Re: Agreed

"other minorities may not see the problem either. In their eyes something meant as an innocent comment can be perceived as genuine racism or sexism even when it is not, and they can be utterly offended by that. By the same token, too many MAPs overlook glaringly obvious examples of completely awful people in their midst. Or offer only two interpretations of any given event presented by the media: 'didn't happen that way' or 'undetermined.' Or minimize the suffering of people who wasn't necessarily a victim in the conventional sense but who still got a raw deal by circumstances. Or ignore the real possibility that this stuff isn't quite as simple and clear-cut as they'd like it to be."

I have certainly witnessed members of minorities get offended because they misinterpreted an innocuous comment. I know it happens, and I hope our community can mostly avoid that. On the other hand, I have known far more members of minorities who don't get offended by a badly-phrased comment and are able to see what someone intended.

As for interpreting media accounts - given the nature of most reporting, "obviously false" and "undetermined" are indeed the most reasonable interpretations regarding stories relevant to our community. "Undetermined" includes true stories, after all, and the "undetermined" status simply reflects the fact that we find the media to be so dishonest and/or incompetent that we find it impossible to know when they are telling the truth. Far from being a black-and-white view, I consider that quite nuanced.

"This isn't a discussion board; it's an indoctrination board"

One might make the argument that all education is a type of indoctrination, but I hardly think that GirlChat is more doctrinaire than average.