So is it your thought process that if anything can have a context that is deemed offensive by anyone…then regardless of how it is used or referenced it is automatically offensive? Really think about that.
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I was just thinking about what what I’ve ate. 
I commented on that back in the “grabher” post.
People are offended by all sorts of things. That’s where the whole “reasonable person” ideal comes from in courts, and even that is a poor method for determining such.
As I said in my earlier comment, context matters. In a mostly-Aboriginal area (and this is Manitoba, so that’s quite possible), the word may have special significance. A lot of that context is lost when you take these discussions outside of the local community and try to look at it in a vacuum.
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The residential school system which was designed to forcefully assimilate indigenous peoples into the wider settler Canadian society is a recent phenomena and is very much still fresh in people’s minds. Especially since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is only a couple years old. Manitoba has a large indigenous population and had many horrifying residential schools. When people see this license plate, I can assure you they think of indigenous people.
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Precisely. The Star Trek reference is amusing, but context here is everything. Canada is finally starting to come to terms with its own history of genocide, but most of the non-native population are still very much in denial. Here’s a primer:
So it’s all very well for everyone to have a knee-jerk reaction to say this is government over-reach. But what about the part where people stop and think first, and perhaps learn a little bit about other people’s suffering?
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But that’s the issue. If the measure for something is that it could be offense to someone regardless of context then we can find nearly anything labeled offensive all based on perspective.
While I understand that one “can be offended” the context of “is it an offensive” matters. Context matters. As does reason. It cannot be an extreme of any view because that can tip one way or another.
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I believe context matters when you consider offence. Once can look at the licence plate and think “How is this offensive considering the many meanings of the word ‘assimilate’?”, but that may be less important than what the word means in the context of the local community where the word is found.
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Maybe if a question mark was added.
That way, Assimilate?, could be more of a suggestion than a command.
Less Borg-like, but more palatable.
Edit: not nevermind.
Ok. Fair enough that within that community a word may be associated with something negative; however, policies are not restricted most often to a single community or Even a region. They tend to be set at a higher level. A state should not set a policy for 12 townships based on one of the towns desires. Just as a country should not set policy/regulation for one state or province…it should be for all.
Laws are not made to benefit or appease a single person even a hundred or a million if the greater populace is more vastly affected. And yes there can be and are exceptions to this, but those are extreme cases.
Is a word on a license plate really the line in the sand? While the contextual reference by some in that region may be negative it’s use by this person is not. Here it is a pop culture reference. Should any and all pop culture references that any individual or group finds contextually offensive also be banned?
I guess performing Candide is right out then?
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It’s really easy to think that when it is, in fact, just a fucking license plate!
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No-one is stopping this jackass from painting “Assimilate” on the back and sides of his car in the largest letters that will fit, in the brightest color he can find. But, no, it’s not the government’s place to be endorsing offensive and eliminationist language, and to be instantiating it in their formal, official materials.
Does he not realize that the Borg are the baddies? That the idea of “assimilation” and the loss of your unique identity is a threat, a horror story designed to resonate with the violent imposition of the majority culture upon countless minority and underclass groupsthroughout history?
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Well, yeah, you would think that, wouldn’t you?! 
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35 million intelligent people seemed to think so last year. They don’t seem to be in rebellion today, so, yep, seems so.
Lots of other civilised places would do similar things, while remaining contented with their rulers . . . places that fill the yearly “Index of happiness” slots pretty much, so, yeah. Maybe it is not just a way to run a government, but THE way to run a successful government?
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It is almost universally my experience that anyone saying “Lighten Up Francis” - and especially anyone using a GIF to do so - is habituated to behaving in a manner I probably can’t accurately describe within the rules of this forum.
Assimilation: not actually a fncking laughing matter.
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Saw CMPTRMP on a plate today. My snowflake trigger went off and I just had to remind myself that sexual assault is ok now.
Fair enough. The US had a similar program, though it was largely reformed in the 70s (though there are still some Federally funded schools today). While not entirely forgotten, they aren’t very well known as being part of our history. Honestly I think if someone was to take offense in the US, it would be the assumption of Hispanic immigrants needing to assimilate better.
In related news, my friend was an editor and producer of a film about a boy running away from one of those schools and a bounty hunter sent to bring him back. I haven’t actually gotten to see the whole thing, but it was a well received indie film.
