'How DARE you disagree with me!'

All of us- even the nicest of us, with the best of intentions- have stuck our foot in our mouths at times.

We are living in an age in which even reasonable statements which offend people who find the fact that  others disagree with them a cause of offense can be treated as matters of scandal. Things have actually deteriorated to the point at which you can be fined and/or jailed in such supposedly free countries as Canada and Great Britain for expressing ideas merely because others find those ideas "offensive."

Here are some thoughts on these facts I think worth sharing.