This week’s questions are a little bit of a departure. For one thing, there’s no quiz. (I may double up next week, but I’ll eventually make up for that.) But the bigger change that makes this set of questions unique is that for each one, you’ll have to choose the greater of two “evils” and explain why you chose that particular one. You might not see both options as an evil; or you might find it impossible to pick one as being significantly worse than the other.
But you should pick which you would find the most offensive, even if you agree with one’s right to take the action, label or position listed.
As always, there are no right or wrong answers…only your own opinions. Let’s give it a try!
First to play last week: Antonette of “Jottings From Jersey.” Congratulations!
Here are this week’s “Saturday Six” questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your journal…but either way, leave a link to your journal so that everyone else can visit! To be counted as “first to play,” you must be the first player to either answer the questions in a comment or to provide a complete link to the specific entry in your journal in which you answer the questions. A link to your journal in general cannot count. Enjoy!
1. Which of the following two would you find more offensive if you saw it out in the open in a family restaurant: two men holding hands or a woman breast-feeding a child? Why? The image of the two men holding hands sprang immediately to mind. Probably because this is such a puritanical, straight-laced society here. One just assumes there will be no open displays of emotion by anyone at anytime in a public restaurant. It isn't the affection between men that is shocking, it is the open display of emotion that twists my knickers. It'd be just as bad if it was two women, a man and a woman, a boy and a girl, etc.
2. Which of the following would you find more offensive if you heard someone say it: a blond joke or a racial joke? Why? I take offense to racial jokes. Blonde jokes seem “normal” to me; they were a constant in our all-male household when I was growing into manhood. Even then, despite my father's rabid racism, it was a generally acknowledged rule of the house (between my brothers and I) that one did not joke about race. Once again, this was simply something one didn't do in polite society.
3. Which of these would you generally consider more offensive: An atheist who badmouths Christians, or a Christian who badmouths atheists? Why? Neither offends me – I am an atheist that badmouths Christians on general principles; my only living relative is a born-again Christian who has nothing good to say about Atheists. We agree to disagree. We both hold the other is full of malarkey and deserving of derision. And so it goes ... so forced to choose, why, I'd take offense with the Christian fools who have the temerity to badmouth Atheists in general and me in particular. Just because.
4. Which of the following ideas about a presidential hopeful would you find more offensive: that a woman shouldn’t run for president because a woman doesn’t belong in the White House, or that a black man shouldn’t run for president because a black man doesn’t belong in the White House? Why? As a general rule of thumb, I find women to be more likely to be knee-jerk reactionaries when threatened. If one MUST choose a reason to dislike one or the other exemplars, that'd be mine. I have a particular fondness for my life and peace; I don't need someone in office who is likely to act without careful consideration of the consequences and likely outcomes. We've just had eight years of that form of false bravado. Who needs another four?
5. Which of the following political terms or movements would you find the most offensive: “Pro-Life” or “Defense of Marriage”? Why? The latter strikes me as clutching at straws for the sake of contention for contention's sake. One is about fundamental perception of the so-called sanctity of life. While I disagree, I hold those individuals who do support such a position to have an ethical foundation. The latter is reactionary in the extreme to a perceived threat upon an artificial societal structure with no more importance than the number of leaves on a clover.
6. Which of the following forms of protest are you likely to find most offensive: an animal rights group’s members shedding clothes to encourage people not to buy fur, or a war protest group’s members burning the American flag to criticize war policy? Why? I don't find either offensive. Flag burning I find distasteful, but I recognize it is a protected form of protest. Same with the animal rights group's of removing clothing. I support nudity in general (see below). Given that I must choose for this exercise, I choose the animal rights groups as the most offensive, because they're a bunch of know-nothing liberals who haven't a clue about animal behavior, needs, nor an ethical position to stand on. There, I've chosen. Happy?
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