I think what you are describing would indeed be dystopian, if that was what was happening. I could imagine an alternate reality where the anti-racist thought police go around punishing white people for opening their mouths and saying anything. That would be bad.

At this point, we are so far from that dystopia that I think we are safe. All we are asking is for young adults to consider the impact of their words and actions. I think that would be called "maturity" in a different world. But, in this world I think the controversy comes when the word and concept of "racism" comes in to the discussions of impacts of words and actions. It is a hot topic and a lot of white people are feeling under attack for just doing and saying all the things we have doing and saying all along.

I think what I hear you saying is you object to normalizing talking about racism for the same reasons that people objected to the "political correctness" that was pushed onto people a generation ago. In both cases, it is often not genuine and is just an attempt to be seen as doing the right thing, while at the same time stifling real change and conversation.

I don't agree with everything that Bill Maher or Howard Stern say, but I do appreciate that they don't walk on eggshells, and I appreciate your counterpoints here and elsewhere.