Re:Can progressives be convinced that genetics matters?
by bart_spoon on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @11:23AM
(#28445958)
Incidents of people being offended in the past doesn't mean that people aren't more sensitive today than they are now. I think there is a strong argument made in "The Coddling of the American Mind" that overprotective helicopter parenting after the turn of the century, combined with the rise of online echo chambers that provide instant support for any personally held opinion have resulted in a society of individuals who are extremely sensitive and take offense much more easily.
I'm not sure that the world has become sensitive. Rather, opinions that people didn't feel safe to express about nonsense they experienced in their earlier life are now coming out. I recall a story about a church that held an "Aunt Jemima" event in 1991 and were surprised that so many black families chose not to show up - but none of those folks protested or said what bothered them. (https://theundefeated.com/features/it-was-past-time-for-aunt...)
Broad, sweeping statements about groups of people have been used to discriminate all over the place. They've been used to justify not teaching certain kinds of people, or to justify myths that certain groups of people "should" always be a certain way because of the majority trendline.
The people that built these myths sometimes did so (or do so today) with pseudoscience. So, for some who have heard this kind of nonsense their whole lives (maybe it was used to discriminate against a parent), actually valid + careful scientific research can sound like the same old nonsense.