CNN contributor Roland Martin should've been punished but not necessarily for any perceived anti-gay tweets he sent out to thousands of followers during the Super Bowl. He should've been suspended for TWG - Tweeting While Grown.
Why some adults think that anyone needs a minute-by-minute update of what they just ate, saw, bought or thought is beyond comprehension. Yet a Pew Internet Research study reports that nearly 70 percent of grownups are on either Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or some other social medium.
Here's a question: Why?
Martin may be asking that question, too. He, in case you missed it, is the CNN political commentator who also has a weekly news show on TV.
He was suspended indefinitely by CNN after sending a couple of tweets that gay-rights groups said they found offensive. They demanded he be fired.
CNN succumbed somewhat to the pressure, saying Martin's "tweets were regrettable and offensive. ... Language that demeans is inconsistent with the values and culture of our organization, and is not tolerated."
Right on. Such language should not be tolerated. But what, you ask, did Martin say that raised the ire of GLAAD and other gay groups?
We all know that the ads during the Super Bowl are as eagerly anticipated by some as the game, right?
Well, when an ad appeared showing soccer star Beckham in all his tattooed glory wearing only a pair of boxer briefs, I got up and went to get another piece of chicken from the bucket.
Martin, though, thought it would be wise to let his Twitter nation followers know what he thought.
"If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham's H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him."
It was another tweet, about pink, that also led to Martin's temporary pink slip. He tweeted: "Who the hell was that New England Patriot they just showed in a head to toe pink suit?"
Again, Martin said that cat needs a whipping.
Now, if someone gets excited - "hyped" in Martin's lingo - by Beckham in his skivvies, so what? I wouldn't wish violence on them even in a joking manner.
Anyone wearing a pink suit from head to toe, though, deserves approbation - and possibly even arrest - for committing an unforgivable fashion faux pas. Head to toe pink? In February? Oy.
It's understandable that members of the gay community would be hyper-sensitive to any intimation of violence against them, but some may view them as overreacting when they demand Martin's head on a spit for something so seemingly innocuous. Couldn't they have asked for an apology for a first offense?
I'm a pacifist - spelled C-O-W-A-R-D - and eschew violence whenever I can outrun it.
But even I will counsel violence in one instance: If you ever see me tweeting at a Super Bowl party, instead of watching the game, you have my permission to come and smack the ish out of me.
