20101011

冒犯

我住的小鎮雖然在加州,但比起三藩市、柏克萊、洛杉磯等地,卻是相當保守,居民以白人福音派基督徒為主;大學校園內的氣氛一般都算自由開放,可是,一走出校園,便很容易感到一股不弱的保守氣息(尤其是看到那遍佈全鎮大大小小的教會,我會感到有點透不過氣來)。

其實,大學裏有不少學生是本地人,思想比一些來自其他地方的學生保守。我的一個朋友是生物學教授,他告訴我每個學期當他要講解進化論時,都會有幾個學生立刻離場,表示不願意聽這蠱惑人心的理論。

我未試過有學生因我講的課題而離場,可是,冒犯保守的學生,我倒是有點經驗的,因為間中在課堂上批評宗教和迷信,我當是家常便飯。有時候,這些保守學生的保守程度,還是出乎我想像的。有一次,我在課堂上放了一個有趣的短片,用來說明語境或脈絡(context)的重要。事後,有個學生給我電郵,說短片令她不安,她覺得被冒犯了(offended)。

以下是我放的短片:



那學生覺得被冒犯,是因為她認為短片上顯示了人體性器官的圖形,然而,我放那短片的目的,正正是為了說明我們看到的是否性器官的圖形,是取決於圖形出現的脈絡!我把這點再向她說明一次,強調她在短片裏看到的不是人體性器官的圖形(其實是又怎樣?),她是否釋然,我也不管了。

34 則留言:

  1. 離場和寫信投訴是小事,Bertrand Russell就是因說得太多「冒犯」基督教的話而不能到紐約任教。

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  2. Barry,

    不過羅素應該不在乎。

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  3. 如果嗰位同學覺得被offend咗,咁佢就唔應該強調看到的唔係性器官;如果佢強調看到的原來唔係性器官,咁佢到底想和你講咩呢?

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  4. CYC,

    輪到你飲醉酒了?那學生認為她看到的是性器官圖形!

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  5. Oh,今舖我飲可樂飲醉了
    (* ̄o ̄)ノ口~

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  6. feel a bit of the pressure you're facing...
    breath... 1,2,3... breath.... 1,2,3...

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  7. I mean she’s a real demonstration how situation could become really disturbing while the context is missed out.

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  8. 自己心邪仲要賴人,英文有冇「賴」呢個姓0架?

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  9. 她的世界祇容許一個語境/脈絡/解讀順序,你的解釋她很難入耳的了,對你深切同情 :-(

    我相信她一定不是主修哲學的學生,對嗎?

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  10. 我離開校園已久,不知wong sir在大學敢放這樣的短片算不算大膽。事前不怕有人投訴,或更甚,採取法律訴訟行動嗎?這是美國嘛,侵犯學習的人權(我想出來的),emotional distress 之類。

    我也試過,離開這些市中心只不過一個小時車程,猛然發覺氣息的大轉變。

    多年來,自己的思想不知不覺逐漸地演變,現狀變得理所當然,我已經回不去以前那些保守的思想。但這世界的其他人不一定跟着我在一起演變,很多人還停留在『後面』。說自己的演變是『前進』好像有點狂妄,但因我曾經在那兒,所以看到別人在我以前的位置,那麽那就是我的『後面』。

    也有發現自己的親朋停還留在好『後面』,年紀較大的,思想轉變自然較難,讓我驚訝的是當中不乏我輩的,背景有的跟我差不多。暗暗叫自己不要想當然地認為,住在美國久了,在這個所謂開放、民主、種族文化多元化的加州,就會懂得包涵別人,包涵其他種族文化思想。這些人包括不同的少數族裔本身呀!

    提醒我自己:如果我留在自己的圈子久了,也會察覺不到異見的存在,那麽,跟我不屑別人察覺不到異見的存在沒有分別。

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  11. Just want to make some points here.

    1. There maybe other reasons to feel being offended in this case.
    a) Religious.(For example, fundamental Christian/Islam for example.)
    b) Moral conservative.
    c) Feminist.

    a)and b) often bundle together, but not necessary.

    I would also consider c) to be a valid reason too after viewing the video.

    2. The student should have the right to express that she was offended. Just like Wong has the right to teach/express his opinion. However, given the case that this video may be offensive to some people. One should look for another alternative first, just to be courteous for other people's feeling. In addition, the student did not have a choice not to receive the information, but Wong had a choice to deliver or not.

    3. There maybe other means/video can illustrative the point equally well -- interpretation depends on context. However, maybe less provocative.

    4. I maybe wrong, but, in my opinion, this issue is a judgment of taste, and not a right/wrong one.

    alan

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  12. catcat,

    //feel a bit of the pressure you're facing...//

    - I don't feel much pressure. Thank you.

    //I mean she’s a real demonstration how situation could become really disturbing while the context is missed out.//

    - But she was still disturbed even when the contexts were given.

