>Perhaps, I will clarify, too many people are quick to call another abrasive, controversial, or just a "ner-do-well" rather than man-up and just deal with the conversation. Take politics, if you disagree with someone lately you are called some derogatory name on a personal level rather than continuing the argument by using facts to support your position. In this case someone wants to call another person names because they did not like the tone of that person's language. I like the days when people were more direct and you could actually say what was on your mind without fear of hurting someone's feelings ( which I don't ) or being sued, smeared, puched, fired, shot, quartered etc...
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>For fear of hurting someone's feelings :) we have become too Europeanized.

Auch! Are we getting into intercontinental conflicts now? UT may have to nip this one in the bud, because their servers will be overwhelmed if the Europeans get a whiff of this <g> To be fair, though, Europeans use the concept of the "fear of becoming too Americanized" quite liberally, too, so I suppose what goes around comes around...

I've gotta say, though, that there is a definite line between being overly politically correct and insulting a person directly, and the old phrase "I know it when I see it" fits here pretty well, too. This phrase was originally used in a Supreme Court case about obscenity vs. free speech, and to me at least it is a good standard (as long as I'm honest to myself.)

IMO our current MTV/Comedy Central and shock jock radio culture has bulldozed pretty much all constraints of decency, and anyone and anything seems to be fair game, while the listening and viewing masses (supposedly) applaud louder as the obscenities and unrestrained personal attacks increase. And the frequency of bleeped-out words and celebrity put-downs and Borat -style sneak ambushes just keep increasing as these "comedians" try to raise their own voices above the already deafening noise. Of course, this is really nothing new -- the traveling theaters of Shakespearean times and beyond pretty much did the same thing. IOW, I'm not saying that the sky is falling, I'm just saying that it would be nice to see some significant human evolutionary progress over the centuries.

[end of essay] <g>