I interpret many (not all) cases of "being offended", in the context of contemporary neo-progressivism, as mostly unconscious tactics for obtaining "power over", more like a "ha, gotcha, I'm gonna play this for all the benefit I can get" rather than honestly expressing hurt feelings.
And that includes being offended by hearing the syllab…
I interpret many (not all) cases of "being offended", in the context of contemporary neo-progressivism, as mostly unconscious tactics for obtaining "power over", more like a "ha, gotcha, I'm gonna play this for all the benefit I can get" rather than honestly expressing hurt feelings.
And that includes being offended by hearing the syllables of the word in question when used as a reference or read from a book like Huck Finn, with no offensive intention or affect. If you are offended, then you have a grievance and the moral high ground, and something is owed you.
The absurdly high taboo on it is largely performative in my view (at least originally, see below). The more offended or outraged you are, the more power you get. That kind of dynamic allows for amplification untethered to actual harm caused or the degree of hostile intent (if any), because it's not about redressing harm or damping hostility, but about gaining power. Pretend you don't realize that it was just a reference, or pretend it hurts you just as much as an intentional slur anyway, milk it any way you can.
As a side helping, you can say the word but they can't, a kind of special privilege you have that they don't. Guard this asymmetry jealously, it's another kind of power (albeit a weak one).
One downside of this, shared with other facets of the victimhood narrative, is that people don't like to think of themselves as being fake and manipulative that way. So in accord with cognitive dissonance, there is a tendency to convince oneself that one really is just as exaggeratedly harmed as one is pretending to be, and thus not faking. If you pretend to be overly psychologically fragile often enough, it becomes hard to distinguish from the real thing, or it becomes the real thing, no longer just pretense. This dynamic is not specific to race or sex or any one domain, but a general principle of seeking power through performative exaggeration of victimhood.
Of course, just as with any deception, some part of oneself does know. This behavior does not generate self respect or confidence or earned pride, like accomplishment can.
And again, I'm talking about my understanding of the dynamics in SOME cases, not all cases, of excessive reactivity to non-insulting usage - like used as a reference or hearing a similar sounding word. I am NOT talking about the word being used as a slur or insult.
In the more general case, not specifically about this word or about race, I have chosen to mostly avoid using "offended" or "offensive". I look for another framing for my feelings or judgement, rather than use the shorthand of "I'm offended".
I interpret many (not all) cases of "being offended", in the context of contemporary neo-progressivism, as mostly unconscious tactics for obtaining "power over", more like a "ha, gotcha, I'm gonna play this for all the benefit I can get" rather than honestly expressing hurt feelings.
And that includes being offended by hearing the syllables of the word in question when used as a reference or read from a book like Huck Finn, with no offensive intention or affect. If you are offended, then you have a grievance and the moral high ground, and something is owed you.
The absurdly high taboo on it is largely performative in my view (at least originally, see below). The more offended or outraged you are, the more power you get. That kind of dynamic allows for amplification untethered to actual harm caused or the degree of hostile intent (if any), because it's not about redressing harm or damping hostility, but about gaining power. Pretend you don't realize that it was just a reference, or pretend it hurts you just as much as an intentional slur anyway, milk it any way you can.
As a side helping, you can say the word but they can't, a kind of special privilege you have that they don't. Guard this asymmetry jealously, it's another kind of power (albeit a weak one).
One downside of this, shared with other facets of the victimhood narrative, is that people don't like to think of themselves as being fake and manipulative that way. So in accord with cognitive dissonance, there is a tendency to convince oneself that one really is just as exaggeratedly harmed as one is pretending to be, and thus not faking. If you pretend to be overly psychologically fragile often enough, it becomes hard to distinguish from the real thing, or it becomes the real thing, no longer just pretense. This dynamic is not specific to race or sex or any one domain, but a general principle of seeking power through performative exaggeration of victimhood.
Of course, just as with any deception, some part of oneself does know. This behavior does not generate self respect or confidence or earned pride, like accomplishment can.
And again, I'm talking about my understanding of the dynamics in SOME cases, not all cases, of excessive reactivity to non-insulting usage - like used as a reference or hearing a similar sounding word. I am NOT talking about the word being used as a slur or insult.
In the more general case, not specifically about this word or about race, I have chosen to mostly avoid using "offended" or "offensive". I look for another framing for my feelings or judgement, rather than use the shorthand of "I'm offended".