Social Issues in America

Social Issues in America

Jennifer Livingston a CBS news anchor states “The internet has become a weapon; our schools have become a battlefield.” LGBT bullying as well as bullying as a whole is a progressing issue, craves for attention and a solution. It is causing young people to go to the extent of taking their own lives away. The emotional, physical, and mental pain these children are enduring is damaging them to the core. The popular statement “Kids will be kids” is no longer acceptable. A documentary, a television episode, and a news clip all discuss this issue with many different angles of vision. Along with various angles of vision each one produces numerous rhetorical techniques to inform their particular audiences about bullying. Even though they all presented this main topic in different ways it provided depth, and other important areas or situations revolving around the same cultural problem. Authorities including teachers, parents, and adults in the community have a tremendous effect on bullying and why it continues to occur. Our society as a whole as well plays a significant part by promoting heterosexual lifestyles on the television, magazines, books, movies etc. As a society, this hetero-normative advertising impact has desensitized the notion that homosexuality is abnormal, which is considered to be the same as wrong or unacceptable. Insecurities of the bullies themselves also cause them to put down others to attempt to increase their self-worthiness or to gain the feel of power. If authorities and communities would allow America to be more open minded to this identity of others less bullying would occur. Most are ignorant about the entire topic, but speak on the subject negatively

This progressive issue should be addressed directly and addressed in a way that takes hold of an audience’s attention and persuades them in the right way that bullying is wrong and should be prevented and stopped. This should also touch the audience emotionally because of how powerful and heart-retching this problem is. “CBS News Anchor being called Fat Responds on Air” does the best job discussing this issue very thoroughly. This uses rhetorical ecology perfectly in getting the pressing social problem across and promotes effective solutions or change. Jennifer Livingston speaks on all aspects of bullying. Not just LGBT or being called fat in school, she broadens the spectrum and that was a beneficial technique. Rhetorical techniques such as tone, language, assertion, anecdote, and example seem to be most useful for all three of my chosen texts in addressing this issue in an appropriate design and are most effective in each of their purposes.

One of the main points each one of these texts points out is that authorities, such as school faculty, parents, and adults in the community and society, speaking of media are not doing enough to help stop or prevent bullying. They are not engaging themselves in speaking with their children who might be the bullies and explaining to them why it is wrong and what it can cause. School faculty are not engaging themselves in pushing consequences on the bullies. They are not paying enough attention to the children that are being bullied every day and they do not realize what is going on right in front of their eyes. These authorities are not realizing the amount of damage the name calling, pushing and shoving, and even internet bullying is causing these children. In one text, “CBS News Anchor being called Fat Responds on Air” Jennifer Livingston speaks out on her  personal experience as a perfect example being called fat, as an anonymous man sent her a hurtful and ignorant letter stating “Surely you don’t consider yourself a suitable example for this communities young people, girls in particular. Obesity is one of the worst choices a person can make.” As Jennifer responds to this she points out that this issue involves a great amount of ignorance and that parents play a huge role. Jennifer claims “We need to teach our kids how to be kind, not critical, and we need to do that by example.” Jennifer was very direct with this issue and didn’t show a lot of sad or angry emotion as the other three texts do. Her tone and language were very forceful, strong and her language was quite casual. It was appropriate for a news channel and very intelligent, but was easy to understand as well. I appreciate that she stood her ground strong, didn’t attack the man in a violent manner that wrote her the letter. She states “You know nothing about me but what you see on the outside, and I am much more than a number on a scale.”  She addressed it appropriately and used just enough force to make this stick in people’s minds as well to possibly get them to finally make an effort to help the pressing issue. This episode also was pushed towards a wide range of audiences which made it even more effective. From young adults and older Jennifer made her statements very clear and easy to understand. Jennifer’s reflection on the hurtful letter she received was more than inspiring. She gave hope to various young children and hopefully sent an important message across to parents and authorities resolving bullying. Jennifer states “The cruel works of one are nothing compared to the shouts of many.” CBS News Anchor called Fat

 

