This is a solicited editorial
Davey D mentioned the Dixie Chicks in his newsletter (relevant section below). And I should be respectful and all, especially since they posed nekkid for us, but every time I hear their name, I think back to this gay comedian whose name I really wish I remembered. He was listing all these changes he'd like to see in the media, and among them was this gem: "I want to see a group of transvestite country-western singers called the Chicksy Dicks."
I fell out laughing. I've been wanting to write about that ever since the Dixie Chicks thing blew up.
Another thing. Long years ago, I used to email with this guy, a brother and actor in LA, and I'm in NYC. Came the point he felt it necessary to let me know he was gay and I was like, "So?"
He said, well, a lot of straight guys have problems or feel threatened by gay men. I just told him if his dick was long enough to threaten me, I'd have heard of him a long time ago.
I'm establishing my bonafides here. Y'all gay folks, to me, is just another bunch of muhfugga I'm going to hang with or not depending on if you're an idiot or not. And I'm establishing my position because I'm about to talk a little bit about something J posted at Silver Rights. That brilliant teacher that called the kid "nigger" twice to teach him not to use "gay" as a synonym for "uncool." She's got a followup, maybe the fastest one I've seen her post, so the feedback must have been kinda thick. In said followup, she writes:
I believe I did give insufficient weight to the usage of 'gay' as a slam by teenagers.
However, I have not changed my mind about Emanuels.
This is cool. But she also says:
I had to take issue with a couple of young gay men who actually approved of the teacher calling the student a 'nigger,' I think on the grounds of oneupmanship. One does not improve the status of one's own minority group by putting other minority groups down.
Now, positioning another group is a proven way to advance the relative position of your minority. Before they became white, European immigrant groups did it to Black folks with great success. But I'm hoping that's not what they really want to do.
What you
should want to do is school the kids properly. And the teacher has a techie background,, 15 years with Microsoft-it's probably dangerous for me to say this on the Internet, but that doesn't suggest the highest degree of social skills. As one of the students said:
… a role model shouldn't use that language to prove a point. "He's an adult, and adults have more sense than kids do," he said.
Indeed. Maybe the teacher should have taught before being unleashed on the kids.
But I digress. Point is, what the teacher did wasn't teaching, it wasn't even justice. It was revenge, and it sets a bad precident. I'm not as hype about it as J. is, but the proper way to handle it would be to create real repercussions for such language. If I were the teacher, I'd have announced that such disparaging language isn't tolerated by the school district and even less by myself. Therefore, we have a new policy in this class. Anyone who uses such terminology (and you little knotheads know what I'm talking about, so don't get funny and ask for a list) you get penalized. One point off your average this grading period the first time you do it. Two points off the second time. Three points off the third, and so on. In MY class, you can fail by being stupid, or by being ignorant.
Knowlege is the key. Justice is the goal. You may quote me on that.
posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/20/2003 08:57:20 AM |
Posted by P6 at May 20, 2003 08:57 AM
| Trackback URL: http://www.prometheus6.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/589
