Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Offensive


This is an image of the Spain's Olympic basketball posing for an ad prior to the Olympic games. All the players are slanting their eyes. A lot of people around the world are getting upset about this picture because of what they are doing. The ad is for a Spanish courier service and it has appeared in a Spanish newspaper. Even people in the states are upset over this picture because this is suppose to be a time of unity and not racism. Should us in the states care about what the Spanish team is doing? Is this racist?

Monday, August 11, 2008

Personal Responsibility vs. Just Being Honest

Going back to the discussion that was had over whether or not one should take offense
to being called the "B" word...i overheard some things said this weekend
that made me think back to that conversation...

i'll spare you the gory details,
because, it might in fact offend some people, it certainly offended me

There seems to be a trend these days where people say whatever is on their mind
regardless of who it might offend, or who's feelings it might hurt and then
qualifiying it by saying, "i'm just being honest" as if taking the
old addage that "honesty is the best policy" and applying it to situations
where it might not be if you thought about it for a moment

I'm a lover of the constitution and a proponent of the 1st amendment...one of
my favorite quotes is "i disprove of what you say but i will defend with my
life your right to say it"-voltaire

HOWEVER, i feel that just because there are no laws against hurting someone's
feelings, that some people forget what it's like when your feelings do get hurt,
and despite the old addage about sticks and stones, names can hurt

i can think of more than a few that are hurtful to large numbers of people and we
all know what they are

so why is hurting someone's feelings so easily dismissed by calling the person
hypersensative or easily offended?

shouldn't we care about other peoples feelings?

Sure your neighbor might be fat, but is saying so to his face justified by the fact
that he is fat? What about how it makes him feel to hear it? Even if he is truly a plain ole lazy glutton...is it your our place to point out? What gives you the right to do so? The first amendment protects our right to free speach, not our right to be nasty towards one another.

When did insults become honesty?

We have the right to say WHATEVER we want to say in this country so long as it isn't
libelious...but should we?

Having a strong opinion is perfectly acceptable, but it seems now more than ever,
hitting below the belt is the go to move, rathter than coming up with an articulate,
educated argument

It's my humble belief that before we speak, we should consider the feelings
of the people that will be hearing what we say ...knowing your audience might be
benificial not just so that you don't hurt or offend, but your message might
reach more people if you take the time to express it in a way that is palatable
to the majority of the poeple that are hearing it.

Do you think honesty and freedom to say what we wants trumps peoples feelings?

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Oppressive or Meaningful????

Even though , both Marx and Durkheim lived secular lives, Still They defined God from different points of views. While Marx defined God as a tool of oppression; Durkheim presented God as a meaning giver to a society's existance. I think that dependant upon perspectives, both theorists have acceptable views: Marx looks at God from a socioeconomical perspective, while Durkheim looks at God from psychosocial perspective. I think that God has different meanings for different people- I assume that Weber would agree with me on this.