Following on from the Don't Be a Dick piece I touched on this, the subject matter, not dicks. Combined with how dickish people like to behave, this same group of people like to get easily offended and hence, make you feel like a dick when you have actually been nothing of the sort.
The problem really grows when fairly intelligent, easy-going people get randomly offended by something said or a situation that occurs. It's all slightly bizarre, especially when no offense was actually intended and it was quickly followed by an apology. Yet, many feel the need to get offended and escalate the whole situation and make the other person, and anyone else involved feel awkward for the rest of dinner. Somehow some deep rooted principle makes them unable to forgive or forget this, and their opinion of said person has now dropped forever.
Thing is though, what happens when you get offended and wake up the next day? Is your life going to be any worse? Do you now have a disease that is going to slowly eat your insides leaving you as an empty shell of your former self? Nope, all that will happen is you'll probably forget you were even offended the other day and the person you called out on it will either be feeling a little bit bad about it, or that you are a bit of a dick. Probably the later. This process repeats itself on a daily basis all over the world, eventually resulting in people being wary of what to say just in case a harmless comment that would usually pass with a laugh, can suddenly stir up a shit storm. All this results in, is less laughs and people scared to say things in case they offend, leaving the door wide open for the dicks who are hell bent on making your day a little bit worse, reveling in the PC compliant world with underhand jibes and hidden insults. Doing what dicks do.
Next time you feel yourself getting offended, whether it be an insult about your Mother, a jibe at a belief, or just a random opinion on which flavour milkshake is best, stop and think whether this the time you want to lay down your moral battle shield and turn a situation awkward. Are you about to be a dick but hiding it within a moral compass that you think you should uphold for some reason you've forgotten? If so, stop it. Stop getting offended, and move on.
Your Mother doesn't need to know what they said, nor would she have even understood what they meant, or where she would stick it. Principles are great, getting offended is usually a waste of time. Stop it.
