Question: If you saw something at the park that walked like a duck, and talked like a duck, what would you call it? I would call it a duck. What about a car designed by Ford with the logo of a horse? It's a Mustang. These are facts. So why do we have trouble calling things what they are when it might make somebody uncomfortable? There's a line between honesty and inappropriateness, and we're so afraid of crossing that line that we've given it complete control. I'll be the first to say we shouldn't intentionally be rude or disrespectful to others, but we each have to be able to speak our mind. It's not only the fact that we have become afraid of stubbing toes, it's the fact that society has become conditioned to be extra sensitive to completely appropriate statements. Take race for example. As a black person with a group of friends that includes many white people, who I value and appreciate, I am constantly amazed by their misguided attempts to be sensitive to the fact that I am a minority in the group. I can think of countless occasions where one person has been telling a story, and when it comes time to describe a person involved who happens to be black, they feel the need to turn to me and say "No offense". We discussed this recently. It's not the fact that you interacted with a black person and wanted to describe them as such that offends me-feel free to describe every character: the blonde, the short guy, the atheist-it's the fact that you don't consider us to be good enough friends that you can say what's on your mind. If a black person has wronged you and you're angry about it, don't apologize to me, just get over your anger. You wouldn't apologize to me if the person you were angry with was a Republican( yes I consider myself a conservative most days). Equally irritating is when a stranger wants to correct you so you don't offend somebody. While sitting in a dentist's waiting room with my father recently, a black lady sitting near us commented on how much alike we looked, except for my lighter shade of skin. "Your mom must be light-skinned", she assumed, to which I responded, "she's white." This woman, whom I had never met, told me in a stern voice not to say 'white', as if she was my mother herself. I gave her the most sarcastic look I could muster and said, "sorry, Caucasian". Where's the difference? Isn't 'Caucasian' a synonym for 'white'? I won't say 'automobile' when it's more convenient to say 'car', and this is no different.
Where's this rant coming from? I'm taking a Topics in Film class, where we study drama through plays and movies, and I just finished reading "Oleanna" by David Mamet. It is about a female student who is having trouble in a class, and the male professor who decides that he can help her get an 'A' through private lectures in his office after she helps him realize how he failed her. She asks why he's helping her, and he says because he "likes her". Later in their conversation, she becomes upset and he places a hand on her shoulder. She reacts negatively and files a complaint against him, costing him his tenure. She calls him sexist and elitist, all because he said he liked her, surely as a professor likes an interesting student. It disgusts me that professors can no longer teach and help students for fear of losing their jobs. If it had been a woman teacher who said she liked her, I doubt anything would have been done. In this day and age, we have become so sensitive that compliments are considered assault, and you can no longer tell someone of the opposite gender that they look nice today. Honesty has taken a back seat to compassion, and it will lead to nothing good.
I could easily go on forever with this topic, so I'll just end here.
Thanks for reading,
Sam
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