The Buck and Mike Blog

We can see that JoFong sells more, but what else? Any ideas?

So, you can visit this theater 24/7, but only Fridays and Saturdays? Huh?

You know those ads in the right-hand column of your Facebook page that are supposed to target you based on your demographics? I especially like this one that appeared yesterday.

I’m sure a lot of 61-year-old men would love to have this driver’s license picture.

Facebook

This church is near our local post office in Portland. Every time I see it I see a cross wearing headphones. Am I crazy?

No Name-Calling Week was inspired by a young adult novel entitled “The Misfits” by popular author, James Howe. The book tells the story of four best friends trying to survive the seventh grade in the face of all too frequent taunts based on their weight, height, intelligence, and sexual orientation/gender expression. Motivated by the inequities they see around them, the “Gang of Five” (as they are known) creates a new political party during student council elections and run on a platform aimed at wiping out name-calling of all kinds. Though they lose the election, they win the support of the school’s principal for their cause and their idea for a “No Name-Calling Day” at school.

Motivated by this simple, yet powerful, idea, the No Name-Calling Week Coalition, created by GLSEN and Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, and consisting of over 40 national partner organizations, organized an actual No Name-Calling Week in schools across the nation during the week of March 1-5, 2004. This year, No Name-Calling Week will take place the week of January 25-29, 2010. The project seeks to focus national attention on the problem of name-calling in schools, and to provide students and educators with the tools and inspiration to launch an on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate name-calling in their communities.

The Misfits, James Howe, GLSEN, Simon & Schuster, No Name-Calling Week

Earlier this week I was reminded of one reason why I like being far from Washington, DC. During a conference call preparatory to a week of conducting training in Washington next week, we were reviewing the training materials we would need. Some of the items included markers and flip charts. Reasonable, right?

“NO!” we were told. “You can’t use that term!” It seems that “flip chart” has been banned from use in the federal workplace because it can be interpreted as a derogatory term for Filipinos. Huh?

I spent an hour online researching ways to insult Filipinos without finding anything about flip charts. Even the Wikipedia list of ethnic slurs doesn’t have it, and they are always excruciatingly up-to-date. Twenty years of writing for federal agencies have taught me the importance of being attuned to the sensitivities of others. I understand and appreciate the reasons for exercising care in our verbal and written communications. Language is a powerful tool both for lifting souls and keeping them down. But please. This particular example of political correctness is just plain stupid and borders on being paranoid.

Leave a comment to share your best examples of political correctness paranoia.

ethnic slur, political correctness

In 1968 I was serving as a Mormon missionary in a poor barrio just outside Lima, Peru, when news came of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Although it’s difficult to understand nearly 42 years later, there was not universal mourning at his death. In Peru, many expat Americans didn’t particularly care, as he had been accused of being a Communist and the FBI was constantly harassing him. Images of him in the media were those of a lawbreaker: always fiercely critical of the American society that our parents had worked so hard to build and maintain, unpatriotic in his lack of enthusiastic support for a war that was killing many of our friends, and often pictured in handcuffs being led away to some jail somewhere. One of the missionaries I served with—red-haired Elder Mangum from Provo, UT—said, in essence, “Good riddance.” (I’ll spare everyone the exact language, chalking it up to a callow 19-year-old with a still-developing brain. It would be another decade before the LDS Church would grant universal priesthood rights to men of every race and ethnicity.) Peruvians, however, were quite distraught and our mission leaders advised foreign missionaries to stay indoors for a couple days. (When Bobby Kennedy was assassinated a couple months later, we were advised to stay indoors for a week.)

Why do I bring this up? Because as we celebrate Dr. King’s birthday and remember his legacy, we should also celebrate the victories and the ground we have gained since then. We should remember him for his words and actions, and think of ways to incorporate those things into our daily lives. Today is a much different world. Who would have thought that in every major city in the United States (and in some foreign countries) you can find a street, park, or school named in his honor. He would be astonished that the majority of Americans elected an African-American as President of the United States! No, ours is not a race-neutral society. But do not kid yourself into thinking it’s worse than other countries. We are also not a gender-neutral, religion-neutral, handicap-neutral, or sexual orientation-neutral society. We still have much to do.

Dr. King warned us about not being victims, a lesson we clearly haven’t learned yet. Whether we see ourselves as victims of a racist society, parents who neglected their familial duties, a bad economy, schools, teachers, religion, a bad marriage, a dead-end job, or the government, we need to grow up and get our butts in gear. If there is anything we should have learned from him, it is to stop being victims and get to work.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Televangelist Reverend Pat Robertson, former Republican candidate for President of the United States, is preaching that Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti is not only a blessing in disguise (because now they can rebuild with nice buildings) but also that it is the fault of the Haitians: According to Robertson, their ancestors made an agreement with the devil during a 1791 slave rebellion that if he would kick out the French, the devil could have their souls forever. The slaves won the rebellion, but the Haitians apparently lost their souls and the souls of their posterity for eternity.

No, I’m not making this up. This is the same guy who, with the late Rev. Jerry Fallwell, blamed the attacks of 9/11 on feminists, gays, the ACLU, and People for the American Way (video) and who insists that God sent Hurricane Katrina because he was mad at Americans (video).

He is a nut, but a dangerous one who is supported by donations from a lot of people who believe CBN is God’s word.

Oh, and he is raising money to “help” the Haitians. Some time ago he raised money to help Africans in need, then used the planes to transport heavy equipment for his African Development Corporation, a diamond mining operation he owns. (Associated Press story) We have to wonder what his aid to Haitians will go to. Perhaps mass exorcisms on TV.

Portugal’s parliament voted Friday to allow same-sex marriage in the country, making it the sixth country in Europe to grant marriage equality. (Spain, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Sweden are the others.) Canada, South Africa and several U.S. states also permit same-sex marriages as do a number of large cities (most recently Mexico City).

Read the New York Times article.

Some of you may remember me blogging about Nashville singer Britt Savage’s rockin’ dress made from Christmas wrap. She auctioned it off so she could donate the proceeds to Heifer International, a marvelous charity that works in 57 countries helping lift people out of poverty and hunger. (She did the same a year ago with her famous dress made from IRS tax forms.)

Britt wore the dress to a holiday singing gig (as you can see in the pictures by Senor McGuire) before listing it on eBay. Well, an old acquaintance bought the dress and then donated it back to her to auction again! How’s that for generous? So check it out and you could be the owner of a unique piece of art to wear.

See the auction details here and check out her music on iTunes.

Thanks, Britt, for your generosity. Hopefully your example will ignite some ideas for both art and charity in other people. In the meantime, we all await your next project with great anticipation.

Our best holiday gift was being able to travel south to Ashland, OR, to meet Liv and Scott and The Two Best Grandkids for parts of two days. We had a great time and hated to see it end. We look forward to seeing them all again a few times during the next year.