Last night, 60 Minutes broadcast a moving story of firefighters in the World Trade Center 22 years ago. Scott Pelley carefully used that word, “firefighter,” throughout the elongated feature.
60 Minutes, choosing diversity when it clashes with truth, highlighted several female firefighters (both among the more eloquent talking heads, so one cannot really gainsay their inclusion) on the program. But 343 of 343 who perished were firemen. So, cannot we safely, in this one instance, drop the 21st-century gender-neutral term?
