Increasingly, there seems to be no distinction between being offended and being wronged. Plenty of things might offend someone without actually harming them. Any response should take that into account.
In the workplace, there’s a similar distinction which must be made between behavior which is offensive and that which is truly inappropriate. Such nuance often escapes the left. From the New York Post:
A Queens assistant principal shared a meme with teachers that suggested violence against transgenders — and was secretly recorded brushing off an educator’s complaint about it, The Post has learned.
Alex DiGregorio, AP of social studies and science at I.S. 10 middle school in Astoria, allegedly handed out the graphic — printed from a DOE email account — in June, according to a city Human Rights Commission complaint.
The meme depicted this message, paraphrased: if you belong in the men’s room, and you follow my wife or daughter into the woman’s room, you’re going to need the handicap room.
Is that appropriate content for a public school official to disseminate with district resources? Probably not. Should he face some form of rebuke? Probably. But for those seeking to radically redefine fundamental social concepts, his real sin goes beyond the inappropriate use of school resources.
Next page: Find out what really offended the teachers
His real sin is the opinion itself, which they find grievous and unforgivable.
“I was shocked and appalled to see the meme Mr. DiGregorio passed out at the meeting,” the teacher told The Post. “It is hateful not only to the trans community but also to people with disabilities. It encourages violence. This has no place in a NYC public school.”
[…]
The teacher lodged an official complaint about the incident and arranged for a meeting with DiGregorio, school principal Clemente Lopes and her union representative – and recorded the entire June exchange without their knowledge.
The secretly recorded interaction included remarks from DiGregorio in which he downplayed the importance of the teacher’s feelings.
“Well, things about political cartoons is they offend somebody somewhere, everywhere,” he said. “Some people are offended by them, some people are not. You happened to be offended by that particular cartoon. I’m sorry.”
That’s exactly right. Any given opinion has the potential to offend someone, especially when the topic is politically or culturally charged. The focus of any official response should be on the enforcement of relevant policy, not DiGregorio’s opinion on transgender bathrooms or how it made anyone feel.
That said, let’s take a closer look at the meme itself. Is it really suggesting violence against transgender people? The meme imagines a scenario where a man follows a woman into the woman’s restroom, and that woman’s male family member reacts to protect her. That’s called defense, and it’s entirely legitimate. It’s not as though the meme suggests hunting down transgender people in order to assault them. This is not about hating transgender people. It’s about loving wives and daughters.
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