Get Offended

[00:00:02]Do you remember when it was okay to offend people?

[00:00:06]Maybe I'm getting old.

[00:00:08]Maybe my memory is failing.

[00:00:11]Maybe I finally crossed that magical age where every sentence begins with when I was your age.

[00:00:18]But I swear there was a time when getting offended wasn't treated like a medical emergency.

[00:00:24]When I was growing up, offending each other was practically a recreational activity.

[00:00:28]Nothing was sacred. Not your clothes, not your haircut, not your intelligence, and especially not your mother.

[00:00:36]Every argument started with somebody insulting somebody's mom and spiraled into chaos from there.

[00:00:41]Nobody called a counselor. Nobody filed a report.

[00:00:45]You either laughed, fired back, got better material, or learned how to fist fight.

[00:00:51]>> [sighs] >> Today we have something called microaggressions.

[00:00:55]Apparently, these are tiny acts of harm.

[00:00:59]Which is unfortunate because the regular-sized version is still very much on the market.

[00:01:04]Now, don't get me wrong.

[00:01:06]Some people are genuinely rude. Some people are cruel.

[00:01:10]Some people are plutonium-grade [ __ ] Those people have always existed.

[00:01:17]But somewhere along the way, we started expanding the definition of harm.

[00:01:21]Now a disagreement is violence.

[00:01:24]A joke is trauma.

[00:01:26]A mistaken word is oppression.

[00:01:29]A raised eyebrow requires a 12-part apology tour.

[00:01:33]We become so sensitive that eventually somebody's going to get PTSD from a strongly worded fortune cookie.

[00:01:41]And here's the strange part.

[00:01:43]Being offended used to be considered your problem.

[00:01:46]Now it's considered everybody else's.

[00:01:49]Somehow we've decided that if something hurts your feelings, the entire world is responsible for rearranging itself around your emotional weather patterns.

[00:01:58]Imagine applying this logic [music] anywhere else.

[00:02:01]I don't like country music.

[00:02:03]Well, then clearly we should cancel Johnny Cash posthumously.

[00:02:08]I find mayonnaise offensive. Well, let's ban sandwiches.

[00:02:13]I saw a guy wearing Crocs.

[00:02:16]Okay, fair enough.

[00:02:18]Some things deserve consequences.

[00:02:23]The modern obsession with offense creates a bizarre incentive structure.

[00:02:27]The more offended you are, the more authority you're granted. The more fragile you appear, the more social power you can accumulate.

[00:02:36]And suddenly everyone is competing in the victim Olympics. Gold medal in emotional injury, silver medal in personal grievance, bronze medal in being deeply troubled by something somebody said on the internet six years ago.

[00:02:51]What a magnificent use of civilization.

[00:02:55]The internet certainly didn't help.

[00:02:57]Before social media, if somebody offended you, there was a good chance you'd never see them again.

[00:03:02]Now you can carry that anger around indefinitely. You can nurture it, feed it, water it, give it sunlight, build a community around it.

[00:03:12]>> [music] >> You can join thousands of complete strangers who are also furious about the exact same thing.

[00:03:20]Human beings have accomplished many incredible things.

[00:03:24]Walking on the moon, allegedly.

[00:03:27]Splitting the atom.

[00:03:29]Building the internet.

[00:03:31]And then using that same internet to argue with strangers about pronouns, cartoons, and chicken sandwiches.

[00:03:38]Remarkable.

[00:03:40]Personally, I'd like to see people rediscover a lost skill.

[00:03:44]Not cruelty.

[00:03:46]Not bullying.

[00:03:48]Not being intentionally hateful.

[00:03:51]Just resilience.

[00:03:53]The ability to hear something you don't like and continue functioning.

[00:03:57]The ability to hear a joke and recognize that not every sentence is a declaration of war.

[00:04:03]The ability to survive being mildly offended.

[00:04:07]Because here's the uncomfortable truth.

[00:04:09]If nobody is ever allowed to offend anyone, nobody is allowed to be honest. Nobody is allowed to be funny.

[00:04:17]Nobody is allowed to challenge anything.

[00:04:20]And eventually, nobody is allowed to speak at all. [music] So, by all means, get offended.

[00:04:26]It's your God-given right.

[00:04:28]Just don't confuse being offended with being correct.

[00:04:33]Those are two very different things.

[00:04:40]>> [music]