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Choosing to not be offended is a prerogative of the privileged. You might get to choose not to be offended but that's likely because you're not the target here.

Consider two things:

1. You're saying that someone doesn't have to be offended when that person's entire identity is being lampooned. Sure, I don't have to be offended if someone makes lazy Mexican jokes... but that doesn't mean that their behavior isn't reprehensible, not funny, and contributes to a culture of hatred and violence.

2. Considering that a culture that treats cross-dressing and transgendered people as "humorous" leads pretty quickly to making those people targets of scorn and violence leaves some of the choice out of it, don't you think? A transgendered person might "choose" not to be offended, but then a potential attacker might "choose" to think of someone as less of a person... and images and words like this contribute to that.

It sure seems like you're comparing a culture of derision and violence against transgendered people to getting cut off in traffic.



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