Social sensitivity

[mtbc]

There seems to be a growing current of people who feel entitled to have society not expose them to upsetting things: whether odious views or reminders of personal trauma or whatever.

Personally I greatly value the opportunity for free and open discussion. Sometimes the mainstream is wrong and where people do hold bad views I would like them to be subject to rational rebuttal rather than their being driven underground by unthinking hate mobs.

Given that I welcome diversity in thinking — one of the reasons I welcome immigration and multiculturalism — and how easily upset some people now seem to be, I believe that expecting society to protect their feelings is scattering too many eggshells. I want people to be able to encourage ideas beyond the goodthink du jour.

At home with family or friends is a different matter: some people really are facing difficult issues and do need a safe space, they are not just a special snowflake, and it is good if they have somewhere to which to retreat, but making that space safe inconveniences just a few people, it doesn't chill discussion in society at large.

Personally I do not have a problem with expecting of people the emotional maturity to handle relative strangers triggering negative feelings in them and, where necessary, to be able to constructively engage with those unlike them.

The same goes for this journal and myself. It is publicly readable and I count that as being out in society. I doubt that I am typically much offensive though I might sometimes be unsympathetic. But, I try not to much indulge eggshell-scattering myself and, though I cast this personal journal more as an unapologetic how I see things rather than you should think this is how things are, I will still try to be tolerant of commenters disagreeing with me.

Comments

[aldabra]

I think there are gradations, and not excluding people is valuable.

For example, going to work is more compulsory than reading journals, and I think I should be able to go to work without necessarily being robust enough to deal with neo-Nazi paraphernalia and greetings (and I have had occasion to say so). I *am* robust enough to deal with those things, but I think that's an accident of background rather than a meritorious mental quality.

[mtbc]

Your example opens all manner of interesting cans of worms. Workplaces may be special which is why one tends to try to keep religion and politics out of them. On the one hand, one might hope that you wouldn't have to stand alone in refusing to entertain a neo-Nazi element in your environment but, on the other, one can easily imagine particular workplaces turning into ones that are chilling for non-odious attitudes as like attracts like, at least while it remains concealed from customers and the public.

I wonder how effective assertiveness training is. I would prefer support to be available to the less-robust. Perhaps something can be both an accident of background and a meritorious mental quality but it would indeed be unfortunate if it were also difficult to develop.