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  13. Meshi,

    //自己心邪仲要賴人,英文有冇「賴」呢個姓0架?//

    - 我也不知她是否算是心邪。

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  14. CW,

    //我相信她一定不是主修哲學的學生,對嗎?//

    - 她是主修哲學的,不過是半途出家,由另一系轉來的(已忘了是哪一系)。

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  15. shiren,

    //我離開校園已久,不知wong sir在大學敢放這樣的短片算不算大膽。//

    - 不算吧。

    //我也試過,離開這些市中心只不過一個小時車程,猛然發覺氣息的大轉變。//

    - 這種經驗在美國很容易有。

    //暗暗叫自己不要想當然地認為,住在美國久了,在這個所謂開放、民主、種族文化多元化的加州,就會懂得包涵別人,包涵其他種族文化思想。這些人包括不同的少數族裔本身呀!//

    - 很同意。你也住在加州嗎?

    //提醒我自己:如果我留在自己的圈子久了,也會察覺不到異見的存在,那麽,跟我不屑別人察覺不到異見的存在沒有分別。//

    - 很好。反省總還有多一步的。

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  16. alan,

    Thanks for making those points.

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  17. 在那些文藝復興的畫作和雕刻裡,性器官不是「暴露」得更明顯嗎﹖(我這個香港人已經都幾保守,but I don't feel offended...)

    (To Meshi:
    對不住,在之前的辯論我失蹤了,沒有再繼續,因為我在臨近開學的時候要加緊自修日文補底。現在我有很多功課要忙,課餘看書和自學希臘文,居然忘記了那場debate了,希望閣下原諒。)

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  18. My town is quite similar to yours. There are so many different Christian fellowships on campus, and I often see students reading the BIble on the bus to school.

    //我的一個朋友是生物學教授,他告訴我每個學期當他要講解進化論時,都會有幾個學生立刻離場,表示不願意聽這蠱惑人心的理論。//

    I heard this happens regularly at my university too. Or students would bring their Bibles to class as a protest.

    One thing we do often in sociology classes is to challenge students' common sense understanding of the world. And some students feel "offended" when their worldview got challenged. The first term I taught at my university, I had one student complained on my teaching evaluation that he was offended that I talked so much about racism and sexism in class - and it was my Social Problems class. Go figure...

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  19. Stephen,

    //在那些文藝復興的畫作和雕刻裡,性器官不是「暴露」得更明顯嗎﹖(我這個香港人已經都幾保守,but I don't feel offended...)//

    - 相信不少人都不知道美國人中思想保守的多的是,我也是到了美國才知道的。

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  20. Stephen,

    辯論?我也只有模糊的記憶了,連主題是甚麼也想不起來。不過既然你說沒有繼續,那應該算我贏了吧?哈哈。

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  21. Lin,

    //My town is quite similar to yours. There are so many different Christian fellowships on campus, and I often see students reading the BIble on the bus to school. //

    - Actually, it looks like your town is worse than mine! At least I rarely see students reading the Bible.

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  22. As you know HK ppl seldom read, so I'm always interested in what the metro-readers's reading. For young ladies, most often it's romance fiction while for adults, it's either bible or christian literature. (Old man would be history tho)

    I never went to US but I've heard enough of how conservative it is. I began to afraid HK is heading towards the same direction long time ago as conservative 'church-teaching' is gaining grounds here.

    And, talking about 'being offended.'. I've got a christian colleague who showed me the breast-feeding picture in the paper, 'it's so ugly, so vulgar!'. and i was like, what!!?? I just saw a sweat and beautiful picture showing motherly affection. (the pic hardly show any 'sensitvie part' of the breast as the baby head was in front)

    F

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  23. Alan:

    Why would you think feminists would be offended by the video?

    I see what you mean that students could have good reasons feeling offended by real pictures of penises and breasts. However, in the video though, there aren't even real breasts and penises. I think in that student's case, it would be a great learning moment for her to think about why she still feels offended. I would have posed that question to her with respect and see how she explains it to me.

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  24. F,

    //HK is heading towards the same direction long time ago as conservative 'church-teaching' is gaining grounds here. //

    - I certainly hope this is not the case.

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  25. Meshi
    好啦,我認輸啦(嗚...如此落敗,甚不甘心...)

    F
    說來也是,愈來愈多香港人加入基督教了...不過他們是否真正信教又是另一件事。我有兩個朋友雖然是基督教,但其實是在小時候被父母「(不明動詞)*」去教會...

    *不明動詞:強逼/引導/邀請 etc.

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  26. @Lin,
    1) 'Why would you think feminists would be offended by the video?'
    First few seconds of every sketch resemble nude bodies with amplified views of sex organs in various positions. That may be suggestive to be pornographic and thus objectification of female body. There are many types of feminists and I am no expert. However, the above would come to my mine if I am a feminist. I can be wrong here.

    2) ‘I see what you mean that students could have good reasons feeling offended by real pictures of penises and breasts. However, in the video though, there aren't even real breasts and penises.’
    Why is there distinction between real pictures of sex organ/sketches of it? Where do we draw the line between obscene/nudity? I don’t know where the line is drawn. I remember one(maybe a judge?) saying that you will know it when you see it. Therefore, I added the issue might be due to judgment of taste. I would also add the consideration should be in the context too. In this case, the context is not a queer theory/anatomy class. 

