April 4, 2008 marked 40 years since Martin Luther King, Jr., arguably the most important figure of the 1960's Civil Rights Movement, was shot to death on a hotel balcony. In March of 1968, Dr. King, in what would be his final mission,traveled to the aid of Memphis sanitation workers in the midst of a battle for higher wages. The detestable mistreatment of these sanitation workers culminated with the deaths of Echol Cole and Robert Walker who were crushed in the back of an old garbage truck; compacted like the trash they collected.
An article by Miami Herald columnist, Leonard Pitts, ran in the Dallas Morning News on April 6 detailing the events leading up to Dr. King's final breath. King's last campaign thoroughly described the rarely-discussed, highly-volatile situation into which King marched. According to Pitts, "MLK helped these men turn their demand for higher wages into a demand for something more". From the march Dr. King led that erupted into violence, to the infamous speech in which he declared "I've seen the Promised Land", Pitts walks his readers through some of the less-publicized thoughts and plans that plagued King in his final days.
In the days surrounding this momentous occasion, television specials and public service announcements permeated the channels of our television sets. News channels, such as CNN, aired specials that spanned several days as they covered the life Dr. King and attempted to unveil little known facts surrounding his murder. A common thread that repeatedly appeared in these tributes was the speculation that King foresaw his own death. Writers and reporters alike (including Pitts) sited sections of speeches King gave in February and March during which he mentioned his own death. In each of these orations, King appears to come to grips with the escalating danger facing him on a daily basis and talks of accepting the fact that his death may come earlier than many may have hoped. I find myself questioning when and why the focus shifted to such a topic. Is there an underlying attempt to attach a sort of mystical or angelic quality to Dr. King? To place Dr. King somewhere between a man and a spiritual being in touch with things we could never see?
Not to dampen the beautiful tributes and well-written articles reminding us of Dr. King's legacy, but let us not take the focus off of the objective of Dr. King's life's work. While it is enlightening to learn of King's very real reckoning with mortality, let us instead focus on allowing his memory to re-spark that fervor for striving towards social and economic equality.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
A Lesson In Acronyms: They're Not the One's You Grew Up With
Laser. Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.
Radar. Radio detection and ranging.
NASA. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
What happened to the days when acronyms were just that simple? Now, popular television commercials poke fun at the very real phenomenon that has become its own pseudo-language. An SMS (short messaging service)-aka text messaging-language.
OMG: Oh my goodness/gosh/God. LOL: Laugh out loud. BRB: Be right back.
These are now familiar staples of text messaging shorthand. This language has infiltrated the lives of our youngsters and, in many cases, replaced their use of acceptable English grammar; even in their school writing assignments.
Now, the latest commercial for the popular television teen drama, Gossip Girl, flashes the acronym "OMFG" (you'll have to fill in that 'F' for yourself) while provocative sex scenes unfold in the background. This widely watched TV show, with its highly impressionable audience, uses sex and expletive-laden, new-age acronyms to draw its viewers into this week's episode.
I think this raises a couple of questions:
1. Is it now OK to show "text language" with curse words that aren't allowed to be spoken on TV? When my 3 year old nephew, who's just learned his letters and is amazing at picking them out, started repeating "OMFG!" (along with the "bowchikawowow" tune he learned from another commercial)-do I tell him that's not a nice word?
2. Is anybody going to rein in the kiddos using these terms? As long as it's just the acronym, is it OK to use in the classroom? If not, then what about the ever-popular "B.S"?
In the end, this is just another case of re-drawing lines... So, where do they go?
Radar. Radio detection and ranging.
NASA. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
What happened to the days when acronyms were just that simple? Now, popular television commercials poke fun at the very real phenomenon that has become its own pseudo-language. An SMS (short messaging service)-aka text messaging-language.
OMG: Oh my goodness/gosh/God. LOL: Laugh out loud. BRB: Be right back.
These are now familiar staples of text messaging shorthand. This language has infiltrated the lives of our youngsters and, in many cases, replaced their use of acceptable English grammar; even in their school writing assignments.
Now, the latest commercial for the popular television teen drama, Gossip Girl, flashes the acronym "OMFG" (you'll have to fill in that 'F' for yourself) while provocative sex scenes unfold in the background. This widely watched TV show, with its highly impressionable audience, uses sex and expletive-laden, new-age acronyms to draw its viewers into this week's episode.
