Whenever I hear, or read that this person, or that group of people, are offended I am always amused. For being offended is really a thoroughly contrived emotion by those claiming to be offended. There are three causes for being offended: an overly delicate nature, a desire to manipulate or control others, and to prevent serious scrutiny of one’s arguments or actions.
First, there are types of people that quite literally are emotionally hurt by almost any unpleasant remark made against them. Such people should avoid public discussions or arguments concerning controversial subjects, instead of demanding that the whole world behave in a manner sensitive to their natures.
Secondly, an offended person really wants to manipulate or control others; their feigning being offended is nothing more than deceit. The offended person wants to control or manipulate others to act or think in a way that suits their agenda or convictions. Such a person attempts to accomplish this by being offended by words or phrases. A word simply defines and explains a thing, a thought, or an idea. A word is neither good nor bad. The person who places the label of good or bad on a word is attempting to eliminate a thought or an idea from being written or expressed by demanding that the particular “bad” word be banned from general discourse. Ban the word and you ban the thought. If this word banning is allowed to proliferate to accommodate every group feigning offense, perhaps at some point in the not too distant future there will be an official government dictionary with all approved words. If the word, or phrase, does not appear in the official government dictionary of approved lexicon, then it would be a criminal offense to use it in either speech or writing. All dictionaries printed before this ominous point in time, of course, would be banned so that the offensive words do not live on - subteraneously. Word banning is a cunning device to subvert the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Thirdly, since the offended person knows that their argument is very weak and their facts are suspect or even false, they shift everyone’s attention from the objective scrutiny of their argument and facts to the subjective topic of their opponent not obeying proper etiquette towards them. The offended person is really hoping that their argument will be automatically accepted in sympathy with, and in compensation for, their purported hurt feelings.
Beware of all who are offended.
By contrast, for those who are secure in their person, solidly grounded in honesty, and having an argument based in truth - well, these types simply cannot be offended.