“LKL- Celebrities Speak Out on Gay Bullying” my second chosen text reflects on the authority aspect as a possible cause for bullying. This was a top chosen text because it once again shared many different views and personal stories from a variety of celebrities. The fact that all celebrities spoke made a difference as well. It showed that even though they are celebrities making large amounts of money they still endure the same rigorous bullying and discrimination as a young children in elementary school and so on. The tone and language of this text went very well to its intended audience. Larry King Lives audiences are usually adults that are well educated. The way this particular episode was formatted matched well because each person spoke very intelligently, appropriately, and got right to the point of bullying and some of the myths that surround it. Kathy Griffin a gay activist, comedian, and actress went on record stating “I get very nervous when the parents of these so called bullies defend them saying kids will be kids”. This is a prime example of what happens or what is said every day in response to these bully attacks towards children. Parents saying kids will be kids are just as bad if not worse. This is basically sweeping this social issue under the rug, as if to grow and to be pushed aside as if not important. This text uses the allusion of having various celebrities speak out against bullying. The fact that these celebrities then share their own anecdotes about their personal experiences with this is even more powerful. Each one,(With a celebrity pool of) Wanda Sykes, Kathy Griffin, Tim Gunn a gay fashion idol who stars on the television show Project Runway, and Lance Bass an openly gay singer who is a former performer with n sync. They all had different emotional backgrounds and experiences that circulate around LGBT bullying and being a part of the homosexual community. Tim Gunn has actually attempted suicide when he was at the age of seventeen. Lance Bass used to make fun of gay kids in high school to hide his own secret. In this text, allusions, anecdotes and examples seemed to work most efficiently at getting the points across to the viewers. This episode even featured an Ellen Degeneres clip. In this clip, Ellen sent out what seems to be like a public service announcement about LGBT bullying and the effects rising from it. She highlights on the tremendous, raising suicide rates as well as her own personal stories as a lesbian celebrity. The fact that Larry King Live used Ellen as another resource gave his show great support and credibility. With Ellen being the very first celebrity to announce her sexuality as being lesbian, she has gone through pretty much everything good and bad that has related to LGBT. Ellen’s clip was filled with emotion that made it all the more powerful. She states “These kids need us. We can’t let intolerance and ignorance take another kids life.” Larry King Live

 

            “Bully” Lee Hirsch’s powerful documentary taking viewers through the lives of five different families in different areas of the country and being progressively bullied every day. My first impression of this text was emotion first, and then I became more statistical and analytical. The simple fact this was a documentary, based on complete truth made a world of a difference from the other texts and added a whole new dynamic. After viewing this film I saw bullying in a completely different light than before. This documentary used mainly pathos to reach its intended audience which in my opinion worked perfectly. Its rhetorical techniques were consistent throughout the film and grew even more powerful as it went on. This highlighted not only the bullied children but their families and everyone that was affected around this. Another advantage point to this film was that it also highlighted the different types of bullying, from LGBT to the way someone looked physically. This film showed first hand that authorities in schools do absolutely nothing about this. The main character Alex, we as the viewers observed him having to endure physical, verbal, mental, and emotion abuse every day. He goes through this depressing abuse every day that he is desensitized to the situations and views his bullies as his friends. Finally his parents visit his school to confront his school principal to discuss Alex’s bullying issues particularly a school bus incident. This school bus involved kids physically abusing Alex, shoving his head into the seats and stabbing him with pens and pencils. When his parents brought this to his principal, she then tries to defend herself, the school, and bus route stating that she has riding on the same bus route and claims “it is as good as gold.” She then proceeds to ignore their claims and talk about her newborn grandchild progressing away from the issue at hand. This proved the lack of priority this issue is for the authorities. There happened to be another incident in the film that showed another child being physically and verbally bullied outside at the same school as Alex. When the boy that was getting bullied finally gets the courage to tell an authority, the principal, she makes the bully apologize to the child and encourages them to shake hands as a sign of moving on or amendment. The child being bullied denied the hand shake with great reason. The principal proceeds to ask him if what he did was wrong to cause this situation, as if being bullied for the way he looks was not enough.

