When Obama Supporters Fight

Is this what the world has come to? will.i.am and Perez Hilton throwing down outside of a club? Our president would be so disappointed.

The details of the fight are kind of fascinating from a cultural standpoint, though. Hilton called will.i.am a "faggot," which resulted in will.i.am's manager beating Hilton up. Hilton seems to be seen as the victim in the incident.

The hate-speech possibilities here boggle the mind:

* What if Hilton had called will.i.am the dreaded n-word! Would he still be the victim, or would that have excused the violence on the moral, if not the legal, sense?

* "Faggot" is, I thought, a very bad word, no? Isn't it terribly insensitive and hateful for Hilton to have used it? Or is it okay, since Hilton is, himself, gay? Is "faggot" kind to new nigga that way?

* What if will.i.am had called Hilton a "faggot"? Would it have been socially acceptable for will.i.am to brag about it after the fact the way Hilton seems to be doing today?

Surely there's a university sensitivity commission which has already sorted this stuff out for us . . .