Most people are easily offended. How many of them? Is it 80% of the population? Is it 80%? Let's say it's 80%. It is 80%! Whatever I say is the truth! No--it's about 80%. Is it really 80%? I hope it's not that high. Is it 80%? I hope it's not. Well--it might be. I haven't settled on a figure yet. But let's say it's 80%. It probably is.
If you say something that offends others, (--and with some people, it doesn't take much--) they'll hold that against you, and their objectiveness will go out the door. I've seen it happen in cartoons. That's the good thing about cartoons. You can actually see something like that happening. You can see a scent travelling from something to someone's nose, and you can also see a person's objectivity going out the door. Remember the time Bugs Bunny offended Elmer Fudd? We saw him become less objective--and then Bugs Bunny said something pretty innocent, and Elmer Fudd said, "Go to hell!"
So people are easiy offended. What does that mean we should do? I don't know. It probably means something. Does it mean we should avoid offending people? How is that possible, though? No matter what you do, you're going to end up offending someone.
I guess we should avoid offending the wrong people.
That's what a lot of people do. Including ones who are famous for being bold, daring, audacious, and willing to offend others. They're actually careful not to offend certain groups. They know what kind of audience they've accumulated, and they try no to cross the line with them too often.
"Wow--this guy's brave! I can't believe he said that!"
Look at his audience, look at his fans--and then you'll get an idea of why he said that. He knows it's not going to offend them. It's going to offend other people--people who don't make up part of his audience. He knows what he can get away with.
The good thing about being a nobody is that you don't have to care about losing your existing audience. Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien don't have that kind of freedom. They're like prisoners. They have to avoid offending their fans, networks, and advetisers.
But some people do cross some lines. Like Bill Maher. He once took a strong anti-vaccine stance, even though plenty of his audience can't stand views like that. How did he get away with that? Probably by trashing Sarah Palin first. As a primer. He went on and on about Palin for 45 minutes, and then he talked about vaccines. That made the whole thing a little less offensive.