I Scratch My Head

Call me foreign or old-fashioned--there are things happened in this country that often make me scratch my head.

A few weeks ago, a popular radio host, named Imus, used some offensive terms to comment on a college athlete team. The entire country was furious about his comment, and he was fired a few days later. Though I did not know who Imus was until he made the remarks, I think he should be condemned for what he said. However, this was not the first time I heard people use words like this. Two semesters ago, a girl I met in the communication class recommended me a website call facebook. Ten minutes after I signed on the site, I was surfing facebook—the website where college students meet and make friends. As I checking out UNCW students’ pages, I surprisingly read comments between girls who addressed each other, and even themselves, by the b-word or h-word. I logged off facebook and never went back. Maybe I am too foreign, but I remember that when I grew up, words like those were never OK to use on anyone—no matter what family or social class you came from. Using offensive words, you would be ordered “…to brush your teeth until those bad words are out of your mouth.” Maybe I am too old, people nowadays pop these words to each other like they are M&Ms and no one seems to get offended—I guess these words are simulated into our culture so long that people just adapted to it after awhile. Though I came from a country with an ancient history, I scratch my head and wonder how “ancient” I really am.

If the issue of what words can be used confuses me, the issue that really puzzles me is what responsibility we as individuals should have for ourselves. A few years ago, I learned that cigarette companies were responsible for the addiction of cigarette smokers. Maybe because I don’t like smokers’ breath, isn’t it the smokers’ own choices to smoke? Later, news reports told us the reason that the court decided cigarette companies were liable for punitive compensation was because they did not inform the consumers that nicotine, one of the ingredients in almost all cigarettes, was addictive. I guess that could be an argument, though I still wondered about the people who are still smoking (don’t they know that nicotine is additive now?). A while later, I learned that fast food restaurants were responsible for people who became obese. The augment was that fast food restaurants hid the fact that their foods can cause people to gain weight and become obese. Apparently, we as individuals are not intelligent enough to take responsibility for our own actions, so it is the responsibility of the government, the corporation, the media, or the court system to inform and protect us. I scratch my head and am a little concerned of the direction we are going, but I came from a country where the government constantly “thinks” for the people in the good intention of protecting us. I feel sure Americans will adapt to it after awhile.

A few days ago, another event captured our nation--a gunman, Seung-hui Cho, shot himself after killing thirty-two victims randomly on the Virginia Tech campus. The nation mourned with the victim’s family, and questions arose—“why?” “What went wrong?” As more facts are revealed, the more I scratch my head. According to press reports, Cho was directed by a court order to go through “all recommended treatments" because he "[p]resents an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness." However, Cho was released next day because he promised that he would come back to go through an outpatient treatment.[1] A little over a year later, Cho was able to purchase ammunition and two handguns without question asked. The tragedy of Virginia Tech revealed a paradox way of thinking: on the one hand, people are not required to take responsibility for their own actions, but the mental patients, on the other hand, we have enough confidence in their abilities to not only care and make decisions for themselves, but also follow through the treatments they desperately needed. Our mental patients must be a group of very intelligent and responsible people.

I realize there are mental patients who are able to take care of themselves, and I feel sure not all smokers or people with weight problem blame the cigarette companies or fast food industry. However, what I am really saying is that we, as a country, sometime are caught in many of the confusion and arguments, so we lost sights on the big pictures. We are afraid of offending others, so we let people use offensive words and justify to ourselves that using these words represents cool or bold; consequently, our children learn the same language because we allowed these words into mainstream culture. We want the corporations to assume social responsibility, but forget that there is something also calls individual responsibility. We emphasize individuals’ rights, even the prisoners or the mentally ill, but forget about the potential harms to the public in large. It is important for us, therefore, to step back from all of the complicated issues and arguments and use our long-forgotten common sense.

[1] Order Declaring Va. Tech Shooter An “imminent Danger” to Himself. 13-14 Dec. 2005. <http://news.findlaw.com/nytimes/docs/vatech/seunghui2005ord5.html>.