Anyone old enough to (and having grown up in the USA) remember when?
When we would watch “All in The Family”, laughing at Archie, Edith and “Meathead”? . . . and people were not offended. It was funny.
When we would watch “Sanford and Son” as Redd Foxx made fun of anyone within 50′ of him? We laughed because it was funny. . . and people were not offended.
Remember when, in the 1970’s, many of us went out and bought a live recording by Richard Pryor that was titled “That N*gger’s Crazy” We played it again and again, laughing because it was funny and nobody appeared to be offended. As a matter of fact, it received a Grammy for the Best Comedy Album in 1974!
Remember when, on early Saturday Night Live episodes, there were lots of racial/sexual insults being tossed about…Dan Aykroyd, on a weekly basis, during “Point/Counterpoint” saying to Jane Curtain…”Jane, you ignorant sl*t. . . No one was offended and we waited anxiously as we knew it was coming. PS…I was put in FB jail about a year ago because I used that quote, without the “*” in a comment about how funny SNL used to be.
Remember when, in 1985, the band Dire Straits, along with Sting released a song on the Brothers In Arms album…Money for Nothing? The lyrics included the word “fagg*t” in one of the verses and I suppose that if many people found it offensive, the song wouldn’t have become the huge hit it was. Later recordings have the word replaced with other adjectives.
What changed?
All that to say that the last week has been very stressful for me on many levels and when I came across the video below, I laughed for the first time in several days. I laughed because I remember when we could poke fun at people (and aren’t the funniest skits usually the ones that are true?) without being canceled, put in social media jail or being threatened with violence or even death.
Thanks to Elon Musk and the Babylon Bee for making me smile today. (And the funniest line, which has nothing to do with Musk, is at the very end.)
Mitigating Chaos 
To put it crudely “Everyone has the right to be offended by anything. I have the right to not give a shit!”
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Roger that 👍😊
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While I agree with the general sentiment of your post, I think some were offended by all of the examples you mentioned. What has changed is that an environment exists that now appears to be less tolerant of diversity. I’m not blaming any person or group for this, but I think a layer of distrust is far more common today.
Do I think people get offended way too easily now? Yes, but on the other hand, issues that once were rarely, if ever, discussed have also been brought to the forefront. (e.g., incest, sexual assault, mental health.) Archie was playing a character that existed then and still exists today. Hopefully, today, people know it’s not okay to call your spouse a dingbat and your son-in-law a meathead.
Thanks for the opportunity to express my opinion, Ray.
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Always welcome 👍😊
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