Duxbury Football Commits Penalty With Antisemitism [PHIL-OSOPHY]

On March 12, Duxbury High School played a football game against Plymouth North High School. During the game, Duxbury used antisemitic language at the line of scrimmage, in what is called an audible. Usually, the quarterback will call a play in the huddle, but when he gets to the line of scrimmage, he may decide to change the play. So he yells out an audible, loud enough for all his team to hear clearly, so they know what to do.

I just checked and online, you can purchase well over 200,000 audibles, or you can make them up yourself. I seriously doubt any of those audibles would contain antisemitic connotations like "Auschwitz," "dreidel," and "rabbi," which were reportedly called out by Duxbury during the game.

I'm not going to opine on what penalties Duxbury should face, because between the New England Anti-Defamation League, groups comprising the faith community, the public school department, the parents and the students, I'm certain the proper correction and discipline will be meted out (Editor's Note: Duxbury High coach Dave Maimaron was fired shortly after this article was written).

Acts of antisemitism have continued to increase. My question here is simple: what life lessons can we gain from this? I'll mention just one example.

Mahatma Gandhi was one of many who cautioned us to watch our thoughts, that become our words, that become our actions, and so on. The saying expresses how the quality of our thoughts shapes our lives. The Holocaust didn't begin with the Nazi gas chambers at Auschwitz. It began with words, that began with thoughts.

Phil Paleologos is the host of The Phil Paleologos Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Contact him at phil@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @PhilPaleologos. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.