When do words really hurt?

I am usually quite a fan of Richard Sandomir over at the Times - anyone who knows how bad Bryant Gumble is on the NFL Network broadcasts and isn't afraid to say it can't be all that bad. But today he misses the mark in a way that is particularly annoying.

The recent dustup over on the Golf Channel during last week's Mercedes Championship, and the subsequent suspension of co-anchor Kelley Tilghman has Sandomir all in a huff; and, for him, the two week suspension just wasn't enough. Her words were just so offensive, so reminiscent of past racial brutality (he even has the total estimates of lynchings in this country in the last 200 years) that there can be no excuse for allowing Ms. Tilghman to come back on the air presumably without having her lips cortorized to her nose.

This is all just so much politically correct humbug - coming from the leading publication in the field. I have watched Tilghman for a few years now, and she has never before offended so much as a mosquito. If anything, I would criticize her for being way too measured in most of her work. She made an impromptu, incredibly dumb remark, and then compounded the issue by waiting 48 hours to apologize on the air. But even Tiger Woods - the object of her remark - accepted her apology without any fanfare.

So what's the problem here? Quite simply, we have become a nation of over-lawyered, overly sensitive cranks who can't tell the difference between being offended and really being harmed. When we say that "words hurt people" we want to promote everyone getting along and being nice to each other; but that's really not how things happen in the world - is it? Get over it, Sandomir.....