Advice from Judith Martin, Nicholas Ivor Martin and Jacobina Martin.
The old rule was that politics, sex and religion should not be discussed in casual conversation among people whose sensitivities and opinions were unknown to one another. The rationale was to avoid offending anyone unintentionally.
But those three are not all. Food, for example, has become a controversial subject in terms of both nutrition and ethics. As for the weather being the only “safe” topic left -- not if the conversation turns to climate change.The real problem is not subject matter, but people who no longer care whether they cause casual offense. They may relish doing so -- not only to those whose affiliations and opinions they do not know, but also, perhaps especially, among those they do know.
Miss Manners regrets to observe that the usual current method of pointing out others’ errors is to belittle them. And oddly enough, this does not prod them to respond, “Wait, you have a point. I am totally wrong. Please straighten me out.”
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