Wednesday, October 13, 2010
The Power of Words
In today's society, many people often speak without thinking about how their words can affect others. Explain whether or not using religious, gay, or racial slurs is ever acceptable. How do we determine if using these words crosses the line and becomes offensive? Why are there so many people who still believe their freedom of speech is more important than being sensitive to others in terms of their ethnicity, race, religion, or sexuality?
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As most of us are guilty of making impulsive, offensive comments from time to time, under no circumstance is it ever okay. Using religious, gay, or racial slurs is never acceptable, but most of us here these comments every day of our lives. In reality, these comments are never going to completely stop, but as individuals, there is plenty we can do. Many people will throw racial comments out there all in a matter of fun, but they don't realize or understand the effects they are having on other people. People often forget that others aren't always going to show it when they're upset; so even if someone doesn't seem affected, that doesn't mean they aren't. However, I do believe that some comments are fairly harmless, and that many people often cross the line. Anything controversial that is said directly to someone's face who they might be offending, is completely unjust and should not be tolerated by any means. Something I am also very against, is the commonly thrown around phrase, "that's so gay." First of all, what does that even mean? That is so homosexual? Good one. Honestly, that just makes no sense and it is morally wrong to say. People who believe that their freedom of speech is more important than being sensitive to others take their rights much too literally. People have the right to believe that they want to believe, but logical reasoning can lead anyone to think that the ethnicity, race, religion, or sexuality of others has no affect on them.
Any sort of comment against a certain religion, race or sexuality is always unacceptable. Recently in the news there have been stories of comments and actions against certain groups that have resulted in tragic consequences. People say things but don't realize that what they are saying upset people who are different. It is not the right of an American to make cruel comments. Racists and other judgmental people use freedom of speech as an excuse to treat people who are different poorly. Attacking a person because they are from a certain group or are homosexual is not justified and is not what the writers who established freedom of speech intended.
-Katie Skopkowski
In our society, the idea of free speech has been abused more and more over time. Everybody says something insulting about religion, sexuality or race at some point or another but because of how our society is today, not that many people think its that big of a deal. I dont think that there is any time that using those slurs of this nature is acceptable. I think that our society needs to start thinking about what they say and who it can effect. You never know who is going to hear what you say and who its going to offend. There is no situation that you would need to insult people with different sexuality, religion or race to prove a point. It may not mean anything to the person who is saying it but to other people it could be extremely upsetting
I believe it is never acceptable to use religious, gay, or racial slurs, no matter what the situation. Although I can not attest to the fact I have never used these harmful expressions, I do try watching what I say whenever I can. While it’s hard to imagine how these words and expressions can affect a person, take a walk in their shoes. I believe words can be the most harmful thing to a person. That’s why I think people should especially be careful what comes out of their mouths. Freedom of Speech has nothing to do with this. It’s pure ethics. People need to decide the difference between right and wrong, good and evil.
With the recent events of the Rutgers student, I think it’s crucial now more than ever to realize that words hurt. It’s really unfortunate that someone had to die for us to realize this. But I for one will practice what I preach. I will always watch what I say no matter where I am, and I advise everyone else to do the same.
Freedom of Speech i believe is fine up to a point, but there is a very fine line between voicing your opinion and being offensive. Racial slurs, basing someone off their ethnicity or religion is deffinetly not ok. We are are people and we are all equal no matter what nationality or sexuality we are. Even if you believe otherwise dont say it. Its fine to feel strongly about something but if you know its going to be offensive keep it to yourself. It prevents peoples feelings from getting hurt and alot of controversy. Many problems in the world today, including schools would be cut down if these offensive comments were kept to a limited. Of course, this is unrealistic to think about but we should really take this into account and be an inspiration for others.
I feel as if it is completely unnecessary to use religious, gay, or racial slurs. Whether or not you intent to use them in an offensive way, it is still wrong and uncalled for all together. We have so many issues going on in the world with the economy, the wars, and now the recent teenage suicides, we don't need to contribute to the problems. This is going to be cliche, but I think people need to realize that whether we are different or not, we are still all people, and we come from different backgrounds, ideas, emotions, and sexualities. I feel as though we could be much more successful as a whole if we could just be more accepting and not degrade people for their differences.
-Amanda Connerton
Our society takes a huge advantage of freedom of speech. They feel like they can say whatever they want to and think nothing of it. Everyone is guilty of doing this. Some people say inapprorpiate things once in a while, and others use it like they breathe. This is definately wrong; people should be aware of what they say and how they say it so that they don't offend others around them. Racial, homosexual, and religious jokes and saying should be frowned upon.
