# What gets you offended? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 16, 2003, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552 "2003-08-16T06:47:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Yersinia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/6bbea6/32.png) [@Yersinia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yersinia)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/21 "2003-08-16T22:52:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by soulmurk \* > \*\*Dishonesty. I don’t appreciate how accepted and even expected it is in everyday life, as if it’s socially appropriate. It offends me to no end to be lied to, even about something small and trivial, but especially about something important. > > Condescension and patronization, particulalry from someone that doesn’t know me well enough to feel so superior. > > Proselytizing. Your life is yours to live and I respect that, but keep it to yourself. > > Stereotyping/generalizing/compartmentalizing people based on 3 seconds of appraisal. This is the biggest reason I hate job interviews. > > I do not follow fads, nor do I bend to social pressures to dress, act, appear, talk, behave or anything else like everyone else. I believe in individuality, true individuality, not the kind where you believe slightly different than the majority and exaggerate that belief to appear different and call it individuality. As such, I am regularly exposed to those that will make a snap judgement of me based on simple evidence and I find it irritating. I enjoy nothing more than to blow these preconceived notions out of the water, but I despise having to hear things like, “You’re smarter than I thought,” or “You’re pretty cool afterall.” > > Deliberate ignorance. > > Bigotry/racism/hatred of anyone that’s different. This goes sort of hand in hand with another one, clinging to ideals given to you by another. Many bigots and homophobes I’ve met are that way because their family/community taught them to be and rather than thinking for themselves they just continue the cycle of hate. > > There’s more, but I’m sure that someone out there is offended by posts that are too long 😉 \*\* Hey there, **Soulmurk** , I’d like to say that you sound like a very cool (i.e. interesting and intelligent) person. I wanted to email you off-board but I couldn’t do it through your profile. So let me just mention here that one of the things that impresses me is your knowledge of the difference between an actual nonconformist and, as you most eloquently state, “the kind where you believe slightly different than the majority and exaggerate that belief to appear different and call it individuality.” And BTW, I personally am not offended by long, thoughtful posts such as yours. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Blonde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Blonde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blonde)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/22 "2003-08-16T23:13:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Walloon \* > \*\*Cruelty offends me. \*\* Well said. Other than that, hmm…rap music? ::ducking:: ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/23 "2003-08-16T23:29:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Yersinia \* > \*\*Hey there, **Soulmurk** , I’d like to say that you sound like a very cool (i.e. interesting and intelligent) person. I wanted to email you off-board but I couldn’t do it through your profile. So let me just mention here that one of the things that impresses me is your knowledge of the difference between an actual nonconformist and, as you most eloquently state, “the kind where you believe slightly different than the majority and exaggerate that belief to appear different and call it individuality.” > > And BTW, I personally am not offended by long, thoughtful posts such as yours. > > 😃 \*\* I’m always interested in intelligent conversation, it’s hard enough to find nowadays 😉 You should be able to email me through my profile now if you’d like. Thanks for the compliments, you made my day 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/24 "2003-08-17T00:13:03Z")
In terms of being _personally_ offended - people assuming they know my motives or opinions is probably the big one for me. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/25 "2003-08-17T02:20:57Z")
•Heavy handed or condecending “morals” to stories. •Conservatives. •Liberals. •Censorship, or people advocating censorship, of any media. (I’d say what I think should happen to said people, but that’d be the subject of a pit thread) ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/26 "2003-08-17T03:00:19Z")
I’ll second censorship…That’s one facet of this board that irritates me, and ironically, hypocritical as it opposes the “Fighting Ignorance” motto with its copious locked topics (sans the illegal references, though those boundaries have been pushed too far in numerous incidences). ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/27 "2003-08-17T03:26:37Z")
