6
Clackamas Print
Commentary
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Profanity not Peking profane
Some readers may find
' the language used in
this article offensive.
Adam J. Manley
I The Clackamas Print
Fuck.
It’s four letters, one syllable and
a metric - excuse the term - fuck-
ton of negative connotation.
When I was growing up I avoid
ed the word, and all similarly vulgar
words, because I thought that say
ing such things was a no-no in the
eyes of God.
But as I grew old enough to
question the all-knowing cultural
mindset, I came to an astounding
revelation:
Prohibited words and phrases
- including “Jesus Christ,” “God
damn it” and the “Fatal Felony”
itself - are completely legiti
mate. There is nothing
wrong with using
them.
Some of them,
such as exclaim
ing “Christ,” have
evolved from things
like “Christ preserve
me!” Used by
those
who
in
believe
Christ,
it’s
not wrong. It’s
a prayer. And
the “God” thing?
Same deal, but
more than that: God is
not His name. It’s a title,
originally used in place
of the name to avoid
breaking the command
ment that “Thou shalt
not speak the Lord’s
name in vain.”
And then there’s the
bomb. The “F-word”:
a word that can imply
filth, fornication and
even fun. Despite
cultural desensitiz
ing and increased
use, it still draws
offended gasps
and can sin
gle-handedly
increase the
ratings
movies that
otherwise
would
never
reach an R rating.
Often substi-
tuted by firick,
freak, frag or
fudge, it has
lurked in soci-
ety’s shadows for
centuries, its ori
gin still debated.
Its guttural sound,
whefi properly
used, emphasizes
and draws atten
tion to whatever
is being said in a
way that says “I’m
tired of skirting
around the issue.”
Moreover, it feels
fucking fantastic to say. A real
stress-reliever.
It’s the top dog, the mother of
all no-nos.
But why?
Religion can’t be blamed for
this one. I read through the Bible
a number of times and never once
found anything along the lines of
“Thou shalt not droppeth the F-
bomb.”
The problem lies in upbringing.
It’s not wrong to tell children not
to say that word - they shouldn’t.
Not until they’re old enough to
understand-*the meaning and how
to best use the bristling power con
tained within this unique assem
blage of letters.
But, for the love of God, they
should be told that they just aren’t
old enough. It’s an honest explana
tion used for so many other things
children are prohibited from, and
yet many parents seem to think that
it’s just not enough to deter their
children in this instance.
So we’re told, as we learn
of the existence of the
bomb and its compatri
ots, that these words are
wrong. This isn’t lim
ited to religious fami
lies; many children
are taught that the
words are wrong even
without the threat of
otherworldly reper-
cussions. .
It’s insane. To
bar the use of words
that feel so damned
good to say is nothing
short of madness.
Now, that isn’t
a carte blanche to
use them anytime,
anywhere. They’re
powerful words, to
be sure, and over
using them dimin
ishes their power.
Unfortunately, the
notion that the
words are inher
ently
wrong,
simply by nature
of their existence,
encourages their fla
grant misuse by wan-
■/ nabe rebels lacking in
.
j imagination.
M
What happens as
F
& result is a society
comPr’se(l mostly
of two incredibly
unbearable stereo
Illustration by Kayla Berge and Dustin Ragsdale Clackamas Print
mmtiw TO
types: those who are too easily
offended by these “bad words”
and those who overuse and per
vert the words for no other rea
son than because they’re told
not to.
These words have been mis
handled long enough. They’re
not wrong, and they’re also not
meant to be treated as casually as
a handshake. Stop bitching about
being offended. Stop going out
of your way to offend.
Do it for the children.
Molalla beatings: hate
crimes hit close to home
Katie Wilson
Co-Editor-in-Chief
Make a fist"
It’s not hard.
Make a fist and leave behind
what everyone has said about the
basic good of humanity because
they were lying.
Last Thursday, in Molalla, a mob
of 20 to 30 white males severely
beat up two Hispanic men, Edwin
Gonzales and Vivian Guzman.
Some newspapers have made a
point of calling the mob a “group,”
as if at any moment the men
were about to join hands and sing
“Kumbaya” instead of using those
same hands to reach down and pick
up stones the size of grapefruits to
hurl at Gonzales and Guzman.
I was reading letters to the editor
written to
Omgouzow regard
ing the incident The writers were
trying to find a reason, something
to blame, something to explain: the
new immigration bill, ignorance,
bad economy, fear, herd mentality.
I don’t know what everyone is
saying about why and how that mob
of teenagers launched an unpro
voked attack against two men, but
we are fools if we are surprised
by it
After all - admit it - given the
right circumstances, situation and
state of mind, it’s not difficult to hate
anyone... regardless of skin color.
The trouble is that the hate is hit
ting close to home and we shouldn’t
ignore it
Molalla isn’t • too far away
from most of us, and Clackamas
Community College isn’t exempt
from prejudice and discrimination.