-Danielle Johnson
People throw around words wherever and whenever they feel like it. They don't stop to look around and they don't hesitate. They don't care who's around them and how other people feel. Maybe they do and they're just so ignorant that it doesn't cross their mind in the moment. I'm not gonna pretend like i'm completely innocent and I don't throw around these words from time to time, but I take into consideration my surroundings. I don't just throw around this word and that word wherever I please. These words are perceived as offensive because we use them in that context. Freedom of speech is important in any country, but you can't just throw any word out there.
Being someone who a lot of these comments are about, I clearly feel very strongly about this issue. A lot of gay slurs have come to mean slightly different things in everyday conversation and it is not at all okay. When I hear people incessantly using the word "gay" to mean things like stupid, annoying, or wierd, it makes me very upset. That is not what that word means and people don't even think to censor themself from using it around me. Even worse that using that word wrong, is the constant use of the word "faggot." I don't know if adults realize, but this word is used so frequently, that it is absolutely nauseating to me. I don't care what they are meaning for that word to convey, it is NOT what that word means.
I'm going to stop ranting and raving, but what i'm trying to say is that for all ethnicities, race, relgions, and sexualities, slurs towards them have become a part of everyone's vocabulary. It needs to be stopped. The thing is, whenever i confront people about it they use the excuse of that they mean it in a different connotation. but thats not an excuse.
honestly, i could go on forever so i'm going to stop now. and this post probably sounds highly unintelligent because this topic makes me so angry, i can't even think straight.
Everybody says a racial, relgigous or sexualy oriented slur once in a while and if they say they dont its probably a lie. And everybody is guilty to laughing at these "jokes". This is something that needs to stop. We have no idea who or how we are hurting other people around us. We need to be aware of other peoples feels and emotions and not so much with what you think is funny for what other people are doing. We should look at what has been happening around us with the Rutgers students and the young kids getting arrested for hate crimes. We should learn from these peoples mistakes, because you have no idea the power of your words.
Obviously i think that people should be more careful about what they say as it may be hurtful to others. However i think people are way too sensative these days and because of that there is no way you can constantly make sure that no one gets offended by what other people have to say. Also i beleive that even though it is sometimes hurtful to others its still freedom of speech no one has the right to take that away from you. Its not that i want to be able to say racial slurs but if we give the government the right to limit freedom of speech just because some people had their feelings hurt then where does it stop. I just beleive that no matter what there will always be some crazy racist people out there and other people shouldnt really care what they have to say, because there idiots.
Even though we all hear racial, gay or religious slurs on a daily basis, that doesn't mean that they are okay to say. One simple punch line to one person could be a heart break to another. An individual who is having a hard time making it through the day might be pushed over the edge by hearing another slur that they take as personal offense. I think it is devestating that everyday indivuals all over the world are bullied many times for things that they have no control over. Many of us know that bully's only say what they do simply because they are unhappy with themselves but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt when the slurs are directed at you personally.
In today’s world the use of racial, religious, and gay slurs are very common. Many people use these offensive slurs subconsciously, and they are not aware of the harm they are causing others. Despite this, these terms and phrases are never acceptable because they are a violation of others’ rights and they are extremely offensive to certain individuals. Although many people use these terms out of context, giving them a different meaning, they are still very inappropriate as they make people feel uncomfortable and in danger. People have to put themselves in the position of a gay individual and try to understand how hurtful it is to constantly hear gay slurs. People’s freedom of speech must be limited to ensure the safety and security of others, and if an individual is abusing their right of speech they should be punished and their speech should be limited. I think someone should take a step forward, and take initiative in limiting the use of these harmful words.
We live in a time where you have to be careful what you say. It is not acceptable to use religious, gay or racial slurs because people get very offended by them. Every citizen may have a right to freedom of speech but are you will to hurt others in the process, is it truly worth it. The other day a boy got beaten on a bus because the others kids thought he was gay. Gay slurs probably led to this fight and now a boy is hurt both physically and mentally.Our country is suffering because people are speaking and acting wthout fully thinking about what they are doing and that affect that their actions have on others. People who believe that their freedom of speech is more important than being sensitive to others are truly blind to the world and ignorant. Because you day karma will come back around and they won't like what slurs they are being called.
