I agree totally. What I've decided over the past two or three decades is that people who are self-confident don't get hung up on this stuff. When people really get offended by either good manners (or whatever they want to call PC) or the opposite - get offended by habits and jokes that might be offensive to someone, but not based on bigotry - my assumption is that they are small minded and lack confidence in their own minds. If you're really comfortable with your own values and opinions, you aren't bothered or threatened by others who don't share them. You are also able to see where the values need to be held to strongly and where flexibiltity isn't a big deal.

My friends run the gamot (sp?) from pretty darn liberal to very conservative. The only ones I truely don't like talking politics or religion with are the ones who preach or try to ram their opinions down my throat, whether they be on the left or right, the ones who can't accept that anyone would believe differently than themselves, or belittle people with different opinions. Nothings worse than a strident, naive,tunel vision leftist or a smug, arrogant religist rightist.