Why so quick to take offence?

Are we as a nation becoming guilty of taking ourselves too seriously? Do the simple pleasures of life mean nothing anymore? The latest storm in a tea cup which triggered the interrogative may have subsided with an apology from the MP Shashi Tharoor, better known as “Mr Bombastic”, who seemed to have been tripped up by the adjective he had used to describe Parliament as “an attractive place to work.” In tune with the times we live in which lend themselves easily to people taking offence at everything just about everyone seemed to take off. And there were not only the professional trolls taking aim at a Congress MP but also members of the fairer sex who were reiterating the point of view that women are not to be objectified even in a simple figure of speech.

The feminists took umbrage because “attractive” was actually in reference to a group of women MPs who were with Tharoor in a selfie. Gone are the days when such an innocuous term was invariably taken as a compliment by women. But this particular group, who may have hit the genetic jackpot in terms of attractiveness, had taken the lead in the selfie initiative. The blame may lie on the modern environment we live in and this is not only in India. Remember Barack Obama, when he was the US President, got into hot water with exactly the same term that he had used to describe Kamala Harris, currently the US vice-president.

Life has changed in a way for the world with the ubiquitous social media platforms giving everyone the right, from the high and mighty right down to aam admi, to express their opinions. It should follow as a natural corollary that people who read them have a right to respond since the opinions are expressed in public space. It is in vitiating the atmosphere with vitriol dripping with hate that everything becomes contentious. Truth to tell, it is not so much the social media that is to blame for its sheer accessibility without boundaries but people’s attitude that has made the art of taking offence almost de rigueur.