I think this raises a couple of questions:
1. Is it now OK to show "text language" with curse words that aren't allowed to be spoken on TV? When my 3 year old nephew, who's just learned his letters and is amazing at picking them out, started repeating "OMFG!" (along with the "bowchikawowow" tune he learned from another commercial)-do I tell him that's not a nice word?
2. Is anybody going to rein in the kiddos using these terms? As long as it's just the acronym, is it OK to use in the classroom? If not, then what about the ever-popular "B.S"?
In the end, this is just another case of re-drawing lines... So, where do they go?
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Latest Teen Trauma Means the Blame Game Has a New Opponent
The newest trend of "cyber bullying" has reached a new low. In addition to using websites like JuicyCampus and Facebook to terrorize their peers, teens have begun to use YouTube as a means of victimization.
CNN, along with several other networks and news outlets both mainstream and alternative, released a video of a 16-year-old girl being brutally beaten by six teenage girls from her school in Florida. The teenage girls, along with two teenage boys, lured the girl into a house where they proceeded to attack her for more than 30 minutes. The teenage boys kept watch outside of the house as the girls, both individually and collectively, beat the victim until she fell unconscious. The girls began the assault again after she regained consciousness. The attack was video-taped by several of the girls and posted on YouTube.
As the networks replayed the brutal beating over and over again, one could not help but become intrigued by the sheer disregard for human life that these girls displayed as they continued to assault the victim even as she screams for mercy from the fetal position.
The parents of the victim, who was hospitalized with blurred vision and hearing loss, began to speak out via the news networks against the websites YouTube and MySpace saying that "MySpace is the anti-Christ for our children". The suspects involved in the beating alleged that the victim had bad-mouthed them on MySpace.
And so began the blame game...who's fault is it?
Analysts are now beginning to point fingers in the direction of these popular networking and gossip sites as the culprits for influencing such violent and reckless behavior. They claim that the enticing "anyone can be famous" premise of YouTube and an ever-increasing shock tolerance has driven teens into a cycle of progressively appalling behavior. These individuals propose that kids do not see the postings made to these websites as punishable behavior and; therefore, feel virtually untouchable. As a result, using these websites as a means of torture or victimization has become commonplace.
Simply looking at the extensive comment lists on various blogs and news sites will show the intense debate on the subject. Proponents of the sites claim that it is not fair to blame these useful tools for those who use them inappropriately. Individuals of a variety of ages left comments criticizing everyone and everything including the girls, the sites, the parents, and even the victim for refusing to physically defend herself.
While it is not shocking that we find ourselves playing another round of blame game-teenage behavior edition, the area of cyber-bullying is unchartered territory. Do these new issues indicate that the reins should be tighter on these sites and those that use them? Ask the eight teenagers who will be tried as adults and could be facing life in prison for what, I'm sure, they thought was a good idea at the time.
CNN, along with several other networks and news outlets both mainstream and alternative, released a video of a 16-year-old girl being brutally beaten by six teenage girls from her school in Florida. The teenage girls, along with two teenage boys, lured the girl into a house where they proceeded to attack her for more than 30 minutes. The teenage boys kept watch outside of the house as the girls, both individually and collectively, beat the victim until she fell unconscious. The girls began the assault again after she regained consciousness. The attack was video-taped by several of the girls and posted on YouTube.
As the networks replayed the brutal beating over and over again, one could not help but become intrigued by the sheer disregard for human life that these girls displayed as they continued to assault the victim even as she screams for mercy from the fetal position.
The parents of the victim, who was hospitalized with blurred vision and hearing loss, began to speak out via the news networks against the websites YouTube and MySpace saying that "MySpace is the anti-Christ for our children". The suspects involved in the beating alleged that the victim had bad-mouthed them on MySpace.
And so began the blame game...who's fault is it?
Analysts are now beginning to point fingers in the direction of these popular networking and gossip sites as the culprits for influencing such violent and reckless behavior. They claim that the enticing "anyone can be famous" premise of YouTube and an ever-increasing shock tolerance has driven teens into a cycle of progressively appalling behavior. These individuals propose that kids do not see the postings made to these websites as punishable behavior and; therefore, feel virtually untouchable. As a result, using these websites as a means of torture or victimization has become commonplace.
Simply looking at the extensive comment lists on various blogs and news sites will show the intense debate on the subject. Proponents of the sites claim that it is not fair to blame these useful tools for those who use them inappropriately. Individuals of a variety of ages left comments criticizing everyone and everything including the girls, the sites, the parents, and even the victim for refusing to physically defend herself.
