America is getting soft and here’s why.  Everyday, I see and read about more complainers, cry-babies, and thin-skinned whiners.  Whatever happened to the old adage, “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me”?  It seems that, now, everyone is offended by something and everyone is willing to don a cap with a big “V” for “victim” on it.  I don’t get it.

Take, for example, President Obama.  He’s the biggest cry-baby of them all.  Here’s the most powerful man in the world and he’s upset with a cable news network.  How many snide remarks are we going to hear from him about Fox News?   The fact that Fox News has more viewership than any other cable news network doesn’t seem to mean anything to him.  But why is that?  Because, for example, The O’Reilly Factor, which I watch every day, presents both sides of every issue and allows me to decide.  O’Reilly asks tough questions, not like soft-ball interviewers like the recent Steve Kroft interview of the President on 60 Minutes.  Unlike Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews who probably kneel in front of lighted candles, burning incense before an Obama bobble head figure before they go on the air, O’Reilly is rounding up commentators on the left and the right to discuss an issue.

And how about women?  Women are easily offended by a lot of stuff.  They’re offended if a man holds a door for them, opens a car door, or offers to carry something.  The latest outrage is directed at Enterprise Florida, a business organization that promotes Florida’s job growth, for coming up with this logo:

Somehow the use of a “tie” is offensive.  According to Pamela Rogan, the President of the Central Florida Chapter of National Association of Women Business Owners, the logo should’ve featured a briefcase or an iPhone instead of a necktie.  Really?  I’m wondering if Enterprise Florida is going to cave on this one.  My guess – yes.

How about some Arab-American groups who were offended by a Super Bowl Coke commercial showing an Arab + camel + desert scene?  Imam Ali Siddiqui, president of the Muslim Institute for Interfaith Studies said to NBC News, “The Coke commercial for the Super Ball is racist, portraying Arabs as backward and foolish camel jockeys, and they have no chance to win in the world.”

And what about atheists who are offended at Christmas time and demand that Christmas trees be called holiday trees?  Or taking “under God” out of the Pledge of Allegiance?  Or being offended by teachers wearing religious symbols?

The older I get the more I’m convinced some people wake up in the morning and say, “okay, what’s going to offend me today?”  That’s got to be the reason behind Principal Verenice Gutierrez’s notion that PB&J sandwiches could hold racist connotations.  What she has a problem with is the example of a peanut butter sandwich in classroom lessons.  She says, “What about Somali or Hispanic students, who might not eat sandwiches?  Another way would be to say, ‘Americans eat peanut butter and jelly, do you have anything like that?’  Let them tell you.  Maybe they eat torta.  Or pita.”  So according to this educator, everything taught in schools must be cloaked in multi-cultural terms;  forget the fact that this is America.  I’m sure an American kid going to school in Mexico is given those options.

And we shouldn’t leave out Asian-Americans who were apparently offended by Miley Cyrus’ goofy photo:

This dopey photo is so offensive to some that in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles, plaintiff Lucie J. Kim claims that each of the approximately one million Asian Pacific Islanders in L.A. County, is entitled to a minimum of $4,000 for a civil-rights violation stemming from the photograph. The damages could exceed $4 billion.  I wonder if the Asian guy in the photo is standing in line for his $4 grand.

I don’t get it, but if you do, God bless you.