Why is it a trend to be constantly offended?

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Everywhere I look I see people taking offence to things willy-nilly. Stupid things that don't even matter, SOMEONE will have some nonsense to spew about how offensive it is (when it actually isn't).

Why do people seem to enjoy being offended? I honestly feel like some people are so keen to start fights that they will actively look for something to be offended by just to stir up some aggression. This goes for neurotypicals and autistics.

It seems to be an informal cult of victimhood - a culture in which being a victim gains more attention than does being a survivor. Thus, we have people whose every conversation is a plea for attention through a complaint of maltreatment, neglect, or loneliness (i.e., “My family treats me like I’m stupid”, “No one cares”, or “I don’t have any friends”).

Sometimes, even asking for clarifying information is perceived as an affront (this is something that baffles me). If people were really interested in solving their problems, they would give due consideration to suggestions, and maybe even act on them.

But then, with nothing to complain about, no one would pay any attention.

One time a woman that I was friends with said that she was proud to be on welfare. I told her that I work hard for my money and I enjoy working. She took offense to that. All I did was state a fact about myself and she got offended. I'm glad the two of us aren't friends anymore.

It's mostly just more coverage of opinions than in the past. Also, lots of truly offensive things are happening in the public sphere.

Like what?

I don't know, we have to be more specific. Some instances are probably entirely justified.

Obviously there are cases where being offended is justified, however 90% of the 'cases' I've witnessed of people becoming offended are actually ridiculous.

There seems to be more "ism's" and "ist's" than any other word in the English language now. It's gotten to a point where people are becoming offended by how people choose to style their hair (the dreadlock debate).

It baffles me as being perpetually offended should be exhausting, yet so many people seem to live for it and draw energy from being some kind of victim or "oppressed group".

The concept of offence is a matter of status, power and hierarchy. If you’re a nobody, you never develop the habit of pondering whether something offends you or not, let alone expressing how offended you are, because you’ll only be laughed at and challenged to do anything about it if you dare. People will only have yet another reason to do whatever offends you, to make the point that they don’t take orders from you.

Therefore, showing that offending you matters is a sign of status.

I agree with you, Spiderpig. I don't think it's victimhood. It flows from a perceived position of superiority (status, as you say).

For those poor souls, proportionally on the left, that are "triggered" primarily on social media and are offended frequently, it's a form of affirmation and validation and it maintains the consistency of their ideology.

Here's a similar analogy using an opposing ideology to illustrate:

Picture people who belong to a very conservative Christian denomination. They worship in community at their church regularly (validation). Say one of them runs errands in town and is "triggered" by a sexually provocative billboard which offends them greatly. She overhears someone swearing in conversation in front of the post office and is offended. She sees an inebriated man stumble out of a bar and is offended. She drives by a casino with a packed parking lot and is offended at the "den of sin"/house of gambling. She drives by a planned parenthood on the way to a store and is "triggered". She stops at the grocery store and is offended by the two teenage girls who are wearing cut off jeans so short that the bottoms of their bare buttocks are exposed. In the checkout line she recoils at the front cover of Cosmo that promises readers the most mind blowing tricks on how best to use a vibrator.

In all of that, each time she is "triggered", she's affirming and reaffirming her ideology as superior to the deterioration of the culture around her. She elevates herself every time she's "triggered", and as such, is "triggered" with increasing constancy.

It's no different with those that live in a near constant state of being offended no matter the ideology.

I’m tired of people being constantly offended.

Being offended takes away too much energy which can be used for more constructive things.

It definitely does seem to be some kind of status symbol, you're correct.

I suppose it's hard for me to understand as I've never been part of a group whose sole purpose is to just spread their ideology like a virus. I'm also extremely hard to offend, though I do get quite p*ssed off by easily offended paper-skinned individuals. I think what gets to me the most is that I genuinely believe a lot of these people know that they're being stupid deep down, yet they vehemently stick to their nonsense like a fly to shite.
One of my special interests has always been conspiracy theories and the underlying potential for the wave of nonsense we're seeing in modern times to be some kind of psy-op intrigues me.

That's actually a very productive way of analyzing this situation. Here's a classic paper for you:

Gramscian Damage by Eric Raymond
http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=260

The first step to recovery is understanding the problem. Knowing that suicidalist memes were launched at us as war weapons by the espionage apparatus of the most evil despotism in human history [Communism] is in itself liberating. Liberating, too, it is to realize that the Noam Chomskys and Michael Moores and Robert Fisks of the world (and their thousands of lesser imitators in faculty lounges everywhere) [including every SJW snowflake] are not brave transgressive forward-thinkers but pathetic memebots running the program of a dead tyrant.

It's always made perfect sense to me that it's a psy-op or method of destruction. I'll give the paper a read.

Many times, the expression of "offense" is on behalf of other persons (or groups) not present. And, in particular, persons or groups with traits that the "offended" individual does not share. And so, in those cases, one ought to wonder if it's just a passive-aggressive power play to proclaim social dominance. Why not ask them? It can't hurt.

As for people who express offense on their own behalf, it usually is appropriate to engage with them and try to figure out if their point of view makes any sense.

Everybody wins a trophy culture that attempts to unrealistically eliminate pain and consequences from our lives.

It is done a lot to shame and silence people in order to advance political and social agendas.

People observe other people getting rewarded for being constantly offended and figure if it works for them it will work for me.

It is not always deliberate. The power of suggestion. Somewhat equivalent to you getting an itch from seeing another person scratching themselves.

Being angry saps the energy of all involved. I prefer to be happy. There are things that make me genuinely angry, such as mistreatment of people and animals. I think people get offended too easily.