I take offense.
I take offense to how everyone takes offense to everything.
And I take offense to how many of the people who read this column will take offense to it.
Dartmouth is on the more conservative side of the spectrum as far as colleges go, but that doesn't make it free from the paranoia plaguing the entire society. We all must beware of what we say and do because anything can come back to haunt you when it is interpreted the wrong way; therefore we refrain from saying what we otherwise might.
I'll refrain from using specific examples; to do so would be pointless anyway since every social and cultural group there is, including ones to which I belong, has jumped on the easily-offended bandwagon. We all face examples everyday. We might have an opinion about a certain topic but we refrain to publicize it because someone of a relevant culture or ideology may (nay, will) be offended by it. Or we make a seemingly harmless comment that is somehow related to some obscure detail in history and therefore made the basis for offense. I'm one of the most straightforward, blunt people I know, and even I'm afraid to make comments in many situations because I know people will be offended.
I'm of course not advocating a policy of brash political incorrectness, but political correctness can go only to a certain point before it results in the sacrifice of useful contributions to the social forum that are repressed due to the paranoia that they will be received with hostility and attacks. And the more this mentality persists, the more society suffers.
For example, lawsuit after lawsuit pervades our culture to the point that nowadays it's just a matter of course, accepted without a second look. People place blame on anyone they can find but themselves, so people and businesses that should in reality have nothing to worry about must be extra-careful when going about their daily business for fear that someone will find something for which they can be blamed. The lack of personal responsibility is just a branch of the phenomenon, keeping everyone more on guard and less liberal with their ideas and actions than they should have to be. In the end, this results in higher prices for everyone when companies have to factor legal expenses into their prices and minimized innovation and contribution due to fear of chastisement.
Another manifestation of the issue is in the simple ideological discussions in which we participate every day. For example, you have one set of beliefs and I have another. That's a superficially obvious fact of life. However, we rarely have meaningful, productive conversations; instead, when one of us tries to relate our belief the other will more often than not attack the belief itself instead of accepting it and working from there. The point is that people are set in their beliefs, so bickering over ideological foundations will yield nothing. All we can do is respect each other's opinions. As long as people spend their effort trying to convince everyone that they're right and everyone else is wrong rather than accepting the validity of others' beliefs and trying to work towards a goal from there, stalemate will pursue. The path to cooperation starts with acknowledging everyone's right to his or her opinion and realizing that, no matter how different you think others are, they are as sure of their opinions as you are of yours.
But instead, many use scare tactics and the threat of being called politically incorrect and therefore socially unacceptable to try to force people to a certain viewpoint. Importantly, when this happens, the forced viewpoint is artificial; since the person upon whom it's forced never bought into it to begin with it has no meaning and cannot possibly be used productively. Making someone believe something they don't legitimately believe gets us nowhere; rather than being offended every time someone says something we disagree with we should work towards a compromise and not impose our viewpoints on others as if they were stupid for believing anything else.
It drives me crazy at times when I have to watch every detail of what I say; and even when I do someone ends up snapping at me for my offensiveness. It's gotten to the point where I feel I must enter a disclaimer before everything I write and say. I declare here and now never to do that again and to always say what's on my mind. The surrounding society may not particularly shine to it but someone has to do it. Before long we'll enter a stasis in which we make no meaningful progress. It will take one of two shapes: everyone will either be yelling at and suing each other constantly or everyone will stay absolutely still and say nothing. Either extreme is obviously bad, yet we continue down that road, and I don't want to be stuck in a society politically correct beyond the breaking point.
Sorry if I offended you.
