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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Snarf Zagyg" data-source="post: 8644410" data-attributes="member: 7023840">If you want to be a decent person, you should care about how you treat other people. What else is important in life? It’s right and fit that we discuss how we can treat each other better. Our chat can’t be limited to not punching your little sister or not eating your roommate’s leftover Pad Thai. Most of the time we treat other people kindly or cruelly by talking — talking to them or about them. If we want to be better people, we should think about how we talk to and about other people — including when we’re mad at them. It’s easy to be nice to someone when you’re happy with them. It’s harder to be kind when dealing with our enemies, strangers, and the least of us. So it’s legitimate to examine how we respond to speech that makes us mad. We should have a thoughtful conversation about whether modern American culture encourages us to react excessively and even cruelly to speech we don’t like, how that impacts people, and what we should do about it. ...Ken White. I recommend the whole thing. <a href="https://popehat.substack.com/p/our-fundamental-right-to-shame-and?s=r" target="_blank">It's a nuanced essay</a> that I suggest people read- and it gets at the issue that I think is often forgotten. That of proportionality.I am not sure it is appropriate to say that a person who may be overwhelmed and neurodivergent has some duty to you to speak out ... is proper.It's like the old saw about the problems with people checking for drugs-Q- Why'd you pull him over?A- He looked too nervous.Q- Why'd you pull the other guy over then?A- He looked too calm.This type of public shaming, especially in these circumstances, can be incredibly difficult. I can't imagine going to an event where you are going to be honored for a lifetime of work and have this happen. I don't know how I would react- maybe I would be screaming and outraged. Maybe I would want to hide away and lick my wounds. But I hope I wouldn't be judging how someone else should react to something which, quite frankly, is pretty devastating.</blockquote>

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