h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I can't get the hang of this latest fashion.

I consider myself for all practical purposes impossible to offend.

I've never, in all my life, seen something that I felt I had to try to prevent other people from seeing. I've seen a few things I wish I hadn't, certainly, but I'm not sufficiently up myself to consider my view relevant or interesting to people I've never met and shall never meet.

It seems that nowadays, "I'm offended" just means "I disagree". For example, it offends me that anyone should claim oysters taste nice, to take a random example

But otherwise: what hoo said.

What really gets me is that sometimes I will be genuinely upset and hurt by something someone says...often for all kinds of personal reasons..and also because of my tendancy to insanity I'll flounce. I'll let rip etc

But this 'being offended' thing that's all the rage...seems entirely an affectation to me. It's not to do with anything actually hurting you...it's some way of thinking.

It's really getting on my nerves.

Actually, I take it back.

I have seen something that offended me, something I feel the need to actively stop other people seeing.

The film "Run Fat Boy, Run".

It was RUBBISH.

Worse, it starred Simon Pegg, someone whose work up to that point had entertained and touched me deeply and towards whom I felt a deep affection and trust.

And then I saw this film. Worse, I paid real money and sat in a cinema to watch it. If I'd bumped into Simon Pegg as I walked out, I don't think I'd have actually punched him in the face... not quite. I'd certainly have loudly demanded what the hell he was thinking, and in particular I'd have told him in no uncertain terms that he had absolutely no right, ever again, to criticise the poor quality of the Star Wars prequels, because his betrayal in making this dross after the sublime "Spaced" and the wonderful "Shaun of the Dead" was at least equal in magnitude, in my eyes, to Lucas's treason in polluting the world with "The Phantom Menace".

I honestly considered, for a few ridiculous seconds, picketing the cinema to try to stop people seeing it.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't offended by it's *content* - there's no individual sequence in it that you couldn't show a friend a work colleague. It was its *quality* that offended me.

I could go on, but I'm getting angry as I type this, so I'm going to stop and go and have a nice cup of tea and a sit down somewhere quiet.

In conclusion: DON'T watch "Run Fat Boy Run", and if someone suggests you watch it, refuse. And if they insist, punch them in the face until they change their mind.

Well, without knowing the context of this latest "fashion" or really having detected it particularly, it's hard to say.

I'd distinguish between the notions of "offence" on the one hand, and "harm" on the other.

I think the context, Otto, is that some people get off on being offensive and then bleating about how easily offended others are.

SoRB:
>>I consider myself for all practical purposes impossible to offend.

Now there's a challenge :

Blake's 7, Stargate and Star Wars were all infantile tosh that only a slack-witted moron would like.

What baffles me is scale of offence people take from things. For example, a film can show people being murdered, and still be passed as a 12, but how many strong swear words can they say? None. Why is seeing someone being murdered less offensive than hearing a swearword?

knows.

"Blake's 7, Stargate and Star Wars were all infantile tosh that only a slack-witted moron would like."

Kiddy stuff indeed. On the other hand, Ed, I seem to remember you claiming (rather proudly) that you haven't seen Star Wars, so how would you know ... and why haven't you included Doctor Who if you *really* want to cause offence around here



End with an anagram: 'Haven't seen ~ Heaven Sent'

Oh, I'm just following the trend. Most of the offense is gratuitous.

Do you think Jimmy Carr has the first idea what he's talking about?

We live in a society where sex is seen as more offensive than graphic violence. What's wrong with this picture?

Aaanyway. There are things that offend me, sometimes I comment on them and sometimes I don't. One thing I really don't get is people who can never just walk away, who have to comment on everything that offends them, repeatedly and at length, regardless of whether they even possess all the facts.

Yeah. They're nearly as bad as tut at conversations simply because they don't want to join in.

There's defo a cultural 'being offended' thing going on.

I can't believe how often they now so on BBC5live...'Oh in case you are offended..we are warning you in advance..'

I listen to the thing...and try to work out which bit I should be concerned about being offended about'..

But then I still don't understand what it means.

Sometimes things said hurt me or make me angry.

Otherwise what is the problem?

And when they do, as an adult I deal.

**

And here we will get posts referred that have been disappeared on grounds of 'offensiveness'

What criteria are being used?

I'm applying to be a volunteer I decided.

They're nearly as bad as *people who* tut...

"The following programme contains strong language and scenes of violence."

The best warning I saw was on a poster for some film (I forget which) that said "contains behaviour which might be imitated."

I don't mind people tutting or even giving silly warnings.

What I don't like is people who decide to disappear things in all manner of media..and only give the meaningless reason of 'offensiveness'

But even worse now is the media preventing certain things even being made or shown, on those meaningless grounds.

**

But in this culture still, creative people will find ways round this utter nonsense. We are still fundamentally free. And people will still be prepared to die for protecting that..

(Too many stills )

I dunno, call me old fashioned, but I try not to offend people. I think that's a good starting point. However, unless I'm going to be a doormat all my life, I *am* going to offend people. However, if I do, I'm going to make sure that it's an offence worth causing for a point worth making or a thing worth doing.

Two things bothers me about people complaining about people complaining about being offended.
1) When what the original complaint is actually about is not offence but harm, and it's wilfully misinterpreted as being about offence
2) When the offender argues that they have the right to free speech, but that those who are offended aren't entitled to say so

Could you define what it means to be 'offended' Otto?

I ask that because every person I ask has different examples.

For myself FACTS are a fundamental.

HUMOUR is a fundamental..and yes that is a collective idea...one which the people I mix with share though.

This new offensiveness thing smacks of Mary Whitehouse to me.

It makes me want to puke.

Am I being offended?