I'm offended by stupidity, for example. Not the kind where one can't help that they were born with a below average IQ but the kind where otherwise capable brains are allowed to turn flabby through lack of use. I think that I have the right to choose to be offended -- it's my opinion and I'm entitled to it. Perhaps I'm in error in feeling this way somehow and shouldn't be offended by this type of behavior. But there it is.
What I DON'T have the right to is to then expect the world to change in order to make me feel better. If I want to enact change then it's up to ME; not someone else to do it for me. More people need to take some responsibility for themselves and their environment and stop being a bunch of cry-babies. It seems that we're becoming a nation of wusses!
So here's a recent example where some small-minded people were offended by an unkind description from PZ Myers that I feel is otherwise accurate. Not mean; just blunt.
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/07/im_surrounded.php
Isn't this a lovely map? It shows the concentration of ignorant, deluded, wicked, foolish, or oppressed victims of obsolete mythologies in the United States, with the lighter colors being the most enlightened and the dark reds being the most repressed and misinformed. Oh, it's labeled as the frequency of religious adherents, but it's the same thing.So he doesn't paint a pretty picture. Yeah well, the truth hurts sometimes. But to me this is a sign that you have a bit of cognitive dissonance that needs some work. Human tendency is to be weak and run away from the truth in such cases. But an adult should be mature enough to face up to the hard cold facts and learn to cope -- not rationalize it away.
After the firestorm of negative feedback, PZ responded to the more common complaints he received, in part...
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/07/in_which_the_obnoxious_atheist.php
You've been given your prescription, people of faith: you believe in a lot of goofy, stupid, ridiculous ideas. You can resign yourself to them if you aren't strong enough to part from them — I'm not going to follow you to church and drag you out with a choke-chain — or you can wake up. It's all up to you. One thing you don't get to do is silence the people who point and laugh.It's interesting to note that while I'm offended by stupidity (and therefore try to eliminate when I find it in myself), apparently these folks seem to mostly be offended that they've had their stupidity pointed out to them (or irrationality, if you prefer) -- and from their responses they are clear that they have no intention of trying to eliminate it.
