Hi clo,
I think it would help everyone if we don't demand other people walk along a tightrope of conversational rectitude. It's better for everyone to allow a broader highway.
Surely you have also heard of the horror stories of accusations of "insensitivity" which are out there on facebook and elsewhere, and that are used to crucify the apparent transgressor with everyone they know. Horrifying. We need to reverse course.
It was an attempt at a compliment. He was trying to avoid saying anything that sounded like it was sexual but nevertheless saying she looked nice. So distinct from a beauty pageant. His wife was standing next to him so he wasn't being flirtatious.
In the model of what is offensive along this narrow rope, you can sorta draw a crazy flow chart of who is allowed to say what? Is the person speaking a man or a woman. If it's a man, is he straight or gay? If it's a woman is she straight or gay? If it's a straight man, does he know the person he is talking to or not? Same question for a gay woman? etc.
For me, this is one way the world has gone mad. We can't be robots. Even if we say it was gauche, so what. His intention wasn't wicked.
No one is actually vicariously shocked. We just assume the pose because we are taught to assume it, collectively. Cue, in-drawn breath.
I hope.
Because otherwise, it's just trigger-happy victimhood in every direction. For me, that is already a bane of the USA and other countries. And smacks of hypocrisy when you look at the mixture of cultural outputs free peoples distribute and insist on distributing. Look at the way young girls are sexualised in the music industry and imposed on countries with more conservative cultures.
I prefer the Roman Republican ideal of muscular citizenship. Expect people to be strong enough to cope with a lot of the stuff that is out there.
I am offended by massively reducing Medicaid and making coverage for sick people more expensive. That is repulsive.
| 
