Bullies think bullying is fun. Spectators think the event is fun. The bullied one pays the price (don't ask me how I know).

Some bullies never grow. They think it's fun, it's a way of expressing themselves.

Yes, neither racism nor bullying is normal, but exhibitor of these behaviors normalize it.

Some adults also feel powerless, and act like teenagers when given the opportunity.

If your focus is on the consistent operation of your systems (computer systems, social systems, etc) then you'll view their actions as attacks.

Sometimes there are real consequences, to be sure. Often the actions originate as a joke or a tweak of sorts, from people who have undeveloped concepts of empathy or responsiblity.

I don't think this is solvable. Moral absolutism is appealing in theory, but in practice, the effects are negative for all parties.

Of course there's a line which, when crossed, requires some kind of countervailing reaction. I don't know how to define that line, and I don't particularly trust others to do so either. Harm is real, but complicated.

A lot of damage can be done in the grey area between "offended" and "injured".

Which isn't to say such views should be tolerated, merely that the approach taken for interacting with such individuals really should account for that.

Well you're wrong. Allow me to lay this out as thoroughly as I can: Teenagers love being edgy, i.e. they love outrage for the sake of outrage. Hitler is outrageous (and well-known), thus he features prominently in "rebellious" humor. There's nothing wrong with this, because the premise of the joke rests precisely ON the fact that associated atrocities are inappropriate, or perhaps the logic is absurd. The jokes only work because Hitler, or more generally racism, or whatever, is wrong, furthermore that the general consensus is indeed that is is wrong. In fact, the more you kvetch, the funnier it is (to a teenager).

Now, perhaps modern "jokes" have you confused into thinking that comedy is just a smug-and-response between some wank and the audience, but this is not so. Personally I want grit, I want ambiguity, I want the full range of human experience out of life. Humor is many things, but it is at least a way of getting a handle on the unsavory inevitabilities of life. If you want to succumb to a fear-based ideology and spend your life constructing an unlivable, bureaucratic tangle of anti-boogeyman legislation, go ahead, but do the humans a favor and leave us out of it.

>There are actual consequences to people.

No, there aren't. No child is being unknowingly radicalized by inappropriate jokes (except maybe as a response to the twits taking up arms against them).

Most teenagers aren't advocating that Hitler had good ideas and that all black people should be lynched. Just because you have experience with these racists (hopefully you weren't one as a teenager) does not mean its ok to pretend that its fine to normalize this behavior

It used to be considered "normal" to bully and ruin the lives of gay people as a teenager too. Now you'll be hard pressed to find anybody under eighteen that would willingly do that to a classmate. Society has changed and shitty behavior like racism, antisemitism, and homophobia get called out as they should.

When they don't you end up with groups like the proud boys and closet white supremacist like the grad student in the article.

You're right, they aren't.

>the proud boys

ah yes, the infamous multi-cultural white supremacist group who marry black women

>No, there aren't. No child is being unknowingly radicalized by inappropriate jokes (except maybe as a response to the twits taking up arms against them).

OP already provided an example of consequences. Not radicalization of white kids but racial trauma to black kids.

No need for the rebound accusation. If you're a teenager trying to be "edgy" it's not working.

Source: I went to a high school.