[thejeff]

Great rant, Atreides.

I'd like to suggest that most of those ranting on TV aren't really insane. They're actually canny politicians. They may or may not actually be offended by whatever they're ranting about, but they know they'll gain audience and thus money or votes and thus power by ranting about.

There are people who are offended by trivial things, but I'd look closely at anyone who's getting paid or holds any kind of public position or is pushing an agenda. Are they really offended or is this just another chance to boost their standing or shut down debate.

One example of this from the Jewish side, since you seem to have covered the Christian side, would be the political groups that scream Antisemitism at any suggestion that Israel is anything but an innocent victim in it's dealings with Palestine. Another can of worms, like gun control, probably better not dug into here, so I'll just note that there's more open debate in Israel itself than in the mainstream US media.