@bearswatching wrote:
Who decides what is offensive?
And there is the crux of the problem.
Thomas Jefferson had it right - If it costs me no money and does me no harm it is none of my business.
Within this business there is an old cliché - One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
I am not really “offended” by anything. Another poster just recently did an extensive rant about a seller offering Nazi era postage stamps, demanding that they should be removed.
HOWEVER when I was a kid I collected stamps and, through the Nazi era stamps, I got an extensive education in hyper-inflation (which, yes, did pre-date the Nazis but gave rise to Nazism). An education in the causes of World War II (I’m betting it is not what you think) and the dangers of a politician having too much power.
Something which might be offensive on its face to some can also serve as an educational tool.
George Santayana had it dead right. Not just the one about remembering the past so as to not repeat it.
But also:
There is no tyranny so hateful as a vulgar and anonymous tyranny. It is all-permeating, all-thwarting; it blasts every budding novelty and sprig of genius with its omnipresent and fierce stupidity. Such a headless people has the mind of a worm and the claws of a dragon.
