wvaherp

This is all very well put and true. I don't disagree with you at all (not that I believe you were doing so with my post). It really just highlights the state that we as a society or species are in. Not that I think it's any different than any historical era, in all honesty. While you're absolutely right about it being a self fulfilling prophecy to say I don't think it will ever change, that doesn't mean I don't wish it to. It certainly seems to be part of our nature in general though.

We really should put effort into "facing our demons" and figuring out where the underlying issues are, but as you say "do we have the guts?" I personally believe there is at least a glimmer of wickedness in most, if not all, people and the fear many feel of having those thoughts or feelings brought into the light is part of what prevents us from moving forward. It really helps explain the "shield and dagger" you describe. If I'm correct in this, it also seems to help outline how this apparent war on anything deemed as possibly offensive is making things significantly worse on a multitude of fronts...

I've actually gone through about 5 revisions with different examples of how over-sensitization of some people and conversely the natural push-back by others against being told what you can and can't say or do combined with seemingly natural tendencies of humans towards doing "bad things" equals inordinately worse things, but I'm having trouble making sure they're clear and coherent at the moment (it's Friday, lol).

All in all, I think that we suffer from a complex of trying to make things better without fully understanding them (let alone the unintended consequences) in the first place. This obviously gets us into quite a bit of trouble as a species.

Though there are plenty of cases where I sit back and wonder if some of these "unintended" consequences of policies were in fact unintended at all...

Obviously this is all a massive oversimplification of a subject that is likely as old as our sentience and more complex than most care to bother with, but it's still a more productive conversation than one about trying to regulate/legislate our way into morality or safety from those who would do us harm.


Disclaimer: I'm not an expert on anything or even all that well-read or educated. I'm just some hack who tries to rationalize and think things through on occasion...