ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 10, 1997 TAG: 9701100006
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
Good reasons for holding our tongues
A DEC. 24 letter to the editor (``Do we still have freedom of speech?'' by Lynn Hammond Jr.) dealt with an Associated Press news article about how using the N-word could be detrimental to one's job. The letter writer was disturbed about how such things could affect our constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech.
One has nothing to do with the other.
The managers mentioned in the AP story didn't lose their jobs because of any law prohibiting their use of this word. They lost their jobs because it was an impolitic thing to say. They absolutely have the freedom to say such disrespectful and mean-spirited things and not be arrested. They absolutely do not have the freedom to slur a group of people and feel no repercussions from what they said.
All of us can say what we want to, but we refrain from saying some things because of social pressure or because it would be impolitic to say them.
Try this: The next time you think your boss has pulled some boneheaded stunt, just walk up and say, "Wow, that was really stupid, you jerk!" You have the absolute right to say this, but what would it mean for your job?
You also have the freedom to use cuss words around your mother, but would you? Not a chance.
As for the racial epithet used, I find it quite encouraging that our society is finding such slurs unacceptable. Perhaps this will mean that society is finding the attitudes behind such slurs unacceptable also.
HARRY YEATTS
BLACKSBURG
Teachers work a seven-day week
REGARDING Jeffrey T. Morris' Jan. 8 letter to the editor, ``Be thankful for any salary raise'':
Uh, hello. Excuse me. Just which six-hour workday did he mean?
Saturday: giving the Scholastic Assessment Test, chaperoning club trips, band competitions, science fairs, those inspiring fund-raisers (car washes, bake sales), decorating floats, shopping for out-of-pocket supplies not in the budget?
Or Sunday: writing exams (on that credit-card financed personal computer), preparing lesson plans, grading endless papers and posting grades?
Or did he just mean weekdays with classes, student and parent conferences, parental notes and calls, room set-ups, ``must attend'' Parent-Teacher Association meetings, plays, concerts, athletic events and home-bound classes?
Teachers are my heroes, so I'll give Morris the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he meant 16-hour workdays.
NANCY DOWDY
BLACKSBURG
The slippery slope or relativism
IN RESPONSE to William Lowe's Dec. 30 letter to the editor, ``Cal Thomas' bias against gays follows many tracks'':
I take issue with his viewpoint. In reading a number of Thomas' columns, I have concluded that he believes, as I do, that there are some absolutes in this world. His ``appeals to religious authority'' are, according to Lowe, not in accord with the democratic society in which we live. Religious authority evidently doesn't possess sufficient ``fluidity,'' one of the words used by Lowe.
Lowe states: ``Language is governed by convention, and thus offers a history of the meanings determined by the empowered, not a history of absolutes.''
Is he saying that man is the highest good and that God is irrelevant as far as establishing standards for human behavior? That, unfortunately, seems to be a popular viewpoint in what Chuck Colson refers to as the ``post-Christian era'' in which we live.
I believe the Bible is quite clear regarding marriage - it is the union of a man and a woman. Holy matrimony is one of the seven sacraments of the church, and should not be trivialized by the union of Adam and Steve rather than Adam and Eve.
I do not have any personal animosity toward gays. Rather, I feel sorry for them. Regardless of what precipitated their condition, the Bible is quite clear that homosexuality isn't in the will of God.
God revealed in the Bible his unchanging character and his law to man. He wasn't creating a book that would need constant updating as societal conditions changed.
Jesus clearly demonstrated throughout his ministry that we are to hate the sin but love the sinner. I hope we will heed that advice, lest we slide further down the slippery slope of relativism and ultimately go the way of ancient Rome.
PHILIP B. PETERS
LEXINGTON
Slang has no place in the schools
THIS ``Ebonics'' thing: Why would we teach slang to our kids in school (Dec. 27 editorial, ``Children need standard English'')?
I have enough trouble teaching my son not to use the slang that he learns - learns even from schoolteachers who do not speak proper English - so that he can sound professional as he grows, and can attend good schools and get a good job.
We don't need teachers teaching slang, which is all Ebonics is.
REBECCA THOMAS
BOONES MILL
Help for those who are addicted
IN RESPONSE to Kat McClinton's Jan. 2 letter to the editor (``Alcoholics do not suffer by choice'') which rebuked Jo Ann Walthall (Dec. 20 letter, ``Alcoholism is not a disease'') for writing that alcoholism is a sin:
I agree with Walthall. God has never condemned a person to hell because the person was sick or had a disease. But his word clearly warns of the dangers of drinking alcoholic beverages of any kind, and he condemns the drunkard to eternal hell.
The problems McClinton mentioned are just the aftermath of drinking alcohol. Drunkards may not choose to become addicted, but if they continue to choose to drink, they are courting disaster and a life of sickness and sorrow.
Jesus Christ set me free from alcohol 36 years ago when I accepted him as savior, and I've been sober ever since. When I was in my teens, I chose to drink, and continued to drink and get drunk until the day Christ came into my life.
McClinton says she hopes that Walthall never experiences problems with alcohol. I have an idea Walthall will never have to be concerned about alcohol and all the sin and shame that go along with it.
What a terrible disaster to live the hell of a drunkard in this life, and then when you die, to burn in hell forever.
To all you precious people who are hooked on the devil's juice, Jesus Christ will set you free. You don't have to be a slave to alcohol or drugs. Choose life.
DONALD THACKER
ROCKY MOUNT
Nurses must be on the front line
I WONDER if Eleanor Austin (Jan. 5 letter to the editor, ``Nurses must take leadership roles'') would be as ``delighted with some of the changes that the health-care business is undergoing'' if she were on the receiving end of those changes.
I also have spent nearly 20 years in the health-care profession, and I can tell you that nurses I have come to admire and respect for their single-minded dedication to the patient would never accept establishment of ``patient/family education'' and ``developing a workable plan of care'' as a first priority of their responsibilities.
Direct patient contact, as truly devoted nurses will tell you, is essential in their analysis and evaluation of the patient. And those observations enable them to chart changes that are so essential to the physician and his treatment plan.
In point of fact, it would seem that Austin would supplant professional nursing staff with entry-level personnel, and relegate these trained and experienced health-care workers to a world of paperwork and theory.
As for health-care institutions, I am very sad to note that over the past 15 years, I've seen a deterioration in the quality of health care due to downsizing, profit taking and, in general, the hospital administration's attitude that the patient is merely a product to be processed as cheaply as possible and is a source of revenue.
BUD SANTORO
ROANOKE
LENGTH: Long : 154 linesby CNB