More on Don’t Be Offended

It seems to me that the world, or at least here in the United States, we have come to make a lot of taking offense. Sure, we like to give offense at times, but more often than not we like to take offense. And I am sure by simply writing this someone will be offended.

In our tolerant world it seems so easy to take offense, but is that the best or right thing to do? Are there times that maybe we should resist such offense?

Perhaps if we took a look at some different world views maybe we could understand this offensiveness and maybe even overcome some of our being offended.

There is the world view of tolerance and there is the world view of intolerance. In the world view of tolerance, what is espoused is that one in this world view is tolerant of all people, of all “races,” creeds, colors, religions and so on. Then there is the world view of intolerance. This world view is espoused by those who believe that there are certain people, beliefs, and views that should not be tolerated, for one reason or another.

Unfortunately, although we may espouse either of these world views, it seems that we do not always stay in our own world view. Sometimes we get out of our world view and, for convenience sake, we step into the world view of our opponent. We do this when we get offended because our world view is being questioned.

An example if this is the whole idea of tolerance. In one world view intolerance is acceptable, at least at certain times. For those who hold the world view of intolerance there are absolutes and there is an ultimate authority, in other words truth is truth and everyone is responsible for their own thoughts, words and actions. The world view of intolerance believes there are things, actions, words, and deeds that are right and some that are wrong and it is okay, even meet, right and salutary to correct those who do wrong.

And then there are those who live in the world view of tolerance, or at least espouse to live in this world view. However, an observation might be substantiated that suggests that when someone from the world view of tolerance is corrected by someone from the world view of intolerance, then that person may step out of their world view and become intolerant of the other person. Which is a nice way of saying that they are not living up to their world view. If one camps in the world view of tolerance and is correct that one should accept such correction with the same amount of tolerance. They may not like the correction or abide by the correction, but certainly according to their world view they should be accepting of such correction.

Again, perhaps an example might help. One living in the world of tolerance stepping out of their world view into the world view of intolerance might say something like, “I hate people who are prejudice.” Thus, becoming prejudice themselves. Or they might say something like, “There are absolutely no absolutes.” Thus, negating what they actually believe. It is amazing how often this happens in our world today.

Try in not being offended.