Good sense and free speech lost amid all the contrived rancor

Even after nearly a quarter-century in the news business, there remain moments when I want to stand on my desk screaming, "Have you people lost your ever-lovin' minds?"

And the echo that comes back to me is a definitive "yes."

There's no other way for me to perceive youthful tree climbing turned into a national racial incident. First off, I didn't think our overly obese and poorly exercised youngsters still could climb trees, a problem that deserves attention but doesn't get enough of it.

But Carpentersville Trustee Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski has been declared a persona non grata because she yelled at some neighbor kids to get down from a tree, likening them to some other talented tree-climbers -- monkeys.

Because the boys were black and Sliwinski isn't, the whole neighborly disagreement was declared a racial incident by one of the mothers. The other mother, showing the wisdom of most mothers of young boys, was silent, but Carpentersville police obligingly accused Sliwinski of a crime, namely disorderly conduct.

Now, I'm not a particular Sliwinski fan. I can understand the chortling of those whom Sliwinski has labeled racists for fighting illegal immigration while she defends illegal immigrants as if they were the ones who elected her. She's been hoisted by her own petard, as it were.

But I don't think Sliwinski is any more a racist than are those fighting against illegal immigration. Accusations of racism these days are the last resort of those who are losing the intellectual, legal or moral argument of the moment.

We've taken very potent words like "racism" and "hate" and applied them so liberally and with so little real factual basis that they are now freely and quite illogically applied to tree-climbing disputes between neighbors. And everyone from the police to the media to presidential candidates involve themselves in silliness that ought to be hashed out over a cup of coffee or a beer. Significant issues -- fatal hospital error rates, fiscally irresponsible governments, a poorly educated society of all colors or a disappearing middle class are just too complex to worry about.

The problem stems from too much taking of offense with far too little reason, and outright rejection of the idea that we are entitled to say what we like, whether somebody else likes it or not. The Constitution says nothing about having the right to speak only if our words offend no one.

That's impossible anyway. Every word uttered can offend someone, especially when everyone seems to have their own sound-collecting parabolic dish set up to search for such offenses. If this were truly enforced, we'd have a mute society, maybe not such a bad thing, and a complete tyranny, definitely a bad thing.

It's my belief that a good deal of society's current frustration stems from political correctness that has strangled debate, fueled anger and created an entitlement society that includes the right, for some, at least, to never be irritated by what somebody else says. How do a couple of kids climbing trees create something this bizarre otherwise?

My suggestion? How about everybody just speak their minds for once. Let Sliwinski and her neighbors shout at each other, ignore each other or maybe even possibly talk to each other sensibly. Or not.

Leave police, media, politicians, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton out of it. Settle these petty disputes among yourselves. Because for the life of me, I can't see how their involvement changes anything for the better.