| kain_kusanagi said: Let's say you do bring up 9/11. No mal intent, it's a legit topic. The person you are talking to starts crying. It turns out they lost their father in the Twin Towers. The human thing to do is apologies. You explain that you didn't mean to hurt them and apologies for causing them pain. That's what empathy is about it. |
Not really. You wouldn't have any obligation (morally) to apologize for merely discussing a topic that someone else finds disturbing. There's nothing wrong with discussing 9/11. In fact, I'm pretty sure every American has probably discussed it thoroughly in their life; it's actually become a fairly common topic in the USA especially for educational purposes. If someone starts crying because of such a common topic, that's their own problem. Do you think people should apologize for talking about leg training because it made a parylized person upset? I would say no. Sure, it would be a good course of action to ease the tension, but other than that, there's no obligation to do so.
And if you do apologize, it's because you are sorry the person is upset, not that you're sorry you discussed the topic. A difference.
