With less tolerance from certain people when it comes to unintentionally saying something deemed “insulting” or outside of the Overton window we must stop and think of those who are least able to adapt to these unreasonable expectations.
Most people will find it difficult to account for every possible interpretation of their benign comment, but those most at risk to fail this “virtue test” are the men and women that fall somewhere on the autistic spectrum. A young man in university who suffers from Aspergers may say “your hair is crazy” to a young black woman. A number of reactions are possible, some of which align with the philosophy “choose not be harmed and you will not feel harmed”, and others of which generate suffering on all sides by assuming bad faith. Let us all train ourselves with respect to the former, rather than hailing the latter offence-taking as an epistemological ideal.