The O-word

Dr Rhona Mahony of the National Maternity Hospital doesn’t like the suggestion that unfounded threats of suicide could be used to have children aborted if the law allowed abortion where suicide was threatened. According to the Independent, she told the Oireachtas Health Committee:

"As a woman, I'm offended by some of the pejorative and judgmental views that women will manipulate doctors in order to obtain termination of pregnancy on the basis of fabricated ideas of suicide ideation or intent," Dr Mahony said.

There it is, the O-word again. The painless alternative to rational argument. When confronted by a question you don’t like, just accuse the other person of “offending” you. It immediately deflects the critical glares from you to him.

Meanwhile, Ed West has a mildly tongue-in-cheek post about “gingerphobia.” If red hair is regarded as an unattractive trait, and unattractive people are unconsciously discriminated against in the workplace (as they are), then surely redheads should be given special status and gingerphobia should join our society's long list of thought crimes. "Then, finally," says Ed, "I can win the most precious weapon in today's political debate - the trusty shield of victimhood."

I don't say that Dr Mahony is herself claiming to be a victim. But that "trusty shield of victimhood" is the reason you hear the O-word so often these days. People have an unconscious sense that if they use it often enough, it will eventually undermine any criticism of their position.