WendyMcElroy.com

I debated whether to post the following item -- the Encyclopedia Dramatica -- because some people consider it to be a portal to hate speech rather than the no-holds barred, bitter satire site I believe it to be. As part of that bitterness, the site uses racial slurs, ethnic stereotypes, offensive gender references...you name it! My hesitation was not due to some PC sensitivity but because a horror of causing people embarrassment or humiliation has been part of my personality since I can remember having one.

Then I re-read the opening line of a news item on the Encyclopedia Dramatica, A favourite haunt of Anonymous, the internet group that declared war on Scientology, its [ED's] contributors are irreverent, obtuse and thrive on ignoring political correctness. Anonymous. That was the word that jumped out at me. It referred to a specific group of people and not to general anonymity but it occurred to me that far too many ideas and attitudes are dangerous to so much as read or express curiosity about. It is now dangerous and/or criminal to download images and words even for nothing more than personal curiousity.

On one hand, the act of exploring or expressing an idea can lead to 'private' consequences such as the loss of a job or of status in society. And, if a consequence is a truly 'private' matter -- e.g. if an employer simply decides not to associate further with a raging racist or misogynist -- then I have no political commentary to offer about that personal choice. But, more often than not, the so-called 'private' choice contains a public element that might be a deciding factor -- e.g. the employer risks lawsuits from customers or other employees if he/she continues to allow a raging racist/misogynist to work under his/her auspices. In short, the firing occurs because of the employer's fear and vulnerability to hate laws, sexual harassment claims, etc.

This is the other hand: the act of exploring or expressing an idea can lead to the public consequences of sanctions by the state. These days, state involvement comes usually through lawsuits or sanctions from government (or quasi-government) agencies, like university administrations. These are softer sanctions than having the police break down your door because you've explored the wrong opinion or the inappropriate expression of opinion but, at its root, the lawsuits and broken door are the same sanction. The state is telling you which ideas you may express, which expressions of ideas are no longer a private matter but one that will be crushed by state force.

The state has no fucking business telling people what to say or think or feel; it has no fucking business telling people how to say or think or feel. The Encyclopedia Dramatica is way over the top for me and I would not normally give it the promotion of exposure. But I am more concerned with protecting the right to be offensive than I am either with my objections to the material or with the possibility that someone out there will actually take offense.