“I didn’t mean to offend anyone.”
The famous words of countless politicians and radio/television personalities who let heinous comments slither from their mouths.
Yet, just as soon as their comments are plastered across TV screens and newspapers they’re “retracted” or “clarified.” But on some level those were deliberate comments.
Who is it this week? South Carolina lieutenant governor Andre Bauer.
The victims were the many families across the U.S. who use the welfare system. “My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed,” Bauer said.
It doesn’t take an expert to dissect the many reasons why this statement is despicable, nor does it take any excessive effort to berate the recent comments of Pat Robertson or Rush Limbaugh towards the people still suffering in Haiti.
Although it would be enjoyable to discuss the obvious lack of judgment and character one must have to make such insensitive statements; the most beneficial plan of action would be to understand how we deal with situations like these.
The first step is to call out these statements for the garbage that they are. Many people did let these pundits and televangelists know of their distaste for what was said. By doing this and not forgiving such ignorance is ideal because it lets these people know that their listeners do not stand for such insensitivity.
If one supports such characters, it might be good to question whether you want to keep doing so. This is not to say that everyone should agree with every statement some political figure ever makes but for someone to claim to be in support families but then liken families that are less fortunate to animals is a different matter entirely.
Before the statements that have been made were likened to a snake bite; in actuality they are.
I recall in high school when I was bitten by a snake. I was walking through the woods at my school and looked down to see a little black snake slithering away as fast as it could go.
“Hmm,” I thought, “That’s strange.”
Later, I looked down and saw that blood was on my ankle. Low and behold there were two little marks (I murmured an obscenity and hoped to God that the snake wasn’t poisonous). It wasn’t. The snakes bite had gone unnoticed but it still did its damage.
Even if some of us decide to take the “high road” and ignore such comments, the damage might already be done.
For those in South Carolina who are on welfare, the damage is done. For the mother who works or may have lost her job, the damage is done. For a child who now gets to hear that their politicians think of them as an animal—damage done.
Of course there are those who argue that “words are words” but I remember someone saying how many times have words moved people into action or changed attitudes. “One small step for man; one giant leap for mankind,” “Change,” etc. Words have the power to bring us up and also tear us back down.
My small wound quickly healed. We as people can recover from such comments by calling the statements out for what they are and by continuing on with our business. We should indeed take time to quickly observe that something hurtful has been said. We must not excuse the comments just because they may tag “I didn’t mean to offend” on the end of them. Sorry but saying, “Poor people shouldn’t breed –but I don’t mean to offend,” doesn’t cut it for me nor should it be acceptable to anyone else.
Politicians and the like are well versed on how and when to say things. They also know how to say what they mean. This has been made crystal clear. We’ve recognized the wrong now lets help those in need so that we can heal the damage.
Nicole Robinson can be reached at nrobinson@ut.edu.