Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Language

I recently had an English assignment where we were supposed to find a letter to the editor that we agreed with and disagree with it. Here was mine:

"On February 5, 2008, Gary Hatch published a letter to the editor of the Daily Universe condemning the verbage of Senator Chris Buttars, who referred to a bill that he didn't like as "dark." Have we become so sensitive as a people that we can't say a thing without someone accusing us of racial hatred?

"As I sit here typing this response, my screen is a little dark because I don't want it to run out of batteries. By that, I mean I decreased my screen's luminescence.

"I went to bed early last night because the film my roommates were watching was a little too dark for my tastes. I mean it wasn't as light-hearted as I would have liked it be.

"I recently made a batch of cookies, but they didn't turn out well. They were a little dark. I mean they were not quite burnt but more well-done than I usually prefer to eat. But this is not because I don't like non-Caucasian people. Had there been one there, I would've given him or her one of my cookies. Except for the fact that they were a little da. . . I mean, burnt.

"In an effort to avoid offending a small minority of hypersensitive extremists, it seems we often have to tiptoe around language, and sometimes it's quite a detour. Since when have special interest groups hijacked freedom of speech?

"In short, perhaps we all need to learn to not take offense to the smallest turn of phrase. People usually aren't out to get you."

I thought it was one of the most offensive things that I had ever written. Unfortunately, I had a few people respond to this post saying that I made a few good points. I was shocked! Rather than leave a legacy of racial hatred behind me, I decided to write this as a response and hopefully partially redeem myself:

"While it is one thing to say that it is dark outside, it is another to call an immigration bill "dark and ugly," and make pretty direct reference to a tar baby. (I left out the other part to help strengthen my argument.)

"Even if this comment weren't supposed to be a racial reference, I believe that we should be careful about what we say. I think that part of becoming a "perfect man" by taming our tongue, as James says, is by knowing when it is appropriate to use certain language. I think that "speaking with the tongue of angels," like in the talk by Elder Holland, is learning to respect others through our language.

"I had a friend in high school from England who let out an occasional 'damn' and 'hell.' He would claim that because it didn't mean anything to him, it was OK. I explained to him, however, that we should be careful with our words, not because of what they mean to us, but because of what they mean to others.

"While perhaps we all could learn to not be offended, I think that it is yet more noble to learn to not offend."

4 comments:

Crolace said...

Holy Cow, you scared me. I didn't read the first little paragraph very carefully so I thought you were actually defending Senator Buttars.

He didn't just say the bill was dark. He said. "This baby is black, I'll tell you. This is a dark, ugly thing." And then, he made a reference to a lynch mob when he "apologized" for saying that. And then, when he was sort of apologizing for the apology, he said, "How do I know what words I'm supposed to use in front of those people?"


Eric Snider blogged about it here:
http://www.ericdsnider.com/snide/a-crock-of-buttars/

Man o Steel said...

The funny thing is that when people are too politically correct and it makes it even worse.

These cookies are too African-American!

I would like some Caucasian wine.

The American flag, the good old, Native American, Caucasian, and Blue.

mlh said...

Ten points. Gary Hatch is my professor.

Crolace said...

http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs655/readings/purity.html

I wish I know how to make that a link.