What is broadly offensive? Please stick to the topic this time.

Although I know it's taboo to reopen a thread, I felt it appropriate since no one had actually given a meaningfull answer. So I reckoned that it would be okay just this once to give people a second chance to redeem themselves and atleast brush against the topic, even if they can't stay entirely on it.


To me, it means offensive to the majority. In English and Welsh law we have the concept of the "reasonable man" test - basically when applied to offences like Conspiracy to Outrage Public Decency for example it means that if the "man on the street" (in other words, a normal person - i.e. the jury) feel that it is offensive, then it is - Lord Devlin famously said that something was offensive if "the man on the Clapham omnibus" thought it was.

So basically, if most people would be offended then it is offensive, if it offends only a minority then it is not "broadly" offensive".

What do you believe "broadly offensive" means?
Just this once, try to stick to the topic for atleast three pages. It's so very sad when Strife has to close a thread before it even gets to the end of its second page.

I love to shop on Naughty Island and hate to save allll those landmarks, so I look it up every time. One of the places that comes up on the "naughty" list in Search used to have a picture of 2 girls doing a man's genitals. I found that broadly offensive.

This excerpt says it better than I can.


"I think it would be good if we all studied a few tips on how to become more insensitive.

1. Ask yourself, “Am I an idiot?” There are three basic kinds of idiots: intellectual, emotional, and moral. An intellectual idiot is too stupid to know or find out what a word means. An emotional idiot is too stupid to care what a word means if it stands between him and a good temper tantrum. A moral idiot may be intellectually and emotionally sound, yet still be willing to sacrifice the happiness of others simply to file a lawsuit on behalf of intellectual or emotional idiots who don’t know what, say, “picnic” or “niggardly” mean. If you are any of these kinds of idiot, proceed immediately to step two.

2. Consider the possibility that you just need to get a life. Signs of this need include spending all day in a sweat of irritation because religious people exist, hallucinations that you are being raped by classical music, constant convulsive outrage over words like “history” and “master/slave” or “outing,” and a gasping sense of oppression at the thought of urinals. Wigging out over leprechauns and tomahawk chops is another “get a life” indicator. Still other signs include loss of sleep and anger-management issues over presidential greeting cards, cartoons, ice cream lids, and books with pigs in them. If these symptoms persist, proceed to step three.

3. Grow up. Failure to grow up could result in becoming a human toothache and constituting a transmission vector for ulcers, psychological and physiological ailments, and a whole host of complex societal disorders including an overburdened diaper-laundering industry.

4. Finally, find something useful to do with your time, such as learning to laugh, particularly at yourself. You’ll be happier. So will the rest of us."

Mark P. Shea is the senior editor for www.CatholicExchange.co
http://www.crisismagazine.com/june2007/shea.htm

LOL

Perfect




And yes Conan, I agree with you completely.

That's my point - you as an individual cannot find something "broadly" offensive, you can only find it offensive. If everyone else agrees with you, then it gets to be "broadly" offensive.

Look at this way, my opinion cannot be a majority opinion unless most others agree with me.

Having said that - the above poster makes a good point about the word "niggardly". I suppose the majority don't know what the word means and assume it to be some sort of term of racial abuse.

Well that should come under the umbrella of adult flagging. It shouldn't come up in search, especially if mature isn't selected (when are we going to get this mature/adult confusion sorted? no, don't answer, OT!)

It's a blank cheque really isn't it? I mean, can we run a poll on a huge list of things we might find broadly offensive? If so, and everyone ticked say, lag, would LL do something about it?

I think it's a whitewash. Without a precise definition by LL it's a very blurred, grey area. Damn! didn't mean the colour pun but hell, they're so apt!

I can't think of anything to put in a list of what I'd find broadly offensive. SL if nothing else in the last seven months has I hope increased my tolerance to all things .. except mebbe lag.

By stating this logical point you have just made this thread pointless. If everyone found a certain act broadly offensive then no one would ever commit the act in the first place and no offense would ever be caused. If someone does comit an offensive act then at least one person would not find it offensive, i.e. the perpertrator. So there will never be an act commited that, to quote your words 'everybody' finds offensive.

Alright, replace "everyone" with "most people". You're just being picky now

If a minority of people find something offensive, then it is not broadly offensive.
My point here is that some people seem to misunderstand what the term "broadly" means. An individual cannot find something "broadly" offensive, as "broadly" means that it is found to be offensive by the community at large.

