#offensive behaviour

[nerdytrashh]

Microagressions  Offensive Offensive

Afree speech campaign group has criticised an investigation into a banner displayed at a football game between Crystal Palace and Newcastle United on Saturday afternoon.

The banner appeared to criticise the Premier League’s owners and directors in light of the recent takeover of Newcastle United, largely funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, a firm linked to the Saudi government.

In the wake of the match police said the banner had been reported as “offensive”.

[storyinshort-blog]

How To Stop Getting Offended Easily

There are end numbers of people in this world who easily get irritated on small things. Well if you are one of those who just can’t control their temper, here are a few tips to help you with this attitude.

There are end numbers of people in this world who easily get irritated on small things. Whether by someone’s action or what they say, they get irritated and end up ruining the mood and environment by reacting in an even more offensive way.

[improbserver]

Content warning.

(cut from a longer email)

While I agree in principle that we shouldn't ban people from presenting certain material on stage, I don't think that that is a license to offend. Yes, we are a late-night comedy show, and some comedy is transgressive, and people have different levels of tolerance. I have students in my classes who have told me they avoid particular performers who swear more often, for example, but I'm not suggesting we need to keep a PG rating.

What I do strongly believe is that risky material carries with it a responsibility to be sensitive to the audience and to actively seek an understanding of how that material will be received. I've said things in the context of a game of Joke, Joke, Die that would have my mother turning in her grave, and she's not even dead yet. But there is a certain amount of context there. It's similar to the way in which a game of Cards Against Humanity is hilariously dark with friends and awkward and uncomfortable with strangers.

We MUST understand that our audience is full of strangers (both strangers to us and to one another), all of whom have context we can't hope to comprehend. Leaving out anything that could possibly be offensive would make our shows bland and insipid, but there should be a much higher bar at an improv show than at a corporate gig (where people are comfortable laughing together) or a private party. It becomes about easing gently into grey areas and constantly checking in with each other and with the audience, to see if we have earned their trust enough to push further.

Seriously, it's like having kinky sex with the audience for the first time. And like kinky sex, when people get the idea that everything is permitted and just kind of smash into it, someone is bound to have a bad time.

But the necessary opposite of offending an audience is not prudishness or censorship (or endless "missionary position" comedy). It's openness and sensitivity. Eye contact, permission, consent, appreciation, trust, and a willingness to back off if necessary, without resentment. Cultivating in ourselves a cheerful vulnerability will earn trust and respect and allow us to play in those grey areas.

[interpersonalrelationshipss-blog]

Fraping - The old fashioned jokes substituted with intruding privacy.

Do you remember the time when we used to make harmless jokes on behalf of somebody, laugh a bit and move on? Well, digital media has made it possible to take these jokes to another level - a level where your pranks can get you in prison for 10 years and cost you $2700.  Frape is a term that emerged in the beginning of 21st century with the increasing popularity of social media platforms. It is described in the dictionary as “The act of Raping someones Facebook profile when they leave it logged in. Profile pictures, sexuality and interests are commonly changed however fraping can include the poking or messaging of strangers from someone else's Facebook account.”

It is used mainly by teenagers who frape not only their friends but their parents, teachers and dates. A girl shares in a forum that she fraped her mother by posting on her Facebook wall “OH god.. I'm pregnant again.. not sure whether to be down or excited!! x” She had a good laugh for certain but imagine her mother’s shock when she started receiving congratulation calls, messages and posts! Other people joke with their friends sexuality: “is it wrong that I find squirrels attractive?”, add new friends to their profile or delete old ones, change their names or relationship status.

Most of today’s youngsters can openly admit that they have fraped their friends before. They do it with the intention to make a joke, laugh a bit and delete the post.  But what happens when people use fraping as a revenge? You may get fined and end up being sent to jail. On 6th April 2011 an Irish man found out his girlfriend cheated on him and decided to confront her. His revenge included taking her phone and posting on her Facebook wall that she was a “whore” and “would take any offers”. People would judge her, make a few mean comments and she would learn her lesson, right? But this story had a different turnout. The man had been prosecuted under the country's Criminal Damages Act, which imposes a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and $13,600 fine. The case marked the first time someone had been held liable for damages involving a social media account. He avoided prison time when the judge determined a monetary penalty was more appropriate, fining the defendant $2,700. This particular man might have found his way out of jail for the offence on his ex-girlfriend but others who try and follow his example may spend the next 10 years of their lives locked behind bars.  

Even though the fraping trend has emerged as means of joking with people and having fun, it has gone too far. Far enough so that is could be called “Facebook rape”. And far enough that the issue of its consequences is being discussed by politicians. 

Fraping offends millions of people every year especially when used for the purpose of “getting back” at somebody. The only way for that trend to stop is if the problem reaches a wider range of people and more countries follow Ireland’s example and make it illegal and prohibited.

[tumblinabe]

Offensive Behaviour

I’m offended by you telling me what I should be offended by. I’m tired of seeing the misrepresentations of the televised few. 

Deciding the mass perceptions of the foreign hue.

I choose the word foreign because in our own land we are not accepted.

We are told to walk when others can crawl. 

We are told to jump when others can reach.

We are told to fly when others can be.

You see I’m offended by you telling me what I should be.

I am told I should play sports but not become an athlete.

I am told I should become a rapper but not an artist.

I am told I can make t-shirts but not be a designer.

I am told I can be black but not American.

From the tender age of carefree I’m taught that I am different.

And it isn’t until the age of wonder that I discover.

That I am offended by you being scared.

Scared that I might make a mistake I haven’t made yet.

Scared that I might take something that I haven’t earned yet.

Scared that I might steal away into your hearts and influence your mind.

Scared that I might step outside of my lane and say something outlandish and so crazy like, He is the black version of me.

We are all 50 shades of God or Allah who coincidentally are one in the same.

I’m offended by me not being allowed to be offended.

Kanye said Niggas in Paris now I am everybody’s nigga.

Even though my parents flew to this country and I go through the same problems as you, we are not equal.

I am black to them but African to you.

Hmmm… what else?

Oh I remember I can apply for African American scholarships because it’s easier.

I can act ghetto,  be a slave, be rescued, be everything except the hero in any story.

And when those hero tales are told they are thrown to the side like the rising tide against the sands of hope.

Clawing it’s way for a feeling of freedom.

Free from the chains of despair. 

It's clear that my path is predetermined but not predestined. 

I spoke with the man across the room and he told me to be whom ever I choose.

So if I decide to skip the snooze button because I've raced out the door before the clock strikes four and I'm hustling, bustling, to be something, anything, and not nothing.

If I decide to play the game which is laid out in front of me and I decide to use the playbook filled with defensive schemes and offensive dreams.

Please don't be offended by my OFFENSIVE BEHAVIOUR.