Sometimes you have to wonder whether people think before they speak.  There has been no shortage lately of highly audible spectacles of putrid bigotry. 

But then, you also have to wonder whether or not the fantastic public rants don’t serve an important purpose.

Consider, of course, the Mel Gibson Semitic episode; then there was the Isiah Washington flack about calling a co-star "faggot"; there were Joe Biden’s impolitic comments in politics regarding Barack Obama; and there was, as you can see by prior posts from this week, Tim Hardaway’s ill-considered ranting about his dislike of being around gays.

Classic among these was the Michael Richard’s on-stage meltdown where he used the "n-word", in turn prompting an effort by Jesse Jackson to call for a ban of the use of the n-word.  That is a novel concept.  What if we banned the f—-t word as well.  And while we’re at it, the b—h word.  There is a whole page of words in the dictionary the world would be better off without.

But would that solve the issue?  What are words?  They are vehicles for conveying feelings – they are not feelings themselves.  So if we tear the page from the dictionary – do we eliminate the bigotry behind them?

I actually think all of these episodes listed here, and those inevitably yet to come, serve an important purpose.  The expression of bigotry in these words reminds the rest of us that while some people don’t like being around gays, or Jews, or black people, most of society doesn’t like being around bigots.  Their rants serve the purpose of reminding the rest of us that we are civilized.  And every so often, I think we benefit by that reminder.