(Prior discussion about masks people wear online)
Wearing masks in general is not healthy. Be who you are, and dont be afraid of who you are. Thats how you stay true to yourself. The problem is that many people will be mortally offended by that.
This has led to a somewhat dickish mindset of mine; It is not my responsibility to placate other people's emotional foibles. More bluntly, I dont need nor want to kiss other people's asses to make them feel better. I wont go out of my way to shit on people (that's just plain rude), but I wont kiss their asses, and staunchly refuse to do so.
I personally LIKE that basically any topic can be discussed here. When things dont get discussed, the underlying situation behind those topics does not improve. People hold in those opinions, they fester, and can become serious societal ills. It can lead to bickering and virtual online violence with people throwing hissy fits-- yes. But it also leads to more mutual understandings of problems, and communally proposed solutions as well. You dont get the latter without some of the former. Take the good right along with the bad; it's just the way life is.
For an idea of how terrible the idea of trying to impose some kind of censorship on others just to suit one's own sense of safety or comfort is-- think about this for a moment.
Most people here have a sexuality of some kind. I do not. I am actually squicked out by sexual themes and activities, especially gregarious ones. I would rather not hear about or know about other people's sexual exploits, desires, or orientations-- To me, people are their cogitative agencies, not their sexual inclinations and drives. As such, when I see things stated like "But she has some great boobs" or something, it makes me want to punch the person that said it. Straight up, 100% of the time. To me, boobies have no value that would trump a person's mind. To me, the mind is the only real thing that matters. Imagine how unpleasant you would find this place if I had the power to enforce that kind of sterility on everyone else.
Instead, I just accept that 99.9% of the world lusts for one thing or another, and that sexuality is totally a thing, even though I despise it. It is the way it is. I could choose to lock myself away from the world, and miss out on all kinds of interesting and wonderful thoughts-- just because of the offensiveness of some sexual people-- OR-- I can just buck up, sigh a little inside, and move on-- and get to enjoy those wonderful moments when the awesome comes out.
I wont pretend that I like all those sexual things, just to suit the majority. That's wearing a mask. I will brazenly state up front that I am just not into those things, because that is who and what I am. That does not mean I get to force other people to wear a mask that looks like me. Part of being accepted, is accepting other people. Even when we find them offensive.
For this and many other reasons, I am staunchly against political correctness. That is one giant assed mask that people get forced to wear, because "Somebody might be offended! (gasp!)".
Fuck that.
Be who you are. Be accepted for who you are. Accept others for who they are.
It's that simple.