I've always understood the power of words, not because I'm a writer, but because as a kid I was the target of merciless verbal abuse for a decade. Name your stereotypical attack scenario--picked last for the team, name-calling, pranks, being laughed at, shunning--I was privy to them all.
Those years were tough but those school kids taught me a valuable lesson: Choose your words carefully. In fact, I think they (and others) taught that too well as I have been known to weigh the words for so long at times that they lose their impact. Much like the prophet Mark Twain said of the cat and the hot oven burner, "Yes, but she won't sit on a cold one again, either", I can be too careful.
There is something to be said for "political correctness" in that if we practice empathy and understanding, if we take the measure of our words, we stand a far lesser chance of being offensive and that's a terrific thing. But we also run the risk of muting ourselves altogether.
This past week a few mute buttons were pressed which caught my attention. In a less egregious category, I give you the salacious commentary of such programs as "Fox & Friends", particularly when they analyze a Presidential speech. Likely you can access a tape in your head for reference, I will not subject you to shrillness here. This type of "offense" is in bad taste, and lacks the respect and decorum that is usually afforded the office, if not the individual occupying that office. But when a caller to "The Stephanie Miller Show" voiced his belief that the Confederate Flag was just dandy because it honored men of color who fought for the South, my red flag shot up its virtual flagpole faster than you can say "I Wish I Was In Dixie". The gentlemen, we'll say, might have been well-intended. He might not have been overlooking the fact that forced civil servitude was just one more aspect of the stain on our collective consciousness that is slavery, he might simply have been operating on information that was pre-loaded by a generation long past. Perhaps he truly believed what he said and wanted to correct the rest of us and the record. But he really should know that those folks had no say in the decision and, worse yet, had no weapons with which to defend themselves. They were old-school suicide bombers, more-or-less. This "offense" falls into the category of "I know it when I hear it". Code-talking.
But what about Hillary Rosen? "She's never worked a day in her life" is code to some people for "unless you have gainful employment, you don't count". Did Ms. Rosen mean to say this? I choose to think not, but then again I'm one of those slugs who just suck the life out of society by choosing not to "work". Yet I'm not offended by Rosen's statement because I realize it was made in the context of a discussion of our economy. (Ironically it well might have been an economy of words that caused the "problem".) Even without context I'm not offended and don't understand why anyone is. I'm actually sure on this one that I'd feel the same way no matter which "side" of politics the words were hurled from. I'm just aggravated that this flap has vaulted Ann Romney to the height of "heroine".
Then there's the case of Ozzie Guillen. Sure, it's the Miami Marlins and there are Cuban players and folks in the Little Havana neighborhood where the new baseball park was built who have definite opinions and/or oppressions to point to when it comes to Fidel Castro. But "the worst mistake of my life", as Guillen said in an interview? We all say things we'd like to re-phrase or take back altogether. If Ozzie thinks "that f-er", as he referred to Castro, is admirable in his ability to stay alive though many have sought to kill him, then that's what he thinks. He's making a joke and Castro is the butt of that joke. Comedians make such jokes all the time. The difference here is not that Guillen isn't a comedian, it's that part of the reason he was hired to manage the new Marlins was to bring more HIspanic fans to the franchise. Ooops!
Back in the seventies, Archie Bunker said a lot of things that would never get on TV today. Was that the "good old days" before PC-ness when idiots could be idiotic or were those awful words that should never have been aired? You'll have to decide that for yourself, but as a kid who grew up in the 1970s, I can attest to the fact that we certainly TALKED about stuff back then...in a small town, in the South, with a Republican President, and an upstart movement called "The Christian Coalition". Not exactly fertile ground for seeds of change.
We all say stupid stuff. I've likely said some really stupid stuff in this post. But we forgive each other when we understand the intent behind the words. In each of these and other instances, you have to look at the person, the thought process that likely led to those words being chosen. The Fox "anchors" suck at the teat of Roger Ailes and must keep the crank turning on the propaganda machine. That's their job. The Confederate Flag dude has probably heard that nonsense his whole life as a means of excusing guilt and we all know what happens when a lie is repeated enough. Hillary Rosen is paid to make points by tying the strings of political conversation together into a tapestry suited to eliciting a response in the consumer. She's an operative. Ozzie's just trying to get more than ten people to a ballpark in Florida and wanted to get off a joke. It didn't land.
So which of our players are the villains and which are the heroes? You'll have to bring your own background and understanding to that one. All I know for sure is that, even in The Smithsonian today, nobody but nobody can sit in Archie's chair. That means YOUS!
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