    3) Assume another hypothetical case. She is taking a queer theory class and therefore she ‘should’ be more liberal and accepts what she saw. In reality, however, the student is offended. Should the offense be justified?

    4) ‘I think in that student's case, it would be a great learning moment for her to think about why she still feels offended. I would have posed that question to her with respect and see how she explains it to me.’
    Does the student has to experience the offense in order to learn a) interpretation depends on context or b) learn to be more open and challenge her worldview or c) more liberal and accepts of more sexually explicit material?
    For a), I already stated that there might be other means to achieve it.
    For b), there should also be other means.
    For c), it is not the main objective of the class in this context.

    5) I am playing devil’s advocate here. I graduated from a very liberal college too. I would have a good laugh when I watched the video. However, I believe in this pluralistic world mutual respect and dialogue should be preferred. Just a side point, in this case, the student may turn out to be more conservative due to self-defense mechanism. I believe that people don’t react to truth positively often, but people always are attracted to something beautiful. For example, if I am a lecturer and want my students to be more liberal and accept of more sexually explicit material. A love story with good love scenes serves well.

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  27. alan,

    //few seconds of every sketch resemble nude bodies with amplified views of sex organs in various positions. That may be suggestive to be pornographic and thus objectification of female body.//

    - But the fact is --- they were not!

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  28. Wong,

    I agree with you that these sketches were not pornographic. I only used words like 'resemble' and 'suggestive'. The same pattern, lines appeared to be sex organ like first then transformed into other object, was repeated 10, 15 times. I believe using the resemble-ness to make a provocative joke was the intention of the sketcher.

    Checking the dictionary,
    Definition of PORNOGRAPHY from
    a)
    http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pornography
    1: the depiction of erotic behavior (as in pictures or writing) intended to cause sexual excitement
    2: material (as books or a photograph) that depicts erotic behavior and is intended to cause sexual excitement
    3: the depiction of acts in a sensational manner so as to arouse a quick intense emotional reaction

    from b)
    http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0649410#m_en_gb0649410

    printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity, intended to stimulate sexual excitement



    Wong,
    Using the definition above, I probably am wrong on this point and just stretched it too far.

    any female perspective?

    alan

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  29. 心理學上有樣野叫做"刻板印象"吧,當然呢個"刻板印象"明顯係俾基督教洗腦啦.
    其實我覺得性同食都係好有意義既"生"既本能(弗洛依德講既),只係2者如果不懂節制都會影響身體,都係唔好的.
    只係暴食同道德無關,但性涉及道德,先令人更大反感同忌諱之嘛.只要善用就ok啦~
    就算中國講既"萬惡淫為首",所指既"淫"字都只係指過渡沉溺,放縱或無節制既意思0者.都唔係一定指性架.
    不過同佢地講都係唗氣既,佢地講"原罪論",連自己都相信自己一出世就有罪,咁罪人既性器官都"好自然"有罪啦^^"(有罪又唔見切左佢..!?! )

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  30. 純純男子漢,

    其實何謂淫,何謂性事過多,都不易說清楚。

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  31. //我也試過,離開這些市中心只不過一個小時車程,猛然發覺氣息的大轉變。//

    - 這種經驗在美國很容易有。


    想提一提,其實在city範圍內,一樣有保守派市民,隨手舉兩個例子:老牌高尚住宅區,和低收入亞洲中南美洲新移民聚居地,總會有不小的部分是很保守的。這個wong sir和不少人應都己知道。而所謂保守也有分socially和economically。一個socially conservative的人不一定是economically conservative。

    『- 很同意。你也住在加州嗎?』

    對,在北加州。

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  32. alan, Lin,

    你們的見解都讓我要思考再思考, still thinking... Interesting discussion. Thanks.

    shiren

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  33. I am a female, and I don't feel being offeneded upon watching this video. But althought I am not a perfect feminist, and I am no expert in feminism too, I thk I could kind of understand why some female could have felt a bit uneasy. In this vedio every sketches begin with a drawing of outline of sexual related organs. I belive the drawer himself originally would only want to make fun of these illusions, but some people esp women, may think that suggestive sexual image like these are not something that can be joked about. It is just like, when a bunch of men joking about figure of a woman etc., women could think this is not decent and not respected. (okay maybe this is a bad example and my explanation is crap....hope that somebody gets it) But what I want to say is, it is possible that the female student is offeneded not because of not understanding that no pornographic image is shown or the importance of context. She may had jus thought that sexual jokes make her feel uneasy. Another thing is sometimes our emotion don't agree with reality....say in this case, we can know rationally that this video is for teaching use and not intending to upset anyone however, we can still feel uneasy on it. Just by feeling uneasy, it does not mean that one can't make reasonable judgement on controversive issue...you can't say this person is morally conservative by that isn't it?

    This is the first time for me joining the discussions....and I know nothing about philosophy....so please correct me if I misunderstand anything.

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  34. Holly,

    You made very good points. By the way, I didn't judge that the student was a conservative person simply because of her response to this video. I knew some of her background.

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