In my personal experience, as well as in neutral observation, I’ve come to see ‘sensitivity’ (and political correctness) simply as tools used to gain control, just like Atlantis experienced. Very rarely have I seen a case where the offending material/idea had any real impact on the person crying ‘wolf’ or perhaps more appropriately the person crying ‘wolf being fucked by a crazy-eyed man desperate for a shag’. If these people that play the sensitivity card were truly so sensitive, truly so intent on not having themselves exposed to such “harmful” and “awful” things, they would only visit sites like ‘ChurchPicnic.com’ or ‘WeLoveDaisies.com’ and would steer clear of the reality of mainstream sites.
However, they don’t steer clear because they aren’t so sensitive. As Rac pointed out in her post above, “those who scream the loudest for tolerance (or sensitivity) give little of it to others”. How true that is. These people write whatever they hell they want (look at the SGU thread that has dozens of people wanting to see Rodney dead/brutalized at the hands of the Destiny thugs for an example) and/or tolerate such things that don’t go against their preciously protected viewpoint. But then they also demand that nobody writes anything that they don’t want to see. It’s pretty damn obvious that they aren’t sensitive. They just don’t want any opposition expressed to their viewpoint, especially if it’s not inflammatory. Wow, could these people be more insecure?
Now, I understand that in real life some people with ‘true sensitivity issues’ will be encountered. They aren’t all intentionally mean-spirited or consciously trying to control situations but they are all manipulative, whether they are actually aware of it or not. They all (yes, I intentionally used ‘all’ [twice] and not ‘some’ for this particular point) demand respect for their “personal boundaries”, for their “personal ideas of appropriate”, etc. but rarely, if ever, return the consideration (consideration is what they should be asking for and not respect) as they are almost completely self-absorbed and are intent on their plan for how the world should work around them.
It’s really a shame but our society/government/business leadership/etc. not only allows this particular dynamic to flourish, but encourages it through enabling. Sensitivity training needs to die a very quick but very painful death. It then needs to be replaced by reality training. The message that not everything needs to be taken personally and that not everything is a universe shattering point of contention should be taught. What should also be taught is to lead by example. If you want consideration, then damn it, show some. Maybe then we could begin to make some forward progress. Not bloody likely to happen in my lifetime.
Regards,
Dave
Personally, i find the whole subject of sensitivity ludicrous. I'm very much an open minded person and am willing to listen to anything, even if i find the subject matter not to my tastes. What i don't appreciate is that if i've made my opinion clear, people using tactics like this to either invalidate my argument or derailing the conversation with strawmen because its the only thing left to them.
Recently i got in a discussion with some Wraith Worshippers, it started out fine, and i made myself perfectly clear that my opinion was my opinion and nothing they can say will change that, but i am curious as to their viewpoint so maybe i can better understand them. Instead of that, they begin all this self-rightous bullshit about how the Wraith are just a mirror image of humanity and that i'm being narrowminded and prejudice and... eugh, A little pedanticness went both ways, but i told this person plainly that while i may come off sarcastic at times, i'm not trying to offend them. Instead this person gets two other people to join the conversation which was via VM and hence, more private than a thread, and at that point i just disengaged.
The original subject we were talking about had been resolved in the first few VMs, it was about how i'd treat the Wraith in an RPG i'm assisting with. They weren't happy with me saying it wasn't going to be a 'whack-a-wraith" story and went to extremes to convince me. They even threatened to leave the RPG over differences with me and i had to call them out of their bullshit publicly. Things are calm now, but i'm certain if i write something about the Wraith being 'bad' i'll have them jump all over it and be like "THE WRIATH WOULDN"T DO THAT! WE LOVE THE WRAITH!"
Eugh. it's like... have you even seen the show? The Show itself is a whack-a-wraith story with only Todd surviving time and again. and just to be a little more insensitive, i find the whole 'wraith' thunking to be disgusting as these are creatures that FEED on you
Sorry for the slight necrothreading, but I've just noticed these last 2 posts.
Re: "Wraith-worshippers"
I'd lay good odds that these guys are Twilight or even Lestat fans who think vampires are all sweetness and light and all that other shit "modern vampires" seem to represent these days. I'd love to sit these guys down and force them to read Brian Lumly's "Necroscope" books, they might get a clue on what "real" vampires are like.
