For example, in the Western U.S., there is a rancher who owns thousands of acres. He had erected a simple cross (nothing outrageous) on a high point of his land. He was sued; some people found the sight of the cross "offensive."
Hmmm rancher in western US... I wonder if this example of persecution is in the US of A. You put words into your own mouth and tried to disown them later.
Let's get linguistic...
Pesrecution is the loss of life, property, the forced suppression of belief by a vastly superior power, governmental or otherwise; can culminate in imprisonment or death. Currently, NO ONE is being truly persecuted in the U.S.
Harassment, insulting behavior, lawsuits - yes, this happens, but no one dies from being sued or being called names.
YOU took my example of being sued for having a cross and declared that I had called it persecution. Not by a long shot. Remarkably, even being a "fundamental extremist", I still do recognize the difference between actual persecution and simple harassment.
One of my points was to show that insulting imagery is alive and well, and shows no religious borders. Further, I attempted to explain such behavior, which was dismissed by you as "pop psychology." If you'd rather not care to attempt to explain it beyond "it's the internet", fine. Say so, and we can move on.