News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Social Cooling (2017) by kaitai on Tuesday September 29, 2020 @03:44PM (#24632068)
It seems to me, though, that this is social cooling just as insidious. "I can't complain about the work 'sexy' on this corporate release because someone will think I'm a SJW." "I can't push back on using 'retard' here because someone will think I'm a special snowflake." It's exactly what the linked post is talking about.

Isn't the aim to have a robust and productive discourse? That means I get to say, "Hey, I don't think this is the right context for the descriptor 'sexy'" and you get to say, "Well, I think it is because (reasons)..." In some ways I sort of agree with you that "At some point there is a line beyond which if someone is "offended", the problem is with them and them alone." If you are "offended" because I say I don't like you using the word "idiot", that's your problem, is it not?

The point is to talk about whether "idiot" is accurate and well-suited to the situation, rather than shifting the conversation immediately to your hurt feelings at having your wording critiqued.

Re:Social Cooling (2017) by scubbo on Wednesday September 30, 2020 @12:31AM (#24635719)
This is precisely it. An immediate shut-down of a conversation is almost always wrong, whether it's "you used a word that I don't like, and so now you don't get to talk" _or_ "you're criticizing my word-choice, so clearly you're unreasonable".