About This Blog
This is not a blog about what offends me. It’s about what offends you. And other people. And why. And what to do about it, if anything.
Taking Offense is a blog in progress that chronicles a book in progress. Launched in November 2015, this blog collects stories about and comments on a pervasive phenomenon — the impulse to give and take offense — and reflects on others’ analyses of a global preoccupation with hurt feelings, personal anguish, and episodic and systematic outrage, largely from the perspective of speech and expressive conduct.
Posts are intended to gather information and spark discussion. What examples of giving and taking offense do you know about? What’s missing? What’s worth talking about?
Most important, what does it all mean? Why do people give offense? Why do they take offense? What does it mean to be offended? Why do people react as they do? Is offensiveness harmful and if so, in what way? How do you respond when offended? How do others? How ought we to respond, as individuals, as a society, and as a political community?
Tell readers what you think.
