The trouble with taking offence is that too often there is far too much of it for one man, which was the problem faced by a 23-year-old man about town, Robert Smythe III.
'There I was, on the internet, taking offence at something a friend said about a film I had not seen, and I just let him know he had offended me. Then I said the same thing on the Facebook page of someone I have never even met, and then when he replied to my offence, I was really offended by that. In the past, I have just let people know I have been offended by something, and it stops the argument. but now even that doesn't seem to work.'
Smythe cannot hold down a job, and is offended by everyone, so personal relationships are not for him. 'Imagine,' he continued, 'if I met someone, and she told me she liked a shirt I was wearing, I would then have to be offended on behalf of all of the shirts that she didn't like. If I invited her back to my place, I would be offended by everything about her, and that just wouldn't do.'
We cannot imagine that would be a problem. Robert Smythe III is very offensive himself.
