Conundrum Time!

[kriadydragon]

Okay, so you run across something you feel to be slightly offensive in someone's journal - someone you know and who is on your f'list. Not personally offensive, but possibly offensive to another group, or nation, or religion, or what have you.

Do you say something?

ETA: When I say offensive I don't mean that they're being deliberately offensive. That is, they're not trying to be mean or insulting. They're just kidding around, is all. Basically it's your classic foot-in-mouth situation but they don't seem to realize it.

Comments

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

The problem with this, though, is that if the person hadn't meant it - if it had been a slip of the tongue - and you defriend them without ever saying anything then they'll never know why. While you've just lost a friendship that could have been saved had you cleared the air.

We all have moments when we're unintentionally offensive, and if I were offensive to the point that someone was no longer able to feel comfortable around me, I would want to know in order to rectify the situation.

Plus... it's not really about telling other people how they should feel. It's more a matter of determining where we all stand. If someone said something that I felt was offensive, I spoke up about it but they stuck to their guns, then I know that this is probably someone who I may need to defriend, especially if they continue to state opinions that I find offensive. Yes, people have every right to say what they want in their journals, but people also have the right to speak up if they don't agree, or feel offended, by what is said. After all, they may be journals but they aren't exactly private journals, even when friends locked.

I normally won't say anything on a matter unless it's something I feel strongly about, myself. Case in point, there was an issue in which false things were being said about my religion. I couldn't let it go because, again, these were false labels- ridiculously false labels that I wasn't going to let others take as fact. Did I change the minds of those slurring my faith? Probably not. But at least those reading the comments will see enough differing opinions on the matter to find out things for themselves rather than take the slurs as immediate fact.