Comment:

A lot of online and digital spaces allow you to curate your personal experience - to mute or block troublesome people, to replace or censor certain terms, to toggle "arachnophobia" on so that the videogame displays placeholder orbs instead of spiders. The general consensus I've seen is that this is a good thing, preventing triggers and harassment and whatnot. As the separation between digital and physical fades away, why wouldn't you be allowed to filter your own experiences as you like?

What sensory experiences would you clip out of your life, if you could? Let's assume you would still be aware of their existence (so you could react appropriately, if necessary) but every instance of a hateful slur, for example, would be replaced with a bowlderized equivalent or a tasteful bleep - isn't that better? Would you still want the chance of being surprised by gory war photos in your news feed? Would you want to see random nudity when you're trying to work? Would you want to hear babies crying beside you at the restaurant, babies who aren't yours and who you can't help? Would you want to smell your coworker's body odour? Would you want to smell your own body odour?

And, once it's commonly accepted that everyone who would be offended by slurs already has them bleeped out, would people feel less shy about saying them? After all, if anyone who doesn't like those words doesn't have to hear them, what's the harm?

Transcript:

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0371– 2167/07/07/11:24- Rosenthal College, Delta building, classroom 0109
HA: Heather, by the way. Heather Appleby.
CP: I know.
HA: Yeah. Hi.
CP: Hi.
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CP: So you normally have adult content filters on, Heather?
HA: Yeah. By choice, I’m not, like, a child or anything.
CP: Oh, I d-didn’t mean-
HA: It’s fine. I keep a lot of content filters on – ads, crosstalk, violence, waste material, entertainment… it helps me focus.
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CP: Mmm, I used to do that. Realized I was missing out on a lot.
HA: Oh, don’t get me wrong, I only do it while I’m on campus. I’m here for a reason, y’know? I know there are some people who lock in twenty-four-seven, though. Kinda scary to think about, honestly.
CP: Well, people have a right to filter their experiences. That’s important to respect.
HA: True.
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HA: I admit, sometimes I like to imagine just stripping down naked in the middle of class and seeing who even notices. It’d be funny to do in the middle of an exam or something.
CP: That’s not how the “naked at school” dream typically goes, from what I understand...
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