What’s with people who like to provoke others by offending them?

Insecurity?

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What a timely question. I was just explaining to some insecure crybabies elsewhere why some people do this.

For me, it's to elicit a reaction. I do it for 2 reasons.

1. Retaliation. Typically the poster will insult me either directly or indirectly. I retaliate and escalate.

2. Boundary testing. To push the person and see if the have the stamina to put up with me and keep up with me. If I insult you and your immediate reaction is to whine, shame and complain, you are a worthless opponent and have lost my respect.

offingg · 26-30, F

@SumKindaMunster “opponent”, so you claim social interaction to be a battle?

SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M

@offingg Not necessarily. But I am opinionated, I tend to be very blunt and people take offense. Sometimes it devolves into a battle unfortunately.

offingg · 26-30, F

@SumKindaMunster Mhm, opinionated isn’t necssarily offensive though. They can be two very different things. I’m talking about people who are clearly offensive just for the heck of it

SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M

@offingg I see, I misunderstood your question. So in that case, I would speculate it is to get attention. If you are nice, a lot of times people are like "Yeah yeah whatever." But if you are rude and obnoxious, someone is bound to take offense and start paying attention.

offingg · 26-30, F

@SumKindaMunster That’s an interesting point, so sometimes it’s the only way people can be recgonized in a sense

SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M

@offingg Yes. Notice the posts on this site. What gets the most responses? Nice, bland, posts where people are friendly and cordial, or the confrontational ones where people take a stand or provoke or stoke a controversial issue?

offingg · 26-30, F

@SumKindaMunster True