Taking Offense - Has It Gone Off The Rails?

HughFreakingDillon

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kirker-butler/dont-be-offended_b_2838657.html?utm_hp_ref=entertainment

Don’t Be Offended. Seriously, Don’t.
By Kirker Butler
5.1k
Recently, our country was shaken to its core by two events that future historians will mark as the point-of-no-return for America’s long slide into moral depravity. I am speaking of course about The Oscars, and a sketch on Saturday Night Live called “Djesus Uncrossed.” I am not going to rehash either here because this is a time for healing. However, I would like to take a moment to address the people who have spent hours blogging, boycotting, emailing, and tweeting their disgust. In short, I would like to speak to the offended, and I would like to say this:

No one cares that you’re offended.

Literally no one. Okay, maybe your mom, but even she wishes you would take it down a notch. The offense you’ve taken at something you saw on TV is completely and utterly irrelevant to anyone other than yourself. Taking offense is just that, something you willingly take, and you have every right to do so. But once you take it, that mess is yours and yours alone.

I’m not saying people shouldn’t be offended by anything. There are plenty of things in this world that are truly offensive and worthy of our thoughtful attention. But I would argue that your hypersensitive overreaction to some televised comedy bits is far more harmful to our nation’s wellbeing than the bits themselves. I mean, how can we continue calling ourselves The Home of the Brave if we collectively shit our pants over every little boob and/or Jesus joke?

I know you’re going to say that you’re just trying to protect your children, but ask yourself what kind of message your reactionary hissy-fits are sending them? Certainly not one of bravery. At your funeral, do you think your kids will stand up and say, “My mother was so brave. In 2013 she got Sears to pull their ads from ‘Saturday Night Live’ for six whole weeks because she didn’t think a sketch they did was funny.” Probably not. But they might remember you sitting at a computer sending angry emails while they really just wanted you to take them to the park.

But I don’t blame you entirely. Being offended has become an epidemic in America. In fact, it’s become an industry. Scores of non-profit organizations have been created with the sole purpose of getting butthurt at things, and then trying to convince you that you should be butthurt, too. The Parent’s Television Council, One Million Moms, The American Family Association, etc.—all exist solely to spread phony outrage about one perceived offense or another. Their goal, they say is to inform and advise, but in reality they’re just humorless busybodies who believe that their opinions are more valid than others. Oh, and it’s also a good way to make money.

They’ll start some online boycott or petition, which will then trend on Twitter for a couple hours. Some cable news producer, desperate for content, will put them on TV, which only validates the busybody’s already overinflated sense of entitlement. Their website gets more traffic; they get more tax-exempt donations; and another finger wagging, “family-advocacy” organization gets more control over what we all see and hear. But what makes this dangerous is that these people embolden other busybodies watching at home to “take a stand” (i.e. cry like a bitch) when anything, no matter how insignificant, “offends” them. And their incessant whining is making us weaker as a nation.

People are having to remove t-shirts before they board planes so as not to offend other passengers. They’re having to peel bumper stickers from their cars so offended co-workers won’t have to see them in the parking lot. Textbooks are being rewritten, stand-up comics are second-guessing their jokes, all because some thin-skinned brats think the world should bend over backwards so they don’t have to experience a single moment of discomfort.

How does that make us better, or stronger, or smarter, or more prepared for the difficult challenges we all must face in our lives? It doesn’t. It just makes us a nation of pussies.

And if that offends you, who cares?

bootlegger10

Preach.

CM189191

PBS had a good documentary on last night about whether people are allowed to joke about the Holocaust.

Pretty interesting perspective: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/last-laugh/

drakeheuer14

I am offended.

Halifax2TheMax

drakeheuer14 said:

I am offended.

I'm offended that you're offended and wish you'd take it down a notch.

drakeheuer14

Halifax2TheMax said:

drakeheuer14 said:

I am offended.

I'm offended that you're offended and wish you'd take it down a notch.

