The America of today is a lot different from the America of even 10 years ago. America is barely even recognizable these days, as many of the changes have been for the worse. Americans are much weaker and much more sensitive than they use to be. The reason is they have found a new great power in words. In reality, it is just three short words that seem to give great power to those who wield these words. These words are simple. The three words I am speaking of are “that offends me.”

Now many would ask the question, “how do those words give someone power?” The answer is easy. In the past, if someone said they were offended at something, no one would think anything of it, and the person would eventually get over it. Enter political correctness. Political correctness is the direct result of those three powerful words. Nowadays, if someone doesn’t like something, all they have to do is utter those three magical words, “that offends me.”

These words have created a culture of overly sensitive people who have absolutely no ability to control their own reactions or their own emotions. So, what do they do? They have whatever offended them either controlled, regulated, or banned. They do this to protect their very own fragile emotions and egos. Political correctness and being offended so easily has also created a culture of victims. People love to play the victim, because by playing the victim, you can project responsibility onto someone else, absolving you of all responsibility.

Political correctness and being easily offended is what has created the suppression of free speech at college campuses such as DePaul University, and has also been responsible for the creation of safe spaces, where young college students can go and not risk being offended by anyone who might have a different opinion than theirs. College is a place that promotes outside the box thinking and the free exchange of ideas, as long as those ideas don’t offend anyone. At least that is what college is now. Before the Liberal in Chief took office, college was a place to exchange ideas even if you did not agree with them. DePaul University recently banned Ben Shapiro and Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking there because they were worried people might be offended at what they had to say.

Especially nowadays, it is nearly impossible to say anything without someone being offended. In fact, even in certain cases, being offended at one thing can actually offend someone else. So many things are considered offensive these days, and quite honestly, it makes me angry, and it should make you angry as well.

Let’s go over a few examples about things that have been labeled as offensive recently and what has occurred in light of a small group of people being offended at it. Take the Confederate flag, a historical symbol and a representation of lives lost to protect individual states rights. The media tells Americans that the Confederate flag is offensive because it represents racism and slavery, all because some stupid kid shot up a church and had a photo of the Confederate flag on his Facebook page. So what happened next? Almost immediately there were calls to take all Confederate flags down. Several retail companies stopped selling Confederate flag merchandise, Dukes of Hazzard was removed from Netflix. There were even calls to demolish many Confederate monuments and Memorials, even to the point of exhuming dead Confederate soldier’s graves.

The American flag is even offensive to some people, mainly those in the Black Lives Matter movement and illegal immigrants as well. Recently, a government agency is hinting that the Gadsden flag is offensive. Somehow, the national motto “Don’t tread on me” is considered racist and offensive, and I ask HOW??? Muslims and illegal immigrants have stated a few times that even our national anthem is offensive. I say, if you don’t like everything our country stands for, you are free to leave, period. Just because you are offended doesn’t mean you are right. In fact, being offended might mean you actually are wrong. Another good example is Facebook. If you report a page or a person as offensive, Facebook will even block or remove said page or person, that way you don’t have to be offended by it. Facebook is now in the business of protecting everyone’s sensitive and fragile minds.

We need to get back to the days where people could freely express their opinions without fear that someone might be offended or that what they are saying would be considered politically incorrect. Political correctness is a direct assault on our first amendment right to freedom of speech. There is no clause in the amendment that states “as long as it doesn’t offend anyone.” Honestly, it is good for people to be offended. It teaches people that even though you don’t agree with someone, that they still have the right to voice their opinion. It also teaches people how to control their own emotions and control how they react. We need to restore the free exchange of thoughts, ideas, and opinions. Only then will American truly make its journey towards being great again.