Beastie,
I agree that I can't fathom many people would find it acceptable to mock the disabled. Yet, I think, perhaps, the inability to adjust message and recognize how they are coming across to others may play into this. There is a definite lack of ability to understand how others may perceive comments or attitudes at play on both boards by a large group of posters.
bcspace wrote:Here's the problem, as I see it. When you grow up limited in dealing with those that differ from you there is a strong likelihood that you will have little opportunity to practice getting into others minds -- empathy. It's quite possible that when dealing with people that can not step back and recognize how others view them, how they may need to reword their comments, etc... that they have been quite limited in dealing with anyone but others that are quite like themselves.
Indeed. Having lived in many different places and circumstances has made me more immune to this.
Immune to what? You're saying that you are quite skilled at empathy and relating to your audience? I think you may need to double check on that one.
What if your surroundings were homogenized most of your life? The ugly American syndrome can be seen played out across the globe when we hop about and are ignorant of customs and sensibilities.
If you have any experence in this, then you should know it works both ways. Those who become offended become so often because they themselves are ignorant of the visitor's customs and sensibilites.
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Yes, I do have experience having lived in a few different cultures as well as American subcultures and economic spheres in the states -- there are different things that will offend different people. A skilled individual can move effortlessly through all of these. The point I was making was that we read each other and can take notice if someone else is being hurt by our behavior. There are a few women and men on this site that are hurt by these images and words that do NOT deal with anything related to LDS -- that there is the inability of some posters to regulate their own behavior or check their own behavior makes me think that my initial comments on the ability to relate to your audience is something severely lacking.
by the way, I wasn't personally offended by the image (I did think it was in poor taste), and I'm not personally offended when comments about Asperger's Syndrome are used as taunts (My daughter is diagnosed with AS) because I quite frankly default to the position that those middle aged men that say these things just don't know any better and are lacking in social skills, grace, and are attempting to be shock jocks in their 30's/40's.