I'm an Offensive Person

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Daniel-Gleebits's avatar
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Let me clarify. I'm a person with a specific set of opinions that have changed, been modified, stood the test of experimentation, and/or been entirely dismissed. I'm a person who does not typically talk about said opinions unless asked, or unless the subject arises.

However, I have managed to annoy several people (who shall remain unnamed out of courtesy to them) by opposing their points of view on these matters.

The first is religion. Most people who have spoken to me about this know my position. I am a theological noncognitivist (otherwise an igtheist), and take an agnostic atheistic view of the concepts of god presented to me.
For those of you who don't know what igtheism or agnostic atheism is, a brief explanation. For those who do, please skip these two paragraphs.
- Theological noncognitivism is the position that theological terms, and the spheres of thought that extend from their use, hold no rational meaning. To put it simpler, terms like "god", "heaven", "spirit", "soul", etc, have no clearly defined meaning and tend to vary widely from person to person, and so therefore have no pragmatic use.
- Agnostic atheism is the position that as a result of lacking knowledge about the deities proposed to me, I lack belief in them. If I know nothing about them, not even whether or not they actually exist, how can I be expected to believe in their existence?
Of course, many theistically minded people have very different views on the matter, and usually people tend to get huffy very quickly on a matter of such personal value as their favourite imaginary friend. Most don't like to think that other people don't believe the same thing as they do.

Another thing is modern feminism. As a qualified historian, I am aware of and intimate with the workings of the feminist movements of the late 19th century, the 1920's, and the 1970's, and am aware that these movements, although not always successful, were necessary addenda to our society. In the modern day there are grievances on both sides of the gender issue: women are naturally less selectable to men in some professions because of the potential for pregnancy leave, men have a distinct disadvantage in child custody laws, women are expected to be more caring of their appearance in society than men are, and although men suffer just as much domestic violence as women, if not more, they are largely ignored by society because they are expected to suck it up.
Both sides have grievances, and I take the stance that in an age where both sides are for the most part generally equal, we have to focus on the problems of both sides. You can't fix a society by focusing on one person's problems.
I therefore disagree with modern feminism, specifically the tumblr version that seeks to see "patriarchy" in almost every facet of society, and genuinely believes that it's only sexism if it happens to women, because even sexism against men is the fault of men, because of the "patriarchy".
Patriarchy in western culture hasn't truly existed since the 1950's. The freedom movements of the 60's severely loosened the ideals of the pre-war era, and the 70's saw a massive surge in feminism that pushed us towards the relatively egalitarian society we have now.
Most of the feminism that revolves in popular media is what many have called "professional victimisation". And when one looks into what these people are complaining about, and the great deal of hypocrisy they espouse, it's hard to argue against the justice of the name. A lot of the problems these tumblr feminists cry out against are either minor, or non-existent problems, or things that occur to everyone, not just women. For instance, domestic violence. Sexual "objectification" is another big feminist issue, which is the idea that women are used as sex adverts in magazines. I don't know about anyone else, but I see a great deal of near butt-naked men and handsome guys on magazines as well as women. Sex sells. It's not a matter of putting women down or dehumanising them.

But anyway. The last thing is typically politics. Surprisingly this subject doesn't tend to get heated at all, since most people I talk to don't seem very bothered by politics today. But I did get in an argument with a Ukranian over Ukraine, which probably wasn't well done. They espoused a personal wish that all Russian-speaking Ukranians need to either die, or leave the country. I told this person that both ideas are disgusting, and tried to explain how neither would solve the problem. Genocide would simply alienate him from his neighbours, and diaspora would do the same, but also have a bunch of people across the border super pissed as well.


Either I'm just a really offensive person, or else I need to learn to stop opposing viewpoints when someone has a deep emotional investment in it.


Peace out, and may Lady Vesta lead to our Hearth one day.
© 2014 - 2024 Daniel-Gleebits
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flabbergastingdragon's avatar
folks usually try to convince us that having a different opinion than the masses is offensive or bad, so that we feel ashamed of who we are and what we stand for.