"Is this another one of those twitter storms in a tea cup where the professionally offended get...well....offended"
I dunno, without having read all he has written, but tried to find examples. I think it is one of these cases were people default to rage instead of debate. I find it sad that it happens within a part of our society that claims to be inclusive and claims to seek the truth through debate and examination. I am not saying the rage can't be justified. There is plenty of elements in our society that is bad. Elements being both persons, groups and systemic. I am saying that, first: rage is often the wrong tool if you want results and second: that if you default to it you will certainly end up fuelling the society you do not want and even turning your own side into it.
What is boils down to is:
Who the speaker is matters. Is it veiled speak from a politician trying to cover up "illegitimate" views with seemingly legit arguments, is it a guy on the spectrum looking at the world and society as an intellectual exercise or somebody that is simply not enlightened yet in some understanding of the world. Against neither of these rage would be a good tool. The politician in this case is a liar and the arguments needs to be undressed and unpacked, not for the benefit of the politician, but for the benefit of the people he or she is trying to convince. The person that is not enlightened you have to understand the background to. For any of us over the age of twenty, there are lots of majority opinions that existed when we were born that has already been moved to unacceptable. People that lag a little behind the times need to included and brought up to speed. Unless we do so we will create a society which will throw us all under the bus when we age a little. And last, what about the guy on the spectrum. Here we have some perfect example that using rage in a quest for social justice and a tolerant society ends up being exclusive and narrow minded. One is literally attacking somebody due to an attribute that person is born with. Seems to me like a definition of something.
Attacking people that simply needs to be taught is exactly the thing we are trying to get rid of and it is attacking the very fabric of the path forward for any society. It disgusts me to the core and this whimsical rage that exists, in the so called academia and among those that claim to be educated, is a cancer and it may very well bring the western world to end. And there we have it, I am raging as well sums my point up quite nicely.
Want to be friends, or at least friendly enough to talk to each other?