LogFAQs > #915737531

Zeus posted...

I think he's a 70 year-old man who lived through many iterations of political correctness so he's likely to misstep by accident as he is to not give a fuck. I have to ask if you feel that the elderly -- who grew up in a vastly different era -- should be held to the same political correctness standard as kids who grew up in an age when implications are readily understood?

Interesting non-answer. It's a really simple question: do you think he was being racist? Yes or no? "Yes, but..." or "No, but..." are also acceptable answers, but just saying "He's 70 years old" is a mealy-mouthed dodge.

I mean, you've said several times that you think calling someone an animal is racist. So that suggests to me that you think Donald Trump was also being racist when he called immigrant gang members "animals". Is that true or no?

By the way, it definitely wasn't an accident. He'd previously labelled those gang members "animals" and when numerous people pointed out the implications of that sort of language, he doubled down and made his "these are not human beings; these are animals" comment. You could make the argument that the first was an accidental slip, but when he repeats it after it was specifically pointed out to him? It's not unintentional at that point.

And to answer your own question, yes, I think people should be held to the same standard, regardless of their age. We're all in one society, after all, and my opinion of senior citizens is not so low that I think they're incapable of mentally comprehending societal changes. I grew up in an era where calling people a six-letter gay slur that I can't even write in its censored form on this site was so totally unremarkable it was used on children's TV shows. Where joking about getting raped (i.e. "Man, I totally got raped by that test! It was brutal!") was 100% normal. Where casual ethnic stereotypes like the lazy Mexican or the Magical Indian or the buck-toothed angry Chinese man were still extraordinarily common in children's entertainment. None of those things are acceptable today. I don't pretend that I'm somehow entitled to still use those because of some social grandfather clause that exempts me because of my age, because of course I don't, that's dumb.
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