[greymule]

Rita, I believe that 40 years ago—1963—Bruce Froemming would have been roundly criticized, possibily even more so than today, but for somewhat different reasons. This is partially because, especially so soon after World War II, a public attack on someone's Jewishness would have been considered way over the line.

But it's also for another reason. You are probably too young to remember, but 40 years ago obscenities were very rarely heard in public, and believe it or not, "b*tch" was considered an obscenity. A man lost face if he directed such words toward a woman. He was dishonorable.

Students used to be disciplined, even suspended from school, for using words that today are thrown around like confetti. Believe me, if a kid in my school had been heard saying, "You s*ck," he'd still be writing on the blackboard. Polite society did not permit the use of words that today are commonly uttered on television and screamed toward players on ballfields. Even the word "hell" was not spoken on TV. There were no laws to this effect, but that's what society expected.

I also remember when Hank Bauer of the Yankees, during a pre-game TV interview in the 1950s, said something like, "If our pitching doesn't come through this weekend, we'll probably get our *ss kicked." People talked about it for days, and eventually excused it on the grounds that Bauer was a former U.S. Marine who deserved a break since he had served his country heroically. (Plus, went the wisdom, everybody knew that Marines used "colorful" language.) But Bauer wasn't getting any invitations to speak at teas.

Personally, I wish that in that regard our sensibilities were more in line with those of the "old days."

Bruce Froemming should indeed be criticized for his stupid and callous remarks, especially if they were public. However, the PC movement would see that he lost his job and was sent to a re-education camp, and that's making a mountain out of a molehill. The PC movement also finds fault with people who mean no harm whatsoever but simply use ordinary terms that don't reflect PC politics, like "slave," "old wives' tales," "gypped," "waitress," "manhole cover," and the list goes on forever.

Hank Greenberg said that, when he played, every single batter who came up heard ethnic slurs not only from the crowd but also from the other team. It didn't matter that your own team had Italians on it, the Italian on the other team was a stupid dago. Greenberg said that the slurs directed toward him stood out because he was the only (or at least the most prominent) Jew. He also said that after he returned in 1945 from military service, the ethnic slurs were gone. The horrors of WW2 had shaken people too much. (It would be two years before Jackie Robinson heard them, but they didn't last long.)

So I say treat everybody with respect and don't call anybody names. And when you use obscenities, you're merely showing off your inability to express yourself and your lack of vocabulary. But I also say to "heck" with PC.