Easily Offendable

    In June, Matthew West posted a video for his song "Modest is Hottest". I've heard that it was quite a fun video, but I have never been able to watch it myself. The reason is simple: too many people can't seem to take a joke these days. What he had created as a lighthearted take on raising girls in today's culture was brutally attacked by those who have been hurt by "Modesty Culture", causing him to remove the video mere days after it had been posted.

    One of the main problems I see in our culture today is an inability to cope with things we don't agree with. Rather than dealing with things that offend us, we push for them to disappear. To stay in our comfort zone, we push away anything that tries to interfere with the safe space we've made for ourselves.

    The response to this video is a prime example. All of these people triggered by the video probably could have figured out before they watched the video that it would trigger them. Even if they didn't actively seek it out, they had to know that a song titled "Modest is Hottest" could potentially be a trigger. I wouldn't willingly watch something that could trigger me, and even if I did, I wouldn't beg for it to be taken down. The suicide prevention video that I have needed to watch for work the past few years was a major trigger the first time I watched it, so I haven't actually watched it since. I did not, however, pester my employer into removing it. The need to watch it came from a new law requiring school employees to undergo suicide prevention training, and I respect that. I can still answer the questions about it without going through the emotional roller coaster of watching it. (I might even know more about the subject than the makers of the video do.)

    Now, this isn't an exact comparison, but that actually makes those who complained about Matthew West's video seem even more ridiculous. I was triggered by a video I was required to watch, whereas they chose to watch a video likely to trigger them, and then badgered it out of existence. I was able to listen to the song, and it's goofy and quite obviously tongue-in-cheek, and from what I've heard, it sounds like the video added to its silliness.

    Another prime example is the situation with the friends I mentioned in Unvaccinated and Unafraid. I still don't know why they unfriended me, but I suspect that it has to do with something I posted. I know that one of the two had taken offense to other things I had posted in the last year because he wrote some vile comments on a few of them. This caused me to exclude him from seeing my posts for a while. I did eventually allow him to see my posts again, but I also started disallowing comments on some of my posts. I'm guessing he was offended that he could no longer respond publically with his angry comments and unfriended me as a result. His wife has done the same. (Recently, this has extended to me being kicked off her Instagram account. My respectful request for an explanation has so far gone unanswered.)

    Getting offended is part of life. Every person is different, and not always agreeing is inevitable. What we can control is how we react to the things that offend us. More often than not, people tend to react in anger and attempt to destroy the person or thing that offends them, but there is a better way. As Josh Wilson sings in his song "Revolutionary", Jesus would love first, and that is what we should do. Disagreeing with someone doesn't mean that they are any less beloved by our Father in Heaven. Continuing to treat them as such in the midst of our disagreements is the only way that we can truly restore the sense of community that the isolation of the last year has stolen.