Aragon101, working on a RPG eh?, If you ever want to bounce idea's off someone who has, let's say, considerable experience in the field, drop me a PM, I'd be interested in lending a hand if desired.
hey some of US (read me !) like twilight books....but seriously.... Snookie had to read the first necroscope book for her scifi/horror lit class... it really freaked her out! she won't even watch twilight anymore!
I'd bet she saw her first view of how really ******* dark vampires actually are. Rac80, you should read necroscope as well, it is a damn fine series of books, but, strangely enough also has a hero worth rooting for.
As to Twilight, If you like them, cool. I look at Twilight the same way as I look at Michael Jackson and Glee. I can understand peoples interest and/or love for the work, Critically speaking, they are great, (I must admit a fondness for the song and MV of Thriller however) Neither however floats my particular boat.
I like light non-explicit love stories and twilight fits that bill for bedtime reading. daytimes though i read a wide variety of things...usually rather heavy historical tomes and textbooks (used to be psychology now law ) for fun i like the terry brooks fantasy novels (also non explicit) and "the classics". (I am one of those who would rather have sex than read about it!) yeah snookie said those books gave her the "willies" so i doubt I will go near them. hell i am from maine and I won't even read a stephen king novel! I like my sleep undisturbed. I am one of those people witha very active imagination so no reading creepy things at night.
BLASPHEMY
You live in Maine and don't read SK, Life can be so ******* unfair
Actually, check out "the eyes of the dragon" by SK, you might like that one. You might even enjoy the first couple of books from the "Dark Tower" series as well (I get the feeling you would adore the main character)
Back to Necroscope, read them during the day as a break from your studies if you hate "creepy books" at night. Brian Lumley writes some damn good work and his take on the vampire myth is awesome. He does write other stuff as well, but on the whole, its all pretty dark.
Also, from your response, I guess you have never watched "Supernatural" either? If not, grab a few screenshots of the main characters, you might develop a new thunk.
I grew up in maine (live in Indiana now) and actually had a creative writing class one summer at UMO (University of Maine Orono) for high school students taught by.....
wait for it
Stephen King! Yeah he is really flaky in person as well. His first books turned me completely off his writings...think about it...you live in maine...you know the kind of people/situations he writes about...all guaranteed to give you nightmares!
several people have suggested I watch supernatural...but honestly I don't have time for reg. tv...if I don't love the show (AKA RIzzoli and Isles) I don't bother.
he actually used some names of real maine towns...Heh, It doesn't suprise me he was "flaky" Some of his best books were written whilst he was stoned on various drugs. (mainly coke I think) As to your "personal connections", Being brought up in Maine I guess I can understand your "freakiness" towards his work.
As for "supernatural" seriously, watch it, it is an awesome series and the only TV show to grab me as hard as SGA did when I started watching it.
he actually used some names of real maine towns...
I might give it a try sometime when (read IF) I have free time again.
it's never a lost opportunity these days... dvds and books are always available!If in all my time here I can convince someone to do something, it would be this, Read Necroscope and Watch Supernatural.
Sure there are other things I would like to convince people of (esp in the reading dept), But these two you owe yourself to try out. If you don't like them, cool, but to miss them is a real "lost opertunity"
I used to LOVE Martin Gero. I loved the dvd commentaries he did with Joe Flanigan and David Hewlett I would be just dying of laughter.
Then Keller came along and I disliked her instantly. Oh man I really and truly loath her character.
I had so much fun on the anti Keller thread, thinking of ways to hurt and kill a FICTIONAL character.
Oh the memories.
Then Martin Gero called all Keller haters great big meanies and blah, blah blah. Then Mollazzie got on the band wagon and called us poopy heads and we were scum (Keller haters) and we should be ashamed.
*eyeroll*
Then came the closing of the Anti Keller thread and turned it into the Keller COM something ain't right thread AKA the DIET anti Keller thread.
In this case TPTB need to realize not all of their characters are liked by everyone.
Then came the closing of the All the anti threads. I was shocked at how immature GW and TPTB were acting.
I have plenty of nice things to say about SGA and the characters...I also have a lot of bad things to say as well. It is unbelievable to think that people have only good things to say about, well anything.