Poll: Are you offended if someone insults you?

[DugMachine]

Naturally I get offended but if it's someone I really don't have to talk to on a daily basis or someone I barely know I'll ignore it. Unless it really rustles my jimmies, then you better watch out cause i'm going to insult you back until you cry.

If it's a family member or something... depending on the severity, i'll shrug it off or confront them about it and tell them I don't appreciate what they said.

edit: I do tend to get more offended when my friends are insulted though. If they're around I will let them defend themselves but don't try and talk smack about my friends to me behind their back, they're my friends for a reason and you better shut your mouth.

 

[the_duke_CC]

People can offend me, I'm not to bothered by it to be honest. By now I've heard most of the insults that people can throw at me. So to be honest, I don't care what I think of me, so what you think doesn't really mean anything.

 

[The Lugz]

the thing is, there's no such thing as an insult when you realize that everything is a bunch of words and you choose how those words effect you

in essence: you can only get mad at something someone says if you allow it

your brain is a fantastically programmable minicomputer if you have a problem relax and think around it

trolls and assholes hate smiles, so start from there

 

[Whispering Cynic]

Getting offended over spoken words is childish, I refuse to sink to a level where I would let something as meaningless as verbal insults get to me. Besides, what do I care what others think?

Let me put it this way: spoken words of another human have only as much weight as you permit. Without a listener to give them meaning they are just a transient (and often pathetic) collection of sound waves. I find it very easy to treat them as such.

 

[talker]

when I was younger, I would have kicked their nadgers first chance I got.
now, I smile in a way that is sure to make them feel uncomfortable and just go away.

 

[Epicspoon]

Lets say someone insulted you and said you're ignorant, pathetic, stupid, a jerk, an idiot....and other insults like that. How do you feel? Are you offended and let it affect your life, or simply ignore or at least attempt to ignore it and the person that said such thing to you?

Personally for me, it depends on the situation, what in particular they said to me, and whether what they said to me is true or not. But in general, yes I do get offended, but I usually try not to let it interfere with my life.

What about you all? How do you feel and react when someone insults you?

Why is there no witty comeback option?

 

[MetalMagpie]

Depends who they are and what they say.

A complete stranger will struggle to offend me because I'll just think "Who are you and why are you suddenly talking to me? Have you mistaken me for someone else?"

Friends and family are generally free to insult me as much as they like, because I know they don't mean it in a hurtful way.

That just leaves acquaintances; people I know, but who aren't close friends (e.g. work colleagues). In order to offend me, they need to hit on something that I'm actually self-concious about. Just calling me an "idiot" doesn't have any weight because a) I'm not and b) it's a completely generic term with no bite to it.

If they do offend me, my reaction will (again) depend on who it is, but I'm most likely to either make it clear I'm offended ("There was no call for that") or just ignore them.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

Usually not if it doesn't have any weight behind it, they're just trying to get to me.
But when someone says something and REALLY puts some hate behind in, I get a little disappointed because it's not the insult itself, I just REALLY don't like making enemies.

 

[MetalMagpie]

There's no such thing as ignoring an insult. Not reacting to it - sure, but everyone has an ego, and insults hurt an ego like a punch hurts flesh. It's how human beings work.

It depends what the insult is. If someone were to call me "fat", that wouldn't hurt in the slightest because I'm not fat and have no worries about my body. So it's just a slightly baffling statement.

In order to actually offend someone, you need to say something that will hurt them.

But this may be an argument of semantics. I'd be totally behind taking our definition of "insult" as saying something that the recipient does find hurtful.

 

[gazumped]

If it's someone who doesn't really know me or who is clearly trying to get a rise out of me, the insult won't matter to me (because they clearly don't really mean it) but the mere fact that they are trying to start a fight will be what upsets me.

If it's someone who knows me and they're serious about the insult, if they have a point I will accept it. If they don't I will argue my case if I can, although am sometimes just too shocked that they think that to even respond so have to just ignore it while I gather my blown mind back together.

Of course there is the instant response of "I can't believe they said that!" but you've gotta bite your tongue and consider why a person is saying what they're saying (whether it's because it's true/why they think it's true or if they're just trying to get a reaction out of you) before you lash out and fight for your honour.

 

[sneakypenguin]

I don't get offended either something is objectively true and you shouldn't be offended at truth or its subjective opinion in which case it doesn't matter. If a subjective view does negatively manifest itself upon your life there is always a solution.

 

[lokicdn]

Guys. I want to tell you a little story. A few years ago when I was in high school, there were girls in my class that always said things that are completely wrong about me. They said Im an idiot and a jerk and that I dont deserve to have any friends. They said that to nearly everyone and people believed them and then I couldnt make any friends because of that.

I didnt know what I was supposed to do about that back then, so I just ignored them until I left the school.

Tell me please guys. What would you do about something like that if it happened to you?

Unfortunately for too many teens, high school is something you must survive. The more you get out into the world, the more people you are going to meet who will like you for who you are. As that happens, you will find that things like this will more easily roll off your shoulders. Ultimately you may come to realize that people who smear your reputation without cause are more to be pitied then engaged with or be hurt by.


Edit for grammar....

 

[proctorninja2]

its pretty hard to offend me mostly because of my no shits given attitude and Its usually me telling people that I will offend people at some point because some people dont like it when you call them a bustard (im used to meaning it in a satyrical way)!

 

[DeadlyYellow]

The majority of people are nothing to me. Why should I care what they think?

 

[Silvanus]

As has been said before, it depends entirely on who says it. I could take an insult from someone I liked or respected to heart for weeks, but brush off anything said by someone I had no love for myself.

 

[Storm Dragon]

If it's a friend or family member, then they're just joking around and don't really mean it. If it's some jerk who actually means what he/she is saying, then I don't give a rat's ass about their opinion.

 

[Ickorus]

It's entirely mood dependant for me, if I'm in a bad mood I get really annoyed by it and have been known to hold grudges for a long time but if I'm in a good mood I'll relentlessly mock the person who tried to insult me.

 

[Kitten DeLux]

No not really.
Usually you would have to be a pretty shitty person to be insulted.
If you're a good bloke or gal it shouldn't phase you.
Mind you My name tag a work says Jerkson.
But I can take a joke pretty well and believe I'm a relatively nice person.

 

[hooblabla6262]

Today someone had been insulting my store and my staff members, saying things like "All natives are scum and addicted to drugs". Stupid shit that is all too common on reservation.

And so I did what I do whenever anyone is misbehaving. I talked to him calmly and rationally. He became more aggresive, but I continued to dismiss all his claims. I discussed with him the legality of slander/libel, and eventually he cooled off, apologized, and left.