While it is not shocking that we find ourselves playing another round of blame game-teenage behavior edition, the area of cyber-bullying is unchartered territory. Do these new issues indicate that the reins should be tighter on these sites and those that use them? Ask the eight teenagers who will be tried as adults and could be facing life in prison for what, I'm sure, they thought was a good idea at the time.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Could've Been Another Waco
I am sure that, as the headlines blasted the news of the latest religious compound bust-up, flashes of David Koresh and the flames that engulfed that compound crept into readers’ minds.
News of a raid on the YFZ Ranch in Eldorado, Texas broke Saturday afternoon. CNN’s headline reported that more than 100 children were removed from a polygamist colony “in Texas”, causing the hairs on my arms and neck to stand at attention. It wasn’t until later (when I had an opportunity to read CNN’s article via Blackberry) that I was momentarily comforted.
“I was fearful that it would be another Waco…and with a town this small, a Waco would be devastating,”-Eldorado resident, Jimalee Dutton.
As I read on and found that the members of this colony are from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I find myself, once again, questioning religion and its many variations and doctrines. How is it that Christ can be a part of their beliefs, yet horrific things like arranged marriages between 50-year-old men and 16-year-old girls are regular practices. This, then, led me to question our morals and heroic role as many other religions worldwide encourage similar behavior.
Unfortunately, these queries are matters for one with infinite wisdom. However, one thing is for certain, the activities going on beyond the gates and guards of Warren Jeffs’s compound are illegal and should be stopped. One can be thankful that the rescue of those many women and children took place before we witnessed another Waco.
219 Children, women taken from sect’s ranch-CNN (April 5, 2008)
News of a raid on the YFZ Ranch in Eldorado, Texas broke Saturday afternoon. CNN’s headline reported that more than 100 children were removed from a polygamist colony “in Texas”, causing the hairs on my arms and neck to stand at attention. It wasn’t until later (when I had an opportunity to read CNN’s article via Blackberry) that I was momentarily comforted.
“I was fearful that it would be another Waco…and with a town this small, a Waco would be devastating,”-Eldorado resident, Jimalee Dutton.
As I read on and found that the members of this colony are from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I find myself, once again, questioning religion and its many variations and doctrines. How is it that Christ can be a part of their beliefs, yet horrific things like arranged marriages between 50-year-old men and 16-year-old girls are regular practices. This, then, led me to question our morals and heroic role as many other religions worldwide encourage similar behavior.
Unfortunately, these queries are matters for one with infinite wisdom. However, one thing is for certain, the activities going on beyond the gates and guards of Warren Jeffs’s compound are illegal and should be stopped. One can be thankful that the rescue of those many women and children took place before we witnessed another Waco.
219 Children, women taken from sect’s ranch-CNN (April 5, 2008)
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Well, If Barbara Walter's Says You're Sexy...
Barack Obama made an appearance on The View last Friday adding to the number of cable TV interviews and appearances he has up on Mrs. Clinton. (Remind me, again, how he beat Hillary to the punch on this one? It's The View for heavens sake!)
One might have expected the usual banter between hosts while the guest struggles to get a word in edgewise; however, this was not the case. Instead, the highly opinionated women of the morning talk-show were utterly silent as Obama basically gave mini-speech answers. Even the audience was quiet as Obama recapped the major topics such as the dead horse (aka: the Rev. Wright situation) and his health care plan. It was as if everyone was in a trance.
But of course, after Obama delivers a joke and a smile, the women snap out of it and revert to treating him like the average guest again by peppering him with ridiculous questions like "is it true you're related to Brad Pitt somehow?" or embarrassing statements like "well, you know, we all think you're very sexy". That last pearl of wisdom was delivered by none other than Barbara Walters herself. And as we all know, if Barbara thinks you're sexy...
One might have expected the usual banter between hosts while the guest struggles to get a word in edgewise; however, this was not the case. Instead, the highly opinionated women of the morning talk-show were utterly silent as Obama basically gave mini-speech answers. Even the audience was quiet as Obama recapped the major topics such as the dead horse (aka: the Rev. Wright situation) and his health care plan. It was as if everyone was in a trance.
But of course, after Obama delivers a joke and a smile, the women snap out of it and revert to treating him like the average guest again by peppering him with ridiculous questions like "is it true you're related to Brad Pitt somehow?" or embarrassing statements like "well, you know, we all think you're very sexy". That last pearl of wisdom was delivered by none other than Barbara Walters herself. And as we all know, if Barbara thinks you're sexy...
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