Guest Author - Sylvia Cochran

Who died and appointed you arbiter of good taste?

Obviously nobody, and since the majority of people will not go to great lengths to chastise those public figures who make money by their looks and on-air talent (as opposed to being elected officials), it is fair to assume that everyone understands that within the confines of a relatively unscripted commentary situation most everyone has the opportunity to open mouth and insert foot.

Sure, some enjoy the taste of shoe leather so much that they seem to constantly have their feet firmly embedded in their mouths, but the general viewing and listening public eventually gets so sick and tired of their not-funny antics that they will eventually lose their audience. As there is no better way of effectively letting a network or individual on-air talent know of your opinion, you can bet that your message is heard loud and clear.

Yet in the case of Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman, her ill-chosen words have led to a firestorm of outrage which was appropriately dealt with by having her apologize directly to the affected party and also on air. Thus, within but a few days the issue was resolved.

Enter the self proclaimed arbiter of race relations – the Reverend Al Sharpton – and before long it did not matter that Tiger Woods kept pointing out that the issue at hand was a non-issue; instead, there were allegations of racism, of lynch mobs, and a plethora of other allegations made that one may be sure Ms. Tilghman never intended (I don’t know the lady, but come on!).

Suspended and finally returned with yet another apology, one can only hope that Mr. Sharpton will find another cause to cling to which will permit him to throw his considerable weight behind an issue that might actually need it like, oh, say, the brown on black gang warfare that is rocking the streets of Los Angeles and is not showing any signs of letting up. Should he be short on causes, there is also the rap music industry, some of which is beyond vile in its lyrics. Oh, and do not forget the drug trade in local high schools!

Okay, so there are no big photo opps there, but the suffering in L.A. is real, the children who are being buried almost daily are real, and the fear that has caused residents to live in homes with windows barred and doors triple locked while the perps are running around outside free and clear and carrying on their little slice of turf war are also real.

Thus, may I suggest humbly and perhaps somewhat exasperatedly that all those who were offended by Ms. Tilghman’s remarks take a clue from Mr. Woods and get over it, joining with those who have simply rolled their eyes and moved on already, and perhaps all could focus on the real ground zero of racial relations and the real deaths, thus leaving imaginary affronts to sensibilities and imaginary nooses behind in favor of fighting very real guns, drugs, and drive by killings.