: there are none.
I meant your specific hyperbole.
I’m giving myself a pat on the back for discovering hyperbole beyond the known universe of hyperbole.
In case you actually need me to clarify (which I somehow doubt), I meant your specific hyperbolic statement.
Sometimes the claim is that an opinion or phrase is racist or sexist, sometimes like here just jerkish. I was explicitly writing about a general pattern. What appears to be exaggeration (at least regarding the current discussion) isn’t the “heart” of my incisive commentary.
No, you’re right it’s a general pattern, and I think it’s exactly what I describe. Not just on this site but in general on the internet, when people say something is “racist,” “sexist,” or just “jerkish,” others take it to mean they’re condemning the transgressor to eternal damnation, or, at least as mfm said, claiming they’re a “giant pile of sub-human shit that no one would miss if he died tomorrow.”
People exaggerate the extent of the criticism and take it to a deeply personal place that is never ever intended. You can say something racist, sexist, or dickish and still be an okay person. I don’t know what’s so hard to understand about that. And I don’t know why people are more taken aback and upset by someone calling someone else out on being a dick more than that person’s dickish actions. Seems insane to me, but it’s a rampant mentality.
I easily understood mfm as finding something jerkish and funny. Is mfm a jerk for thinking it funny? Nope.
I don’t recall saying he was.
Yet that was repeatedly the suggestion and thus it escalated.
Was it?
It was very clearly implied.