pardon me if i get a bit airy fairy, but to me this offendedness culture is a symptom of runaway egos. philosophies like buddhism try to teach non reactiveness, non-attachment, and reducing your ego. only then can you truly be at peace with the world. eckhardt tolle has a similar message, saying that you can't feel true happiness if you're not living in the present moment and silencing your internal voice (and ego). in these philosophies, ego is the most toxic thing in our lives (note - ego; not self esteem).

being offended and having a thin skin are ways your ego shows itself. your view of yourself that your ego has constructed is threatened, and it's only recourse is to get angry, defensive and indignant. the alternative is that your identity comes crashing down, which is too much for most people to handle. people will defend their views to the extreme even when they're patently false or inconsistent to outsiders. they'll come up with any amount of rationalisations to stop their identity being threatened. victim culture is a great example of that - the so-called "oppression olympics". you'll see people who all consider themselves marginalised trying to compete over who is the worst off and the true victim, and therefore has the most authority in that kind of culture. to be a victim, there has to be someone with power over them, some kind of boogie man. that's why the extreme feminists will never consider women equal/in a position of superiority to men, even if men were completely relegated to second class citizens. and that's why they smear any group that tries to help men where they're falling behind as "MRAs" or misogynists or crybabies, because the very concept of men being victims threatens their own identity as the "victim" (i'm using extreme feminism as an example here but it goes both ways)

people generally want things banned because that thing threatens their worldview. it could be the most accurate, unbiased, "true" thing that's possible to exist, but if it questions their views too much then it still needs to be removed (like the suppression of climate change or local environmental data or medical expert testimony calling for liberalising drug laws). i think the internet has made things worse to some extent because people like to be part of a collective, and those collective worldviews are constantly shifting, so what's acceptable is changing on a much faster scale. they move so rapidly that you can't even question one of the earlier concepts without coming across as a lunatic. they've long since become part of the foundation of that worldview, and are above questioning. to question those core beliefs you're just lumped into some kind of enemy (a racist, sexist, xenophobe, transphobe, homophobe etc) and written off. instead you have to constantly keep up to date with the new concepts and beliefs of your group or risk becoming an "other".

these fake layers of reality are created and people can no longer feel free to be themselves, and always have to check that their desires fit into an acceptable framework. they can no longer be honest about what they truly want and feel, because they're scared to fall out of the collective worldview. they'll deny and repress their desires, or try to rationalise them away. they also need to analyse what others are saying and decide whether their words are considered unacceptable, giving them an opportunity to feel morally superior (i swear when i lived in the uk a long while ago, even discussing race on a basic level would result in people getting uncomfortable and trying to shut down discussion with mild accusations of racism, like a kneejerk reaction). they can no longer be present in the moment with these layers in place.

i'm trying to talk in general terms here because it applies all over the political spectrum. it applies to pretty much anything really - for example, success in life in some form. some people get viciously attacked if they talk about a lifestyle much different to the norm. they're called liars and phonies, not because they're lying, but because someone living a better life than the "victim" threatens the victim's worldview that their life is good, they've made the right choices etc. it's easier to just be in denial and pretend it's all made up.

obviously inequalities do exist in society and this isn't to denigrate them (even if i did use extreme feminism as an example above). some people are bullied, harassed, attacked for their sex/gender/race/orientation/etc. some people do live bad lives and can't let go of every attack simply because there's too much. it's too ingrained. but i think reducing your ego should be an aim of everyone. victims are toxic to be around. even my white middle class father was very much a "victim" and blamed the world (or bad luck) for his "problems". it used to bug me as a kid but i didn't really get why until i started learning this kind of philosophy. it's like watching someone wiggling their finger around in an open wound. it ain't healthy. anyway this is a long post on an old thread so probably won't be read, but it's made me realise i've been letting my ego seep back into my life, so at least i'm aware of it now and can try to cultivate my non reactive side again

tl;dr: chill and don't care too much about what other people say