Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Ruben Navarrette Jr. on hypocrisy...

Interesting commentary written by Ruben Navarrette Jr. for CNN which points out the hypocrisy that has been shown by various media sources as well as the general public when it comes how hispanics are treated.

He correctly points out:

It's time for a national dialogue on the "w-word." I'll give you a hint: It's an offensive term that is meant to imply that all Mexican-Americans arrived in the United States by swimming across a river -- something that comes across as doubly offensive to immigrants who came to the country legally or those whose families have been here for generations.

You know about the "n-word." And what my gay friends call the "f-word." Most people in the public eye wouldn't dare utter those words in full. In fact, when entertainers have done so, they've paid for it.

And so it's surprising that, lately, there seems to be a rash of media types tossing around the w-word. It's also disappointing given that all this is happening in the aftermath of the Imus affair.

New York Times columnist Frank Rich wasn't all that careful. In arguing that offensive speech shouldn't be censored, Rich wrote that we should "let Bill O'Reilly talk about 'wetbacks.' ..."


Either we have to admit this really is only about one group of people in America having the right to be offended and to demand action, or we have to acknowledge that if it's wrong, it's wrong.

3 comments:

Scott G said...

I think that it should be wrong to use descriptors like that for all races, nationalities, and religious groups. There seems to be hypocrisy when it is only offensive if you like the group.

T. F. Stern said...

While I agree that it is wrong to use terms which are known to be derogatory to anyone; I had a Bishop explain an important lesson to me one day. He told me that if you ever get offended from what someone said to you or about you even if it's by accident, that the time you spend being angry is wasted. Hid wife jumped in and added to the lesson by saying, and even if it was intended to be offensive that time you spend being angry is still wasted. I thought that was excellent source of wisdom.

Unknown said...

I can't disagree that is excellent wisdom, if everyone followed that we would be a much better world.