Monday, April 09, 2007

Are we going for uber-punishment?

Michael Richards says the n-word and he gets sued.

Mel Gibson goes on a drunken tirade against Jews and all of a sudden Rob Schneider doesn't want to work with him anymore (did he ever work with him in the first place?)

Isaiah Washington says a derogatory term about a fellow cast-mate and he's going to "rehab," after calls for him to be fired.

Don Imus puts his foot in his mouth (again) and now there's calls for him to be fired.



Is it just me or is everyone getting just a wee-bit overly sensitive about people who act like morons? I can understand being upset and wanting some kind of reconcilliation if one does something stupid, but does it have to come at the cost of ruining a person's livelihood?

I've done and said some stupid stuff in my life. Hey, I'm human, it's been known to happen. All I can do is apologize, make ammends and make sure it doesn't happen again. But most importantly, I and the people I offend get on with our lives.

It's called "forgiveness." Perhaps that's a fogotten notion in this society of victimhood.

Besides, it's just words... nothing more. I've been called names before. There's two ways of handling it.

1) Don't let it bother you, be a grown-up and get on with your life.
2) Become overly-sensitive, have a hissy fit, and whine and complain.

Besides, I think Jesus in Matthew 7:6 said it best, when he said, "first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye." In other words, don't assume to rebuke people for their faults without looking at and trying to correct your own.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

How about checking facts before hitting the "send" button? It was Isiah Washington who used a gay slur, not Denzel. But I guess journalistic integrity doesn't sit well with a "personality"!

Jackrabit1 said...

This quote I did check, it came from Steve Martin. I think it appropriate right here.

"WELL EXCUUUUUUUUUSE MEEEE!"

rstadem said...

Anonymous,

How about some integrity of your own? You are obviously missing the point of the post. If you do some checking and read jackrabit1's other blogs, you might get a real feel for what he's about. Don't misunderstand one post and go all crazy on him.

Oh, I forgot to error is human. You must not have that quality. Thank goodness for the rest of us.