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I know this is a very old article but I found it and thought it was worth repeating in 2003.

They should turn it into a song, the hymn of the hypersensitive. "O say can you see, that which offended me? If you do, cut it our, or I'll start to pout."

Beautiful...

1 posted on 07/26/2003 9:02:24 AM PDT by Texas Mom
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To: Texas Mom
They should turn it into a song, the hymn of the hypersensitive. "O say can you see, that which offended me? If you do, cut it out, or I'll start to pout."

Liberals are addicted to displays of indignation. Increasingly, the left believes that certain ideas are inherently evil. Instead of seeking a dialogue, they righteously proclaim their outrage and wait for the offending party to wither.

Minority spokesmen are easily affronted. Because others of their kind suffered in the past, the rest of us are expected to walk on eggshells when discussing anything that relates to them.

Challenge their distortions of history, refuse to wallow in guilt for the sins of the past, or tell them they're not entitled to whatever group benefits they demand, and you are attacking them, denying their humanity, perpetuating negative stereotypes and condoning racism.

I recently offended (very, deeply) some American Indians with a column on the Smithsonian's new politically correct Indian Museum by writing that I objected to having my tax dollars used to slander my country.

That seemed to me like a simple, straightforward proposition. But, no, because I protested the creation of a federally funded institution to propagate the lie that America was founded on genocide, I was mocking their pain.

"I'm offended" has become the all-purpose cop out. No need to deal with ideas. Facts and history are irrelevant. The sole criterion is your mental state, that your paper-thin skin has been pierced.

You don't want a discussion. You demand a groveling apology and a promise never to be offensive -- i.e., to challenge dogma -- again.

The current sensitivity craze is grounded in the '60s, when emotions became the center of the universe.

All that mattered was feeling something deeply. To feel was to be authentic. And the stronger the emotion, the more certain that it was true. (Nuremberg would seem to refute this.)

Being offended was a litmus test -- proof of the depth and sincerity of our beliefs.

The primacy of feelings is now pervasive. After a recent debate at Princeton, I was approached by a student who became visibly agitated when I didn't accede to her position almost as soon as she had stated it.

Couldn't I see how much she believed it? How could I deny the validity of her emotions by failing to agree with her?

The problem with arguing from outrage is that both sides, and any number, can play the game.

You're offended by opposition to affirmative action. I'm offended by policies that penalize people for no reason other than their race or gender. You're offended by a failure to recognize what you call a woman's right to "control her body." I'm offended by those who treat the unborn child as a non-issue in this debate.

You're offended by religious people trying to "force their morality on the rest of us." Others are offended by those who would relegate religious conservatives to second-class citizenship, denying them the democratic rights (including the right to try to have their values written into law) afforded everyone else.

That we are offended proves absolutely nothing other than our subjective state of mind. And there will never be a meeting of minds if we can't rationally discuss issues free of unsubtle forms of intimidation. (You have offended me. Therefore, you are bad.)

You're offended and you want an apology? OK, here it is.

I'm sorry that you're offended. I'm sorry you can't deal with ideas. I'm sorry you're intimidated by dissent from the prevailing orthodoxy. I'm sorry you think your emotions are all that counts. And, I'm sorry we can't discuss this like grown-ups.

If you're offended by this column, write your congressman, ask your therapist to help you cope, tell it to the Marines. But, please, spare me.

2 posted on 07/26/2003 9:10:05 AM PDT by Houmatt ("Best that we can do is alert people there to LP and the truth that FR has fallen."--The Toddler)
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To: Texas Mom
That's what we get for allowing schools to dumb down the citizenry. A "columnist" in our local newspaper once wrote, and I quote "Just because you have the right to free speech doesn't mean you have the right to offend me."

Presumably she is a college graduate, and passed some type of interview or selection process to be hired...
3 posted on 07/26/2003 9:10:42 AM PDT by Freedom4US
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To: Texas Mom
It's as true today as it was in 1999. More so. Isn't that what the ACLU is working so hard to prevent people from being offended?
4 posted on 07/26/2003 9:11:15 AM PDT by Texas Mom
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To: Texas Mom
This piece is so full of common sense.... Thanks, TM! Should be required reading for every FReeper, IMHO.
5 posted on 07/26/2003 9:13:57 AM PDT by Humidston (Do not remove this tag under penalty of law)
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To: Texas Mom
As my Mommy said...years ago...."Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names will never hurt me...." SOME people are TOO stupid to be talking
7 posted on 07/26/2003 9:14:17 AM PDT by goodnesswins (Any day good things happen FOR AMERICA is a BAD day for the Democrats!)
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To: Texas Mom
Thank you. I had not seen this before. There are two words that make my skin crawl (other than "Hillary" and "Bill"): "offended" and "tolerance" - we have lost their use for polite society!!!!
15 posted on 07/26/2003 10:24:26 AM PDT by LiteKeeper
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To: Texas Mom
Bump for later analysis. This door swings both ways.
17 posted on 07/26/2003 10:33:28 AM PDT by Jeff Gordon
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To: Texas Mom
The sole criterion is your mental state, that your paper-thin skin has been pierced.

