The author wrote: "Bigoted words may reflect bigotry. Or they may stem from anger, acute frustration at having to tolerate the profound ignorance of the do-gooders within our political elite."

Bigoted words do relect bigotry. Such words are generally not used in anger or acute frustration unless the person is a bigot. People who are not bigots will not use words expressing bigotry even though they are angry or acutely frustrated.

However, a person has a right to be a bigot and express bigoted sentiments. It is unpleasant to hear such words, but a person has a right to say them.

It is a crime to discriminate in employment or other areas on the basis of bigotry. It should not be a crime to say what others would rather not hear.

Professional sports seem to have an inordinate percentage of hoodlums. The unpleasant practice of sledging seems to be an integral part of it. Rather than monitoring sledging for permissable sledging without bigotry it would seem better to get rid of sledging or professional sports.

What breath of fresh air, both the article and the opening comment by David f. Bigotry is best tackled head on by addressing the issues on which bigotry is based, not by playing language cop so that the wannabe cop can pretend to be more PC than the next language cop.

I think you'll find 'police' is the preferred nomenclature Julian.

"Cop" is a gender-free noun in universal use for at least a century and probably longer. "Police" does not match the sentence grammatically. "Policeman" or "policewoman" is gender-specific. "Police officer" is wordy and inappropriate for the sentence. I'll stick by "a language cop" though "the language police". I think I've encountered a language cop.

Our language has been debased by cop shows. An exmple is the word, perpetrator, instead of the simple word, crook, deriving from crookback meaning 'not straight'. Perpetrator gets shortened to perp. Cops are often inadequately educated individuals who are given a bureaucratese vocabulary to invest them with authority. The emperor had chosen his words wisely, and I wish that Julian had succeeded in getting rid of the alien religion.

...Elite sport is political sport, and all attempts are made to conform it to a politically motivated and politically correct position: It’s what Governments invest the taxpayers money into, and as such demand outcomes which match expectations of exceptional correctness; IE; no show of violence or offensive language particularly.

...Fortunately, community level sport is much less controlled and has the refreshing simplicity of honesty. The real worry for community based sport now though, seems to be the question raised by poor Olympic medal counts: “Will the proportion of Government funding for community based sport be put under more pressure from the demands of elite sporting associations, using the medal tally as excuse for greater funding, at the expense of the Australian community level sporting”?