This is not to say that I believe everyone should be crude, coarse and insensitive to others. I was raised to treat people with respect. I intend to do that as I go along from day to day, knowing full well that sometimes I’ll say something stupid. When I say stupid things, I will say I’m sorry.

Now, I don’t make a living trying to see how rude I can be, either. All of the people who do find their audience in all of us, just as in all times and in all places various court jesters told the truth in often highly offensive ways. We reward these acts of outrageous behavior, and smart marketing people know how to tie the act into ways to make money.

What’s funny in a comedy club may or may not be considered funny over the airwaves. What’s funny to one group may not be funny to another.

Certain people appoint themselves as watchdogs over others. Their particular way of actually making a living may be hard to determine, but it is certain they know how to generate publicity. Anyone routinely generating national publicity can make money.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the different “cultural watchdogs” didn’t have private meetings where they agree how far they’re going to let each other go, and how they’ll split the profits from the uproars they create.

I do not believe any of the well-known talk-show hosts or so-called Reverends act in the interest of any group. They only act in the interest of their own pocketbook, while disguising it as “concern for the community.”

Double standards abound. Every group has flaws, because every group is composed of people. When one person has successful control of a media outlet, that person has enormous power. When one man can send out a press release and suddenly be on national television over a real or imagined “evil,” he holds what can become a dangerous weapon.

The self-appointed pinnacles of cultural leadership work a game that involves dividing the culture they say they’re leading. The message of Sharpton or Rush or Jackson or any of the other “grand spokesmen” is simple: “Us vs. Them.”

What is really funny to me is that their antics would not be tolerated for long in a room full of ordinary people. They would end up ostracized by all in a neighborhood.

The media has somehow agreed to give these showmen names like “civil rights leader” and “conservative voice.” Meanwhile, regular people who are truly concerned about the future of this country are left without any voice at all or a way to get their voice heard. And the culture that is America becomes more and more divided, with wounds and passions inflamed by those claiming they want peace.

(Editor’s Note: Reach David Clark at dclark@outofthesky.com or P.O. Box 148, Cochran, Ga. 31014.).