'Tis The Season ... To Take Offence

December has arrived and the vast snowfall in Vancouver has provided a vivid reminder to us all that Christmas isn't too far away. In Australia, where they're several time zones ahead and thus much closer to that special day, the annual season of ... people taking offence to most everything you can possibly imagine has begun.

As this article outlines, an HR staffing firm Down Under has told its Santa trainees not to use the traditional "Ho, Ho, Ho" because it might offend women. Why? They fear that some women may associate the term with the American gangsta' rap meaning of the word "Ho".

In Britain, some feel that Santa is setting a bad example for obesity and slimmer Santas are being requested by some shopping malls.

Elsewhere, some environmental groups are informing us that Santa's sleigh, pulled by 9 reindeer, will emit the equivalent of 40,600 tonnes of greenhouse gases, thus making Santa an affront to Mother Earth.

Have you ever wondered what propels such people to take offence to everything? Long ago I coined the phrase "Permanent Victim Syndrome" (PVS). I'd now like to release a new one into the Zeitgeist.

The new millennium has seen our society dramatically shaped by globalization, computerization, and an endless number of conveniences. The end result? Most people have very little to truly worry about in their daily lives. As such, they have much more free time on their hands. While some spend their time thinking about the deeper issues of our existence, others have instead turned in the opposite direction and instead focus on, and often invent, issues that heretofore were never that important to anyone.

With a wide spectrum of individuals, you'll always have a wide spectrum of views. Some of these are just wacky. But in our 24/7 news culture such voices get a much wider audience than ever before. Combine this with the propensity of many 1st world liberals to not want to offend and it has become clear that we've entered a new period that I will now forever call the PCS Era, short for "Post Common Sense".

Walter Schultz was the first I've read to take note of the fact that PCS disciples have joined together to Protest Everything, Be Against Everything, and Say No To Everything. While his focus has been on local issues, such folks exist everywhere.

I've come to realize that such folks don't really base their protests on a cohesive set of principles, so much as a reason to be against something. Take the ongoing environmental debate as an example. The same sort of groups are against: getting energy from oil, from coal, from nuclear power, and even from new hydroelectric projects. They instead say that we should get all of our energy from solar and wind power projects. But rest assured that if the necessary installations were actually ever implemented, they'd be against them too. Here's one of many examples.

Understanding the deeper psychological motivations of these protesters, it's not too much of a stretch to realize that if these same people were in Sudan, they would be joining the mob to call for the death of British teacher, Gillian Gibbons. If you think that this assertion is outrageous or an exaggeration then you clearly do not understand the PCS mindset and the "emotions, not facts" mindset that so deeply grips its advocates.