Society, mostly speaking of the media has a tremendous impact on bullying in America. Everything we view in our everyday lives has a huge influence of connotation and denotation of hetero-normativity. From birth control commercials to an advertisement about a cleaning product, a male and female relationship is embedded in our brains.  Jennifer in the CBS news clip doesn’t necessarily point out that society has a major impact on bullying, but the fact that Jennifer is addressing this issue on live television for everyone to see, even announcing that October is National Bully month, greatly improves awareness of the issue and helps. Instead of this show blaming society for this problem, in return it actually did the opposite. On the other hand the film “Bully”, shows society is a negative aspect to bullying through Kelby’s experience. Before her town was aware that she was a lesbian, families from all over loved her and her family and would be welcoming and friendly. Once they were aware, they then stopped speaking to both her and her family. Kelby’s dad spoke on this specific issue very emotionally stating “Now when we walk through the streets, our old friends will not even wave or acknowledge that were here anymore.” Other than this the town was very encouraging and stood behind the parents of the suicidal children that died due to bullying. For instance, Kirk and Laura the parents of a young child that killed himself, they created an organization trying to bring people together to stand up against bullying. In the movie Kirk does a huge, powerful event in remembrance of his dead son in their town. The people of the town showed great support in attending the event as well as participating in other events to show love for Kirk and Laura’s movement. Larry King Lives episode starts out with the celebrity’s opinion on the society and how it makes children believe it is alright to bullying or put down others with no consequences. In the beginning Wanda Sykes an openly gay comedian explains that society as a whole has pretty much given these children permission to be disrespectful and hurtful to the homosexual community. Whether it is from the nation’s laws, schools, media or churches where it is preached that homosexuality is wrong or a sin.

All three of my chosen texts have the same intentions of informing and persuading for a change of bullying. Some may be more informational than others, but they all give audiences the message that bullying is a national pressing issue that is causing young people to take their lives away. The CBS episode and “Bully” both broaden the topic of bullying away from on LGBT. They announce other issues involved such as race, disabilities, physical appearances and many more. Jennifer from CBS announces “To all of the children out there who feel lost, who are struggling with your weight, with the color of your skin, your sexual preference, your disability, even the acne on your face, listen to me right now. Do not let your self-worth be defined by bullies.” Larry King Lives only focuses on the LGBT issue. Although they did not broaden the topic like the other two texts, their main focus on LGBT worked perfectly because of the celebrities that present as an illustration and their personal anecdotes.

Furthermore, even though all chosen texts addressed bullying as an issue, not all provided an effective solution. I found this very ironic because of how powerful and emotional all texts were in informing audiences about it. Both “Bully” and Jennifer’s CBS episode never provided a solution other than for parents to set good example for their children; watching what is said or done around them. In the documentary film informatio articles of Kirk and Laura’s organization could have been handed out as a larger awareness technique. However, within Larry King Lives episode, while Ellen Degeneres speaks on the topic, “866-4-U-TREVOR- Suicide hot line for gay and questioning youth” is highlighted across the bottom of the screen the entire time. This hot line is part of a major organization recognized as “The Trevor Project”. The Trevor Project is an American non-profit organization founded in 1998 and the leading national organization focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. Ellen also mentions in her announcement that on her website there are many other recourses listed to help as well.

 

All in all bullying is a nationwide, continuous and progressing issue. Whether it deals with LGBT or the way you look this must be stopped. Analyzing these three different texts and how each of them approached this emotional topic has really broadened my horizon on bullying. Most people think that bullying is not such a serious issue, and believe that it is all name-calling. Most will say “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” but this statement is only an emotional boost and a comfort technique. Words can cut deep into a child’s soul and mind. These evil words can deteriorate a child’s confidence as it is questioning their own self worthiness. Rhetorical techniques really do make a difference in any text you may encounter. All three of my chosen texts spoke on the same exact issue, but it was their rhetorical techniques that made each one unique and give a different perspective, tone, and affect each audience differently.