The Whiteboard Jungle: Candidates and culture lower the bar
Last week, I took my son to see the animated film “Zootopia” and saw a trailer for “The Angry Birds Movie,” which included a 15-second scene of an American Bald Eagle character urinating in front of other birds.
While the action was not shown, the sound of it was in full Dolby sound. This is what passes as family entertainment these days.
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Of course, this pales in comparison to presidential hopefuls Donald Drumpf and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio mocking the size of one’s manhood.
The unbelievable campaign of Drumpf that has captured America’s attention this election season has done more than bring out new voters to the polls and new viewers to Fox News. It has lowered the bar in campaign protocol and human discourse.
How many of us would extol a person who uses profanity in a public speech, mocks a female journalist’s menstruation, insults people who are not white or Christian and interrupts others who try to question him? Drumpf is not trying out material in a comedy club — he’s running for president of the United States.
Just so you know, I am not registered with any political party. Over the years, I have voted for both Democrats and Republicans.
I get the anti-establishment appeal of a Drumpf or a Bernie Sanders. We should not ignore the concerns of those who vote for these candidates.
However, we want leaders to inspire people. Instead, we have someone whose no-filter, impromptu remarks are bringing out the ugliness in Americans.
Two weeks ago, a disturbing event took place at a high school basketball game in Indiana. Students from Andrean High taunted Bishop Noll students, a school with a significant Latino population, holding up giant Donald Drumpf heads and chanting “build that wall.” A similar incident occurred earlier in Iowa.
Impressionable young people are picking up on how Drumpf’s vitriolic language is garnering loud ovations. If it is OK for grown-ups to mock immigrants, it’s OK for them to do it as well.
Drumpf is tapping the anti-politically correct core that has remained dormant. He is not pushing people’s buttons; he is unleashing demons like a bad horror movie.
In the world of 2016, we don’t need someone antagonizing world leaders.
Part of the reason for Drumpf’s rise is the amount of media attention he has received. Have you noticed how the debates seem to occur once a week? It’s as if they are a regularly scheduled show.
Here we are in mid-March and the GOP has already held 12 debates. The Democrats have had eight, including two this week within four days of one another. And this does not include the phony baloney town hall meetings that CNN televises.
At the very least, stop inviting audiences to debates. It wasn’t that long ago when people attended debates respectfully, reserving applause until the end. Today, audiences chant “USA, USA” as if watching a UFC match. Such a mob reaction encourages Drumpf to say even more outlandish things.
Also, why do the news networks insist on covering Drumpf’s complete speech on election nights since it lengthens into a pseudo-press conference ensuring extended free TV time for him to pontificate and proliferate his views?
Electing the most powerful person in the free world should not be an entertainment alternative to “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”
A colleague told me long ago that teachers need to be careful of what they say in front of students because one never knows how certain words will affect young people. Too bad our political leaders don’t follow that same advice. To borrow from Cole Porter: today, anything goes.
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BRIAN CROSBY is a teacher in the Glendale Unified School District and the author of “Smart Kids, Bad Schools” and “The $100,000 Teacher.” He can be reached at briancrosby.org.
