The Offended Offense Is Ended

Friday, September 5, 2025

Much liberal progress has been made on the back of claiming to be “offended” by one thing or another.  No one wants to offend anybody and so we conservatives apologize and grant the liberals ground.  This is especially true if the liberals threaten to throw a tantrum of some sort – a riot, a protest, a tweet.  They have turned being offended into a political offense and it is coming to an end.

This thought rolled through my mind when Trump blew up the drug boat yesterday.  There has been lots of indignant response – talk about “international law,” and “legal authority.”  But honestly, who wants to defend Venezuelan drug runners?  NOBODY!  But they also do not want to see Trump succeed and so they feign indignation and act all offended in an effort to turn the political tide.

Another example is this NYTimes op-ed about how math turned a D.E.I. skeptic into a hard core D.E.I. supporter because it is not just about “getting the right answer.”  Disclaimer, I have not read the piece, just the abstract, because I refuse to give the NYT my money.  Please – all that is is a claim of offense at failing the math test.  2+2 = 4.  That’s it, that’s all.  Any other answer and Apollo 11 ends up drifting in space for eternity rather than landing on the moon.  Of course there is a right answer.  Academia is struggling behind the rest of us, but they are going to have to start failing kids again or we are no longer going to be capable of doing important things.

Which brings me to Jim Geraghty’s Morning Jolt of a couple of days ago.  Geraghty discusses liberal lamppost Malcolm Gladwell’s admission that biological men competing athletically with biological women, the offense offered to biological men that identify as women notwithstanding, was a step too far.  Geraghty concludes:

Progressives, including advocates for athletes born male participating in women’s sports, could attempt to convince the broader public, if they wanted to, but they would have to engage with those who disagree with respect, and attempt to persuade, not shame, demonize, mock, or sneer. And even before the question of whether they could do that . . . how many progressives actually want to do that?

“…shame, demonize, mock, or sneer,” is what they are doing when they claim to be offended.  Claiming offense is simply a means of calling the other guy “mean.”

The biggest problem is that way too many knee-jerk liberals have begun to drink their own Kool-Aid.  They no longer feign offense, they simply take offense at anything Trump does – they simply find the man offensive – and they mean it.  That is why they are walling themselves off into little blue bubbles, as Geraghty points out.  Their offense is no longer a matter of political stratagem, it is their reality.

Meanwhile, actual reality rolls on – with them separate from it.  At some point a line is crossed- the line behind which lies mental illness of some sort.  Isn’t that the definition of mental illness? When an individual lives in an imagined world, not the real one?  Nowadays; however, such people can create a virtual reality they can hide in.  Are we doing them any favors if we let them?

Jesus was crucified because He offended a lot of people, even though He did nothing that was actually offensive.  And that brought salvation to mankind.  As our political victories continue to mount up, we need to remember, we are not here simply to win.  We are here to make things better for everyone – even those we “offend” and that oppose us.