So recently I've noticed that a hell of a lot of people, both in my life and on the news, seem to use the word "offended" as if it gives them certain rights. As if it means they should be treated differently. As if things need to be changed in order to not offend them. But the simple truth is.....
"Offended" means jack shit.
All it is, is an emotion. That's it. It doesn't give you any rights or privileges. In the same way that any other emotion wouldn't; happy, sad, angry, upset, grumpy, annoyed, scared, nervous, or whatever. To put it as bluntly as possible. I don't give half a shit if you get offended.
To help you to visualize the sheer stupidity of being "offended," imagine that two totally random people meet in the street. The names don’t actually matter too much, but, one's called John and the other is called Bob.
John: Hi.
Bob: Hey, can I help you?
John: Yeah, could I have all your money please?
Bob: Why? Do you have like, a gun or a knife?
John: Nope, I am totally unarmed.
Bob: Right, so then why should I?
John: Well, if you don’t I will be very offended.
Bob: Oh my, I'm ever so sorry. Please forgive me for this misunderstanding.
(Bob hands over all his money to John)
John: Don't worry, but remember for next time.
Bob: If I had known I was being offensive I would have handed over all my money immediately.
This seems ludicrous, and there's a good reason
Just as Bob had no obligation to depart from his (probably) hard earned money, you have no obligation to deny yourself the freedom of expression for the purpose of trying not to "offend" someone.
For example, Christian Fundies (in fact, any fundies) may find it offensive if a school doesn't teach creationism. But the simple truth is, a child's mind is far more important than any religious dogma. We don’t and shouldn't teach creationism as science, due to its lack of scientific evidence.
Blasphemy
Blasphemy is a blast for me. I mean, who gives a fuck if I "offended" your imaginary friend!
That's no worse than me getting offended when people say "I don’t like Doctor Who" or "I don't like superheroes".
Yes, my feeling are hurt. Yes, I don’t like it. But so fucking what!
Now, you might be thinking "but god and religion are really important to some people," but I would reply with "yeah well, Doctor Who and Superheroes are really important to me."
Following on, blasphemy is even punishable by death in some third world (or "developing" as I think is the politically correct term) countries, and even in England, we were still punishing blasphemers in the 17th century. Ok I will admit, that is ages ago. But, if you just Google (or Bing if you’re a bit odd) the word "blasphemy," apart from Wikipedia, the first results are news stories of people being told off or punished for "blasphemy." I swear if one more person whines, or moans, or bitches about blasphemy, I will burn the bible as I take a shit, wiping my ass with the Koran, as I spit on the Torah.
It's not just me who thinks poorly of the word "offensive." Rather recently, I watched a clip on YouTube where comedy legend Steven Fry discussed the word "offensive." He says that it’s nothing more than a whine and it’s no reason to be respected as phrase. To be perfectly honest I could not agree more with Stephen Fry here.
It doesn't do anything and no-one gives half a shit if you get "offended"
So, if at any point you have been "offended" by this article, here’s what you should do.
- Write your opinion on a piece of paper
- Shove it up your ass
- Shit it out
- Flush it away
- Fuck Bitches
