When you’re with friends and sometimes family you usually can speak you’re mind without fear of the P.C. police but what happens when the person you’re with says something that’s racist, sexist or just plain wrong? If we verbally reprimand this person it’s not like their feelings are truly going away or even that these words were truly meant to be literal. Our “good intentions” could result in a huge argument in which neither one of us truly win. Our friend may say we are “too sensitive” or feel angry that they have to watch every word they say around us.
What we could do instead is try to understand where the person is coming from that says these remarks and empathize with their emotions not the way their saying it. We can state how we feel in general about what this individual is saying and offer a different way of looking at the subject. Once we state our position it might be best to move on to a different topic and see if it comes up again. Sometime later we may realize that we were too sensitive to those remarks because they were made in humor or were meant to express something quite different then we initially heard. We also might realize that this is actually how our friend feels and we might have to consider ending this friendship. I’ve personally had to end a friendship with a certain individual because they continued to express hateful remarks which were outside the bounds of decency. In conclusion it’s best not to past judgment on an individual because of some out of cuff remark but also be free to express our point of view as well with the tact that can truly make a difference.