The use of gay, racial, and religious slurs is extremely damaging and could really hurt people that they are directed towards. At the same time, the underlying problem is not the use of these words itself, but the feelings and biases people have towards other ethnicities and religions. People have always had some sort of prejudice, and have therefore tried to express their prejudices through various slurs. People need to be educated about how people of different ethnicities and religions deserve respect. However, simply censoring people is a restriction of freedom of speech, and instead of just trying to eliminate these words from society, we should try to get rid of the biases that make people use such words.
In society, freedom of speech is abused by many people and they don't even realize it. They say things that are offensive to other people without doing it on purpose. Many people do speak about religions, gays, and racial slurs. People never even realize it because they aren't putting down themselves. This is totally unacceptable though. Everyone should really watch what they say because you never know who is around and who you may be hurting.
I believe it is never acceptable to use racial, religious or gay slurs. The image we are creating for the next generation is a poor example. Think about it, isn't our main goal as a nation to make world peace? We are never going to achieve world peace if we keep making racial slurs. Even if they are the mildest jokes, the children that watch these jokes on tv or hear others say these things are very impressionable. These children will subconciously live the rest of their life thinking that other countries are "bad." Also the gay slurs also make a statement to the younger ones that "it is not ok to be gay." This is horrible, because this could lead to an increased rate of suicide since people aren't comfortable with their sexuality.
Making slurs are bery offensive, but the worst part about it is leaving an imprint on the children of our future. We will never achieve world peace if people keep using these slurs.
In our society today we have learned to abuse our freedom of speech. People feel that this freedom of speech gives them the right to say whatever they want, whenever they want. This of course is incorrect. People do not realise the harmful effects our words have on the people around us. We say things that we do not necessarily mean to be offensive but, they are. What may seem like a joke to one person may have a horrible meaning to another. I understand that we are all guilty of the occasionally slip up, but these slip ups only occur because we allowed such language to become a part of our everyday speech. I think that as human beings we must begin to move in the direction of mutual respect. If everyone just bit their tongue before saying an inappropriate comment, we could save ourselves from offending others. I feel like we need to begin to watch what we say because you never know who is close enough to hear it.
The use of any religious, racial, or gay slur is never acceptable. Although many people my age substitute words such as "gay" for other words without meaning harm, they must realize that it can be interpreted very differently. On a train ride to Montauk two summers ago, a group of kids around my age were fooling around and calling each other words like "gay". There was a woman on the bus who was greatly offended by these words and got very upset. Even though these kids did not mean to hurt his woman, I'm sure they realized that using words such as these are not acceptable.
Many people seem to think that the words, "freedom of speech" in our Bill of Rights gives them the right to say whatever they want without thinking of others' feelings. My guess is that these people are too ignorant to realize the intended meaning of freedom of speech.
As a culture we are so accustomed to saying what everyone else is saying. A default comment to anything out of the ordinary is “that’s so gay”. This is not acceptable and we all do it. Many people don’t think about the people listening and sometimes will say something offensive. This shows many of us, including myself, are ignorant. A solution, a simple suggestion, is to increase our vocabulary and use better words. Instead of saying something offensive to make you look stupid, we can say something intelligent and still make the same point.
I think that in today's society freedom of speech is abused. I agree with the fact that you are free to speech you mind but there is no need to to criticize someone because of someone's religion, race, ethnicity or sexuality. I believe that is unacceptable and to be honest, what does their ethnic background, religion, etc. have to do with anything, they are people non the less. There are always racist people who make rude remarks, and I'm sure that they would not like it if the roles were switched. People don't realize how much it actually affects a person, people kill themselves because of remarks like this, like the recent Rutgers incident, words can honestly destroy a person.
Whenever people use derogatory terms or references towards other people, most of the time they aren't thinking about what they say. A lot of times people call something "gay" because they disagree with it or don't like it. That doesn't mean that they disagree with homosexuality. A lot of people also use the "n" word but they actually have no intention of offending anybody. It is wrong, but the use of these words are impulsive, wrongly used and meant for no harm. Kenny Anello
I believe that these comments that categorize an entire race of people by any means is always offensive, because it shows that people do not think about the individuality of the person. People should not even debate what crosses the line or not because these comments are always offensive in some way to someone. Freedom of speech should not be reserved for racial slurs alongside with protests towards a cause. Many see that freedom of speech is a way to express their opinion of a group of people publicly, however i believe that this is just bending the rule in their own distorted view.
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