The thing I most dislike about the “what’s acceptable in public” debate isn’t even the impossibility of drawing a clear line between things that are Objectively Disruptive and Offensive (public nudity, listening to videos on your phone in public) and things that Someone Finds disruptive and offensive because they’re a prude or a bigot or whatever (gay handholding; blue hair; short skirts; talking with a friend in public about your experiences giving birth (that last one is upsetting to me for all the usual reasons people don’t like to hear graphic descriptions of genital torture recited out loud where they have no choice but to listen, but I’m apparently a prude or a bigot for feeling that way, so whatever) )

No, the worst part for me is how people try to claim they aren’t gonna weaponize any of this against the homeless or disabled (“of course I’m against listening to TikTok videos in public! but I’d never blame a mentally ill person for singing to himself or a poor person for smelling bad”)

because at the core of it is, “it’s okay to do something unpleasant if you literally can’t help it, but it’s not okay to do something similarly unpleasant on purpose”

Which is undeniably true… but also totally unactionable, unless you have A System for judging how much control strangers have over whatever situation they’re in, and therefore whether they deserve to receive any support and accommodation, or just be penalized for bad behavior.

And I’ve never seen a System like that actually work.