Everything is offensive to someone

[Aaron Sylvester]

And this we arrive at the conclusion that the #1 rule of "this offends me" debates is...

#1 - Don't care about what anyone claims to be offended by, it's only their opinion and nothing more. You can either agree with it, or ignore it and move on.

 

[Euryalus]

and people get angry about all kinds of things, some of it is valid, some of it is dumb, some of it makes for discussion

You've sort of just killed your own point here: who gets to deem what is 'dumb' and what is 'valid' for people to get angry about?

I think this point is a very good one. The thread's point I mean.

People talk about sexist or offensive tropes all the time, and underlying these critisms is an idea of wrongness that's usually never explored as well as it could be. If offensiveness is purely subjective, then it can't be any different from saying "I don't like this" and further criticism is just "I don't like this because it doesn't jive well with what I enjoy, which is [insert what I enjoy]"

If that's the case, then it isn't so much anything can be offensive, but people's interpretation of art will be a complex and subjective extension of tastes and psychology.

If things are like that, then the question remains "Why should I care that you're offended? I'm not." There needs to be an objective idea, measurement, or principle by which you can say "[a work] is this way, but it should, or would be better, if it were this way."

Otherwise like I said above all you're doing is saying "I don't like this and would like it better if it were this way." That second statement isn't going to move me to agree with you unless we like the same things.

I personally tend to answer this conundrum of normative claims about a subjective experience using Stoicism, virtue ethics, Epicureanism, and Aristotle's poetics, which I could actually write a paper on, so I won't really go into for the sake of my sanity.

In short, being offended at something isn't particular useful or conducive to your happiness, nor is you being offended meaningful in any way, but criticisms of certain aspects of things in art can be good (or bad) as opposed to right (or wrong).

 

[C. Cain]

I believe that whether or not something is offensive depends entirely on the mind of the individual who was offended. I don't believe "it's offensive" to be a valid criticism of any form of art or media because it assumes that everyone sees and interprets the media in question the same way. This is a thought experiment to that effect. This thread is not meant to offend people but rather to show that anything can be offensive if viewed with a mindset looking to find offense.

What is this exercise in reaching supposed to accomplish, precisely? Everything is offensive, therefore nothing is?
Are we supposed to give minstrel shows a pass, because you're theoretically able to arrive at the notion that Alien might be offensive if you just project hard enough?

Something being offensive is indeed subjective, but so are many, many other things we use to criticise any given piece of art. Are these criteria invalid, too? Can we only critique the most technical aspects and production values involved in the creation of art to ascertain its worth?

 

[geK0]

So your conclusion is people who are looking for reasons to be offended at something will tend to find them? Welcome to the internet, I recommend you stay away from Tumblr

It's less that people who are looking for reasons will find them and more that it's impossible to keep from offending people who are looking to be offended because they can point at literally anything and claim to be offended by it. If you look too deeply into anything one can find offense there, regardless of whether it is real or imagined, intended or unintended.

Are you implying that those people are not justified to be offended by those things? You are belittling and dehumanizing these people by stripping away their dignity and robbing them of their voice!!!!! People are not looking for things to trigger them, everyone should just be conscious of other people's triggers and not say anything that could possibly trigger them ever!!!! You are ignorant and a cis white male chauvinist!!! check your privilege!!!!

 

[Patrick Buck]

Okay... Yes. Everything is offensive to someone. but I think there are two major factors to involve in that offensiveness.

1: Is it intended? If no, maybe vomiting bile all over something that someone accidentally offended someone with is a bit unfair, though informing them that it could hurt feelings is a fine thing to do.

2: Is their offense valid? Because lets be honest, people like getting upset by shit. Sometimes you just gotta ignore people. Look at what you've created, and look at their conclusion about it. If they're so totally different, I think someone's made a mistake along the line.

 

[Someone Depressing]

If something is offensive, then people will find it offensive.

If someone wants to find something offensive, then no matter how much bullshit they are to subject the masses to, they will, no matter how much they are overreacting or how innocent is actually is.

When someone tries to say that Alien is racist towards blacks, then you can pretty much call bullshit there. No non-white crew members is a bit of an unfortunate casting decision, but it should not instill such ails that it would cause someone to genuinely find it offensive. Unless they are an extraterrestrial. Then you can start complaining.

People naturally like getting upset over shit and complaining. It's human nature to abhor things that we feel challenge or offend us, and to spread our opinion of it, but when people say that the Telly Tubbies demonises fat people, then the whiff of the idiot is strong in the air.