Week 9 Blog

This week's post will be hard for me. I am a First Amendment absolutist. I believe I have the responsibility to choose my language and be respectful. I do see how the isms in the book have a negative impact on race, gender, sexual orientation and age. I don't deny that we can be hurtful to each other with our words. I don't believe in passing legislation that impedes free speech. I believe that individuals are responsible for their choice of words and can rise above the hate.

Sexism - Cam Newton, quarterback for the Carolina Panthers, had an interview with reporters a few weeks ago. A female reporter asked him a really good question. I will paraphrase it. She asked him if he was excited to see his receivers being more physical in their play. He smiled and laughed and said that he thought it was funny a female was asking him a question about physical play. I think she asked a great question. It was well thought and highlighted the acumen the reporter had. There are plenty of male sports reporters who never played collegiately or professionally. They don't get treated the way she did.

Heterosexism - I watched an interview online of a gay man and his experience as a gay man in his local church group this week. He said he was warmly received by most. There were a few people who avoided him at first, but as they got to know him, that changed their relationship. He talked about his family and how they always loved him and accepted him. When heterosexuality is assumed as the norm, it can harm the good relationships we can have with others in our communities, places of work and even church.

Racism - The owner of the Houston Texans football team is in the hot seat. He made a statement earlier this week about how inmates should not control the prison. He was referring to the National Anthem protests by players on his team. Given the racial statistics for imprisonment, he couldn't have picked a worse way to describe what was happening on the field during the playing of the National Anthem.

Ageism - A coworker listens to a certain talk radio program. I don't care for the commentator, but he had a segment that caught my attention. It was about a company that goes around the country and preys on older couples. They gather documentation that shows the courts that they can no longer take care of themselves. They gain legal guardianship of the elderly couple by "proving" the couple can no longer be alone and take care of themselves. They liquidate their assets. The woman featured in the segment said that her parents had this happen to them. The idea that people were too old to take care of themselves is a great example of ageism. The judge believed them because they provided documentation. It was all legally binding. They lost everything they owned. It took the woman years to legally get guardianship of her parents back.



I forgot to capitalize the first word after using a colon. I submitted the assignment already. It's a good thing it was not homework for the editing class.