Being offended, imo, is stupid. Saying, "That offends me," or any variation thereof, is just a chicken poo way of making the situation someone else's problem, either by attempting to gain the favor of a few people who'll continue the fight for you or by coercing the person who caused the situation to exist to self-censor in the future. News flash: it doesn't work. Claiming offense, especially in the social media age, does nothing but attract a few like-minded whiners who sit around and stroke each other's ego about how right they all are without affecting any change.

 

When you're feeling "offended", the correct answer is almost always to ignore it and get on with life. People are inherently stupid, and they say stupid things. If I tried to force the issue on everything I found uncomfortable or "offensive", I'd never have time for a life of my own. Such is the curse of the social media age. Everyone has an opinion, and the vast majority of opinions are not going to agree with yours. Lots of people consider their opinions on key topics to be fact, and why bother arguing with someone like that?

 

Once in a great while, something bugs me enough that I'll engage head-on. Once I realize that challenging someone's "facts" with my own opinions, even with reasoned argument and examples, is just going to give me a concussion from banging my head against the wall over and over again, I usually go back to option one. It's much more fun and more efficient to spend 30 seconds laughing at someone privately than it is to waste hours on end arguing with them publicly after it's clear that their opinions will not change and are not open to debate.

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