Political Correctness Is Censorship

The D.C. Clothesline – by Joshua T Caldwell

So you say that I offended you. I say that is impossible. I cannot offend you. Being offended is something that happens in your head, and I have no control over that. I can push you, I can strike you, I can do all sorts of things that will injure you, but I cannot offend you.

I will go further and state that your declaration that you have been offended is cowardice or at the very least weakness on your part. Cowardice in that you do not have any logical retort to counter whatever statement I made to offend you. You are surrendering your side of a disagreement. You claim to be offended as a shield to hide behind, and I am calling you out as a coward. If you think I am wrong, or you think I am mislead, then use your words as a rational being would, and tell me why I am wrong. Do not throw up the “offended” flag and expect that your claim of offense has ended the conversation. I am telling you that ending the conversation by becoming offended is your admission of the weakness of your argument.

For many years, people who had no logical point to make have shut down discussion under the guise that someone taking offense to a topic or idea was in some magical way a reason to stop talking. This is nonsensical. This is the core of modern censorship and I am appalled by it. There is zero reason that any idea no matter who it offends should be censored. That is exactly what we have done. You can’t talk about race or religion or politics because someone might be offended. I say to you now, and I will echo these thoughts for decades to come, that the person who is offended is the problem, and they need to sort it out. If my religious beliefs offend you, then you have a problem not me. There is no logical reason for me to be censored, either by my own self-imposed will to not offend, or by group or government pressure to respect you imaginary right to live free from offense. If my political views offend you, then, under what thinking man’s banner can you possibly expect to shut down my opinion? In reality the offense lives in your brain not in my speech. If I am offended by your conduct or speech, do I have the right to stop you, just because I clam an offense, when we know that the only place offense lives in inside of my skull. The only logical answer to that question is no.

What is worse still is that offense is not an equal quantity. Some people can be offended and others cannot. People who are of the majority opinion cannot be offended. That is actually not true, the majority can be offended, but nobody cares. It is the people in the minority who cannot be offended. It is as if some difference in the quality of the human who is offended, not a difference in the opinion or point of view. Our founding fathers were brilliant men. They anticipated the bullying of the majority by groups of the “oppressed.” The author of Animal Farm, George Orwell also predicted this special treatment for any group or individual who will claim to be offended.

I for one will not stand for this societal tyranny. I will not abide by these false rules. I will not be censored. If my speech offends you, I don’t care, that is your problem. I encourage each and every person who reads this article to make it your mission to go an offend someone and then explain why the problem is all in their head.