Recently a young comedian on the Saturday Night Live cast lost his job because someone was offended by his past action. He ain’t the first. I’ve been trying to figure out what this all means. Let’s think about it together.
The key here is that someone was offended. The interesting thing about being offended is that it is a state personal to the one who is offended. I don’t believe I can be offended. Why is that? IT’S BECAUSE OFFENSE CANNOT BE GIVEN, IT CAN ONLY BE TAKEN. The state of being offended says WAY more about the internal life and stability of the person who claims to be offended than the one who supposedly transgressed.
In the past, when our communities where more united and shared common mores and values, when someone was offended because of something you did, it sent you an important signal about your standing with those mores. Now, to my chagrin, we don’t know what the mores are. There are no common values. The whole script has flipped. People don’t reproduce and think children in restaurants are abominable, but buggery is cool. What do?
I don’t have any idea what the accepted rules are anymore. They are changing very quickly, and they change from city to city, community to community. No one else knows what the rules are either. Someone, somewhere is going to TAKE OFFENSE at something we have done, something that was innocuous just a few years ago.
We are starting to see cultural subversives who started this shit get swallowed by it themselves. Justin Trudeau, who didn’t start the Outrage Game but has been pushing it, just got clobbered with offense orgasming for something he did 21 years ago. It’s going to get all of us at some point. The rules are changing, you don’t know what they are, and even if you do, they’ll be different next week. What do?
I know that many who claim to be offended are lying and do so just to hurt others. This makes the game even MORE arbitrary and supports my point further.
- The complete rules of the “Outrage” game are unknown.
- People lie about the game.
I don’t play games like that.
I think the key to navigating this problem is to not care. To act as you think is best and let the chips fall where they might. They are going to turn you in to the HR department sooner than later anyway. Act like you are free, then you will be. There might be economic hardship for a while if you do this, but you’ll find a way to make it that is free. You’ll find a way that isn’t subject to the tantrums of those who cannot control their emotional experiences, those who are offended or feign it.
I know many are not in an economic position to do this. Student loan and other debt, family obligations, and other obligations mean most of us literally can’t afford getting called to HR, losing the job, or the client. That doesn’t change a thing. They are gonna get you eventually, if they don’t you were lucky. Most of us aren’t lucky, so we need to plan for the worst.
Pay off your debt
Cut your expenses
Find several sources of income
Live simple
Then opt out of the game. Everyone that plays loses.