Buck Should Have Gotten the Buck
Former University of Texas lineman Buck Burnette should have gotten the buck, boot, dump, toss or whatever you want to call it. It has nothing to do with his sneaky and garbled use of the N Word, the not so veiled threat to Obama, or a knee jerk, formula defense of political correctness. It has everything to do with the actions that could follow from mindless hate slurs aimed at a group.
It's no accident that hate slurs have been tossed at a black dragged to death behind a pick-up, undocumented workers who have been physically assaulted, gays who have been beaten to death, Muslims who have been hounded, harassed, and physically assailed and yes, Jewish-owned businesses, cemeteries, and synagogues that have been defaced.
There's a direct cause and effect between hate slurs and the violence and terror they induce. The fields of America have been stained with the blood of too many victims of race, gender, and religious hate to think that simply ordering a dumb, redneck jock to eat collar greens, tacos, bagels and lox, or couscous is any real punishment for damaging and hateful acts. University of Texas officials sent the right message by "bucking" Buck from the team. For that they should be applauded.
You raise some good points that I hadn't even entertained, Earl. But how do you know that something like this is not inside someone waiting to come out? Not only have individuals done some pretty heinous things, but at points in history, some countries that were considered progressive have slid into some barbarous acts. I think the answer is constant, constant education.