One of the primary causes of the Trump phenomenon is hypersensitivity in modern America. The victim class continually threatens, intimidates, and shames people into silence. One cannot have a normal conversation without having to worry that people will explode randomly over the most trivial of comments. The people being triggered may not even have direct reason to be triggered. Say the word “retard” and people who have no real relationship with any mentally challenged people (or whatever the phrase is these days) will spring to their defense. And the victim class is endless, so there is no limit to people being outraged on behalf of strangers they never know.

Even if someone has direct experience, they might claim offense. But this is still most likely overreaction by hypersensitive individuals.

In my own life, I have had to deal with my oldest child having leukemia. We spent countless, sleepless nights in the children’s ward. Our hopes have been shattered time to time, and we have been plagued with uncertainty. How many tears have been shed? How many times have we had to watch our child being put under in order to inject needles into his spine?

When I hear a cancer joke, my natural reaction is to evaluate the humor in the joke, and laugh if it is funny. When people make cancer jokes (and the like), they are not truly targeting people with cancer. This is not hate speech designed to destroy people with legitimate problems. Most often, if they know their audience is a cancer patient, they will refrain from making the joke. If someone who knew my child had leukemia continually tried to anger me by making cancer jokes intended to hurt me, I might take a little offense. Alternatively, if someone who knew me made cancer jokes knowing I am a grown adult and understand basic concepts of humor, then I most likely would laugh along no matter how many cancer jokes they tell.

Jokes and humor, especially, are designed to press the limits of what is deemed politically correct. Their very nature calls for building absurdities and hyperbolic nature into their delivery.

Attacking non-malicious people over how they communicate is beyond civility. This type of non-civil outrage should not be dignified unless we want more of this behavior over a wider scope of speech. Economics 101: if you want more outrage over non-malicious speech, then praise and defend it. If you want more civility, shut down those who wish to use hypersensitivity to silence others.