Definately prosyletizing. So you found Jesus? Your life is wonderful now? Fine, I’m happy for you, but unless I ask I really don’t want to hear about it. The same goes for people who have just discovered Marxism, Veganism, or any other ism which they feel compelled to spread to anyone in the vicinity. Do what makes you happy but don’t go pushing it on me. Crusaders out to save the rest of us poor ignoramuses from the evils of Hollywood or the music industry. People who think mentally ill people who take medications are nothing but a bunch of drug addicts and that all their problems could be resolved with a couple sessions of talk therapy and some herbal tea. People who live to offend others because they think being offensive is a sign of genius. People who are easily offended. (No, I don’t quite know where I stand between those last two.) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/28 "2003-08-17T03:50:26Z")
Proselytizing blows, no question. Moralizing in general is no fun. Just to pick something new, I’ll go with guys saying things like “she looks rapeably good” or stuff about “justifiable rape” as a commentary on a girl’s hotness. The fortunate thing is that these are guys who don’t get any. If I hear much more of this, someone’s gonna get slugged. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/29 "2003-08-17T07:53:19Z")
When Mormon missionaries came to my door, I listened to them politely describe their mission, looked at the books and pamphlets they offered me, even when along when they asked if they could say a prayer, although I’m not the praying type. I told them that I shared _some_ of their beliefs but not all, was very satisfied with my own religious denomination, but with all sincerity I wished them well. I am amazed that people who have spent hundreds of hours of their lives sitting through loud, pushy television and radio commercials trying to get you to buy this or that thing **that you’re not interested in** , have a coniption fit when when it comes to someone proselytising. I calibrate my reactions to conservations that are really not to my interest. The criteria of judgement: Is this person being polite to me? Are his intentions honorable? If the answer to both is “Yes”, I try to answer kindness with kindness, even if in effect I am saying, “No.” I have been bored to distraction by conversations people have had with me at work, on street corners, on buses, at parties, on the telephone. This is not even to mention those people who have been deliberately rude in face-to-face confrontations. In a world full of malice and indifference, I am not going to think badly, and do not think badly, of the two missionaries who stopped by my door one day. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/30 "2003-08-17T08:09:58Z")
> [@](#): > > I calibrate my reactions to conservations that are really not to my interest. The criteria of judgement: Is this person being polite to me? Are his intentions honorable? If the answer to both is “Yes”, I try to answer kindness with kindness, even if in effect I am saying, “No.” **Walloon** , my experience (or perhaps it’s just my definition) of proselytizing is that it isn’t polite, and that honor is rather debatable. I’m perfectly capable of having a conversation about religion with someone, actually it happens a lot, since as an atheist I hold a minority opinion. It’s fun getting other people’s perspectives on things. In the case of a real discussion, the other person/people are being polite and everyone’s intellectual curiosity is honorable. Trying to learn from people with different views is great and should be respected. But you’re not trying to learn from someone when you preach at them. If someone is really trying to win me over instead of listening to my take, I find that fundamentally obnoxious and disrespectful, since I’m obviously listening to theirs even if I disagree. I don’t try to persuade people to give up religion. I enjoy bitching about people who piss me off, and I do it well, but in person I’m very patient and tolerant when it comes to this sort of thing. If somebody can’t take a polite “I’m not interested” or “no” for an answer, _that’s_ when it becomes an issue. Somebody who continues to preach his case over my objections is, to me, implying that he knows what’s good for me better than I do and is insulting my intelligence. I don’t like dealing with that. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/31 "2003-08-17T08:15:41Z")
> [@](#): > > I am amazed that people who have spent hundreds of hours of their lives sitting through loud, pushy television and radio commercials trying to get you to buy this or that thing **that you’re not interested in** , have a coniption fit when when it comes to someone proselytising. TVs come with a mute button. People don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/32 "2003-08-17T08:28:06Z")
Going with what KRC said about > [@](#): > > **People who live to offend others because they think being offensive is a sign of genius.** I heard some obnoxious entertainer (I forgot the name, or what he does) say “If you’re not offending anybody, you’re not doing it right.” To me, that’s both BS and offensive. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/33 "2003-08-17T10:38:55Z")
coldness repeating myself verbose shallowness thinking that being kind to someone will interfere with the other person’s karma refusing to “agree to disagree” repeating myself ---
