Tom Riggins: Everything offends

Every liberal in this country seems to be on a constant vigil for something that causes offense. It seems you can’t watch the news, read a newspaper, or get on social media without the latest thing someone is offended over.

Here is one recent headline. “Hobby Lobby shamed for cotton décor.” Hobby Lobby had cotton plants, with the bolls attached, displayed as decorative pieces. Cotton grows on plants. The plants happen to be attractive in displays. And that offended someone because it supposedly denoted slavery.

Cotton is grown worldwide and is a staple for most textiles. I wonder if whoever was offended wears cotton clothing. Or maybe they opt for non-offensive synthetics. Oops, those pollute the planet. That leaves wool, except someone’s sheep may be offended by being sheared.

Better get rid of all your Thanksgiving and Halloween decorations that use corn stalks. By the cotton plant logic corn is next. After all, corn stalks should be shunned because in olden times Native Americans grew maize.

Offense on college campuses is rampant. Men are seen as offensive for being, well, men. Whites are supposed to be ashamed of their race. If you want free speech, make sure it conforms to the liberal point of view. They certainly don’t want to hear an opposing, offending one. I am guessing that smarter and harder-working students will soon offend someone by flaunting their ability.

Some players in the NFL have recently found the National Anthem offensive. They are showing their distaste by kneeling or staying in the locker room. Liberals, here is a lesson in capitalism. The fans are showing how offended they are by the offended players by speaking with their feet. NFL viewership is plummeting, which affects ad and stadium revenue.

Liberals are offended by guns. No, wait, they hate guns. They hate them so much that no one should own one. Not only do they hate guns, but they are offended that some people don’t share their view.

Actually, I don’t think they are offended by guns. I think they are offended by the fact that because of guns, they can’t fully implement their Alinsky view that the end justifies the means. They must limit their looting, burning, and destruction because they don’t know which potential victim might be armed and able to defend themselves.

And that exposes the real agenda behind the offended crowd. It is a tool intended to dismantle the institutions that have made this country great. Wanting immigrants to follow our laws in order to reside here makes you racist. Removal of Confederate statues erases part of our history. Removal of Jefferson, Washington, and other founders because they owned slaves is intended to undermine the Constitution.

It seems if you make a statement that a liberal disagrees with you are immediately, without proof, a racist, misogynist, homophobe, or dumb right-winger. It is part of a greater plan. So is rewriting history so that unsavory Democrat history is now blamed on today’s Republicans.

Facts get skewed by liberals. I can tell when something I write touches a nerve on the left. There is a response where selectively chosen and deliberately misinterpreted facts are put forth to support a predetermined conclusion. This while ignoring facts that illustrate the opposite to be true. Again, part of the misdirection espoused by Alinsky.

The battle of ideas that made this country great has been replaced by the battle of feelings. Outrage has replaced honesty and is a tool to get one’s way. Or as reformed leftist Dave Rubin says, “I have renamed progressives as regressives. They no longer judge people as individuals but a collective.” In other words, the ethnic or belief group you belong to determines how you’re judged.

Abraham Lincoln said, “We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.” That lesson is apparently lost on today’s progressives. I think I should be offended.

Tom Riggins’ column appears every other Friday. He may be reached at news@lahontanvalleynews.com.