if you're really so offended...

In yesterday's blog post, I mentioned how I was offended by a commercial the other day. Before I talked about my experience of being offended, I referenced how I'm typically the person to roll my eyes at the sound of the word "offended" or any variation thereof, as I feel like it's overused. In today's post, I want to bring up an example of a case where someone claimed to be offended but acted in a manner that seemed to indicate otherwise.

You may or may not be familiar with this story. I'd rather not get into all the details for the sake of the younger people who read this blog, but I'll give you the basics which should suffice to make my point.

The incident occurred last Saturday at an indoor lacrosse game in Boston (at the Garden). During the halftime show, there was a tasteless (especially considering the family-nature of the crowd) contest which included women dancing provocatively for the mascot (it was his birthday). Apparently this led to booing and some people exiting the arena. Some people claimed to be offended. I must be honest here: if I had my child at a sporting event and that happened, I would be offended (and extremely angry). I don't deny that there were likely some offended people.

I want to focus on one particular guy who claimed to be offended. I believe his actions contradicted his claim of being offended. Tell me what you think.

The man in question was the only known person to grab a camera (or phone) and film the offensive behavior, post the offensive behavior on YouTube for all to see, delivered the offensive video to the news for even more to see, and soaked up every moment of the spotlight describing the offensive behavior for all to hear.

It's my contention that if he truly so offended by the incident, he wouldn't have put it online for hundreds of thousands of people to see. I mean, my best guess is that 5,000 or so people may have been at the event. If he was truly offended, why would he want to subject anyone else to it. If he had reported the story to the news, that might be one thing. But recording and providing a video...smells like a guy who knew he could get some airtime and his 15 minutes of fame.

I think it's also worth noting that the news put on their typical "we can't believe how offensive this is" face telling people how offensive it was before they aired the video themselves. Why do people need to see the incident if it was that offensive. Report it for what it is, but don't subject more people to it. That's the news for you though.

Anyway, that's just my two cents about the situation. Maybe you disagree. Let me know.

story of the man taping the dancers and the news airing it...