Whilst walking mutley I had a thought
All these ( generally millennial ) folk who say they are offended by this or that, 99% of the time they are not offended but merely disagree with what ever
Bit sad really as they do not seem to have the brain power to understand the difference
Being "offended" seems to be a default setting for some folk.
Unfortunately nowadays, due to the immediacy of social media, they can in a very short time bring to the attention of the whole world the subject of their "offence".
Similarly easily offended folk, often with no prior knowledge or understanding of the subject at hand, then trumpet their interpretation on social media to the point that the story achieves a level of mass hysteria that takes on a life of it's own.
As usual, the mass media then add to the problem by distorting the story and putting on whatever political spin suits them and their owners. This perpetuates and corrupts the story further as their version then gets fed into social media in an endless loop of speculation and distortion.
All of this furore can be achieved with total anonymity and no consequences, which boosts fragile egos, makes them feel powerful and emboldens them further.
For other keyboard warriors, who don't choose anonymity, they have the ability to achieve a level of near instantaneous "fame" and even notoriety which they could never attain otherwise.
I think that for many, this ability to create such an impact and to garner so much attention, with so little effort, is highly addictive. I'd even go as far as saying, for a certain mindset and age group, it's narcotic like in it's effects.
Thus a whole "industry" staffed by the excessively offended is born.