Thursday, November 20th, 2008 by Bill Swadley.

First published in The Huffington Post on November 20, 2008

One of the side effects of the rise of Obama and accompanying Obamamania is the newly pervasive use of the word, ‘look’ to start any sentence, regardless of the contextual irrelevance of that word to the rest of the statement. Its frequent misuse by the man who gets more public face-time than any other human on the planet has created a verbal pandemic such that I now hear it everywhere all the time. In the hallways at work. All over the news and media be it radio, TV, online, or shouted by the town crier. I hear it at formal PTA fundraisers and at the AYSO referee’s dinner. People who never thought to in the past start many a sentence with ‘look’ these days and whether they’re saying, “Look, you’re really making me angry,” or, “Look, I wanted guacamole on my burger!” it has become an unconscious, embarrassing, annoyance.

In the age before Obama, starting a sentence with this word was reserved for bad film and television. It’s a very common occurrence in low budget entertainment and often happens when an inattentive director allows it to be slipped-in by a weak actor at the start of a line of dialogue, even though that word is not in the original script. Yes, sometimes a screen or television writer will use the word, ‘look’ to begin a line, but unless he or she is a bad writer, it will be in the context of a command as, “Look at the puppy,” or “Look away before you turn to stone!” So now you know that when you’re watching any form of scripted entertainment and the actor says something like, “Look, I’m sorry, I thought your sister was you.” Nine-out-of-ten times the “look” was thrown in by the actor and left there by the director (the writer isn’t on the set, he’s at home getting drunk because of what they’re doing to his masterpiece).

Mr. President-elect Obama begins almost every unprepared sentence with “Look…” On the other hand, you won’t hear it in his eloquent, rousing, passionate, speeches mainly because he’s a fine writer and the speech was written and rewritten a dozen times or more. So why does it pop up during interviews and at press conferences? Originally it was probably a trick to give himself a half-second more to think about the question he was just asked. He may have developed it intentionally or unintentionally in high-school debate or at Harvard Law or even later during his first run for public office. But however Mr. Obama first came to use this word as often as he does is irrelevant because now it’s really nothing more than a personal bad habit of speech.

The past eight years may have numbed us to all manner of grammatical butchery and other crimes of speech emanating from the highest office in the world, but those days are soon to be over and it’s time for the madness to stop. To that end, I now add another rallying cry to the cacophony of rallying cries trumpeting Barack Obama into the White House in January: “Don’t start sentences with ‘look’ unless you mean it!”

All of us, man, woman, child, Republican, Democrat, Lieberman, must take a stand against the insidious, improper use of this word. If we start now right at the top, we will hopefully, over time, see real change. Don’t let our new president spend eight years like friendless W. who had nary a man to set him straight on the proper pronunciation of ‘nuclear’. It’s like that old saying, “Only your friends will tell you when you have spinach in your teeth.” You’re Barack’s friend, right? Tell him yourself, why don’t you? And get that leafy-green out of your own bicuspid while you’re at it!

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Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 by admin.

Joel Pett/Lexington Herald-Leader 11/10/08

Rex Babin/Sacramento Bee 11/10/08

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Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 by Bill Swadley.

Imagine for a moment that initiatives in several states in the recent election prohibited interracial marriage and would ultimately result in the unions of interracial couples invalid. Outrage from every corner of the map would be swift and vehement.  How do otherwise fair-minded, rational people convince themselves, not only that they have an interest in depriving another group of their rights, but that it’s the right thing to do?

Tradition: Since the beginning of time, white-marries-white, black-marries-black, and so on. That’s the way it’s always been and that’s how it should stay.

Religion: God does not want people who are not of the same skin color to marry. It’s a sin and my church will be compelled to marry people of different races unless it’s illegal.

Morality: My personal morality code says that it is wrong for people of different races to get married, therefore, even though it has no direct impact on my life, I cannot allow something to exist that is contrary to my belief system.

Children: I don’t want my kids’ teachers telling them that interracial marriage is acceptable because they might marry someone from a different ethnic background when they grow up.

Discomfort: Just the thought of two people from different races getting married and having children makes my skin crawl.

Apathy: It has nothing to do with me so what do I care? I just won’t decide either way on this issue and stay out of it.

In the context of interracial marriage, these rationalizations and justifications seem absurd and backwards and based in ignorance and bigotry. It wasn’t all that long ago, however, that people of the same ilk as those against same-sex marriage (and probably some of the same people!) were having these very discussions with regard to laws that declared  interracial marriage illegal. We’ve come a long way. Or have we?

What made the difference in finally getting all those outrageously discriminatory interracial marriage laws off the books wasn’t solely the activism of the people at the direct affect of these laws, interracial couples, but the involvement of those who had no vested interest in the issue except for a strong sense of equality and justice.

On one hand I am ashamed and embarrassed that my group, straight people, continue to vote against allowing people of the same sex to marry (or, as in California, vote to strip fellow citizens of that right).  On the other hand, I am just as dumbfounded as any gay person by the bald-faced bigotry demonstrated by the people of  this “land of the free” who continue to allow fear, ignorance and prejudice to override their ability to do the right thing.

In the Age of Obama there can’t possibly be more straight people against equal rights for all than there are on my side of the fence. I have to believe that the problem here is more one of apathy than anything else and that’s why I now call upon my fellow straights to step-up. Start paying attention to issues of this sort, especially when a small group manages to manipulate large blocks of voters into believing that they must discriminate against others for their own well-being and that of their children. Don’t shut down your radar when the word “gay” appears because it’s not part of your reality. Don’t think that “they” can handle “their own” issues alone. They can’t, they need our help, so pay attention and make your voice heard.

The same-sex marriage issue isn’t going away. Right-wing Christians and Evangelicals often cited two issues during the presidential campaign for why they would vote for McCain (and, by extension, George Bush twice). Those two issues were abortion and gay marriage. So if you think this isn’t your issue, think back over the last 8 years, then think again.

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Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 by Bill Swadley.

The jubilance expressed in this picture might lead one to think that this is a group of avid Obama supporters for whom hope is indeed still alive.  But it’s not. This is a photograph from Wednesday morning’s LA Times of Proposition 8 supporters last night upon hearing that their measure passed.

Proposition 8 is the California initiative that is 14 words in length: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

The fact that half the citizens in a state like California can’t overcome bigotry, fear, and ignorance in the name of equality shows that the fight for fairness and “justice for all” in this country is only just starting with the election of Barak Obama and his mandate for hope and change.

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