Pulp Fiction references aside, is "taking offence" at a comment out of our control? I hardly think so.
Firstly, how often do you feign or exaggerate offence so as to play what you think to be your expected role in the community? How many men actually feel that Kevin Rudd entering a strip club renders him as "morally bankrupt" as they seem to claim?
And then, how does one gauge how much offence to take? If I overhear a racist comment should I scream and holler, or just pretend it didn't happen?
(As an aside, I would have very little problem with racist jokes per se, were more of them actually funny. A colleague spent a short time calling me "Jew" in the office, while I responded with various comments about his own ancestry, though the phase was short-lived. We moved on not because either of us took offence, but because it just wasn't very funny.)
From another point of view, many comedians use racial and religious insensitivities as a part of their routine, but how do they know where to draw the line?
I'm sure all these questions can be answered in terms of context, but I find it interesting that, more often than not, many people seem to view taking offence at a comment as a "safe option". I think this is a shame, as such laziness of the mind actually lowers my opinion of their ability to think independently. One could even argue that this leads to a rise in conservatism, but I believe it simply makes genuinely offensive comments (and people) more difficult to spot.
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