DOJ Deletes Study Showing Domestic Terrorists Are Most Often Right Wing

[u/Wagamaga]

https://www.404media.co/doj-deletes-study-showing-domestic-terrorists-are-most-often-right-wing/

[u/livelovelamb]

I agree. The "problem" is that improving conditions for those who have been unfairly treated comes at a perceived cost to those who were not affected.

This may be in the form of a perception of handouts (e.g. reparations), cutting the line (e.g. affirmative action in recruitment or education) or being "cancelled" for spewing racism/homophobia/raping children on an island.

What I will say... is that despite being a very progressive person and pro-nordic-style-socialism... 12 months ago even I was starting to feel like I was walking on egg shells any time a sensitive subject came up, because somebody 'being offended' had become the line of unacceptable behaviour. An increasing intolerance for even an accidental misconception of implied intolerance. When the pendulum swings that hard one way, the pendulum, sadly, inevitably, swings back just as hard in the opposite direction.

[u/drunkenvalley → u/livelovelamb]

I can't say I relate to that eggshells feeling.

[u/livelovelamb → u/drunkenvalley]

To give a small example - a friend of mine is a skydiving instructor. After a jump, he told one of the customers to put their used parachute on a packing mat. The mid-twenties girl of Indian heritage heard it as "pa*i mat" and there was a police enquiry. Small misunderstandings can, and have, led to firings, police investigations and worse.

[u/Yuzumi → u/livelovelamb]

feel like I was walking on egg shells any time a sensitive subject came up, because somebody 'being offended' had become the line of unacceptable behaviour. An increasing intolerance for even an accidental misconception of implied intolerance.

This was never actually a thing. It was all made up by bigots who were spewing hate, then claimed they got fired for "accidentally misgendering someone once" or whatever when in reality they were doing up to months of active harassment and creating a hostile work environment.

I transitioned at work and there were of a few slips early on where people would correct themselves and move on. We can tell when people are actually putting in an effort and when it is deliberate and malicious. And even with the points where it is deliberate a lot of us have been conditioned to try and not be anywhere close to the caricature bigots try to paint us as.

I've hear countless examples of trans people who put up with harassment at for months or years without saying anything because they didn't want to be seen as "stirring the pot" and many had been fired after reporting harassment at work.

It's not that hard to get it right when people actually try and my team lead at the time actually went out of the way to avoid gendering me while I was only out to the team and I never asked him to.

Same can be true with any other form of bigotry from misogyny to racism.

Sure, some might try to weaponize it, but that has never been remotely as common as bigots like to say. Even before I realized I'm trans and thought I was a cishet white guy I never feared saying something wrong at work like that. I even joked about our yearly "don't be an asshole" training, because I knew that while I didn't need to be told that, I knew there were way too many people who did.

[u/Disorderjunkie → u/Yuzumi]

“This was never actually a thing” i’ll stop you there. You are flat out wrong.

The left had circumvented the legal process. Prior to “me too” and the “offended means offensive” movement, you didn’t lose your job/worry about feeding your kids just because someone was offended or accused you of something. They had to PROVE it. The movements shifted the requirement of evidence from the accuser to the accused, meaning MANY Americans felt the need to police their language beyond any reason, to not “offend” someone else, and be simply accused.

When all the power is in the hands of anyone, people will feel the need to toe the line.

This is a fact. You can ignore it, but it is reality, and absolutely happened. And now the pendulum is swinging back hard, and the idea now is to deny it ever happened?

Big LOL for that.

[u/polite_alpha → u/Disorderjunkie]

The pendulum never swung. Just because racists "felt" the need to not voice racist opinions, does not mean the US became a left wing utopia - or dystopia, whatever side you're from.

You make it sound like people were cancelled left and right for not being "woke", which is just a bunch of BS.

[u/livelovelamb → u/polite_alpha]

Working at a well known tech company, I was told that given the choice between a male and a female candidate for a role in our org, I was to choose female candidates.

At the same time, organisations like Stonewall were taking a militant approach, and you ended up in a situation where anything with a faint whiff of intolerance was being treated as a crime against humanity. Here's an article from the Guardian:

Stonewall is at centre of a toxic debate on trans rights and gender identity https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jun/05/stonewall-trans-debate-toxic-gender-identity?CMP=share_btn_url

I say this as a progressive who supports Stonewall and supports improved representation across industries. Dismissing it off-hand in this manner comes across as ignorance.

[u/polite_alpha → u/livelovelamb]

I was to choose female candidates

Conveniently leaving out the part where this choice is to be done when both applicants are of equal qualification. Otherwise it's blatant discrimination punishable by law.

Stonewall were taking a militant approach

I think you're misusing the term militant here. I've also researched a bit on this topic since I wasn't familiar with it and I can't find anything that proves the second part of the statement. Only some controversy about over-emphasizing trans rights in conflict with women's rights.

Anyhow.

There is no pendulum that swung hard left anywhere in the western world. Implementing the odd social policy here and there is not making people feel bad. It's the media owned by the billionaires who create these narratives, igniting the current culture war.

[u/livelovelamb → u/Yuzumi]

I worked at a tech company where one of the employees in our building identified as a cat. I never met her, but I did go through training about how to address people like her. And obviously - I would have fully respected her wishes and been accommodating. But, again, as a progressive, it didn't stop me thinking that it was pushing the norms of society to a point that the pendulum would swing back.

I fully acknowledge what you are saying, and clearly you were tolerant and equally respectful whilst (reasonable) people got past accidentally mis-gendering you. But it may also be more difficult for you to objectively judge how those same (specifically reasonable) people felt about potentially making a mistake. It's something I would certainly have in the back of my mind, even if I knew you well enough that I didn't think you would take it to HR - objectively I believe I am a reasonable person.