by Adam Amel Rogers, Originally posted on change.org
If I were on Bravo’s “Inside the Actor’s Studio,” and James Lipton asked me “What is your least favorite word?” I would retort with a resounding “faggot.” Or would I say “fa**ot” (I’m not sure how I would pronounce that)? Or would I say “the f-word,” “the other f-word,” or “the f-word that rhymes with maggot?”
This week, when the teabaggers hurled racist and anti-gay slurs and spit at Democratic Congressmen, it perfectly matched how media and society treat two of the most hateful words in the English language.
First, “the n-word,” which is almost never said or printed in it’s entirety, and rightfully so. I won’t print it here because of the hundreds of years of hatred, violence and soullessness attached to the word. Tell me I am giving the word too much power and I will tell you that you are not giving the word enough power. It is despicable, disgusting and never OK to use. Feel free to start conversations about who is allowed to use it and how the word changes when you put an “a” at the end instead of an “er,” but I take a hard line on this issue: Its use is simply unacceptable. I think most mainstream media agrees with me, when the future leaders of the Republican Party hurled the n-word at African American lawmakers, you would be hard pressed to find a respected media outlet that said or printed the full word.
However, the other hate word that was used that day was directed toward openly gay Congressman Barney Frank, and media’s treatment of that word runs the gamut. Numerous headlines read something like this: “'Ni**er,' 'Faggot' Shouted At Members Of Congress.” While many media outlets did use asterisks in the f-word, just as many others felt perfectly comfortable saying or printing the full word.
Am I offended? As Sarah Palin would say, “You Betcha!”
This is the same word that haunted me and so many other children in classrooms across the country and it is often-times the last word that is heard by LGBT victims of violence. The word’s intended hateful use is still extremely prevalent -– just do a search on twitter to find out how many people are perfectly comfortable using this word.
Neither of these words are acceptable and mainstream media needs to start holding all hate speech to the same standard.
Photo credit: Abron
If I were on Bravo’s “Inside the Actor’s Studio,” and James Lipton asked me “What is your least favorite word?” I would retort with a resounding “faggot.” Or would I say “fa**ot” (I’m not sure how I would pronounce that)? Or would I say “the f-word,” “the other f-word,” or “the f-word that rhymes with maggot?”
This week, when the teabaggers hurled racist and anti-gay slurs and spit at Democratic Congressmen, it perfectly matched how media and society treat two of the most hateful words in the English language.
First, “the n-word,” which is almost never said or printed in it’s entirety, and rightfully so. I won’t print it here because of the hundreds of years of hatred, violence and soullessness attached to the word. Tell me I am giving the word too much power and I will tell you that you are not giving the word enough power. It is despicable, disgusting and never OK to use. Feel free to start conversations about who is allowed to use it and how the word changes when you put an “a” at the end instead of an “er,” but I take a hard line on this issue: Its use is simply unacceptable. I think most mainstream media agrees with me, when the future leaders of the Republican Party hurled the n-word at African American lawmakers, you would be hard pressed to find a respected media outlet that said or printed the full word.
However, the other hate word that was used that day was directed toward openly gay Congressman Barney Frank, and media’s treatment of that word runs the gamut. Numerous headlines read something like this: “'Ni**er,' 'Faggot' Shouted At Members Of Congress.” While many media outlets did use asterisks in the f-word, just as many others felt perfectly comfortable saying or printing the full word.
Am I offended? As Sarah Palin would say, “You Betcha!”
This is the same word that haunted me and so many other children in classrooms across the country and it is often-times the last word that is heard by LGBT victims of violence. The word’s intended hateful use is still extremely prevalent -– just do a search on twitter to find out how many people are perfectly comfortable using this word.
Neither of these words are acceptable and mainstream media needs to start holding all hate speech to the same standard.
Photo credit: Abron
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