In regard to the Billy Packer flap (the know-it-all basketball analyst used the old-fashioned term “fags out” in an interview and now is enduring the expected public lynching from the police of political correctness), it kind of reminds me of the absurd controversy when a hapless professor used the word “niggardly” and was accused of racism. I want someone to tell me when the old “f-bomb” became chic and when the three-letter version became the Deplorable Word.
Michael Ray Richardson and shock-jock Don Imus are also in rhetorical hot water, this time for more obviously using bigoted words. But we must not forget that those who attempt to control speech also attempt to control thought. Whenever someone transgresses the new speech code, most people jump on the crucifixion bandwagon, fearful of being labeled soft on bigotry themselves.
And all this in the name of tolerance? Good luck!
About Stan Guthrie
Stan Guthrie is an editor at large for Christianity Today magazine and for the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. His latest book is God's Story in 66 Verses. He also is author of All that Jesus Asks: How His Questions Can Teach and Transform Us, Missions in the Third Millennium: 21 Key Trends for the 21st Century, and A Concise Guide to Bible Prophecy. He is co-author of The Sacrament of Evangelism. Besides authoring, writing, and editing books, Stan is a literary agent, bringing together good authors, good books, and good publishers.
Stan writes the monthly Priorities colum for BreakPoint.org. He has appeared on National Public Radio's Tell Me More, WGN's Milt Rosenberg program, and many Christian shows, including The Eric Metaxas Show and Moody Radio's New Day Florida. A licensed minister and an inspirational speaker, he served as moderator for the Christian Book Expo panel discussion, Does the God of Christianity Exist, and What Difference Does It Make?
