Sep 18 2008
Should one off-color comment drown out the author’s point?
Here are two stories from a “Journalism Major” California State University in Sacremento, CA named Briana Monasky. It is scary to think people have such little use of the English language and think it is OK to use profanity and ugly language to get their point across.
Here is her first Article. [The State Hornet]
The 2008 presidential campaign has been a major interest and concern for me, as it should be for any college student with the ability to exercise their right to vote their conscience.
The Republican pick for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, is appalling and offensive to any woman - no, any human being - with a brain and an ounce of self-respect. Palin is no feminist. Her policies on abortion and sex education make me hope I never have a daughter that could be affected by them.
This is a woman who cut sex education funding in Alaska and ended up with a 17-year-old knocked up by a hockey player. Beyond that, Palin and other Republicans preach abstinence-only sex education campaigns that don’t work. Remember that string of pregnant girls in Massachusetts? Those girls complained on national television that they couldn’t get birth control. What a nation we live in.
In Palin’s release regarding the pregnant teen, she said that she and her husband were “proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents.” I suppose that must be true considering her policy on abortion. Palin is vehemently pro-life. In fact, she is committed, along with McCain, to overturning Roe v. Wade. She doesn’t approve of abortion even in cases of rape and incest.
That may be my main issue with Palin, the first female candidate for this position. This should be monumental. I should be incredibly proud to finally see a woman on the stage. Instead, I am ashamed that my country is letting her run. When I hear that women are pro-life I simply don’t understand. Beyond that, as a victim of sexual assault I consider it devastating to think that a woman may have to carry a child to term conceived from an act of hate. I hope her dad rapes her and she has to carry that child to term. I bet you she wouldn’t. I bet she’d grab a coat hanger herself and take care of it.
Read more here.
Then she tries to justify herself here:
Words are powerful. Believe me, I get it. I am a journalism major with a capital ‘J.’ However, to think that in any way, shape or form I could actually literally mean harm upon Sarah Palin is ridiculous. Were you joking with all of these comments and letters? You had to be. No one could really think I would mean that, right? Apparently not. Apparently I need to clarify what I meant.
As the sister of a stand-up comedian, I think vulgarity can be useful to demonstrate a point, whether it be humorous or shocking. In this case, I was simply saying that Palin, under a tragic circumstance such as rape, and worse, the incestuous variety, would not choose to carry the child to term. Did it come across well in the piece? Absolutely not. Do I regret it? Absolutely not.
Perhaps I should enlighten all of the people who were kind enough to make comments (17 so far) on the website or wrote letters to the editor. I do not mince my words. There is no brunoise involved.
I understand quite well the complexity of the abortion issue. It seems that half the people want the option, and the other half consider it a done deal once that egg is fertilized. That has nothing to do with my column. To be honest, the fact that I centered the piece around the issue was a bad idea in the first place. No matter what my statements were, someone was bound to end up angry. I focused on the sex education and abortion because of the buzz around Bristol’s pregnancy. These reasons are not the only ones that urge me to not agree with Palin.
All anger aside, I stand behind the statements I made about her. One line lacked eloquence, but it was supposed to. To take what I said and somehow attribute it to who I am as a person is equally offensive. To question whether I am, in fact, a victim of sexual assault is inexcusable. Anyone who went through what I did would feel the same. Furthermore, to infer that I am in any way an emotionally unstable person is reaching. I am up front about my experiences. I may have joked about the subject matter, but believe me: I take sexual assault seriously.
My only regret comes from the disappointment in realizing that you all got so hung up on one sentence that you missed the whole point; so hung up that you accused me of fabricating a personal experience that will haunt me forever. I am not trying to work out my issues on paper, simply trying to open your eyes to people’s policies by comparing them with parts of who I am.
Read more here.
[From me]
Ms. Monasky is that what they are teaching you in journalism school? Your own candidate said that families were off limits. You are just an angry misguided young woman. You are obviously too young to know that every word you say has meaning. What you said was offensive and instead of apologizing you try to justify yourself. People with integrity learn from their mistakes, apologize, change and move on. Those with an axe to grind will make excuses for their behavior and try to make others feel bad. I hold no ill will towards you. In the past I probably would have said some ugly things about you but I just feel sorry for you. I will pray that God will change your angry spirit.
What do you think?
14 responses so far
K: I agree with your assessment of her. However, I do believe she meant what she said. The sad part is that she is our nation’s future journalist? Why was she not castigated for her vehemence in the public press? I am not making light of her experience as it obviously has shaped her thoughts. But to make excuses for what she said by trying to pass it off as humor? She needs to do a check on her “humor.” How would she have reacted if someone had done a stand-up routine on rape and sexual assault? And then she says, “All anger aside.” Say what? Your anger is fueling your writing my dear lady. I feel bad for her experience but feel even worse that she hasn’t found the ultimate healing in Jesus. She may line up with Comedy Central but not mainstream America.