The offensiveness is out of control.

PJ_Soul

Everyone can feel offended if they want to, but yeah, people should stop acting like being offended is equivalent to being assaulted, and the laws need to be changed in order to prevent the egregious crime. It's ridiculous. Hell, I managed to offend someone not long ago by saying that I thought the role of men in global women's rights needed to be stronger. I also recently offended someone because I was joking about how Ontario is so different from BC even though it's in the same country. So what the fuck do I care?? It's not my problem if someone wants to be insanely touchy about shit. I think that censorship is an assault on our freedoms, and freedom of speech and expression is a right. Not being offended is not a right. So essentially, our right to offend others is protected. But it is not a right to not be offended, and it can't be. Not when there are people out there who get offended by such stupid shit. The only thing that offends me are things and ideas that DO threaten or violate the rights and freedoms of others. Anything beyond that, I'm just being sensitive. And I can talk about how I'm offended if I want... but I shouldn't expect it to matter.

Halifax2TheMax

What should we expect with all the faux outrage on faux news and rushbo for the past 25+ years? You have a whole generation that grew up believing anything you disagreed with was an outrage. Pound your fists, stamp your feet and scream as loud as you can. Be angry, be scared. Be angry and scared all the time.

Go Beavers

Thinking that people being offended is now at epidemic levels is part of an actual problem, and that problem is not knowing how to digest the internet. Just because people have a medium where they can broadcast their offendedness doesn't mean it's occurring at a greater rate. It means you're hearing about it more. Let's guess the age of the author. 53?

Go Beavers

I checked. 46. Grumpy genxer. I know a few.

HughFreakingDillon

Go Beavers said:

Thinking that people being offended is now at epidemic levels is part of an actual problem, and that problem is not knowing how to digest the internet. Just because people have a medium where they can broadcast their offendedness doesn't mean it's occurring at a greater rate. It means you're hearing about it more. Let's guess the age of the author. 53?

i don't think his intent was to suggest that more people are getting offended, it is just that, as you stated, more people have a platform to voice their objection to whatever it was they were offended by, and if they get any sort of confirmation of that outrage, they feel validated and sometimes take it further until it gets out of control.

brianlux

I'm confused. Unless a person is directly targeted by something personally, how is it they are offended by something they see on the news or the internet? Outraged maybe, but offended? Or am I just putting too much friction in the diction?

dudeman

In protest of being offended, I'm going to start peeing in public restrooms with my pants around my ankles.

That'll show those touchy bastards.

hedonist

dudeman said:

In protest of being offended, I'm going to start peeing in public restrooms with my pants around my ankles.

That'll show those touchy bastards.

Thank you for the smile.

Tossing some shit off the top of my head...

Many are way too thin-skinned. As I can be as well at times, given hormones and / or circumstances but do try to let rationale prevail. That thinness is, I think, not just a nowadays thing, but simply how some are...almost looking for something to decry for whatever reason. If that's how they want to spend their time and effort, so be it. I don't get it and tend not to think much of them, overall, after that.

My own sense of feeling offended? Yes, when it's personal and from someone I respect. But, I also feel that sense of "fuck you" on behalf of others...those who are victims of pedophiles, of rapists, and of, among the many sick fucks out there, the "mother" who filmed torturing her young son so she could send the footage to her ex-husband. I feel for them and yes, my sense of humanity is fucking offended by the actions of their perpetrators.

Also agree that technology has opened the floodgates for all to share every little slice of so-called outrage and (non?) thought of "how dare they", or "how could they", or (fill in the blank).

Progress laced, ultimately, with ramifications.

unsung

I have heard many new terms this past year.

Micro aggressions
Safe space

Those two are the most ridiculous.

Thirty Bills Unpaid

dudeman said:

In protest of being offended, I'm going to start peeing in public restrooms with my pants around my ankles.

That'll show those touchy bastards.

I remember my very first bathroom visit in elementary school.

