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Show 4 Tuesday April 8, 2014 OPINION www.dailyutahchronicle.com Media's focus Microaggressions page empowers individuals on spectacle hurts disaster relief efforts Columnist M ost Americans have always been able to set aside their differences and join together in the face of tragedy. That hasn't changed, but we have also depended on the mainstream media news to inform us when catastrophe happens in our country. Last week, the media failed us miserably. A horrendous mudslide buried an entire neighborhood in northwestern Washington state on March 22, yet all the media, specifically CNN and Fox News, chose to report on was the missing Malaysian Airlines jet. At least 33 victims in the mudslide were killed, and there are still at least a dozen possibly buried under feet of debris. While Wolf Blitzer was flying model airplanes around his newsdesk, luring viewers with ominous predictions, people were dying in the mudslide that should have headlined every United States news source. CNN was the worst villain, utilizing crucial airtime to emphasize the Malaysian Airlines mystery at the expense of the mudslide victims. The plane crash deserves news coverage, certainly, but time was paramount to find survivors who could still have been alive under the debris. Human rights groups that I am a part of have been literally begging CNN, Fox and MSNBC to air the frantic calls for any assistance in the rescue effort. Varied responses were offered by Fox and MSNBC, but as of yet, nothing from CNN. According to The Chicago Tribune reporting on the mudslide, "anguished relatives turned to the Internet and word of mouth for scarce scraps of new information." That is deplorable and not the American way. I heard the news of the mudslide for the first time by scanning U.S. newspaper sites online. It was repulsive to find the story and then no mainstream television coverage. CNN, who claims to be the voice for American media, has proven through its negligence that it is nothing more than a reality show of sensationalism, concerned only about getting viewers. I have checked CNN dozens of times every day since the mudslide, and every time I find pointless drama about the Malaysian plane crash, void of the real details I find on Asian news sources. It seems CNN anchors and so-called "political analysts" are better at dictating science fiction than telling the news. The plane crash mystery involving the Malaysian airliner is unquestionably devastating. But it is no less devastating than other plane, train or bus crashes in which people are sadly killed and injured. It is notable that CNN picks and chooses which tragedy or disaster to air, depending on the propaganda value they can squeeze from it. Since the first bleep of the Malaysian Airlines incident, CNN grabbed it, sensationalized it and crafted it to enthrall people to their version of the story. CNN's worthless coverage has been broadcast ad nauseam ever since. And the story that needed airing the most has been ignored. Now it is highly probable that no one else can be pulled from the mudslide alive. It is heartbreaking to know that Americans were not informed in time to join together to save lives. And it is pathetic that we claim news organizations who advocate hype over humanity. letters@chronicle.utah.edu NICK KETTERER/The Daily Utah Chronicle GEORGIE ZAMANTAKIS Columnist T his past week, many U students noticed a new page popping up on Facebook. No, it is not a new crushes or confessions page. This is so much more. The page is called University of Utah Micro/Aggressions. The page was created anonymously and is "a place where students can share their experiences with microaggressions at the University of Utah." For those who do not know what a microaggression is, The Microaggression Project defines them as "the subtle ways in which body and verbal language convey oppressive ideology about power or privilege against marginalized identities." When we think of discrimination, we often think of instances when someone is barred from a diner for their skin color, beaten and raped by police for their sexuality or murdered for the god they worship. However, discrimination occurs in multiple forms, both overt and subtle. It occurs in the things an individual says, the looks someone gives another person or the way someone acts around someone of a different identity. The New York Times offers as examples, "A tone-deaf inquiry into an Asian-American's ethnic origin. Cringe-inducing praise for how articulate a black student is. An unwanted conversation about a Latino's ability to speak English without an accent." These acts seem innocent or unintentionally prejudicial. It does not matter how ignorant or well-intentioned a person is, though. What matters is the impact these words and actions have upon others. Microaggressions occur on a daily basis. People often refer to me as a man, tell me to be a man or call me "sir" or "mister" because of my gender presentation without taking the time to ask me my gender identity, which is actually genderqueer. While I am not being beaten or murdered or obviously attacked, it is an affront to my identity to be misgendered because of someone's lack of consideration. Others are constantly referred to as international students because of their skin color, despite the fact that they were born in America or are American citizens. These aggressions, while minor, add up. One paper cut is fine. It hurts, but it heals. Incessant cutting at the skin, and the pain progresses, the time to heal expands and the ability to recover diminishes. This is how microaggressions work, disempowering individuals from living lives of identity validation, celebration and recognition. Pages such as these display the sheer power in speaking the words that others attack you with. The U is not alone in having such a page. Brown University, University