#101 Being Offended
May 28, 2008 by clander
To be offended is usually a rather unpleasant experience, one that can expose a person to intolerance, cultural misunderstandings, and even evoke the scars of the past. This is such an unpleasant experience that many people develop a thick skin and try to only be offended in the most egregious and awful situations. In many circumstances, they can allow smaller offenses to slip by as fighting them is a waste of time and energy. But white people, blessed with both time and energy, are not these kind of people. In fact there are few things white people love more than being offended.
Naturally, white people do not get offended by statements directed at white people. In fact, they don’t even have a problem making offensive statements about other white people (ask a white person about “flyover states”). As a rule, white people strongly prefer to get offended on behalf of other people.
It is also valuable to know that white people spend a significant portion of their time preparing for the moment when they will be offended. They read magazines, books, and watch documentaries all in hopes that one day they will encounter a person who will say something offensive. When this happens, they can leap into action with quotes, statistics, and historical examples. Once they have finished lecturing another white person about how it’s wrong to use the term “black” instead of “African-American,” they can sit back and relax in the knowledge that they have made a difference.
White people also get excited at the opportunity to be offended at things that are sexist and/or homophobic. Both cases offering ample opportunities for lectures, complaints, graduate classes, lengthy discussions and workshops. All of which do an excellent job of raising awareness among white people who hope to change their status from “not racist” to “super not racist.”
Another thing worth noting is that the threshold for being offended is a very important tool for judging and ranking white people. Missing an opportunity to be outraged is like missing a reference to Derrida-it’s social death.
If you ever need to make a white person feel indebted to you, wait for them to mention a book, film, or television show that features a character who is the same race as you, then say “the representation of <insert race> was offensive and if you can’t see that, well, you need to do some soul searching.” After they return from their hastily booked trip to land of your ancestors, they will be desperate to make it up to you. At this point, it is acceptable to ask them to help you paint your house.
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Anyone recall an incident on national TV 6 mos. ago when the term “colored people” was used on the air? It was related to the NAACP centennial anniversary, but we came a long way for society never use the word…except its what the “CP” stands for. +
I find it hilarious that the negative comments are from white people. Are you…..”offended”? LOL!
I think this is pretty accurate because most of the white people I know get offended when I say things about other races that aren’t even racist. They do blame others for their shortcomings but they also get offended for the reasons above.
yeah right. white people are way better at ignoring the suffering of others than being offended on their behalf. whoever wrote this isn’t intelligent or thoughtful enough to realized that everybody has to actively fight the cultural racism/sexism/selective oppression that gives white folks the vast advantage in our society. they’d rather blame “others” for their own shortcomings (“if those damned ______ weren’t taking our jobs/healthcare/education/whatever, I could get ahead.”)
and this piece of trash literature trying to spread the two most virulent social diseases, ignorance and apathy, is the proof.
I get offended when anyone says “I’m a stupid autistic idiot savant” for my autism, “a low-class mishap white kid” of my lower-middle class upbringing and “a descendant of a race expected to be dead” due to my American Indian ancestry. I feel they are offensive statements to me, as I don’t want people hurl insults at me for any reason. Everyone doesn’t want to be offended, then again in the P-C world we live in, we’re afraid of being sued for discrimination all the time. +
I don’t get offended very easily, neither when the offense is directed at myself or someone else. The state of constantly being offended is not really common among just white, black, etc., people. It is rampant among a particular quasi-political persuasion more than anything. One of the greatest things that could happen ot America would be for people to grow up and stop getting offended by EVERYTHING. Don’t go looking to get offended.
I don’t understand how white people can get so offended so easily, and still like Bob Marley, Yoga, Whole Foods, and being “Green”. White people make the worst hippies EVER. ):
Everyone is racist, it is a human condition. Racism is assuming knowledge of someone based on appearance: I once assumed a black man was American when I was lost in a Paris subway, I judged him based on the color of his skin-that makes me a racist. I don’t assume I am smarter, stronger ethically or morally superior than anyone else, yet sometimes I slip and make judgments about others based on appearance; when I do this I am not always aware of it, but when I become aware of it I endeavor to make amends and not repeat that behavior.
What I am not is a bigot; someone who thinks they are superior to another human being based on their culture or race.
I share the complexion and sex of a lot of evil bastards; Hitler, Stalin, Custer these people committed crimes several years before I was born and I acknowledge that people of color are still feeling the results of the crimes that these evil pricks committed on their victims’’ ancestors, but it was not me that committed these crimes, and I will not be goaded into a reactionary bigoted response, as I have no reason to feel an guilt for those past crimes.
If you really want to change the world start with yourself, admit your flaws, overcome your ignorance, and investigate what causes you fear. Never back down from a fight and don’t lie, cheat or steal. Oh ya, try not to respond too seriously to idiotic posts found on the internet after a night of heavy drinking, you may regret it when you sober up…
You obviously do not know the definition of racism:
Racism- a doctrine or teaching, without scientific support, that claims to find racial differences in character, intelligence, etc., THAT ASSERTS THE SUPERIORITY OF ONE RACE OVER ANOTHER, AND SEEKS TO MAINTAIN THE SUPPOSED PURITY OF A RACE.
Your judgement on the black man in paris was a BIAS, not racism. BIAS is a human condition, NOT RACISM.
bias |ˈbīəs|
noun
1 prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.
While I agree with most of your statement, I believe that you are wrong when it comes to the belief that all of us are racist.
Racism is TAUGHT, not inborn.
I want to offend the blogger: YOU HONKY, MALE CHAV PIG, SNOB, ALCHIE (what’s with the wine consumption?) and with a name like Christian: BIBLE-THUMPER. What will happen next? I’m gonna be sued by this guy, he’ll be like “OMG! I’m so offended! Wah! wah! that not nice. you being meanie. I get a lawyer to sue you. Panic! Manic! I need a psych/shriek/medi. Dont say that, you hurt me feelings. Boo hoo. You hate monger nazi racist bigot”. Those angst-ridden, anxiety-driven yuppie office workers in need of more Prozac or oyxcontin from the street mixed in with Jack daniels and a few “pep pills” full of meth. +
what’s next? A movement to legitimize the term “N*gg*r” to legal practice? “Hey, it’s heritage. In rap songs. Negro is still used in the UNCF’s initials and in the NAACP alphabet soup, you can find the term “Colored People”. Ridiculous? Yes, Offensive? yes and defamation of a group of people by promoting the legitimacy of a not-so-kind racial slur? YES. +
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