The People Behind My Eyes

The Human Experience
Friday, November 24, 2006- 5:00 AM EST

Vodka Musings - a YouTube video clip. (The creator of this clip has chosen to remove it from YouTube so this link no longer works)

I like what this woman has to say. Her video is about 12 minutes long and talks about this whole Kramer situation being the number one topic during a very hostile time in the country. She discusses her background and experiences with poverty, homelessness, a mother with Paranoid Schizophrenia and about the misguided direction the world goes in when it comes to race and gender standards. This is a good video. I’d love to talk to this lady.

Some of what she says I’ve thought but not said or written. There are times when I watch TV and think, man had they said that about another group of people that comment would have gotten them in a lot of trouble. The TV we watch, especially comedy shows like Jay Leno, David Letterman and other late night TV shows really set the tone for common views on race, gender standards, views on crime and issues that should be taken seriously. I believe that only here would it be okay for someone to write a book about a crime they committed, got acquitted for then goes to write a book about if they did it this is how they would have done it. Only here in this country would they get any air time at all to slap victims in the face then have those same faces slapped by late night comedians who joke about such horrible acts. It was not bad judgment on the part of the FOX network, it was a true reflection of their values, money before morality.

What we watch on TV, the jokes we listen to and laugh at can slowly change our once solid standards and clear social views. A gradually dulled sense of right and wrong can lead us to out right violent (verbal or physical) acts. It always starts out gradually. With each joke that goes by about OJ, with each joke that goes by about female teachers assaulting male students or even jokes about global warming we tenderize our conscience and when there is a true assault we don’t feel the blow the way we would have had our true fiber and strength of conscience not been softened up (tenderized) by inappropriate commentary. Subtle intrusions can make the biggest impact on our behavior and then we shock ourselves when we fly off the handle and say this or that about this person or that person. We say or think stuff we never thought we could and ask, “Where did that come from?” It comes from the everyday subtleties that tell us who we are and who the next person is. Where did that come from? It comes from those jokes in the coffee room with a racial tone or with a sexist tone. Where did that come from? It comes from news programs that insist upon showing one sided viewpoints on emotionally charged situations then end offering no solutions just doubt and fear with a second helping the next news segment around. Sometimes the things we see on TV or hear on the radio are subtle but other times they’re right out in the open mixing words some of us would never dream of putting together.

In this day an age it is okay to exercise free speech even when it’s just filth and pointless. It is your right to be stupid and the constitution will never change that basic moronic right. In addition to more “free speech” are freer speech topics. There was a time not to so long ago that talking about abuse at all was unheard of. Now, we joke about it. Where is the balance and will we as human beings ever be able to know when to talk seriously and when to simply “not go there?”

One form of speech lets the world know that women, children, men, the elderly, the handicapped and all other groups of people will not stand for ill treatment. We have entire organizations for such advocacies. The hard work they do is sometimes muted by those who would actually have the nerve to joke about something 1 out of ever 3 girls and 1 out of every 6 boys has experienced before the age of 18. For some reason we forget their faces and we forget their tears and the impact their healing or not healing has on our society. To laugh simply allows you one more tenderizing blow and one more reason for children not to tell. When your children see you laugh about these things you send a message that it’s something to be mocked. Who wants to be mocked? If they are ever part of the ever changing statistics what are the chances they’ll tell and take the chance of being the butt of a joke? Kids may not be aware that there is help out there. They might go as far as to believe that somehow Jay Leno will find out and plaster his face all over TV and everyone will know. God forbid anyone would grant this sort of “keep my child silent” approval knowingly. But that is what is done when you laugh at domestic abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and other forms of destructive behaviors.

The next time you laugh make sure it’s something funny not something having to do with the millions of abused children each year. The next time you decide its okay to use a racial slur of any kind think about the lasting effects it has on people and the hurt it brings to every single solitary race in the world. Keep your hands to yourself. Keep your hate to yourself.

Austin

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