To some extent I think the point is the people saying something offensive rarely perceive it in that way - so it would be something other people warn you about - which, I think, is a fairly accurate representation of what we have now - a word-of-mouth system for warning people about writing/conversations that are racially problematic.
Do you remember the incident with the Supernatural RPS fic set in Cambodia awhile back? Something like that might have benefited from some kind of institutionalized warning system - if the author had to stop and consider whether to check a button to warn about potentially offensive representation of a culture not his/her own, that may have produced some deeper thinking - or, it might just have served as the sort of "don't like, don't read" justification that you mention.
But, yes, overall it's unfortunate when one person's quest for safe space undermines someone else's ability to feel safe.
Re: The safe space metaphor
To some extent I think the point is the people saying something offensive rarely perceive it in that way - so it would be something other people warn you about - which, I think, is a fairly accurate representation of what we have now - a word-of-mouth system for warning people about writing/conversations that are racially problematic.
Do you remember the incident with the Supernatural RPS fic set in Cambodia awhile back? Something like that might have benefited from some kind of institutionalized warning system - if the author had to stop and consider whether to check a button to warn about potentially offensive representation of a culture not his/her own, that may have produced some deeper thinking - or, it might just have served as the sort of "don't like, don't read" justification that you mention.
But, yes, overall it's unfortunate when one person's quest for safe space undermines someone else's ability to feel safe.