# Are we too easily offended? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 2, 2001, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442 "2001-12-02T08:54:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Medea\_s\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Medea\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medea_s_Child)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442/21 "2001-12-02T22:05:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Maybe it is just not enough sex and way too much sugar and caffeine. Well, now that we have found the problem, who’s ready to head for a solution? ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442/22 "2001-12-02T22:19:46Z")
_gets a panicy look in his eye_ UmmIvegottagoreallyfastrightnowtheressomethingburningonthestoveandthecat hastogotothevetandIvegotthisimportantmeetingandmyparentsareintownandIvegotthisrashandadentistsappointment. _pauses to take a breath_ [Protecting his crotch the runs screaming from the room] * * * continues to hijack the post * * * So I went to a bar yesterday, wanted to have some drinks and interact with people. Unfortunatly all 3 of the bars I went to were strip clubs. Isn’t Texas in the bible belt!? Why are there all these goddamned strip clubs? 3rd one I finally give up and since I don’t want to go any farther away from my apartment so I go in. Ok, do the strippers usually hassel everyone that much or are they like cats and flock around the only person who doesn’t like em? I’ve never understood strippers or the purpose behind paying to watch a woman take clothes off (kinda like the point behind softcore porn…), that nice I could see the same thing only cheaper if I downloaded shitloads of porn… So I wander off to part of the bar where I can sit down and watch a soccer game, play some pool and ignore the strippers. Enter the predatory female. Jesus christ, all of a sudden _blamo_ there she is, in my face and drunk off her ass. I realized right there why I hated dating when you’re inbetween gfs, nothing is worse than wandering around large collections of humanity until you find someone who just may not kill you in your sleep. I had about the same reaction to her as I had above. ---
**Author:** ![BooBoo316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@BooBoo316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BooBoo316)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442/23 "2001-12-02T22:34:56Z")
Personally, I’m offended by people who are easily offended. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442/24 "2001-12-02T22:55:09Z")
Colin Urquhart did a momentous teaching about taking offense. The thesis was that it’s unChristian to take offense, but his logic extends to everyone else too: if you take offense at something, then basically you had that offense lying around inside you anyway and were just waiting to zap something deserving. The idea is that our instinctive reaction should be love, or compassion, or something. Not hostility. Perhaps it’s because that spoke to me so deeply that I have always been deeply enraptured by the character Tony Hancock played in Hancock’s Half Hour. One of his great talents is taking offense at anything. For example, when he tries to donate blood he’s handed a list. “Have you had any of these diseases?” asks the nurse. As he peruses the list, even in black and white you can see Hancock’s face turn more and more purple until he finally explodes with “NO I 'ave not! And especially not that one!” There was quite a lot of that kind of pointless offense being taken around my workplace while the recent census forms were being filled in. How dare they ask how many rooms I’ve got, etc. I’ve always wanted to be asked if I’m registered blind, maybe in a phone survey or something, just so I can take offense. “How _dare_ you? My sexual habits are no concern of yours!” ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442/25 "2001-12-02T23:01:30Z")
Yeah but our initial reaction is usually apathy, and coming from apathy even hatred can be a step up. Btw show me a spider that doesn’t deserve me getting hostile on its ass and I’ll teach a baboon how to ballroom dance. ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442/26 "2001-12-02T23:16:10Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by **CRorex** _ > > Half the damn time its because they only read the rant (ITS A RANT YOU ILLETERATE FUCKERS) until they got offended then got all nazi on their ass. Wow, Godwin’s _and_ **Gaudere** ’s Laws broken in the same sentence! Esprix ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442/27 "2001-12-02T23:22:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CRorex \* > **Yeah but our initial reaction is usually apathy, and coming from apathy even hatred can be a step up.** Y’got that right. Although I feel I should point out that Charlotte out of Charlotte’s Web was just about the dinkiest sweetums of a spider I ever did see - and when I saw on CNN yesterday that she was in critical condition after an unnamed person “got hostile on her ass”, I was greatly saddened. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442/28 "2001-12-02T23:28:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CRorex \* > \*\*Most people are I find. > > I’ve found this message board to be worse than most people for people overreacting > \*\* I’ll buy that for a dollar! ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442/29 "2001-12-03T00:28:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CRorex \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Bluesman \* > > \*\* > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > \*Originally posted by CRorex \* > > > \*\*YOU ILLETERATE FUCKERS \*\* > > > > No comment, I just found this amusing. \*\* > > 😛 > > I mean its a rant, it supposed to offend someone! If you can read and are over the age of 12 you should be able to tell sarcasm from outright racism ya know? > > Sigh \*\* Ummmm…what? ---
**Author:** ![Bluesman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@Bluesman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bluesman)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442/30 "2001-12-03T03:09:14Z")
**CRorex** , you totally missed the irony of you calling others “ILLETERATE FUCKERS”. Look up the word, Dr. von Braun, and you MAY see why some of us think you’re amusing. ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442/31 "2001-12-03T04:01:42Z")
WHY DO YOU PEOPLE THINK I’M SERIOUS ALL THE FREAKING TIME?! _bangs head against the wall repeated to lower iq_ about 85% of my posts here are whatever amusing wierd pieces of drivel that pop out of my mind. Most of the time I’m being sarcastic ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442/32 "2001-12-03T04:05:13Z")
Bluesman I feel I’ll need to explain this a second time using smaller words for people like you. I’m fully aware of the irony of TYPEING ON A MESSAGE BOARD you Illiterate fuckers… GGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA [HUGE BIGASS BOLD CAPS]i’m trying to be amusing ya moron[/HUGEBIGASS BOLD CAPS] ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442/33 "2001-12-03T04:29:23Z")
You spelled “typing” wrong. Esprix ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442/34 "2001-12-03T04:40:21Z")
Sigh, shoot me. ---
**Author:** ![dalovindj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/65b543/32.png) [@dalovindj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalovindj)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442/35 "2001-12-03T04:53:48Z")
Yes. Many cats need to lighten up here. I hold this truth to be self evident. ---
**Author:** ![Eternal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@Eternal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eternal)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442/36 "2001-12-03T22:59:43Z")
I agree. I’m tired of all the squares here. ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442/37 "2001-12-03T23:18:39Z")
**CRorex** , before you blow a gasket, you _do_ now realize you spelled “illiterate” wrong when you first typed it, and that is why people were pointing out the irony of you posting about illiterate people when you were unable to spell the word “illiterate,” and, since illiterate means, in part, “unable to spell”… are you following me here? It had nothing to do with your sarcasm or humor or ranting or whatever it is you’re calling it. Just want to make sure we’re all fighting ignorance here… Esprix ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2001, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442/38 "2001-12-04T00:21:17Z")
I suggest that one reason for all the rage over minor things is that there are a lot of major things we really don’t have any control over. You have to pick your battles. I have to eat shit from my boss all day, so I’ll put a bumper sticker on my car about my kid beating up your honor student. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-too-easily-offended/96442.md?page=1)