Bill(cycleguy)’s last blog post..Growing Up
About 15 years ago the pastor at our small South Carolina church stood in the pupit and said “Shadrach, Meschack, and a big negro” during his sermon. He was gone within a few weeks time. Words mean something. Any Christion who would stand idly by and not tell people when they use words in the way that both he and this journalist did are hurtful, do not have courage of conviction. It’s sad really that she only had 17 comments complaining! I hope that is because everyone else decided not to read her stuff anymore!
Have a blessed week,
Sallie
Print media is declining, so is TV news. Now, many in the media will blame the Internet or cable TV. To me, that’s just passing off the real problem–claiming that something else is causing it. Rather than getting to the root of the problem, it is the fault of radio, the Internet, cable TV, George W. Bush, William J. Clinton, Obama, McCain, Palin, Biden, but never themselves.
I’m not sure much else is different in the rest of the world. AIG gets bailed out by the federal government. The two “Maes” get bailed out. The airlines get bailed out. Who’s next? Again, the government comes to the rescue to “save” the company–yet, they put the same people right back in charge of the company, causing it to have more problems–yet, we Americans pick up the tab.
I would encourage this young journalist, with a large J in front of her name, to remember that freedom of speech is one of the greatest liberties we have. But freedom of speech doesn’t mean that any one is reading what we write! Eventually, people see the writer for what he/she is–an angry, mean-spirited person. Who wants to be subjected to that constantly? Not me. Not most of us.
M. Steve Heartsill’s last blog post..Realigning Priorities
i wish i didn’t have the mental picture that I have of Ms. Monasky now. With all the media that we have, blogs included, all i really know of person is what i read. words take on even more meaning in this age. i can’t see your face, or your eyes, or hear the tone of your voice. all i can do is read what you write.
jonathan’s last blog post..I’ve built this!
Kevin, thanks for the heads up. Sallie, though your pastor used some language that was in poor taste, the quote you wrote is almost a direct quotation from a great late African American pastor, E.V. Hill. That does not excuse the comment, but I thought you might be interested to know.
Craig Thompson’s last blog post..Do Words Reveal Our Character: The Ugly Abortion Issue
Alright. I’m gonna say something that might make some mad, but here goes.
I hear this type of argument all the time from people on the Left. My liberal friends use this type of shock argument to get their point across regardless of the topic. We hear people like Al Franken and Michael Moore doing the same on an almost daily basis. It is as if (yes I’m generalizing) they are more interested in vilifying the Right than they are debating them.
I’m not saying it doesn’t happen on the Right. It does. Lots of people on the Right can’t say Barak Obama without saying Barak Hussein Obama and everyonce-in-a-while I will see someone standing on the street corner with a huge poster of an aborted fetus. It’s just my believe that a lot on the Left are overly aggressive in their tactics and it turns people off, which only makes them more angry and aggressive.
The thing is, those few voters that are truly undecided probably don’t listen to angry aggressive arguments. This type of languages helps no one but those very few people that feast on vitriol.
Michael’s last blog post..2 John
Craig — I’ll have to look him up.. thanks for sharing!! I’m sure Pastor Hill used it in a different context and meaning than our previous pastor. Frankly, we weren’t sure if he was checking to see if people were awake or just really meant it meanly as we were having some strife going on already. At the time though it was when we were trying very hard to work with african american churches to get some co-op worship going on and it was very hurtful to hear it said. I wish there still wasn’t the segregation on Sunday mornings that I see in our churches and statements like he made have done nothing to help.
Have a blessed week!
Sallie
K,
I agree with your assessment. She is an angry YOUNG woman.
Rick Boyne’s last blog post..News on Dad
“People with integrity learn from their mistakes, apologize, change and move on.”
That must mean that George W. Bush has no integrity either since he’s never apologized for the lies he told the American people about the reasons for going to war with Iraq.
Mrs. O,
Bless your heart. You sound very angry towards the President. I didn’t care for the former President’s actions but I don’t dwell on them now. And the new one whomever he is will have my full support and prayers.
Kevin Bussey’s last blog post..Jesus arrested for cleaning pot?
Other than just writing an ugly piece, the author clearly is ignorant or deliberatley misleading…the teens is Mass had a pact to get pregnant, there was no lack of birth control. Also, I wonder if she ever heard the name Geraldine Ferraro, who was the actual first woman in this position. What are they teaching these kids…should have gone to UF.
Indeed, I AM very angry! I don’t understand why folks aren’t screaming in the streets like they were in the 60’s. What’s happening in this country is a crime.
Mrs. O
Phil 4:8
I’m surprised no one has pointed out to the young, Ms. Monasky that Sara Palin is not the first woman picked for VP. That honor going to Geraldine Ferraro. What a great perspective she has to share with the world.
Kelly
Kelly Reed’s last blog post..Quote– “Eternal Impact”