Being Offended

The more easily one gets offended, the less intelligent they actually are.

This is a facebook quote, unsure of the trueness or accuracy but Naval Ravikant, respectfully, I couldn't disagree with you more regarding this quote. If I am taking this out of context, I apologize.

If an intelligent person doesn't get offended, they are going to be less willing to stand up for themselves or others. That's why this is a dangerous thing to say. We want to be sure that intelligent people are truly getting offended so that they will stand up for themselves and others. This logic doesn't debunk the quote though, I'm just saying it's a highly dangerous precedent to spread.

If intelligence is the ability to accurately explore one's experiences, that requires being willing to be offended. You are not intelligent if you are not willing to be offended. That doesn't mean you actually are offended though.

I would argue that a blanket characteristic for an intelligent person is a high self preservation instinct. In order to self preserve, we must have our guard up and understand what is potentially a threat relative to ourselves. This means allowing ourselves to actually be offended. Being offended triggers those defense mechanisms which directly increases intelligence. Everything is relative but I'd argue there is a actually a high potentiality that being offended is exactly what intelligence is. Sometimes.

I see his point regarding being offended and emotional intelligence. Intelligent people aren't robots though, if they don't get offended, that is a large concern. Philosophically and truthfully, I think that point is a bad and dangerous ideal and precedent to push.

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