The Truth Comes Out

Propositions 8 has caused and is still causing huge controversy’s as well as arguments in politics. This proposition states that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California,” and was passed in 2008. Many argued about this proposition for many different reasons, but one big controversy that occurred, was finding out that one of the judges that had put his input on the case is gay. U.S. Chief Judge Vaughn Walker, had been a judge since 1989 and was assigned by President George H.W. Bush, but his sexual preferences had never been exposed until now. After he retired in February of this year, he revealed his sexual orientation and 10 year same-sex partner. U.S. Chief Judge Vaughn Walker, stated “Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples.” By this he is declaring his opposition to proposition 8. Many people argued that since he is gay, he should have not been able to get involved in this case, considering that the outcome could have affected his personal life. When I think of this I feel like those people were being unfair. There are many things judges have to decide on, and most of this things affect not only ordinary every day people, but them themselves and their families. Another argument about this situation is that if the homosexual judge was to have been restricted from the case, then why do straight married men get to decide on prop 8, because that is the same thing as a gay man getting involved. The straight men are standing up for men and women getting married which affects them personally as well. I believe that it didn’t matter if the judge was gay or not, what matter are the reasons and ideas the judges had on this case. If they can back up their opinions and give legitimate reason for their decisions, then everything should be ok. One thing I do agree with though, is that he should have stated his sexual orientation before entering this case. Since this case is strongly based on his life issues, then I think it would have been fair to the people to be informed. The U.S. judges work for the American people and their loyalty should be completely to them. We expect our government and any authority to be completely honest with us, because at the end of the day, they are the ones who run the place we live in and have control over our lives for the most. If we can’t trust them to be completely honest with us from the beginning, who can we deposit our trust into. The judge should have stated his sexual orientation from the beginning, but should have not be judged for it. I know many people would have many things to say about that, but what is important is that he could have kept his job and continue what he was doing.

Taboo

Our language values have changed through these recent years. As our generation starts to evolve and kids start aging, specially now in the 21^st century, our values have changed in way our ancestors would have probably never imagined. Everything is so vulgar and there is so much profanity being thrown around like it is absolutely normal. Taboo language should not be an issue to be used in the media. We run into things that are way worse in our own every day lives, to actually have a problem with this. It is logical to be concerned about our children, listening to this vulgarity but in reality, children do not watch the new or are concerned about the media. It is to our advantage to be able to get things the way they are, and taboo language is the way sometimes. When it comes to television, taboo language reflects our reality because most of the people in our generation don’t have any sensitivity for bad words and profanity. It is easy for us to express ourselves in this manner only because we are around people who respond to it as if it is normal when that’s not exactly the case. This is why when television characters use taboo language it sounds more realistic and we can identify ourselves with it. For example, many people like “Adult Swim” which is where taboo language takes its form. These shows are full of profanity and language that are not appropriate for children but it does sound normal to me.
I do agree however, that the taboo language should be kept away from children because it can cause a big amount of corruption in their minds. The fact that children absorb things when they are young, and for them to be introduced to such vulgarity at infancy, only corrupts our society more and more. The longer we can keep this away from children the better. I think the correct thing to do, is to wait until they are old enough to determine the right from the wrong on their own to be able to make the right choice. I know it is hard to keep these things away from children, specially when we act the way we do in the world today, but it is good to try.
The idea that taboo language is bad for children does not mean that it should be kept away adults. There are channels where they should restrict this type of language as well where there should be no type of censor. Some television channels have been able to do this and I think every one them should. It is easy to control what your kids watch now too, so it should not be a problem. This will help in the long run.

Hurting

Challenging or contradicting the opinions of others is not an easy task. Some people decide to remain silent through the outburst of racist or sexist comments made by people who don't have a good moral judgment. A lot of times, a person is exposed to a situation where someone is saying something they disagree with, and instead of causing a scene and starting a discussion, with fear that it will escalade due to the differences of their opinions, they choose silence. When I was younger, I remember being put in a situation like this. My best friend at the time happened to be African America, and we were inseparable, she was like my sister. One day some kids from our school said something racist to her, making it seem like being African American meant the same thing to being poor. I remember she didn’t say anything and she continued to walk.
I was very upset because I did not know kids were that mean. After time went by I heard one of the kids who said those mean things say his parents said African Americans were bad and that he shouldn’t talk to them. I understand now that the history of this kid was not a good one when it came down to racism. His parents were setting an example for him to follow and it so happened to be a bad one. Since he didn’t know better, he didn’t feel the sting in his words as much as my friend did. People who aren’t exposed to this type of hate speech don’t know what its like, so when they talk they don’t feel like they are doing anything wrong making the other person feel less. The problem with this is that people are hurting innocent individuals without even noticing the mental damage they are causing.
This is were common sense should kick in for people. All we have to hope for is that people start to begin to place themselves in situations like this to be able to understand and know not to make rude comments. If people are not reminded to do so they might not ever take the initiative which is why I believe this should be talked to at school. Hate speech can be very hurtful specially for young kids who are beginning the process of forming their personalities and individualism. This could affect them for the rest of their lives, but what can school do if their parents are not enforcing these beliefs and actions? I believe schools should be very open with parents about this topic so that they can both come up with a solutions that works best for both.
Ignorance can play a big role in this to. When someone knows it’s bad and they continue to do it to be mean and hurtful they become ignorant and show they are uneducated. Nobody wants to be viewed this way so it’s best if we are open about this subject so people will stop doing it.

Freedom

Freedom in today’s society is considered a right and not a privilege. Even though it is a natural right that should not be able to be taken away by anyone, there are many ways that the authority of our nations could take that away from us. Freedom is taken for granted when we stop to think about other third world countries. In those countries, there is no democracy. People are not allowed to voice their opinion and are harshly prosecuted if they do. For example, citizens in Egypt began to revolt when their request for a new government was denied. Internet and telephones lines as well as airlines where blocked. People were dying by the thousand by their leader. Over in the United States, we are self righteous to think that those events could never happen to us. That we could say anything we want, whenever we feel like expressing ourselves. We take our freedom of speech and our other freedoms for granted because we don’t know what it is like to live with fear. In our country we can speak out against the government for any reason, when done properly and without harming others. The ideal concept would be for anyone to voice their opinions for a chance to be heard. Throughout our countries history, many important things have changed by someone speaking out and taking a chance. Martin Luther King fought for African Americans and it might have taken him a while for his voice to be heard and understood by all of the country but he got there and accomplished his goal. Because of him and many other people like him, African Americans are able to do things people never imagined back in the say and get treated correctly.
Freedom of speech is one of the most important rights I believe we have that we take for granted, People just don’t appreciate what we are entitled here living in the United States. Americans get everything handed to them in the best was possible and we still continue to not value what we have , even when we know that there are places out there that are not as privileged as us. We just don’t think about that when we do things. I hate noticed that people who are grateful and have the best manners here in America, are immigrants who have come here to better themselves as well as their family. They are grateful because they don’t have such things in their country to help their situation. Even though we like to help others in need we still lack the ability for be thankful for everything we have and get for free, something we were born with which are out rights in this country. If the whole world was to change in the blink of an eye and controlled by someone who restricted everyone from our natural rights, I think America would be the most vulnerable place. This just means something bad has to happen for everyone to be grateful.