When did everyone in the United States become so offended? By everything?

You can no longer turn on your television, listen to talk radio or even open the editorial page of your local paper without finding someone so offended by the statements or actions of another that rationality flies out the window.

The irony is that the offended party uses his or her right to free speech to quash the free speech of others as if it were acceptable behavior in a society built upon basic freedoms, one of which is the right to have an opinion and express it openly and without recrimination.

Yet, to do so in this day and age is social Russian roulette, where you have no idea if the chamber you are about to fire is on a gun others will use to beat the life out of you only because they disagree or find what you say offensive.

Taking offense is a natural reaction, and in and of itself is not a danger, but it becomes a danger to democratic principles when the offense taken leads to belligerent behavior designed to stifle free speech, free thought and expression.

The problem is this sort of behavior makes for exciting news — and good ratings.

Yes, that is exactly how far this country has fallen, to the point of tabloid television and philosophy of he who yells loudest and longest wins. Or, even better, until the opponent is so shamed for speaking their own thoughts they give in and issue an apology that, and even as disingenuous as it may be, is accepted.

Why would an apology after the fact be accepted as anything more than a surrendering of the right to free thought with no sincerity? If they didn’t mean it, they wouldn’t have said it.

Take Donald Trump, a lightning rod as of late for his comments concerning Sen. John McCain. In Trump’s mind McCain is not a war hero and he said as much. The reaction has been to castigate Trump for the remark and shame the man into apologizing.

But Trump has held his ground. Good for him, because this isn’t about whether McCain is indeed a hero. It is about Trump’s right to speak his mind.

It is also about your right to speak. You, the NAACP, the KKK, John Birchers, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, atheists, anti-war protesters, the Occupy movement, black, white, brown, purple, yellow, green. It doesn’t matter. By goose stepping into line and limiting the thought and speech of others is to blindly strip yourself of the same rights.

Eventually, there has to be a breaking point. Sometimes the very talking heads that so many turn to for their political and social commentary are the catalysts that create these situations, yet viewers continue to tune in and let their ire spill over into their daily lives. Then it lands on our doorstep.

This nation was referred to once as a melange, a stew pot of ethnicities, beliefs, and backgrounds, making it a rich mixture. At some point the chef stepped away from the kitchen and that pot is now boiling with no one to turn down the heat.

Eventually the pot will boil over and there will be no one to blame but the very people who have convinced themselves, in their righteous indignation, they are so completely right no one should think or act without their approval.

Will someone please check the stove? That hiss you’re hearing is the unfounded anger of mob mentality spilling over the sides.