John Goss 1

John Goss

Professor Peter Fields

UWRT 1102

5 May 2017

As previously mentioned, there is a major gap in the discussion of

offense. That gap being the lack of credibility to be had by the younger

generations. This gap is not to say that the younger generations are making

false claims about their views on offense nor that they have not conducted

any of their own research into the topic; this gap is saying that the younger

generations, in todays society, are not having their ideas published or

respected like the older generations.

This gap results in any information about, or coming from, the younger

generation about taking offense being almost instantaneously shrugged off.

The information is considered irrelevant or simply whining by just about

anyone who isnt supporting those same ideas. It seems that any data used

to support the younger generation on the topic of offense must come from

secondary sources or attained personally in interviews. Due to these being

the only methods of obtaining information for one of the major conflicting

sides of offense, the older generations viewpoints receive even more

credibility. Their lop-sided support, their peer reviewed support, creates a

significant bias in this field of study.

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This gap exists because credibility takes time to establish. Anyone can

provide their opinions and thoughts about any subject but if they have not

proven that they have done extensive research and gained support from

others in their studies then few people will take them seriously. This

skepticism is understandable yet undoubtedly the main cause of the

credibility bias. This bias must be extinguished to create an equal

opportunity for voices to be heard and respected. Creating this well-deserved

voice for those of the younger generations point of view would be a

tremendous step in developing a possible solution to taking offense.

To find a solution to offense there must first be a solution to the

credibility bias. Now, credibility should not be handed out to just anyone.

Individuals must be able to prove they have studied and conducted research

on a topic to establish credibility and have their ideas respected. However,

the current unspoken and societally agreed upon requirements for credibility

wont do. Requiring that someone have numerous degrees and published

documents is unnecessary for them to be taken seriously.

Lessening this unspoken social requirement for credibility will bridge

the gap between the generations and here is why. The younger generations

have individuals among them that have conducted research and written

many articles on the topic of offense. If their credibility was to be evaluated

on their studies and results instead of their established suffix, then there

would be equality between the ideas coming from both points of view. This

equality, in turn, would ensure that the younger generations and older
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generations could find a commonality between their theories on offense and

potentially come to an agreed upon strategy to eliminate offense altogether.