Is this an excess of stage green?

[caelanb]

Hello,

So a couple of months ago, I watched a video on microaggressions. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, it is a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group (such as a racial minority). The mosquito video is a good illustration of how microaggressions affect people. The mosquito video is a shorter version of the video I watched a few months ago.

I watched Leo's videos on excesses of stage green. I recall him pointing out that green can sometimes be too easily offended by jokes (such as about LGBT2Q+ or Asian people). I'm struggling to understand whether or not people's reactions to the so-called microaggressions are, as I recall Leo saying in his video, green being a 'snowflake' and offended too easily or a valid response. For example, if someone jokes about a marginalized person or is genuinely interested in a person's family background. So they ask where someone is from (whether or not they are part of a marginalized group).

I suspect it is not an excess because these seem to be genuine negative reactions that a marginalized person can experience from another person's words, whether it is intentional or not. This forces (mostly non-marginalized) people to be especially careful with what they say to avoid offending anyone (marginalized or non-marginalized), which prevents people from, as I recall Leo saying, developing 'tough skin.' However, as the mosquito video points out, considering the 'tough skin' argument, some people (especially marginalized people) experience them more than others, making it unfair for those people because they would have to develop much tougher skin as a baseline. Based on my understanding, a good example of this unfairness is white privilege. Anyways, just curious about people's thoughts. Where would it be okay to draw the line between green being reasonably sensitive and green being unreasonably sensitive? Violence is obviously excessive.

For example, many (if not all) people in my family (we are not part of a marginalized group) would consider microaggressions something you should avoid. However, Leo's video makes me rethink whether or not this is just an excess of stage green or an acceptable reaction from someone who has been and is being systemically oppressed. Thank you for reading, and it would be great to hear from you!