of San Francisco, University of California, Santa Barbara and Fordham University and others have developed pages similar to this as well. The page posts microaggressions anonymously, asking the submitter to include a trigger warning so that individuals dealing with similar issues can choose whether or not they read further. One post speaks about the ways in which the U confessions page quickly turned into a page where Asian-bashing became common. As the post states, "Why is it necessary to mention that your roommate is Asian when whatever you are confessing has nothing to do with their race?!!" While the U has implemented a Bias Incident Response Team, the ability to speak to others about issues of racism, sexism, transphobia, xenophobia and other issues of prejudice can be difficult. It is not easy to discuss these issues, let alone on a campus where they are extremely prevalent. Being able to post them on Facebook anonymously displays them to the world, permitting those who caused the microaggression to learn, become aware and change, while simultaneously allowing those who have experienced them to find solidarity and catharsis. letters@chronicle.utah.edu Mozilla hypocritical to fire Eich for his opinions T Columnist o those who thought McCarthyism was dead and buried, along with the viability of communism, you are sadly mistaken. Those who believe being socially progressive means being inclusive and open-minded have consulted the wrong thesaurus. And finally, to those who thought San Jose and its surrounding communities were about tech startups, innovation and creating a better world for everyone, wake up and smell that special blend of hypocrisy, bullying and narrow-mindedness that is being brewed every day inside the heavily insulated bubble of Silicon Valley. McCarthyism has been freshly resurrected and rebranded under the banner of social progressivism, and anyone caught drinking a different brand of Kool-Aid can plan on being run out of town on a rail. Just ask Mozilla's former CEO Brendan Eich. Apparently being a successful programming developer, chief technology officer and a co-founder of Mozilla wasn't quite enough for Eich to keep his newly appointed title of CEO for longer than io days. Eich failed to realize that having a personal political opinion that meshes with current community standards is a major prerequisite for employment in the open-minded and inclusive world that residents of Silicon Valley like to think they live in. Eich had the audacity to believe in the concept of "traditional marriage" and even worse, he put his money where his mouth was to the tune of a $i,000 donation to California's Proposition 8 which defined marriage in that state as between one man and one woman. His failure to keep his conservative opinions locked away in a closet cost him his job and the right to be protected under the quickly crumbling concept of free speech. Silicon Valley has a very limited idea of what it means to foster an inclusive and socially progressive community. Basically, if your opinions aren't socially acceptable, neither are you. Eich was the victim of a concerted effort by Mozilla employees to force him out of his job once they found out he supported traditional marriage. His talents, skill and tenure meant nothing to these intolerant bullies, whose social media and boycotting efforts helped paint a scarlet letter on Eich and sent him packing for an opinion that had nothing to do with his ability to do his job. The hypocrisy of the actions of Mozilla and its wayward employees is appalling. The headlines of most media outlets highlighted the fact that Eich's actions were "antigay," which had the same effect as being labeled a "communist" during the heyday of McCarthyism. Nothing documented about Eich's history suggests he is anti-gay — he simply made a donation toward keeping his idea of what constitutes a traditional marriage in place. The negative connotation of being called anti-gay is unfounded based on this evidence — to be called anti-anything suggests a strong bias or hate toward something. His donation did not constitute any of these things other than a support for a long-standing concept of marriage. The hypocrites of Silicon Valley hide under the protection of supporting equal rights and feel free to fire their own brand of bigotry and intolerance at anyone with a different opinion. The argument used to justify the actions of these spiteful, spineless bullies of is that when people like Eich choose to support traditional marriage, they are taking away the rights of others. While this is true, it still does not justify using the same type of actions they are fighting against. Proposition 8 has since been struck down by the Supreme Court, and the tide has turned on those who would prevent samesex marriage. Times are changing, and those who believe in traditional marriage are going to have to get used to the fact that equal rights for everyone in this country, regardless of sexual or political preference, is inevitable. Eich's attempt to keep the concept of traditional marriage alive failed, and it failed long before he was ever named CEO of Mozilla, which means the witch hunt that his co-workers sprang on him was completely unacceptable. Eich's views are no longer preventing equality in California, and thus his ouster from Mozilla was based solely on the fact he dared to have a socially unpopular opinion that he tried to keep to himself. Despite the fact Eich promised to foster an inclusive environment at Mozilla, it was the exclusionary actions of his own company that ultimately led to his demise and furthered the hypocrisy of communities like Silicon Valley — that if someone's personal beliefs are not on the right side of the fence, they must be on the wrong side of history. But as the cowardly actions of Mozilla have shown, history will surely repeat itself. letters@chronicle.utah.edu |