Slightly Off KIlter

Political Correctness is the attempt not to offend people who want to be offended

What can you do about people who insist on taking offense where none was meant? Where the people supposedly responsible for giving the offense weren’t even talking about the person who has chosen to be offended?

A fellow member of a mailing list to which I subscribe has decided that she’s tired of the “insults” and “put downs” she’s recently seen on the list. Unfortunately, she’s seeing phantoms. No one has insulted her. No one has attacked her. Indeed, the messages to which she refers don’t pertain to her in any way. They’re the result of a new thread of discussion. Unfortunately, that thread of discussion is, remotely, related to a thread she started. And, also unfortunately, she apparently sees something of herself or her situation in the newer thread.

It’s a short jump from “some of those words could be used to describe my life” to “stop talking about me!” Especially if one is not feeling… entirely at peace with oneself at the moment… Under pressure, it can be all too easy to tie unrelated comments and discussions together and reach the wrong conclusions.

Any resemblance to persons living, dead, or fictionalized elsewhere is purely coincidental.

‘Tis the season to be stressful. Try to maintain your balance.