Coddling students does not make them smarter. Providing different opinions and perspectives on an issue makes people wiser. Becoming offended at different viewpoints opens up educational opportunities to strengthen intelligence and overall understanding of an issue. The lack of discipline and acceptance of fragile feelings on college campuses diminishes the very fabric of a well-rounded education.
Those who become offended easily will often offend others just as easily. These people are often college students, and they typically do not want a change of heart or perspective when confronted with an issue they deem offensive. Their mentality, or their internal status, is set to "offended" without any hope of internal peace. Instead of reconciling and trying to learn why and how a different view hurt them, the student will now use their status of "offended" to shut down other people's thoughts and their learning opportunities. Students think that being offended is a fair justification to start pity parties and to ridicule those who aren't offended. By using the defensive status of "offensive" students now use this mentality to limit free thought and educational opportunities. Students hide behind their offensive statuses like a shield while using words like spears to attack. Think of the movie "300" and reminisce how the Spartans used the phalanx formation.
Now picture it being modern day. The Spartans are now college students and their shields are now made up of fragile feelings.
It seems that in this day and age, being offended is becoming more and more prevalent and pervasive among the younger generations. Yet no one has bothered to ask how this "offended" culture originated. College students are the forerunners of popularizing this "offended" culture and they make headlines due to subjective injustices and lack of discipline. Protests have begun to increase on college campuses because students are getting offended by words or lack thereof. The word "Trump" strikes fear into many students hearts, and colleges pat them on the head and tell them, "Go to your safe space. Words can't hurt you there." This doesn't eliminate the problem. It perpetuates the problem like a growing weed.
It's now very common to hear people say, "I'm rather offended by that." As if that gives them certain rights. It's no more than a whine. It has no meaning, it has no purpose, it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. "'I'm offended by that.' Well, so what?" - Stephen Fry
Being offended is natural. It's a part of life. Life, in a nutshell, will beat you down relentlessly and offend you so much that your breath is taken from you. Should you be offended that life isn't easy? No. You need to get back up on your feet, clench your fists, hold them in front of you and say, "I can do this all day." The secret to surviving life isn't coercing others into your personal worldview because they don't share the same mindset as you. The secret is learning how to cope with and learning to understand people of different beliefs.
