| "It sounds like he's bothered by how they're treating him, and he wants them to shut up, because he thinks their opinion is dumb and their way of expressing it is awful." Yes, because I've seen first hand what people do to those on twitter that say something that can be misconstrued as punching down, racist, bigoted, etc. It's not pretty and not nice in any sense. He is telling them to shut up in the sense that they're being offended means jack shit. The mentality of them being offended and people having to cater to them is why free speech on universities are pretty much non-existent. I saw a core contributor on a project be attacked because he disagreed with italian schools teaching children about transgender subjects without permission from the parents. They literally attacked the project, going on about how the core contributor was "transphobic", that his code will translate into that too. It was literally shocking to see the comments going back and forth. And, that isnt the only instance I've seen in the last year or so. We've seen people have their platform removed because others claimed that their mere presence would violate their "safe space", even though the person isnt violent and just has a different view. He is offended, the only difference is he isnt using it to try and ruin people or change policies. He is venting his frustrations publicly because he can. He isnt looking for others to cater to him. This is contrast to the people he is complaining about who do everything they can to shame and silence people that have a difference of an opinion. |
But returning to Fry: I think he's offended by his critics, even if he doesn't use that word.
But here's what will blow your mind: as far as I understand what happened, I think he's right to be that way. They attacked him for doing nothing wrong.
People are acting like there's some magical thing "offense" that's only felt by people they disagree with. But we all feel offense on a regular basis, whether we call it that or not. It's just on us to do our best to only feel it for things that are actually bad, and to react in a measured way. Our offense doesn't mean anything per se--you can be equally offended by a good thing as a bad thing--it's the content of the thing that shows whether your offense shows that the problem is inside you or the thing you're made about.
Don't create some kind of dumb rule "being offended is bad". That makes no more sense than saying "because I'm offended, your opinion is wrong."