2008 Woodie Awards
Mo'smart, Mo'bright
Megan Obright
Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: Culture
Isn't it amazing how far we as a society have come towards accepting everyone, despite all of our differences? It wasn't so long ago that racial slurs were spewed left and right, and no one would even think twice about it, especially if you were in the overpowering part of the population. Racial slurs seem to be around less, thankfully.
Yes, our country sure has come a long way.
Or has it?
It seems to me that our country has swapped out one form of degrading speech for another. We have long lists of words that you can't use to refer to someone who is Black, Asian, Hispanic, a woman and so on. But there are two groups who are constantly being targeted with derogatory words that are thrown around in every day conversation. It is another form of hatred and segregation, which many people don't even realize.
How many times in a day do you hear one of your peers refer to something as "gay" or "retarded"? Probably too many to count. It is so common to use these words in a crude way that most people don't even register that these words have been used. It's almost as if people have forgotten what the words actually mean.
Lets have a little English lesson, shall we?
The ACTUAL meaning of the word gay is either someone who is homosexual or happy, not something that is disliked.
The ACTUAL meaning of the word retarded is someone who is mentally or emotionally disabled, not something that is strongly disliked.
Both of these terms are often used when describing something bad. Common examples: "That class was so retarded" or "This movie is gay." Both of the sentences are using the words gay and retarded as synonyms (that's right children, thats a group of words that mean the same thing) for stupid or dumb.
Alright, so we covered the English part of the class, so how bout some basic math? We all know (or should know) that if a=b, and b=c, then a=c. So lets put one of the example sentences into this equation.
A="gay"
B= "the movie"
Yes, our country sure has come a long way.
Or has it?
It seems to me that our country has swapped out one form of degrading speech for another. We have long lists of words that you can't use to refer to someone who is Black, Asian, Hispanic, a woman and so on. But there are two groups who are constantly being targeted with derogatory words that are thrown around in every day conversation. It is another form of hatred and segregation, which many people don't even realize.
How many times in a day do you hear one of your peers refer to something as "gay" or "retarded"? Probably too many to count. It is so common to use these words in a crude way that most people don't even register that these words have been used. It's almost as if people have forgotten what the words actually mean.
Lets have a little English lesson, shall we?
The ACTUAL meaning of the word gay is either someone who is homosexual or happy, not something that is disliked.
The ACTUAL meaning of the word retarded is someone who is mentally or emotionally disabled, not something that is strongly disliked.
Both of these terms are often used when describing something bad. Common examples: "That class was so retarded" or "This movie is gay." Both of the sentences are using the words gay and retarded as synonyms (that's right children, thats a group of words that mean the same thing) for stupid or dumb.
Alright, so we covered the English part of the class, so how bout some basic math? We all know (or should know) that if a=b, and b=c, then a=c. So lets put one of the example sentences into this equation.
A="gay"
B= "the movie"
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