Let's talk about the First Amendment.

I won’t say I don’t care about the feelings of rape survivors, or the perpetuation of rape culture in the gaming, and in a larger sense fandom, community. 

In my opinion, the whole ‘Dickwolves’ fiasco could have been solved rather simply, had the creators made a blog post with an honest apology, something on the order of “We apologize to everyone our comic offended.” That it continued for months is simply baffling to me, especially from the PA guys. Seriously, they’ve got a charity and a convention. Acting like mature adults should not be beyond them.

Alas, I find that, in my online and personal experiences, this is not the case. You see this scenario in any number of situations (depending on the site). Person makes comment with offensive language->someone says that it might be offensive->person refuses to back down->argument ensues, usually involving some form of “feminism/the left/the men in white coats are destroying free speech!”

Here’s the thing. Aside from the obvious ethnocentrism of the “free speech” argument, a great many people seem to be forgetting that free speech works in both directions. You can say something offensive, and I can tell you that what you said was offensive. I can even demand an apology from you! You can even say that your freedoms are being impinged upon, and you’re in the free and clear. But the fact is, I’m not impinging upon your freedoms. It’s literally impossible for me as a private citizen. The government is the only thing that can take away your free speech. That’s the wonderful thing about the Constitution in the US - it limits the power of the government over private individuals.

Many people would say that our liberties are being taken away by a society that calls any hint of dissent against leftist principals. To which I give a good, hearty “Nah.” If that were true, Sarah Palin (among others) would have been booed out of public office by now and Ron Schiller would still be working at NPR. Just my opinion here, but I think that many people who claim to be oppressed in this respect need to realize that they are in the voting majority. Then maybe we can get fewer baffling statistics like this. 

Blame it on the pervasive “ME ME ME” of Western society.

And well, guess what? The people who are shouting down talking about the negatives of mass immigration as “racist”? They’re exercising their First Amendment rights! So long as they aren’t defaming anyone or shouting obscenities, they can do it and there’s nothing to be said about it. I’m not necessarily saying I entirely approve of this. There’s nothing I hate more than some arsehole on ontd_political making some snippy “Check your ~ism” comment on someone who isn’t quite as gender/ethnic inclusive with their wording as they should be. All I’m saying is that they have as much a right to say those things as someone else does to say that all women are callous, shoe-obsessed cuntwaddles. But here’s the thing. The white knights, no matter how loud they might seem on some sites, are a minority. 

What do we do about this? Pretty much nothing. Everyone, keep shouting at each other. It’s your right as an American. Or, I suppose, as a citizen of the Internet. Just don’t get all up in arms when someone shouts back.

PS: A note on political correctness. Can’t we just rebrand it modern etiquette already? Like it or not, we live in a basically multicultural society full of queer people and old people and women. It’s polite to be inclusive and to watch your language. Not everyone’s going to do it, but hey. Etiquette has never been a universal thing. Put your napkin on your lap, don’t use your salad fork for the meat, and don’t call everyone “faggot.” Am I the only one who thinks this?