How do you deal with the concept of offensiveness?

We absolutely have and should preserve the freedom of expression for all individuals. With any freedom comes the responsibility to use it correctly. So...

1) No, we should not curb back on the freedom of expression. People can say what they want, and people can also choose to react in any manner they want. A strong, emotional reaction gives the offender the exact power over you that they were seeking all along - the power to hurt you.

2) Defining an offense is significantly harder to do. There are people like me who get offended at almost nothing - I can brush things off, make the circumstance humorous and turn it around on the offender. Others have a thinner skin and get offended more easily. However, if something has the potential to offend some one based on something personal (choice of religion, sexuality, physical form), then it should most likely be considered an offense. Someone saying something against those things are most likely doing it with the knowledge that that offends someone.

3) Again, I don't get offended easily. On the VERY rare occasions I do, I turn it around on the offender. However, if you WERE to offend me, I have the right to react in any reasonable way (I.E., verbal retaliation/humiliation) minus violence. Just as you chose to offend, I chose to be offended and I also chose my reaction to that offense.

I actually think the traditional US public system is an excellent example of 'courteous' freedom: In arts, we don't 'censor' anything, we just rate it so parents can monitor content. I am aware a lot of people allege this is some sort of back door censorship but I disagree. All it does is place parents in a position of control over content to which their children are exposed (which IS their legal right). We have 'clean' broadcast television channels and unrestricted 'cable' channels. I think the system works quite well in offering parents discretionary authority (ostensibly 'protecting' children) without violating anyone's right to freedom of speech.

Once we move the focus to personal conduct, my overall feeling is that 'freedom of speech' does not mean unlimited speech without consequence. We are free to make distasteful ethnically or sexually oriented remarks in the workplace and cannot be charged with a crime -- that is our 'freedom' but that does not mean we can't get fired for creating an abusive or oppressive environment for someone else.

As far as your 'swine' and 'stingy' scenarios, again, we won't go to jail for these offenses and in most cases, if we conduct ourselves respectfully, we can learn such nuances through error, explanation and apology without making a federal case or declaring a war.

I have had this argument no fewer than a dozen times over the term 'oriental'. If someone says it or asks about it, a simple explanation should suffice. If the subject rejects the explanation and insists on continuing use of the term then the subject has openly declared hostility and deserves criticism, admonishment or even job dismissal (where applicable). If Asians tell us 'oriental' is offensive or Jews tell us 'swine' is offensive, we shouldn't need any more explanation than that to conclude the term is inappropriate, and in a civilized society, our 'freedom of speech' does not entitle us to brow beat and intimidate others. If we choose to keep using the word, that is our 'right' but we should also know we are intentionally offending others and inviting consequence for our actions.

Awesome quote from Poincare by the way. The 'belief in everthing' is an easy deficiency to spot these days but I think far too many of us do not appreciate 'doubt of everything' as an equally unconstructive form of intelectual retardation.

I offend everyone all the time and I say what I think without worrying about the consequences. It is great to watch a show called Curb Your Enthusiasm where the cental character Larry David does just that. The show is enormously popular due to the fact that we all desire the liberation that comes with being free to state your opinion and laugh at political correctness when it ends up havig the opposite affect.

It is amusing how the opponents of "political correctness" are always those who wish to offend and get away with it, yet when anyone offends them, oh how they bristle. For example, although Christians occupy a totally dominant position in US society, many of them have come to think of themselves as victims of discrimination. But they still reserve the right to "playfully call someone swine." Political correctness is just good manners. You speak of "chastisement," yet you are not a child any more. Grow up and act like a civilized adult.

Yeah i kinda agree withyou. Yale U made a mistake. You can't live your life with the fear that somebody may get violent with you if you do something. If they get violent get violent back.

As far as me personally getting offended, i'm not too easily offended save for a few key issues in my life. Funny that you mention Jewish-ness. I'm part jewish by heritage and have recently started studying and practicing Messianism. This one guy was going to crack a dirty joke, but didn't because he thought it might offend me. I told him that such things didn't bother me, and he started cracking Jew jokes. I cracked a few myself. It was all in good humor.

Another guy though straight up said some offensive things to me that only effected me indirectly. I wasn't so much offended as mad that he was even trying to offend me.

If everybody just lived in love and peace we wouldn't have to worry so much about who we are offending. If you offend accept correction. If you are offended offer correction; don't force it. I once heard, speak without offence; listen without defense.

I hate censorship... The governments and other groups illustrates that society is incapable of controlling their emotions when they censor.

Frankly everyone needs anger management. I've never been offended in my entire life because i'm not an emotionally immature being. If someone says something that pisses me off what business is it of mine? I can chose not to listen it can I not?

I hate when someone says something that pisses off a group and the whole country plasters it all over the headlines like 'OMG so and so said yadda yadda.' Who cares!!!???

The immaturity of society as a whole needs to increase and we don't learn to do that by censoring and that's the end of it.

"offensive" is a personal matter.

People in the US need to grow up and stop letting words hurt them so much. These words only have the power to "offfend" that we give them. If we continue to worry about who we might offend by speaking our minds then we might as well just sit at home blidfolded, gaged, hogtied and with earplugs in. Then noone will be able to offend or be offended.

We should classify them into 3:

(1) offense

(2) bother

(3) disgusting

We can't really make rules against offenses on adults.

Only offenses on children. Adults just have to fend for themselves and get out of the way.

Our next-door neighbors on one side are disgusting creeps, all we can do is try to ignore them.

I don't know if anyone has quoted this yet, but I believe it was William Pitt who said it:

"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."

A lot of rights have been slowly stripped over the years. Even now we have (or are supposed to have) rights that we were never even aware of...

Why should we Americans keep curbing back? I'm proud of who I am & earned the right to my opinions. There's way too much Political Correctness now. Everyone needs to lighten up