By Sara Kay
Two weeks ago, I wrote an article about stereotypes. I focused it on the fact that girls who play rugby are stereotyped based on the fact that it’s a sport known for heavy drinking, heavy fighting and a heavy homosexual population. But the point of that was to negate the stereotype and ask people to fight, metaphorically, against any stereotype they may be lumped in with by being different.
There it was, just sitting in my inbox. A student, who shall remain nameless because I’d be ashamed if I were them, wrote me some “dislike” mail about my column. I prefer to call it “dislike” mail and not “hate” mail because they didn’t threaten me with bombs or anthrax. But they did question my integrity, and my ability to write, which I found to be almost comical and yet at the same time, just as harmful. They concluded their first e-mail to me by calling me a fool. And if that wasn’t enough of a funny-bone tickler, they wrote me a second e-mail daring me to put their delightful commentary in this very paper. I considered it, but decided against it.
My point is, after reading this series of e-mails, it really got me thinking about a few different things, but specifically this most recent presidential election. Sen. John McCain, the poor sap, now has nothing to do but sit around his seven houses and mull over the fact that no matter how much he hemmed and hawed with his opponent, Sen. Barack Obama still came out victorious. The debates full of tension, the negative ads, the rumors that magically got turned into “fact,” tried to hinder the outcome of the election, but with no avail. So my question is this, just how far can all that negativity get you?
Not very far. After the election, I took a long, hard look at McCain and the entire Republican Party. I came to a personal conclusion; that they focused their entire campaign on Obama’s character flaws, rather than on the issues at hand. Shall we talk about the economy, John? No. How about health care? No, no, that’s silly. Why should we focus on these petty things, when we can tell the entire country that Obama is a terrorist and that he pals around with the enemy? Screw the issues; let’s tell everyone that Obama is Osama!
As cool and funny as it may seem on the radio or on television, it doesn’t seem very cool in hindsight. McCain, as scrappy of a fighter as he may have been, wasted his experience and intelligence on bad mouthing his opponent, when he should have been fighting his own battles with his constituents, or lack there of. Negative criticism gets even the big name people nowhere, and I think its time we step back and evaluate how negative criticism is hardly the answer to anything.
The GOP, in all their glory, did some serious grunt work when it came to McCain. Rev. Jeremiah Wright was a good start, and even better with William Ayers. Or so they thought. They did all they could to connect Obama to these two extremely controversial folks, but instead of coming out victorious and holding the post of the bigger and better man, they looked small and feeble-minded. Using factual evidence that may incriminate someone is one thing, but the line was definitely crossed when the Republicans who supported McCain started believing what the big wigs were preaching. That Obama was “palling around with terrorists” and that he doesn’t love or respect this country as much as McCain does. It’s dumb and poorly thought out words like that, that can get people in to trouble.
As people, we waste a lot of time and energy criticizing one another. We find the flaws, the bad marks, the poor taste, and turn it into our own soap boxes with which to stand on. And the most embarrassing kind of criticism is the kind that just sounds extraordinarily ignorant, like McCain’s and like this nameless student who attempted to criticize me. And in both situations, the attempt was cute, but mostly pathetic. The person who comes out victorious is the person who takes that criticism, and turns it outward into something positive. From this experience, I can safely say that even though not everything I write is agreeable with every single person out there, it’s the truth. It’s what I believe in, and that makes me the winner. Obama didn’t stoop to the same levels as McCain as far as I can tell, and to me, that’s one of the things that made him victorious.
So to all of you out there in reader land, I encourage you to fight your battles with words that are smart and creative, not with your fists or with words that are negative and egotistical. There are people out there who may try to tear you down, and in my opinion, they’re just hurting themselves. Plus, if they’re talking all high and mighty like they know what’s good, they’re probably just compensating for a little something, if you catch my drift.
Sara Kay is a junior print journalism student. You may e-mail her at [email protected].