I was listening to the greenroom tonight (a christian radio talk back show hosted by frank whose blog is linked to at the side "a servants thoughts") and the discussion was on being offended in light of recent world events with muslim cartoons and south park etc.
I think one of the good uses of offence is deconstruction. Quite often offecnce is used when people want other people to re-evaluate their perception on certain things. Usually on emotionally charged issues. A lot of the satire we are seeing these days is a secular / atheist view on various religions. The offence is often intended to try and point out what they see is absurd about a particular groups beliefs. I dont think this is a bad thing, but it does need to be balanced with a broad spectrum of views. Offfensive material may just cause someone to re-evaluate their view on things.
and just for the record, I think south park is a fantastic show and I personally find it really funny. Though, for offensive things that make even me start to ponder if we stepped over a line... have a look at www.tshirthell.com there are some really edgy t-shirts in there. Mostly I find them funny in a "conceptually" funny way. I dont think Im so comfortable with the idea of someone wearing them in places where people would get upset.
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I was going to give you call! I did have a lot to say about it. I was driving back to auckland from mamata and ended up missing the last of the show. Though the kind of waffle I do tend to make really works better when written down or disucessed in a small group.
also "Many people are just too easily offended so they miss the bigger picture" is part of the joy of this kind of offence...that some people will pick up their view, some will take it too literally and get offended. Intellectual egotism I guess :)
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