I was in another world- walking through the halls liberated from my desk. Senses overwhelmed with the echo of my footsteps in the hall and the emptiness of this other dimension... I pushed the bathroom door open to go have my first pee.

This dude had his GWGs down by his ankles and was letting his stream fly into the urinal. He unabashedly turned and looked at me for a moment despite the fact his bare bum was hanging out... then returned to his business. I stood there for a moment or two- again... astounded. I'd never seen such a tactic before. Never even heard of it.

I saddled up to the next urinal, minimally undid my GWG zipper and fly mechanism, and carefully pulled my 'penis' out to begin urination.

When I got back to the class... I shared my story with a few friends and we all had a good laugh.

Thirty Bills Unpaid

I remember another time when my buddy came back to class after going to the bathroom. He was laughing hard. He finally got it out that some guy was pooping and he had jumped up on the stall to peer down at him.

I laughed too then thought to do the same. I asked to go to the washroom and was granted permission. I sprinted down to the bathroom, kicked open the door, saw the feet and crumpled pants around them, and triple jumped my way to the edge of the stall- leaping to grab a handhold on the edge of it.

Pulling myself up to peer over... I set eyes on a grade seven kid. He looked at me and said, "You're f**king dead."

Cue needle scratching across record.

I slumped back to class thinking, "That's just great. Now I'm going to die." I knew the guy was serious because he swore- we rarely heard any swear words then- especially the 'f' word.

As it turns out and as you could likely surmise, he never killed me. He never even beat me up. But it was a rough few days waiting for the end that never came.

dignin

unsung said:

I have heard many new terms this past year.

Micro aggressions
Safe space

Those two are the most ridiculous.

The micro aggression term drives me nuts too.

Safe space used in the proper context doesn't bother me.

HughFreakingDillon

Thirty Bills Unpaid said:

dudeman said:

In protest of being offended, I'm going to start peeing in public restrooms with my pants around my ankles.

That'll show those touchy bastards.

I remember my very first bathroom visit in elementary school.

I was in another world- walking through the halls liberated from my desk. Senses overwhelmed with the echo of my footsteps in the hall and the emptiness of this other dimension... I pushed the bathroom door open to go have my first pee.

This dude had his GWGs down by his ankles and was letting his stream fly into the urinal. He unabashedly turned and looked at me for a moment despite the fact his bare bum was hanging out... then returned to his business. I stood there for a moment or two- again... astounded. I'd never seen such a tactic before. Never even heard of it.

I saddled up to the next urinal, minimally undid my GWG zipper and fly mechanism, and carefully pulled my 'penis' out to begin urination.

When I got back to the class... I shared my story with a few friends and we all had a good laugh.

why did you put "penis" in quotations? is yours fake?

Thirty Bills Unpaid

HughFreakingDillon said:

Thirty Bills Unpaid said:

dudeman said:

In protest of being offended, I'm going to start peeing in public restrooms with my pants around my ankles.

That'll show those touchy bastards.

I remember my very first bathroom visit in elementary school.

I was in another world- walking through the halls liberated from my desk. Senses overwhelmed with the echo of my footsteps in the hall and the emptiness of this other dimension... I pushed the bathroom door open to go have my first pee.

This dude had his GWGs down by his ankles and was letting his stream fly into the urinal. He unabashedly turned and looked at me for a moment despite the fact his bare bum was hanging out... then returned to his business. I stood there for a moment or two- again... astounded. I'd never seen such a tactic before. Never even heard of it.

I saddled up to the next urinal, minimally undid my GWG zipper and fly mechanism, and carefully pulled my 'penis' out to begin urination.

When I got back to the class... I shared my story with a few friends and we all had a good laugh.

why did you put "penis" in quotations? is yours fake?

I wanted badly to use sausage... but didn't want to get censored.

Go Beavers

unsung said:

I have heard many new terms this past year.

Micro aggressions
Safe space

Those two are the most ridiculous.

The worst one I heard was white genocide.