Yes, I agree that other people's feelings are hard to know. (Possibly unknowable.) I just can't recall ever in my life having been offended, so I'm skeptical.
What you're doing is translating your experience to the human experience. With 7,000,000,000 of us, there's more than a fair chance that someone else's experience is different than yours.
Put simply, (but not meant as an insult) you're not thinking about anyone but yourself.
Yes, I realize that there are all sorts of human experiences that I've never, and will never, have. I'm simply asking if anyone else here has truly been offended by something they read on the internet. Because the concept is completely foreign to me.
And yes, I see the potential for irony- that I'm on my soapbox, much like someone who is offended might be. But I'm not offended by anything that's been said. I'm not against criticism or disagreement or reasoned arguments. I'm just frustrated by the chilling effects that the prevailing cultural climate, which is humorless, politically-correct, and context-free, has had and will continue to have on public discourse.
Well, the other problem here is that you can't know for sure how you come off to others; again, they can't know whether your actions reflect ACTUAL offense any more than you can know the motivation for theirs; we can take you at your word, or decide that your actions are what matters and react accordingly.
Going back to the article, we have no way of knowing if Fry was ACTUALLY offended by the response he got on twitter. Perhaps he is as dispassionate as his post alleges. But he's walking a path well-worn by the offended.
If I had a nickel for every person who ranted about some perceived slight, words dripping with the common indications of hurt and ire, while repeatedly assuring readers that they were perfectly calm...
Put simply, (but not meant as an insult) you're not thinking about anyone but yourself.