I expect simple behaviours here. Friendship, and love. Any advice should be from the perspective of the person asking, not the person giving! We have had to make new membership moderated to combat the huge number of spammers who register
Location: New Zealand
Registered: August 2009
Messages: 317
timmy, that's a good message, and funny! BUT - i just showed it to the ultimate authority - a teenage boy with a cheesy moustache - and asked him what he thought of it?
His opinion - 'okay, they probably shouldn't say that, but in the real world they'd just think - 'crazy old lady, probably gay too!''
cheers
Commas matter - 'Party on Dudes' is not the same as 'Party on, Dudes'
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13751
He makes a good point. However I would target the advert as t stands at kids younger than the twats in the eatery. See what a 12 year old thinks of the actions of the 16 year olds, for example.
Location: United States
Registered: February 2011
Messages: 6
At my high school, that phrase is on a rampage, but many (including myself) are making a conscious effort to stop it from creeping into our speech.
There are also those, that don't say it at all.
I think the comercial is hilarious and makes the point perfectly. I plan on nipping that phrase at the bud with my younger brother. I'll show him the comercial and see what he says.
"Every day I wake up alone because I'm not like all the other boys"
- Fran Healy (Travis)
Location: U.S.
Registered: November 2009
Messages: 630
Judester....A few years ago my niece became caught up in that middle school popularity thing. To fit in with the crowd she began using the phrase "That's so Gay."
This is a bright girl, always on the honor roll, and I was at first shocked when she said it. It had become an unconscious part of her vocabulary because she heard it so much at school.
She also knows I am gay but never considered the effect her speech might have on me. In consequence I began to say "That's so Sally" everytime she said the word gay, her name is Sally.
At first she was puzzled and then asked what I was doing. I told her that Sally was a beautiful name but that I had decided it now meant ugly. I explained that every time she said "That's so Gay" she looked ugly, like one of the haters in this world.
She tried to laugh it off, and then both her mother and father began to use it just to needle her when the teenage hormones made her bad tempered. It only took a few weeks for her to get angry when someone said "That's so Sally." Finally she screamed at me for starting something and told me to shut up. My moment of triumph.
I explained that she was far from ugly, but that when she used a phrase that demeaned gay people it made her ugly. I told her that hate speech was more than just words, it had an effect on people in ways she might not understand.
Those who use words like gay, fag or queer in their speech only show the rest of us their ignorance. Intollerance and hate creep into our society promptd by the ignorant and sometimes the masses don't see the negative results, one of which is bullying.
Sally is a pretty little blonde, and as I said pretty darn smart. She has made an honest effort to stop saying "That's so Gay," and I recall when she heard her younger brother say it she jumped all over him for doing it.
Sometimes all we can do in life is change one Sally at a time, but we must make the effort. It isn't just the dignity of the gay community that is affected by hate speech. We are all too aware that it is the lives of young LBGT kids out there we are defending and we need to take the pressure off them.
So judester, my only advice to you is persist, keep chasing the hate out of your school, even if it only affects one person at a time. You are the soldier on the front lines in this battle and the fight has lasted generations. Perhaps in your time on this earth the war will be won, you have my support.
[Updated on: Thu, 24 February 2011 13:02]
Age appears to be best in four things; old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read. (Sir Francis Bacon 1561-1626)
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