I would have reported them for failing to be "PG," as that's what they are supposed to be in the classifieds, profiles and land descriptions. Broadly offensive or not, there is a clear 'rule' on that one LL just doesn't have the manpower to enforce it, is all.

But frankly, I can go with the "if the majority finds it offensive." Just as long as they aren't defining it by, "majority of religions," or "majority of corporations," I'd abide the rules... I'd complain about them, but I'd abide them.

Am I right in thinking that the thread to which you refer was that started by Lveran Koolhaus? That thread was closed, not because anyone had wandered off the point but because the picture posted by the OP had breached Forum rules. I found that perplexing as it was clear from the outset that the OP was trying to get the offending display removed, having had no response to his two ARs. In fact from my reading of it, he was not so much asking for a definition of "broadly offensive" as hoping to enlist the support of others.




Lord Greer I think you'll find.



Oh I think it can be "broadly offensive" to members of a minority, and that is what the "reasonable man" has to consider. Otherwise I broadly agree with you. BTW, I thought you were joking when you responded to my JOCULAR "Mac" posting in another thread. Now I'm not so sure.



I refer you to my opening words. If that IS the thread you had in mind - look at Strife's reasons for locking it.

/me stirs in her sleep

No, just the majority of individual people, not organisations.
Of course, organisations are just a collection of individual people who happen to be of a like mind choosing to band together. Organisations therefore cannot have opinions or beliefs - the individuals in those organistions have opinions and beliefs and are in the organisation because the other members share their beliefs.

Like I said in my original post, I think it goes on the idea of the "reasonable man" or the "man on the street".

Indeed, i did interprate your wording litterally as I am a bit anal like that .
What percentage of the population would you require to be offended in order for an act to be deemed broadly ofensive?. Are we talking 98% or just a majority of 51%? I think this is a grey area that needs to be clarified to satisfy my anus...er i mean analness.

To quote James Bolam, which proved so wonderful in 'Beiderbecke Affair' that he repeated it in 'Born and Bred';
"I tried growing up once. I found it very overrated."

But doesn't the fact we engulf this rotating rock with such diverse beliefs, religions and flags, demonstrate our insatiable desire to be broadly offended by each other?

SL has a huge potential for eliminating this, I think and hope ... but not by applying censure.

I'm just going to attach myself to Chris' post on this one.

66%

Personally, I'll always be in the 34% that aren't though. I really can't think of anything in SL that I have seen that I find offensive at all.

Plenty of things that I just wouldn't fancy being involved in, but nothing that actually offended me. As far as I'm concerned, people can spend all day screwing child avatars and making Nazi salutes, it really doesn't affect me.

I find the number 66 to be offensive.

I rather gathered that.

I am outraged that anyone could find the number 66 offensive. I have now AR'd you for your backwards beliefs.

For fun, I put the term "broadly offensive" into Google and the first two pages of returns all had something to do with SL. Surprise, huh?

"Broadly Offensive" does NOT have a definition. It is why it is the perfect phrase to use in LLs situation.

"broadly" : adverb: without regard to specific details or exceptions.

"offensive" : adj: Disagreeable to the senses: Causing anger, displeasure, resentment, or affront:
n: An attitude or position of attack: An attack or assault:


Therefore we can conclude that "broadly offensive" means a non-specific, detail-less, full of exceptions attack that is disagreeable to the senses.

Doublespeak Lives!!!

So basically, it allows LL to tolerate everything until it actually causes them a problem.
That seems fair enough to me.

Basically, yeah.
Fair? Eh. No one ever told ya Second Life was fair.

the real issue is that Broadly offensive used to be completely allowed on Mature land.

Only things that showed intollerance were forbidden such as Nazi Icongraphy and Racist materials.

Now Broadly offensive isnt allowed and those things that were pretty much "universally" offensive such as Racial Hate content have just been lumped in with sex and debauchery.

This is where I think Dan L lost his clue.

Should have stuck to enforcing the few iron clad rules they had instead of making a bunch of jello clad ones.

A round of applause for jello-clad sex and debauchery!!!!

Jello sex? I am offended. (But if I wanted to find some of this so called "Jello" sex, what sim is it in?)