Donald Trump is quite the guy, ain’t he? Recently, this newsworthy nuance has been hitting the small screen and social mediums with his less-than-popular remarks about people of the Islamic faith. He defends his remarks by calling them “absolutely necessary,” and saying that he doesn’t need to apologize, that political correctness is the ruin of this country.
Good for Trump. An apology wouldn’t do anything anyway. In all bluntness, addressing Donald Trump’s comments is among the last things I’d want do to. So I’ll stop giving this blabbering baboon any more attention.
However, He Who Shall Not Be Named… anymore brings up a good point.
On the verge of being disqualified for his comments, He Who Shall Not Be Named… anymore challenged our view of what should and should not be said. When does speaking your mind turn into offending millions of people?
It’s not that easy of a question to answer. Nowadays, it seems hard enough to breathe without people losing their cool and calling you racist for your nitrogen-oxygen ratio of air preference, or homophobic because you don’t recognize your esophagus as being gender neutral.
Hyperbole aside, our modern society’s level of sensitivity is a serious problem that needs to be addressed seriously.
Back in the day, a general rule of thumb for whether or not what one is about to say will offend was the need to proceed your statement with “No offense, but…” If the statement could be appropriate without “No offense, but…” it would be correct. Unfortunately, now, we can hardly say anything opinionated without said prefix.
People don’t realize the importance of being blunt. Certainly, no one likes to be called a name that is disrespectful, unkind, or downright mean. But there is another category of name-calling that is also hurtful and destructive: names such as racist, sexist, homophobe, anti-Semite, bigot, and the like.
Since when did stating your opinion become such a bad thing?
Speaking personally, I’ve often been accused of everything from racism to homophobia. Although my beliefs and actions don’t relate to either in the slightest, simply speaking my mind on large topics have spurred too much controversy.
Instead of society being so worried about whether or not they will hurt someone’s feelings, we should shift our focus to those getting offended.
It’s a new, brilliant concept called thickening your skin.
If we toughen up, we can tough out the hurtful comments. Doing this will not only give us the potential never to be hurt by such harsh words again but should give those being truly offensive—like He Who Shall Not Be Named …anymore—no more screen time than they deserve.