REFLECTIONS: It's time to clean out nation's trash mouth Bishop Woodie W. White, Apr 23, 2007
Bishop Woodie W. White
By Bishop Woodie W. White Special Contributor
America is becoming a trash-mouth society! The latest uproar over the racist, sexist and reprehensible remarks targeting a collegiate woman's basketball team, has finally created a national dialogue over language. Abusive language. Profane language. Inappropriate language.
While there can be no mistaking that the comments by a popular radio and television talk-show host were racist and sexist -- notwithstanding so little comment by most feminist organizations -- the issue is larger.
One cannot minimize the racist character of the offensive comments, and it is appropriate that outrage be expressed as well as a call for accountability. Yet, it is shortsighted to see this matter of inappropriate speech as merely a race issue. It is not! America has become a trash-mouth society.
Sadly, the comments being challenged did not stop with the challenge. Similar comments and worse can be heard daily on CDs and videos, as well as countless radio stations across the nation.
The nation has slowly been accommodating itself to vile and profane language. Expressions of denigration have found their targets in authority figures, sacred symbols, racial and ethnic groups, women and persons with physical and emotional challenges of one kind or another. Not only are they the target of jokes and comedy routines, they are given "names" to further humiliate.
The language itself has become more demeaning and freely used without regard to context or occasion. Words once said in private and only in select company can be heard in nearly any public environment. What used to be called "gutter language" is no longer limited to the gutter.
The disregard and disrespect of women has become so commonplace that many women have now tolerated it, concluding that it is acceptable among the larger community. The use of profanity is so widespread that it is almost as commonplace as more respectable speech.
Our nation has become desensitized to its trash-mouth character.
What is unquestionable, however, is that such language is popular and profitable. Look at those in public media and entertainment who have gained notoriety because they are rude, coarse, vulgar, profane and disrespectful. It seems the more vulgar, the greater the popularity and ratings.
I am afraid even our children are not immune. Listen to the language that some scriptwriter puts into the mouths of children's television characters. Spend a Saturday morning watching cartoons. Children are being exposed to a decaying sense of civility and respect. Language that is un-childlike is now coming from children.
Interestingly, some people excuse or justify such crudeness by saying it is a matter of free speech, or entertainment or language that is acceptable if kept within one's own racial or ethnic community. I don't buy it! Demeaning others is never acceptable.
Indeed, it is not even a matter of free speech. It is a matter of appropriate speech. In his highly regarded book, Civility, Stephen L. Carter writes, "Civility requires that we express ourselves in ways that demonstrate our respect for others."
Some years ago a very helpful booklet was distributed throughout our denomination called, Words That Hurt, Words That Heal. The book sought to illustrate the power of words and provided listings of destructive words that had the power to hurt and constructive words with the power to heal. This seems a simple but important standard for us all, whether one is writing lyrics for a song or a rhyme for a poem. It is a standard to use in writing a script or a sermon. It is a guide for public as well as private speech.
But despite the language others use, or the insulting words that might be directed to an individual or a group, every person needs to develop a sense of self-worth and inner strength so that no words, however ugly or demeaning, can mar or destroy.
It is reassuring to remember we are children of God, wonderfully made and of infinite worth. All of us!
Retired Bishop White is bishop-in-residence at United Methodist-related Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Ga.
Bishop Woodie W. White
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