Yeah, because that's the same situation as this one. You're just begging to be called silly again.

The only people with reason to be offended by that headline are Cub fans.

Yeah, because educated people never use analogies to help in explanation. I forgot. Sorry about that.

Read the rest of the post--you are the silly knee-jerker in this argument. I simply said I can see both sides: it's weird to be called out on a common phrase, and it's not surprising that some people would be upset by being called "boy" even in the context of a common phrase when it's a word that was specifically used to attack them for a long period of time.

The fact that you cannot fathom that perspective is what I find troubling (as I explained in the initial post that you chose to soundbite).

Some old Chinese folks react negatively to any and all things Japanese. It's not right, but it's not wrong either. It's a natural human reaction when you are horribly tormented to have a strong illogical reaction. It's easy for us to say, "I'm the emissary of the viewpoint that is all right and good!" but the simple fact is that what makes someone a more able person is the ability to understand what it might have been like for them in that situation.

Are there people who have not experienced the hurt who go around picking fights on this issue. Sure, they are not unicorns or dragons or something. Are there those who fake good intentions in order to use veiled racial slurs against others? I hope we all would agree that there are.

There's a solution beyond just digging in deeper and saying everyone else is silly or oversensitive or whatever.

"Levski called me a 'homo' once."

The irony is that, in order to call you a homo, Levski had to take Josh Byrnes' dick out of his mouth.

Yeah, because educated people never use analogies to help in explanation.

Yes, because there's a real similarity between a national media outlet using a common expression that happens to contain the word "boy" in a headline and someone making rape jokes to a person he knows has been raped. Analogies are only useful if they draw a comparison that means something. You went to something that many women would probably consider one of the most offensive things that a person could do - intentionally tormenting a woman whom you know has been raped about a rape - and compared it to the use of a common phrase in a headline on a website.

I simply said I can see both sides: it's weird to be called out on a common phrase, and it's not surprising that some people would be upset by being called "boy" even in the context of a common phrase when it's a word that was specifically used to attack them for a long period of time.

I know you can see both sides. You've spent much of the last couple of years on this site telling everyone within earshot that you see both sides, usually better than everyone else does.

We've been down this road before, and I have no interest in rehashing it again. My position remains the same: I think there are people in this world who go into situations with an eye toward being offended. Maybe they're conditioned to do it because of years of prejudice. Maybe they're convinced that people really are out to get them, or that everyone is inherently racist and needs to be taught the error of their ways. Maybe they're just pricks looking to pick a fight. I'm sure it's different for different people.

But the result is the same: they get offended by things that, in my opinion, a reasonable person wouldn't find offensive. I think this is one of those situations. And you're right, I don't fathom the perspective of the person who would get offended by something as innocuous as "hometown boy" written in a headline on a website. If we all got offended at everything that could possibly be offensive in life, we'd spend all of our waking hours registering outrage to anyone within earshot (and deaf people would be signing their outrage about my use of the word "earshot").

And I realize I've broken one of my New Years resolutions, which was: don't engage zealots on the Internet on the topic of their zealotry. So I'm out. If this topic actually comes back around to Cliff Floyd, it will do so without me.

The natives are restless.

One solution is to take life less seriously.

One solution is to take life less seriously.

The internet seems to preclude this, though. You can make a neutral, declarative fact and get attacked. Sometimes I enjoy the absurdity, other times my inner angry man comes out, sometimes I'm indescribably bored with the whole thing. It's like we're all on the analyst's couch having a dialogue with our innerselves.