Original Post
"Think Before You Speak", is it Counter Productive?
We've all seen the ads,the posters, and the videos. We've all heard our parents and teachers rant about the importance of empathy. But is GLSEN's attempt to show the importance of empathy counter productive? I beg the question after seeing their new posters targeting and grouping kids that are apparently prone to use the offensive terminology out of context, E.G "that's so gay";"that's retarded"; etc...
If you're not familiar with the campaign, I've linked a video.
Think Before You Speak
Now that you're familiarized with the campaign, let's get down to it. GLSEN's goal is to teach kids that it's not okay to use words that describe certain groups of people to display distaste toward something. A noble effort, one I may differ in opinion with, but that's another matter. My problem now, is their new posters. They attempt to target kids who apparently use these expressions. People like you and me. Now, maybe you use these expressions and maybe you don't, but either way they're doing the same thing they're set out to end. In other words, they're displaying the same level of ignorance that they were so upset about in the beginning. Now, it's fair to say that maybe that was the point. In fact, it was, however; they're grouping kids without evening knowing them. Basically they're saying all gamers use these expressions or, all jocks or popular kids use these words. When in reality that's not particularly true. I know kids on all ends of the spectrum, even gays, who use the same expressions. The very same for those who choose not to. The problem isn't their goal, the problem is how they set to reach it and quite frankly, they aren't going to reach it by insulting those who apparently used the phrases in the first place. You're now starting to see the circular logic here... bassically what they're doing is calling upon stereotypes in order to eliminate stereotypes. It's so.. illogical, I can't even believe they get away with it.
Here's a few of the newer posters. The first one is prevalent to almost all of us here.
Here's a few of the newer posters. The first one is prevalent to almost all of us here.
New posters.
[On a side note... who the hell opted for the yellow text? Yellow is never a good color for text especially on a fairly bright background.]
For those who feel this is too long to read, I'll sum it up.
Campaign set to eliminate stereotypes calls upon stereotypes to make it's own point.
Is this ethical? Thoughts? Feelings? etc etc...
Last edited by JayStar; Apr 19, 2013 at 05:10 AM.
That's just as bad as calling things gay, which is to say; not at all. I don't think the point of insulting something is to be politically correct. The campaign should be, "don't say bad things about people".
<Crooked> I'd say spartan, cause if he's tough enough to digest ungodly amounts of alcohol he clearly has the best body
Originally Posted by Spartan094
That's just as bad as calling things gay, which is to say; not at all. I don't think the point of insulting something is to be politically correct. The campaign should be, "don't say bad things about people".
Exactly how I feel. There's no logic to insulting your target audience.
