Is this offensive?

H'bout this?

Or maybe this?

Certainly this is offensive, but maybe for the right reasons.

Dear Jeff,

I know that I am way late on this one, but I was doing a little recreational reading and I stumbled across your "Mohammad, Ya Need a Face-lift" Op-Ed( so I am a dork...So what!). Anyway, I believed that you began to touch on a much larger issue that is at hand here. There are two very alarming trends that seem to be growing when I would think that good sense would have pushed them at least out of the American consciousness decades ago.

The first and longest lived principle is the one that says that religious beliefs are beyond criticism. No matter the arena or circumstances, apparently, if you criticize religious beliefs or organizations you are insensitive and offensive to all practitioners of those beliefs. Huh?

I recently got slack for criticizing the Catholic Church's handling of and covering up of child sex abuse claims. I mean there were documented cases of the church paying hush money to families as far back as the 60's! Yikes! I wondered aloud how anyone would voluntarily align himself with an organization that let such egregious behavior take place for so long. I mean, you don't have to be Catholic to be Christian. Hell, you can still follow Catholic dogma and just not give money to an organization that uses donations to pay for rent and living expenses of know child predators. I was stopped cold by opposition.

How dare I question people's beliefs in such a respected organization or expect people who believed in Catholicism their entire lives to distance themselves from it? How dare I criticize the Catholic church and misrepresent all the good priests who weren't molesting kids and all the good work they do? Didn't I know that this was an aberration? Wasn't I aware that God (capital for emphasis) would punish these evil men for their actions and send them to Hell?

I pointed out that they could all go to Heaven anyway, since all they have to do according to Christian doctrine is repent. I pointed out that this feature of Christianity made it unnecessary for anyone to follow the rules since you can only be punished if you don't apologize to God before you die, which any Christian on their way out would take a few moments to do. I guess Hell is filled with people who got hit by trains, died instantly in car crashes, or folks who just couldn't get their thoughts together before their plane went down, but I digress.

I was met with stiff opposition and my arguments were not heard on their merits. I got nothing but negative feedback because I had done the unthinkable. I had criticized someone's religion and offended people. I had made these people victims of my honesty, and as far as they were concerned, I had crossed the line.
This brings me to the next trend that is so prevalent now that I cannot avoid it as hard as I try(OK so I don't try at all and am a bigger instigator than Theo Van Gogh). To offend someone is worse than murder these days. I mean things have really gone off the deep end here. Hell, even people who don't say offensive things get in trouble for showing support for people or ideas which are offensive or unacceptable. Trent Lott anyone? What the Hell is so wrong with offending people?

Generally what is considered offensive are ideas which are not part of the norm. What becomes offensive is that dissenting voice which is so important to our democracy. That person who protests out loud that people who make the -"We have to continue the war in Iraq because if we leave now all our soldiers will have died in vain."- argument are unfairly playing on people's emotions is ridiculed for offending families of fallen soldiers. Weather or not that person is making a valid argument is not the issue. Once someone plays the "offense card" all reasonable discourse and debate ends.

The conversation then must shift into this new realm where you must defend the right to have your particular point of view instead of defending the point of view itself. It is ridiculous and is harmful to our way of life. If networks won't air programs because they may offend even though people have the option not to watch, we are in trouble. If newspapers refuse to print cartoons-say it one more time CARTOONS!!!!!- because it may offend some people, we are in trouble. I for one am offended by these peoples' offense. Maybe now that I am a victim too, someone will care about what I have to say.

Concerned Skeptic
Eric-Scott Purnell
Feel free to Email Scott if you have comments
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