In your opinion, do people take offence more easily today than, say, ten or more years ago?

No

If I have asked this question before, I am sure some will point it out as fast as they can.
If you do point it at least answer it again.

This got me thinking of a certain right winger, that screams hater at anyone who doesn’t see things through his corporate rose coloured glasses,and yet I get a hate vibe from him rather than anyone I see standing up to him.

So you don’t think so @product ?
You think people today are about the same or a little tougher than of years gone by?

I most assuredly do.

Thanks @KNOWITALL , while I am not disagreeing with @product just wonder where he is located not to see it?

I don’t think people are more offended.
I think people are calling out offensive behavior more, and standing up for themselves, where they wouldn’t in the past.

Being offended is a personal choice on the part of the receiver.

Yes, I think that people choose to be offended now – 2021 – far more frequently that before.

Oh, bullshit, @elbanditoroso. I was just as offended by racist and sexist jokes and comments 50 years ago as I am today, but to day I don’t tolerate them, and because of cultural shifts, I don’t have to.

Back then, calling someone out was swiftly rewarded with mocking and/or anger, and potentially being ousted from a social group. The idea of being ostracized because you rocked the boat was not appealing to anybody.

No. It’s just all trumpeted all over the internet.
I have never had someone chide me for wearing a mask, for example.
Never had someone take offense if I said Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas.
Never.
I think a lot of it is staged, too.

^^^Valid point, most of it. I have been harassed for wearing a mask, a couple of times, but the Happy Holidays thing is pretty much a fiction. The internet is a great place to trumpet.

@elbanditoroso Well said.
I think some enjoy the dramatics of it (chastising others), more so than actually being offended.

I think people like that have always been around. Even pre internet. Someone is always wallowing in self pity, and they have no sense of humor at all. In the Internet age, as posters have stated above, it is just easier to get an audience. Go to a social networking site and trumpet your pity party and woes to friends relatives, hell, to the entire world. Regardless of cause, or justification. In my opinion, we SHOULD have empathy for other people, in as much as possible. But some people are ridiculous. “You said you don’t like my candidate for Governor, you said I look heavy in my pic I posted. Nobody likes me, everybody hates me I’m gonna go eat worms”. Good grief, suck it up buttercup. If you cant handle a slap down once in a while, or a little good natured kidding, go live in a damn monastery and be a recluse.

An increase in awareness of people being offended does not equal an increase in people being offended.

If I were to speculate, however, I would probably lean the other way (net decrease in offense). But that’s speculation on something that is unverifiable.

On the internet because of social media: yes.

Whether people’s online outrage and performative offence taking carries over to ‘meat-space’ is probably something that would need further research.

It’s the “in” thing for kids to do right now. Millennials are sort of what the boomers were in the 60’s, agents of cultural change by way of social craze. I’m not saying that’s bad either. The under thirty crowd does tend to take being offended to new heights and it’s not exactly all real. Being offended and lashing out is a way to gain a certain measure of power and social standing within certain groups. It’s a behavior that can be rewarded in that way so again, it’s not all real. The human nature that causes people to take offense did not change in one generation. I’d say most people over say 30 or 40 it’s no different, possibly even less considering there is so much less offensive content in regular day to day life outside the internet.

No. Offended people just have it easier to voice their offendedness.

While I respect the question, I think the real question is “are there more things to be offended about today than ten years ago”

I am unsure about the past 10 year timeframe. Certainly more than say 20–30 years ago for sure. There is just so much more information coming at people today than ever. Opinions can get polarized very quickly now.

I personally do not get offended more. I know what interests me, I become informed, I am open for dialogue on those topics. I just don’t tolerate closed mindedness and how some people frame things. I choose to not engage with people who are clearly uninformed and are just spewing their opinion without being open for an intellectual discussion.

This is anecdotal, but from my own interactions with people in the last 20+ years, the absolute whiniest, most childish, dogmatic, uncompromising, hysterical, easily offended people are older conservatives.

^ That’s the thing. I suspect that the “people are more offended these days” is really just a reformulation of “get off my lawn”. How people answer this question probably has more to do with the person responding than an actual phenomenon.

Those who are most likely to answer that “kids are far more offended these days” are likely experiencing pushback on their views from people who finally feel they have a voice and can push back. These people may feel that they can no longer get away with language or actions they have used most of their life.

I certainly feel less pushback on much of my views/speech/positions than I did when I was younger. The amount of offense people would take at me simply expressing my belief that Palestinians are people, the police are legalized gangs, or that we should resist US imperialism was far greater just 20 years ago. Christ, people would get “cancelled” (fired) for not sufficiently stoking US jingoist attitudes in service to the US military and an increasing police state.

Part of it is bringing people’s attention to things they were oblivious to before now.

@Kropotkin I have had mixed experiences with that. The vocal, anti-vax, Alex Jones tainted evangelical wingnuts are far more whiny than any on the oppression olympic team and then some. They’re the worst of the worst. Your garden variety working stiff conservative not so much as a peep.

I think people get offended more easily and give voice to it. We’re talking about topics that weren’t discussed at all 40 or more years ago, and children have been exposed to more and different ways of thinking about topics. I think that has created more acceptance in general, which gives us “permission” to be offended and to express it. I agree with @Dutchess_III that part of it is bringing things into focus that were ignored previously.

People need to grow some skin.

than