You have never in your life been offended. I know very few of you IRL but I can state that as absolutely true. No one has ever been offended.
But most of us have, at one time or another, allowed ourselves to be offended. You choose to be offended. Whether the thing at which you took offense was intended to offend or not. It doesn't matter.
It's odd that none of the gods never figured that out.
@Jeber No, I'm pretty sure that acts of cruelty, bigotry, murder, and stupidity offend me. It's not a choice. I do not make any conscious choice to be angered by those things, and they offend me at my core.
@AskTheDevil
Those things offend your sense of morality, as we each define our own morality.
@Jeber I presume your point is actually about not allowing people to use "offense" as an excuse to control other people's behavior, without reasoning for that beyond "I'm offended".
That I am absolutely behind.
The sense of offense exists to serve a purpose. But that purpose is not meant to overtake reason, nor other emotions like compassion.
@Jeber I say "purpose" when I mean something more like "it serves a function that stuck with us over a long period of change and evolution".
@AskTheDevil
I think we all need to own our emotions. We need to control our reactions to provocations. We shouldn’t hand control of ourselves over to others.
If we own ourselves, then we can practice compassion and empathy instead of being “forced” to feel resentment and envy.
I fear I’m not conveying what I’m trying to say.
Of course we’ll feel anger or offense, but we should decide when to be angry or offended. Be in control.
@Jeber mindfulness works to process emotion differently because we drop all judgment before examing the topic or stress. @AskTheDevil helps transform bad emotions to better emo.
It enables me to look at a news feed w/o being triggered. << huge for inner peace 🧘♀️✌️
@Jeber Oh no, I think I understand you. I'm reading and nodding agreement as I go. : )
Offense is a visceral feeling, an emotion. You do not pick feelings, you only pick how you respond to them.