The right not to be offended?

Do people really have the right not to be offended?

Aboriginal man Steve Hodder-Watt recently discovered the US-based site by searching "Aboriginal and Encyclopedia" in the search engine.

The entry was tasteless and derogatory but what right does Mr Hodder-Watt have to silence everyone who offends him? Many things and people offend me but I don't run around asking the government to silence them.

So, the blacklist will be extended to accommodate Mr Hodder-Watt's sensibilities. Who's next? I see a lot of people offended by atheist claims that god doesn't exist. I see people offended by critiques on the bible pointing out all the violence and ignorance. I see people offended by cartoons of Mohammed in Europe, offended enough to kill. I see people offended by a quietly spoken, retired English biology lecturer's insistence that life evolved. I see people offended by the idea that whales are nice and shouldn't be killed.

If we ban everything that offends someone we will end up banning everything. How far will this right not to be offended be taken. Once it starts, how will we stop it?

Now Google is being pressured into removing things that offend people from search results. I don't want Google to be my moral guardian. They're a search engine. If they are censoring results, they aren't refining search algorithms... or what ever the hell Google does.

We would be better to move more towards the USA freedom of expression laws than to pander to the terminally offended and lose what little freedom we have.

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