“Different instances v have
occurred on the campus .. and not
just to Latinos, but to other students
of color, and gay and lesbian stu
dents,” said Co-Counseling Chair
Guadalupe Martinez.
“I do think, though, that the
Latino population is a target because
of all the immigration hype in the
last five years that’s really peaked in
the last year,” she added. “Whenever
you have economical, political
and social instability, you’re going
to have a scapegoat The Latino
population is an easy target at the
moment”
Martinez teaches a leadership
class for students who are in charge
of mentoring a cohort of Latino high
school students.
I
She says she hasn’t talked to
the Molalla students in the cohort
about their feelings and reactions
to what happened in their town, but
she knows from personal experience
how frightening and demeaning dis
crimination can be.
“In the last year, I have suffered,
not just from prejudice, but also
discriminatory actions,” she said.
‘It makes you feel really impotent.
I’m a college instructor, a counselor
... I have a Master’s Degree and I
feel impotent I can not imagine the a
powerlessness that it means for a j
younger person.”
For those people who Choose to j
five in ignorance and like to think
that just because we can get to des
tinations faster or play our music
louder, human nature has changed
or racism is a dead horse, Martinez
has this comment:
“It’s not something that’s done
and over with or that’s only a part
of [past] history. It’s something we
need to continue to be aware of, I
especially since it’s not so distant I
geographically. This happened in
Molalla. It’s stuff that happens. It’s
not foreign or far away.”
ffifflKHB
Learning a second -language not so easy; ESL students ‘brave’
My ancestor, William Bradford,
second governor of Plymouth
Colony, would be impressed with
how much this nation has grown
since he and his fellow religious
refugees came to America in 1620.
In less than 400 years, we’ve grown
from a small cluster of colonies
at the mercy of nature and the
“native people” to a superpower
of-over 301 million people. We
have been able to do this because,
despite our differences (of opinion,
culture, language, religion, etc.), we
have always found a way to work
together to make a better life for
ourselves and for the generations
to come.
Today, the world sees the suc
cess of the United States and people
from all over the world who come
here to build better lives. They bring
with them their distinctive cultures,
religions and languages - as did
the early colonists. Perhaps this, in
part, has contributed to our success
as a nation, in contrast with other
nations with more homogenous
cultures. We don’t expect people to
leave behind their cultural distinc
tiveness and be “just like us.” We
find ways to use that distinctiveness
to make life for all Americans bet
ter and more enjoyable.
z
Nobody denies the fact that one
of the most important elements
of success for new immigrants is
learning English. Our government
recognizes this, and for that reason
it funds ESL (English as a Second
Language) programs all across the
United States. >
We are fortunate at Clackamas
Community College to have one
of the most successful ESL pro
grams in the entire state of Oregon.
In feet, many ESL students trans
fer from ESL programs at other
community colleges, and even
universities, because of our ESL
department’s well-deserved reputa
tion. For that reason, on any given
day, you can.hear Chinese, French,
Korean, Russian, German, Spanish.
Japanese and other languages spo
ken on campus.
Although these students do not
share a common language, they
share a common goal - making
English their common language.
If you have not become fluent in
a second language, it is hard to
understand just how difficult it is.
The fact that our ESL students
put forth so much effort to learn
English should be something that
gives all CCC students a sense of
pride.
Unfortunately, there are some
people who have a very'difficult
time accepting the feet that not
everyone who lives here is fluent
in English. As someone who has
studied hard to become fluent in a
second language, it frustrates me
when I hear people say that immi
grants should “speak English if
they want to five here,” as if every
immigrant should arrive in the US
already fluent in English. I have
never heard of any other country
requiring fluency in the local lan
guage as a condition to entry.
Our ESL students work hard to
learn English. But learning English
is not nearly as easy as many radio
commentators say. (It is ironic that
some of the most vocal of these
freely admit that they only speak
English, yet they speak as if they
were experts on the subject of sec
ond language acquisition.)
Speaking from experience,
learning a foreign language and
speaking it daily can be physically
exhausting. There are times when
I find speaking English relaxing
- because I don’t have to think so
hard. I’m sure that this is true for
our foreign students as well.
Speaking with friends in their
native language lets their minds rest
- and we can all relate to the need
for a mind-break from time to time.
By the way, just to put your mind at
ease, they aren’t talking about you
(I eves drop all the time, and I have
never heard a Spanish speaker talk
ing about me behind my back.)
Consider also this: Not all ESL
students stay in the United States.
Many return to their home coun
tries. But the time they spend here
gives them first-hand experience
as to what life in America is, and
what Americans are. These non
immigrant ESL students become
our ambassadors to the rest of the
world? When they return home,
they take part of their American
experience home with them.
Change is not easy for any
one. Our world is changing, and
our success as individuals and as
nations depends on how we adapt
and take advantage of that change.
We have a special opportunity at
CCC to get to know people from all
over the world, and they have the
opportunity to get to know us. Let
us all use that opportunity to make
our lives and those of future gen
erations better, as our brave ances
tors did for us.
- Jason Elliott