I listen to a morning talk show on the way to work.  Dudley and Bob on KLBJ have an “outrage countdown clock.”  It’s like one of those things you see in warehouses that says  “It has been ____ days since our last accident.”  They quickly realized, however, that the outrage clock was never going to work.  They had to restart it every five seconds or so because someone somewhere on some form of social media was ALWAYS screaming his or her outrage and demanding IMMEDIATE justice.

I think this is one of those cases where the idea of being “politically correct” made sense at first. Then, like in so many other cases, people took a good idea too far and it went ALL wrong.

Hate is bad.  Attaching a kid to a fence and leaving him to die because he’s gay is wrong.  Dragging a man from the back of a truck because he is black is wrong.

We were horrified.  We wanted to see people punished for their actions, and they were because they should have been, and that was good.

But you know how it is… people are given an inch, and they want a mile.  WELL, if THAT is wrong…  so is fat shaming, so is ageism, so is carnivores posting pictures of cheeseburgers, so is {insert your own outrage here.}

And the problem has become what many people refer to as the “PC police”… the “wussification of America” or many other not so nice things.

When I come across something that I find offensive, I essentially have three choices:

1. Be offended and go on my merry way.
2. Be offended and tell others why I think that their actions/beliefs/decisions/comments are offensive in order to stand up for what I believe and for the beliefs of others.
3. Be offended and scream and cry “Homophobe, racist, bigot, ignoramus!!  How DARE you use words that I do not like.  You must apologize to me.  You must apologize to all of society.  In fact, you must lose your job and be shunned by society in order for me to be happy!”

Sad to say, it seems that choice number three is far too often the choice.

So… after the terrible shootings in Charleston, a volunteer firefighter made an online comment that seemed to praise the shooter.  He was subsequently fired from his VOLUNTEER job. He explained that was not the case at all but only after he had already been fired!

 I had such mixed feelings about this when I heard about it.  I thought, “Well, you really don’t want a racist who thinks you should shoot people to be someone who is supposed to rescue…”  On the other hand, do we really want people to be fired over what they THINK?  Shouldn’t he be allowed to post his thoughts on a news article?  Do we really need that  consequence to our own outrage?

Even MORE horrifying, I only read what HE said happened today.  He claimed  that his praise was NOT for the shooter but to a DIFFERENT comment on the thread wherein he praised someone for raising money for the victims’ families.  He was a 23-year volunteer, and he lost his position over ONE comment.  Is that right? How many people will never even HEAR his follow up?  Will those who thought he should be fired ever admit to being wrong if they hear his explanation?

Or let’s take teachers… obviously this is near and dear to my heart.  It seems these days that we are reverting back to the rules for  teachers in the early 1800s.    I accept and understand that part of my job is to be a role model, but apparently part of that job is to be a role model and NEVER make any mistakes.  Recently, in Pflugerville a teacher was forced to resign because she used a racial slur to make a point.  Even after the teacher resigned, the mother of the student who was offended by the slur still was not satisfied  The mother demanded a public apology.  She wanted her pound of flesh. Was this the appropriate way to handle offending ONE student ONE time?

As I was typing this blog, I saw this great Stephen Fry meme:  

The irony is that as I was getting ready to post it, I started thinking… “Uh oh… the “F” word…  I don’t want to offend anyone.”

Yes, Kindness does matter… and there’s no reason to be purposely rude or offensive, but just because you’re offended, that does not mean someone has to pay you back.  That does not mean that someone OWES you something.  

Yes, the Internet and the world of social media as a whole is an interesting li’l’ place, isn’t it?  It will be interesting to see what happens with all of this once the world figures out proper decorum and etiquette for Internet opinions…

Until then, remember…

You can say what you want to say.  I can react to what you say.

And that’s really the end of it.  You don’t need to apologize.  You don’t need to lose your job.  You don’t need to go to “human being” training.

And I need to learn to grow a thicker skin and get over it because no one except me cares that I’m offended.  🙂

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