I'm Offended!

Y'know what? I'm offended. I'm offended by people who think that there's some magical right not to be offended. In fact, I'm going to offend these wusses a bit more .... so come along for the ride ....

First of all, it was silly enough when the NCAA decided that any school using an Indian-themed mascot deemed "hostile or abusive" would not be allowed to use that mascot. I mean, look at the schools they're going after. What in the world is so "hostile" or "abusive" about names like Braves, Chippewas, Seminoles, Utes, Indians or Fighting Illini?? If you named your team the "Drunken Nates", the "Casino Runners" or the "Welfare Warriors" ..... THEN I could see the point. Fortunately, Florida State has won a small victory over political correctness, and hopefully the trend will continue.

But what really got me going was when I looked at the AP headlines tonight and found this little gem of a story. This is what over 40 years of bleeding-heart, responsibility-eschewing political pandering has accomplished. We're now so damned sensitive that a doctor can't even tell a fat patient that they're fat. Wow ... I think that's so totally mind-blowing that we really need to reflect upon it. You're a doctor. Some big old thunder-thighed porcine behemoth comes waddling into your office for a physical. Somehow you manage to perform your professional duties without swearing on a stack of bibles to remain celibate for the rest of your life. Then, in a supreme act of kindness, you inform her that she needs to lose weight or face a significantly shorter life. But because her precious, lard-coated feelings are hurt, you wind up being told by the state board that you should attend a medical education course and acknowledge that you made a mistake.

The next time you hear someone talking about "diversity" or "sensitivity", think about this case -- because this is where that kind of muddled thinking takes you. By ceasing to view people as individuals and rather sort and classify them by their race, orientation, gender or size, we've managed to elevate victimhood to a virtue and reduce competence and responsibility to just another evil legacy of "white/male dominated" American society. My favorite euphemism for holding people responsible for their actions is "blaming the victim". Well, I'm here to blame the so-called victim.

Unless someone ties you to a chair and force-feeds you a high-calorie diet three times a day while making sure you get no exercise, you are responsible for your weight. Sure, genetics can play a role, and some people are just luckier than others in this regard. Maybe there are even a few medical conditions that legitmately make it difficult to lose weight and keep trim. But that doesn't let the vast majority of America's fatasses off the hook. Fat doesn't "victimize" you -- you make yourself fat by a long series of bad decisions. My own gravitational constant confirms that with years of hard work, you can have a beer gut of your very own!

And as far as being offended is concerned, where in the Constitution do you find anything about a "right" not to be offended??? I can show you where it says that "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech" (take that you whiny politically correct wimps!), but I find nothing that protects your tender little feelings.

Politically correct types offend me. They're weak ... weak-minded and weak-spirited. If you're too weak to withstand being offended or having your feelings hurt, you've managed to remain a child well beyond the chronological period where that sort of weakness is acceptable. I've learned a few rules about life over the years, and they don't bode well for the weak:

1. Life isn't fair.
2. You're not special.
3. No one can live your life for you.
4. Failure is always a possiblity.
5. What other people think about you less important than what you think about yourself.

For instance, if some calls me a beer-bellied, tobacco-spittin', insensitive, antisocial, elitist Kraut intellectual redneck, I give'm the old middle finger and get on with my day. They're entitled to their opinion, and I don't really give an airborne copulation what others think anyway (with the exception of a few close friends). Hell, all I have to do is look at what the masses go for in entertainment, television and politics and it's abundantly clear to me that if they don't like me, I must be doing something right. Have a little self-confidence for christ's sake!

Seriously though, political correctness is a negative by-product of affluence. Only when a nation reaches a level of wealth where people can afford to sit around getting in touch with their feelings instead of busting their asses to survive can this kind of nonsense be taken seriously. And if we aren't willing to actively oppose it whenever and wherever it raises its head, things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better, because while we all waste our lives getting in touch with our feelings, a modern version of the Goths is going to come and sack our modern version of Rome ... regardless of how we feel about it.