I agree with you on that much at least. The overreaction by everybody on every side of the spectrum to anything anyone says has become one of my bugbears about society. We can agree to disagree about how Gay handled it, but I do agree that the fact that this incident is yet another one of the flashpoints that seems to come every five seconds really does frighten me. I just wish that there weren't so many people on this blog (and to be clear, i don't think you're one of them) who seem to welcome this slide into self-annhilation. I've unfollowed most of them over the last few months. I won't do it here.

For the record, this is the rare interaction I've had with someone who I've critiqued where the conversation has not devolved into some kind of name-calling by one or both participants. It has been civilized, at least as far as these things go. For that I'm grateful to you as well. I realize that having a civiilized exchange between dissenting points of view is a low bar to reach, but I can count on the fingers of one hand how many times I've had them. So thank you for that too.