Taking Offense

If someone says or does something to you that offends you, we call it "taking offense." So far, so good. Our current culture, however, has, again, redefined another term, it seems, and now make it an action, an aim, a goal rather than a passive response. What am I talking about? Take this recent story about the American Ornithological Society moving to change the names of dozens of birds. Why? Well, they are named after the people who had some sort of "racist" and/or slavery connection. So ... they're right out. No more "Anna's Hummingbirds," named after a French courtier, Anna d'Essling, by French naturalist, René-Primevère Lesson. There, you see? These were white people, so they have to go. Now, of course, Anna is just an example and only one of many. Are they renaming that hummingbird because she was white? I don't know. I could find no record of racism or slavery in either her line or that of Lesson. The truth is that almost no one knows if there was any such thing. Very few who know of the Anna's Hummingbird ever find out after whom it was named or even care.

What, then, is the problem? The American Ornithological Society wants to make bird names less offensive and more inclusive. Because most of the people (like me) who could recognize an Anna's Hummingbird or a Gambel's Quail were deeply aware and heartily offended by the names. Oh, wait, no ... that's not true. No, as in so many areas of our world today, people are not being offended; they are taking offense where none was offered, intended, or given. We now have the "microagression," "a subtle behavior – verbal or non-verbal, conscious or unconscious – directed at a member of a marginalized group that has a derogatory, harmful effect." Note that it can be "unconscious" and even unintentional. The "derogatory, harmful effect" is in the perception, not necessarily in the action. Whatever you do, do not tell someone, "I'm clearly not racist because I freely associate with people of color" because that is a microagression and will be taken as "derogatory" and "harmful." Psychology Today said taking offense is "an epidemic that seems to be spreading faster than Ebola." There is racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, elitist, ageist, anti-fat, antisemitic ... a whole long list of offenses loaded up and ready to take. And, oh, we do, with gusto.

Paul warned Titus about false teachers, "especially those of the circumcision party" (Titus 1:10). He warned him not to listen to "Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth" (Titus 1:14). Instead, he said, "To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled" (Titus 1:15). Mind you, Paul wasn't saying, "Everything is pure." He was saying that lots of people "who turn away from the truth" make evil out of thin air. How do you know which it is? Watch out for those who "profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work" (Titus 1:16). Those who turn away from the truth including those with "religious inclinations" who deny Him by their works are urging us all to "take offense" where none is given and none needs to be taken. We need not be so easily offended. The whole "pro-tolerance," "anti-judgmental," "inclusivity" movement that is sweeping out every corner of our world, it seems, is the most intolerant, judgmental, exclusive group I know. But, I suppose, me saying that will offend someone.