TRANSLATION: Your intellect is rivaled only by garden tools.

18 posted on 07/26/2003 10:42:52 AM PDT by Lady Jag (Googolplex Star Thinker of the Seventh Galaxy of Light and Ingenuity)
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To: Texas Mom
"Indignation is a technique for endowing morons with dignity"- Marshall MacLuhan. This may explain the popularity of taking offense at just about anything.
19 posted on 07/26/2003 10:46:16 AM PDT by thucydides
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To: Texas Mom
Your generation threw the party (Baby Boomers), my generation (X and Y) had the hangover.

My generation does not like being talked down too by hypocrites. It is and insult to my generation's intelligence.

We also understand that if we even pulled one of the stunts you pulled in your youth, we would be sent to prison for 20 years to life, and frankly that pisses us off.

We also know that we are never going to live to old age because will be worked to death paying taxes that will support your retirement vacation.

Taking all this, AND MORE, into account there are a lot of reasons for my generation to be angry about.

22 posted on 07/26/2003 11:26:55 AM PDT by Paul C. Jesup
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To: Texas Mom
Being offended and being retarded track...
I did know that.
24 posted on 07/26/2003 11:53:08 AM PDT by Publius6961 (Californians are as dumm as a sack of rocks)
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To: Texas Mom
Love it.
41 posted on 07/26/2003 1:46:08 PM PDT by sauropod ("Come over here and make me. I dare you. You little fruitcake, you little fruitcake.")
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To: Texas Mom
My personal assessment of many in todays world-"If you can't meet the standard, whine loudly, claim your victimhood and they will lower the standard to meet you"

Unfortunately it works for the Democratic Voters

53 posted on 07/26/2003 2:06:44 PM PDT by 5Madman2 (DemocRATS are Vermin)
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To: Texas Mom
Have some fun with those who are 'offended'....
ask them WHY they're offended.
ask them WHAT is the offense
ask them for the facts/basis for their legitimate offense.

WARNING...
wear a raincoat....
Cuz, they'll spit and sputter trying to answer you!

LOL!

66 posted on 07/26/2003 7:18:01 PM PDT by mommadooo3
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To: Texas Mom
Thank you for reprinting this singularly penetrating article.
67 posted on 07/26/2003 7:22:36 PM PDT by paulklenk (Freedom isn't free.)
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To: Texas Mom
I've said this for years. Whenever anyone in earshot tells me something offended them, I always ask why, specifically, they were offended. They tend to hem and haw a bit, and then retreat.

It's not limited to Gen Xers - people all over the age spectrum do this nifty little trick. It is a mental shorthand - it allows them to express their indignation, as if somehow we are all on the 'let's not offend so-and-so" standard of behavior.

This to me is arrested emotional development and a terrible immaturity. So what else is new?
69 posted on 07/26/2003 7:26:43 PM PDT by HitmanLV (I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.)
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To: Texas Mom
It IS very good. Thanks for bringing it back. Of course you did not post the entire article and I am offended. ;)
70 posted on 07/26/2003 7:29:25 PM PDT by Libertina
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To: Texas Mom
bttt
85 posted on 07/28/2003 2:34:32 AM PDT by lainde
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To: jmc813
The conversation went something like this. Caller: "I want you to know your column on drug legalization offended me." Me: "Let me get this straight. Because I said drugs are soul-deadening and far too lethal to legalize, you were offended?" Caller: "That's right. It made me want to hurl."

When and how did you squeeze time between your frenzied 24/7 postings of pro-dope/pro-socialist threads to make a telephone call to a columnist? You're so obsessed I can't imagine you leave yourself enough to time to visit the toilet facilities let alone place telephone calls to the outside world. I figure you keep a bong-shaped bedpan next to your computer.

96 posted on 07/28/2003 7:21:52 AM PDT by Kevin Curry
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To: Texas Mom
Oh very nice....
108 posted on 07/28/2003 11:20:59 AM PDT by RikaStrom
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