'Offence' - Does It Actually Mean Anything?

You’ve claimed too many people are offended for others...who?

I’ll take the bait. You.

resentful or annoyed, typically as a result of a perceived insult.

"he sounded rather offended"

synonyms: upset, hurt, wounded, injured, insulted, aggrieved, affronted, pained, displeased, distressed, disgruntled, put out, annoyed, angered, angry, cross, exasperated, indignant, irritated, vexed, piqued, irked, stung, galled, nettled, needled, peeved, ruffled, resentful, in a huff, huffy, in high dudgeon, fed up;

You regularly demonstrate these characteristics on behalf of women.

I would admire your feminism - save for that half the time you are offended by issues that few women on this forum seem to be offended by.

With all of the threads going on and the potential for 'hate speech'...

 

Those inverted commas suggest that you doubt that it exists - correct me if I'm wrong.

Interesting, as in my letter from Julie Dore, puts' 'austerity' in those commas.

I’ll take the bait. You.

 

resentful or annoyed, typically as a result of a perceived insult.

"he sounded rather offended"

synonyms: upset, hurt, wounded, injured, insulted, aggrieved, affronted, pained, displeased, distressed, disgruntled, put out, annoyed, angered, angry, cross, exasperated, indignant, irritated, vexed, piqued, irked, stung, galled, nettled, needled, peeved, ruffled, resentful, in a huff, huffy, in high dudgeon, fed up;

 

You regularly demonstrate these characteristics on behalf of women.

 

I would admire your feminism - save for that half the time you are offended by issues that few women on this forum seem to be offended by.

Nah!! To easy fella, you’re drowning in a 2 inch puddle of water and screaming to be heard.

You were called out on your first post...you were put down..you were offended...and now you’re bitter...bless!!

too many people are claiming they are offended on behalf of others

That, in a nutshell, is the real problem - and there is a tendency for it to become a pastime.

To my mind, intention is what's important. Words and pictures convey intention, but they are not the intention itself.

My honest feelings about this are mixed.

As a gay man, if someone called me a 'queer *******' I'd be really offended. In actual reality, I shouldn't give so much weight to what some bigot thinks, but words do hurt.

Having said that I've participated in discussions on here about, what I regard as the modern misappropriation of the word 'gay' to mean 'lame'. Things can, and should be discussed in a reasonable way. And that's fine - no problem for me.

From the outside looking in, it's impossible to know if someone is being disingenuous in claiming they are offended by something that is done or said, people's experiences are invisible. But I do think a good rule of thumb is if you wouldn't like something nasty to be said about you, don't do it to other people!

 

---------- Post added 21-03-2018 at 22:33 ----------

 

 

But there are social norms. I might use the 'c' word with my mates at the pub or with some of my colleagues at work, but I wouldn't use it in front of my Mum!

Mr M You should be absolutely offended if someone called you what you describe. It is beyond disgusting. I am a straight woman but I genuinely cannot understand why people would be homophobic. What exactly are they worried about!

It's up to the OP to determine if he was offended, not you or anyone else.

 

That's the problem; too many people are claiming they are offended on behalf of others to the point where virtually anything can be deemed offensive and it becomes meaningless.

Quite so. He says he's never been offended by anything but also that he was bullied as a youngster. By definition, being bullied involves being offended - so my point was - and remains - that his perception of never having been offended is a false perception.

 

I would admire your feminism - save for that half the time you are offended by issues that few women on this forum seem to be offended by.

You're guessing at that. The lack of posting on a particular topic doesn't say that they aren't offended.

In fact there are so few active female posters that the majority of topics don't have any female contribution.

You're guessing at that. The lack of posting on a particular topic doesn't say that they aren't offended.

In fact there are so few active female posters that the majority of topics don't have any female contribution.

There were a higher number of prominent female and feminist posters some years ago - I know of at least one who left because she was sick of all the grief she got, including some decidedly stalkerish behaviour.

Quite so. He says he's never been offended by anything but also that he was bullied as a youngster. By definition, being bullied involves being offended - so my point was - and remains - that his perception of never having been offended is a false perception.

Maybe at the start I was 'offended' by the dictionary definition. But, after a while, I stopped letting it bother me and just got on with it. Therefore, I'd I ended up not being offended anymore.

So, I will concede that initially I would have been offended.

But, again, what would being offended have gotten me?

I could choose to be offended by boybands, but it wouldn't get me anywhere, so I just simply ignore them instead of trying to get them banned. Just like the walk on girls/grid girls argument. People who probably don't watch those sports choosing to be offended by something that doesn't concern them.

Don't like it? Don't watch it. Therefore, you remove yourself from the chance of being offended.

Maybe at the start I was 'offended' by the dictionary definition. But, after a while, I stopped letting it bother me and just got on with it. Therefore, I'd I ended up not being offended anymore.

 

So, I will concede that initially I would have been offended.

 

But, again, what would being offended have gotten me?

I've answered this for you once. Are you just going to keep repeating the question now?

I could choose to be offended by boybands

No you can't.

Not unless you somehow can perceive them as an insult to you.

Regarding objectifying women, I can state that it is offensive, without myself being offended. Perhaps that was a distinction that you were missing.

I've answered this for you once. Are you just going to keep repeating the question now?

 

No you can't.

Not unless you somehow can perceive them as an insult to you.

 

Regarding objectifying women, I can state that it is offensive, without myself being offended. Perhaps that was a distinction that you were missing.

OK... they annoy me, and i perceive their lack of talent to be the cause... as per your definition.

And if the women being 'objectified' don't feel insulted and aren't annoyed by the attention... where's the offence??? Using your dictionary definition, you've destroyed your own argument. In your opinion it's offensive, even though you're not offended... so who is offended?

And you seem to have ignored my comment about Sophie Lancaster. You claimed that hate speech against metal fans doesn't count... yet a young girl lost her life for being different. Your thoughts?

Simply being annoyed is... simply being annoyed. Being offended requires you to be annoyed by a perceived insult. You aren't offended by boy bands.

The women involved almost certainly aren't offended. Do you believe that applies to all women though? That no women see the objectification of women as an insult (to women generally) and are annoyed by it?

Empathy is amazing isn't it. I can identify something as offensive, because I can see that it might be perceived as an insult and annoying to someone else, someone who is neither the girl on tv herself, nor me.

I missed the comment about Sophie Lancaster, she was murdered, but it wouldn't fall under the definition of hate crime. Being a goth is not an inherent characteristic of a person.