**Author:** ![Doc\_Mad\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Doc\_Mad\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doc_Mad_Dog)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/34 "2003-08-17T16:20:08Z")
Racism, facism, hypocrisy, fashion and conformity. Legends perpetuated as history in our school textbooks. Telemarketers, door-to-door salespersons, yuppies, cell phones, and people and/or institutions who prefer credit cards to cash. People who knock anyone’s religious beliefs. People who try to inflict their religious beliefs on me. People so anti-war they forget we were attacked this time. Republicans who are too conservative, just to tow the party line. Democrats who are too liberal, just to tow the party line. ---
**Author:** ![Doc\_Mad\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Doc\_Mad\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doc_Mad_Dog)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/35 "2003-08-17T16:27:42Z")
p.s. Politicians who put their party above their constituents. Gun control nuts. Husbands and wives who can’t be each other’s best friends. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_Heart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Angel\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_Heart)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/36 "2003-08-19T05:23:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Marley23 \* > Just to pick something new, I’ll go with guys saying things like “she looks rapeably good” or stuff about “justifiable rape” as a commentary on a girl’s hotness. :eek: There are still assholes out there who think/speak that way? Ok, my list: People who shrug off obviously bigoted remarks by saying they’re anti-PC People who constantly complain that this generation has no morals and no ambition (if I hear AngelDad describe someone as a "Gen-X slacker punk one more time…) People who think one race/gender/sexual orientation is superior to another Overly sensitive people Stereotypes “You’re so articulate”, “That shirt must be for Dad” (it was a shirt with famous guitars on it) Ok, that’s the big no-no’s… ---
**Author:** ![RNWebner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@RNWebner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RNWebner)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/37 "2003-08-19T05:52:05Z")
I get offended by: People who act like they are smarter than I am, whether or not it is true. Classmates of mine, or anyone, who thinks that it is uncool to get good grades and try hard in school, and that grades are meaningless. People who have an opinion and are unable to justify it, or people who are arguing a point without any facts to back up their argument. Pretty much any form of racism or bigotry. People without tact. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/38 "2003-08-19T06:52:44Z")
**Fashion Slaves** [ul]People who have to wear clothing with the manufacturer’s name on the _outside_ come across to me like the sheep that were sheared to make their togs. And in that same vein …[/ul] **Conspicuous Consumers** [ul]Those who obtain or amass material possessions solely for the ownership of same are among the most pathetic individuals there are. Most objects are tools in a lot of respects. They only have value when you use them. Even art needs to be looked at in order to serve any purpose.[/ul] **Litterbugs** [ul]Idiots who freely disperse their garbage without thought of those who will have to look at it afterwards must surely have a special Hell awaiting them. To willfully mar the scenery because you are too lazy to find a dust bin goes beyond stupid and into the realm of intentional evil. And in that same vein …[/ul] **Gum Tossers** [ul]Rectal cavities who drop a wad of used chewing gum wherever it happens to lose its flavor need to have it smeared in their hair and on their clothing. If this happened more often than plain littering it would outrank it in offensiveness. The thoughtlessness of such morons is nearly stunning at times. And in that same vein …[/ul] **Taggers** [ul]These scumbags manage to degrade even the worst environments yet a step further. They look upon a blank wall the same way a well fed dog regards a freshly mowed lawn. I’ve assisted in the arrest of one such vermin and wish I could do so on a daily basis. For every artistic tag there are over one million “zero dog” logos spattered across windows and buses. The vermin who have taken to using carbide scribes and muriatic acid (glass etchant) need to have their genitals mutilated without benefit of anesthesia.[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/39 "2003-08-19T07:00:45Z")
[ul] [li]Stupid people[/li][/ul] Which essentially encompasses every offending thing out there… ---
**Author:** ![Omnipresent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@Omnipresent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omnipresent)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552/40 "2003-08-19T13:28:45Z")
When I’m speaking, and the people who I am speaking to begin talking about something completely unrelated. Burns my ass!!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gets-you-offended/195552.md?page=3)