Why Are You So Easily Offended? [Opinion]

Are you offended?  Of course you are.  By what, you may ask?  Well, anything.  Name something.  After all, doesn’t everything offend us these days?  After all, you've been conditioned to be easily offended because, well, who knows why?  There are some lines that should be observed as a matter of decency and good taste, of course.  But for the love George Carlin, why are we so offended by every stinking thing under the sun?  Remember back in 2005 when Midwestern State changed mascots from The Indians to The Mustangs?  They buckled to the politically correct nonsense of the NCAA.   Never, so far as I could determine, in seven plus decades of using the ‘Indians’ did MSU ever do anything that was actually offensive

The latest case of apologetics comes from former Disney starlet Hillary Duff.  If you’ve never heard of her, not to worry, lots of folks have not.  I only know her former work because my daughter liked her show.  But apparently she is, or was, a star of some note.  Apparently she’s on a current TV series that I’ve never seen and probably never will.  I really don’t watch a lot of television.  Duff and her boyfriend, Jason Walsh, turned up at some Halloween gig dressed oh-so-offensively.  He was made up as an American Indian, she as a pilgrim.  Holy Tonto, Batman!  How dare they?

Yes, for this, they had to quickly apologize.  Twitter was ablaze with people who were offended.  Why?  They said the pair were ‘racist’ and ‘out of touch’.  My great-grandmother was full-blood Cherokee.  Am I offended by Duff's boyfriend wearing feathers and 'war paint'?  Nope.  Why not?  Well, because I, as a rational adult, can see this for what it was…a freaking Halloween get up!  These two did NOT set out to offend anyone.  I played cowboys and Indians as a child (both roles-I was good at it) as did many of my friends and my siblings.  No one was offended.  No offense was intended nor implied.  We had fun and sometimes, the Indian won.

But here we are, 2016, and everything offends us.  We are the most thin skinned society ever to occupy the planet.  And it’s so easy for the high moral toned of America to sit there in there adult onesies, sipping on a latte and bemoaning the offensiveness of the obscure Hollywood elite.  Seriously, America, lighten up.  You want to know how to make the world a better place?  Laugh and smile and stop being offended by everything.  Save your vitriol for something worth being pissed-off about, like corrupt politicians or the loss of jobs to China.  Someone dressing up as an Indian, Native American, pilgrim, a clown, whatever, is the least of what you should be upset about.

So, let's have a little comedic lesson on how absurd it is to be so easily offended from Steve Hughes.  By the way, this may be NSFW.  Just a heads up.  Wouldn't want anyone to be....offended.