TRASH-TALKING CELEBRITIES . . . I JUST DON'T GET IT . . .

What's up with the recent rash of racist, sexist and just plain ole idiotic name-calling? Wait, did I say idiotic? I guess that makes me guilty too, huh? Nah, I hardly think so.

I'm talking about all of the truly foul and low-brow utterances that have recently been captured on tape and spouting forth from the twisted lips of folks like Duane Chapman (aka The Bouty Hunter), Amy Winehouse and Charlie Sheen. To be honest, the antics of Winehouse and Chapman don't surprise me. Besides looking like they could both stand a dunk or two in a big tub of scalding hot water and a good old fashioned scrub-down with some of Granny's lye soap, as of late, neither one of them acts or appears as if they're wrapped too tight.

But Sheen's profanity-laced rant, really shocked and disappointed me. Yeah, I know about his past problems with substance abuse, but still, this was a guy who purportedly had one of his African American buddies serve as the best man in his wedding. In the transcript I read of the call, not only does Sheen call his ex-wife (Denise Richards) an "f---ing c---" (you fill in the blanks), he also tells her in one breath, apparently, "You're a coward and a liar and a f---ing nig---." Wow! Isn't it fascinating and incredibly telling how Sheen juxtaposed the words coward and liar with one of the most offensive racial epithets for Black folks?

Pardon me if I don't come off as particularly sympathetic or forgiving when it comes to instances like these, but I JUST DON'T GET IT. I have a number of friends whose race, religion, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation differ from mine. I can't think of an instance, whether in jest or in anger when I'd ever refer to anyone of them by a slur specifically aimed at their race, religion, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.

Hell, I don't even malign my enemies in that manner. Seriously, if I feel the need to call someone something worse than the non-discriminatory "f--ing idiot" or the all purpose "dumb-a$$ or "a$$-hole," I'm not liable to waste my breath in his/her direction. I'm saying, what's the point?