General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: What the heck is a microaggression, anyway? [View all]LittleBlue
(10,362 posts)Does it have to be deliberate or can it be unintentional? I think we all agree that intentional provocations are bad and shouldn't be encouraged.
The grey area falls under the unintentional slight. How do we reconcile the logical definition of aggression with an unintentional action?
And most importantly, how do we determine what is socially acceptable? Is it by the number of people offended or what? I'm not willing to say that behavior should be modified to suit one person. Under the theory of microaggression, not only should the worst interpretations be assumed, it may not even matter. As long as one person is offended, that is proof enough to socially pressure the offender to change. To me, that is the end of free personal expression. I don't think the young man in the other thread should be pressured to change his hair style by one person's offence.
That is the problem with the theory of microaggressions. You had better make a good case for something like a hairdo before people are willing to accept that criticism as valid. And just saying it's a microaggression to bridge the gap between the offended party and the overwhelmingly non-offended society doesn't work. Hence why there was near-unanimous criticism of that writer on, of all places, DU.
That's how I see it. And frankly, that's how it will play out every time.