Being offended by something is far more than an emotional state. It can very literally be a survival instinct. If someone says something offensive to you, it is a social cue that they are (at least potentially) hostile towards you. Offense is not an issue of over sensitivity, it’s an activation of flight-or-flight. I’ll give you two examples:

1. Nigger (I use the word unedited with intent). You might think that black people are simply letting racists idiots control their emotions with that word, but I would argue that that would be a failure on your part to apply context. When you understand that for generations of black people, that was very literally the last word they heard before they died and indeed, there are still places today where that’s the case, the word has a much different connotation.
2. Rape Jokes. Plenty of people -mostly guys- think people that are offended by rape jokes are just hyper-emotional, but think about this; if you’re the kind of person who thinks rape is nothing to take seriously, then can I trust you to come to my aid if I am the victim of rape? Can I trust you not to do the raping?
   Offense almost universally comes with an unbalanced power dynamic and history of abuse on one side and victimization on the other. Anyone who equates offense with over sensitivity is advertising pretty clearly what side of that line they reside on.

I disagree.
As a white, cis hetero male you are rolling in white male privilege, so likely don't face many challenges, but if you are a black, Muslim, female, Latino, in the LGBTQ community, etc., you will quickly find out how cruel and insulting people can be.
YES, people can be triggered.
You just haven't experienced it, so don't get it.

It's like telling Jews to "get over" the Holocaust, telling black people to "obey the police" and they won't get shot, telling women they bring sexual assault on themselves by wearing sexy clothing, or telling a LGBTQ person "be hetero" if they don't want to be attacked.

It is everyone's right to be offended by whatever they feel .. Just because i don't get it does not mean it is not valid either ... it is a two way street and give and take is what makes things work. What is important is how we al deal with someone being offended. By trying to understand that POV or not .. If it's bullshit sure call them out for that. You have to try to understand first though.

The word "triggered" is a word used by mental health professionals and now banded about in ignorance to describe people essentially being immature.. Don't devalue real issues

I hope this doesn't offend you lol.

Here is an interesting Reddit thread .. hope it helps ..

[reddit.com]

You will notice the girl gamer community uses the insult, "internet fuckboy starter pack" to describe your use of "triggers" lmao .. Owned.

Being offended and finding things offensive ... there might be a subtle difference here. ut either way, I don't agree with you'r assessment of people who feel offended. I conidered some images offensive I saw recently of this actress dressed up as Hitler with burnt jew cookies. She's jewish herself... but ... did not earn herself favours with these images, meant to be funny. So do I steam over it and feel 'triggered'? Not sure. I feel disgusted. I feel disgusted when a so called president calls a protesting, kneeling sports person a son of a bitch. I don't feel anything much when people do whatever the hell they like to a flag. But doing things to poeple, threatening doing things to people, calling people names ... for no reason. Why wouldn't I find these things offensive?

Interesting - I get your argument and its sound; and I still feel there are times when I want to be offended and make a deal of it, say if a big man was spitting near me and I couldnt take him on because I am only five feet and one inch. The only place I can go to is frustrated/offended. And I do seriously think some guys get a kick out of being offensive especially in rude remarks to women about our appearance , or being called 'a dog'. yes I think I come down on the side of its my right to feel offended and if you don't like it - you seem to be saying you will lump it - Good, good on you!

Have to agree with ghettophilosopher that somethings just shouldn't be ignored but the other case you've ignored are those individuals who are deliberately seeking to provoke and offend. You don't get to walk away because they follow, they get in your face and nothing will stop them until they get a rise out of you. Totally aware it is attention seeking on their part and therefore any sort of rection from you rewards their behaviour but as you aren't allowed to gag or kill them there aren't many alternatives left.
Know someone who will regularly use the most inappropriate language and whenever they get pulled up on it whine that it isn't their fault other people get offended. Sorry but calling somebody an effing c@@t is likely to cause offensive, making loud lewd suggestions at someone else's partner is similarly frowned upon and I will not stand idly by if some poor girl working a till is being harangued with racial slurs.
While some examples of people being offended strike me as ludicruous there are other times that yes, it's offensive.

A lot of things offend me. But why should I dwell on it all? Should I try to suppress the voices of those who disagree with me on something. It's pretty childish--it's just a part of the real world it's not always wonderful place (it is no echo chamber, especially for the nonreligious). If the problem is trivial then we shouldn't think twice about it.

I'm not a snowflake, so I don't get offended. I offend many people!

Like any strong emotion I'd say it's a survival instinct. But after feeling it it's how you process and use the information that is important. Not everyone is petty, some people are in danger when attacked and the tone of a comment has a lot to do with the attacker's intention. As a child we were taught never to point a gun at someone, I will always find this action offensive.

Surely your offensiveness is governed by your upbringing ?

Excellent advice! I'm sure those who need it most will never consider it, as they damn well should.

In example, see my recent post about preferences on beards. It seems every immature, butthurt man with a beard or mustache thought my opinion was about THEIR emotional attachment to facial hair. So they decided to make sure I knew I was "rude" and "judgy" while not answering my query why this trend is popular.

I'm just about done with the 5 year olds on this site. There truly is no correlation between intelligence and nonbelief OR mental health and nonbelief!

Sounds reasonable to me. Good post

I am offended by people being offended.

Perhaps those who are so easily offended should introspect a bit and ask themselves why something is offensive to them. Stepping back and taking an objective look at it might be enlightening.

I couldn't have said that better myself.

If someone is offended, they really need to look a why they feel that way. Until they can say why, without pointing to anything or anyone outside of themselves, they will continue to be offended by others. It's all about control.

The best defense is a good offense.

Could you write a coffee table book about this? There are several people could really benefit from that advice.

Yeah I used to get blistered by transphobic bigotry on social media. I can't tell you how many times I've seen "XX or XY," (By someone who got a C- in 8th grade biology), "If I had a dollar for every gender, I'd have $2," and, this is a favorite DIRECT quote, "Your a man."

I used to engage with them, but it would only upset me. Now I block those mf'ers in a nanosecond, and immediately forget they exist. Time is way too precious to waste on people like that.

Totally agree.

But wait! What if the person is purposely doing something to be offensive? Are not you seriously depriving them of attention/validation/ satisfaction? You need better ethics! Lol!

Well, it seems for some people is a lot easier to be offended / embarrassed than to turn around and go their merry way. Is an attempt -quite unsuccessful- at controlling people and saving face

I just don't take rudeness personally anymore. People have issues worse than mine. Plus more of them. Lol. If they want to be an asshole to me, IDC. I won't talk to them unless I have to.

Yes, it's pathetic, your right.

Being offended is generally an indication of insecurity.
There may be good or bad reasons for that insecurity, but none the less.....