Caps Blog #3

            Language is an aspect of our culture that has always been influential and ever changing.  Since the beginning of time people have been talking, debating, loving, etc. through their use of language.  Everywhere you go it seems language is being used for various different reasons.  Just tonight I witnessed Barack Obama and Mitt Romney debate discussing their plans through they’re often times passive aggressive language.  Our streets are filled with language through advertising as well.  Today’s society is exposed to over 3,000 advertisements every single day that display language.  Nevertheless, when reviewing this blog, I realized how much influence language has on our society. 

            We are very lucky to live in such an open world where we can easily communicate our thoughts, but some people take power of speech to a whole new level, which ends up being insulting.  Many of my classmates have discussed UNL Haters throughout their blogs and I think that account is wonderful for calling out these “haters” which will hopefully conclude with less racist remarks throughout social media outlets.  Although these racist comments are being said hinder what some people may think about our campus, the fact that someone is taking the time to make these messages seen it remarkable. 

   

         Another website I would like to call attention to would be godhatesfags.com, which is a website where the Westboro Baptist Church uses their language to display their hatred for homosexuals, soldiers, etc.  This website is not their only use of language.  They can be seen frequently at funerals of United States soldiers, urban schools, churches who support homosexual marriage, Presidential debates, etc. At these events they stand outside with signs saying extremely hurtful and derogatory things while yelling and making a scene.  This kind of language is very powerful as it communicates a message of hate.  I found a contrary Facebook page titled: God loved Fags.  This page points out how awful these actions are and how necessary it is to not take them seriously. 

 

Caps Blog #3 - Stiens

In day to day life we never really stop to realize just how powerful language can be. However, reading through the UNL Haters site made me realize just how much of an impact the words we say can have on others around us. The UNL Haters site exposes people who abuse the power of language. Sure we are all entitled to a freedom of speech but to what extent. I think we need to realize that the freedom of speech is a privilege and that it is not to be abused in ways that can hurt others. Being from another state I remember coming on a college visit here and I remember specifically being told “oh the people of Nebraska are the nicest people you will ever meet”. I have found that there are very nice people here. I have met quite a few but I have also met my fair share of the not so nice people. When asked where I am from I always get a scoff and rude comments about the fact that I am from Missouri. UNL is no different from any other college. There are some really nice people here but there are also some not so nice people as well. I think the UNL Haters site is a great way to bring people down to earth and realize that not everyone here is perfect.

As for making a change about the things people say is nearly impossible. People are going to have their own thoughts and beliefs. That is one thing that makes this world we live in so great. The diversity keeps things interesting. However, one way to help the issue is to be an advocate for the awareness of the problem. Make it known that it is not okay to be disrespectful just because we have freedom of speech. There are ways to express your difference of opinion in positive respectful ways. Another way to help the problem is to make sure the language you use yourself is respectful and not hurtful to anyone you are writing about. It is important to remember that language is a powerful privilege and that we should be careful in the way we use it.

Freeman CAPS Blog:3

I was very happy to see that we could write about the UNL haters blog with this chapter.  I just learned about UNL haters this past week in a class, and immediatley got on twitter to look at what people where posting.  I was shocked with what I saw as soon as I got on.  Most of the tweets that I saw were directed towards the Asian population at UNL.  These post to me are very out of line and dont represent the majority of the students at UNL but it made me think about why this particular group of individuals is being targeted, even though they are students at the universtiy like any American student.  I'm not sure if the posts supposed to be a joke or if they are true thoughts about these individuals either way I feel that these posts are done in very poor taste.

I think that this blog is a GREAT  idea and feel that it should be around forever.  While looking at the blog I couldn't help that notice some of the posts had been deleted by the original poster, I was curious to why they would delete the post if it was something that they felt was ok to originally post, or thought was funny, why did the retweet by UNL haters make these people feel so uncomfortable.  One of the main ideas of twitter is to get retweets, so shouldnt of these individuals been happy that they posted something people where paying attention to? Overall I feel like this is just the first step in fixing a problem that will most likely never be stopped, it is however good to see that someone is willing to try and fix a problem that is very prominate in todays culture.  Overall everybody is going to have haters it's how you respond to them.  I think a great example of this is LeBron James. 

CAPS #3 - Sueverkruepp

I am so glad that we have the opportunity to write about the UNL Haters blog from an opportune standpoint.  I noticed that a friend of mine on Facebook had posted about the UNL Haters blog about a week ago, catching my immediate attention.  Although in reality, the people who have been posting these disgusting comments are a very small fraction of our campus, it makes me think a lot about the students who have yet to be called out for their disrespectful behavior...which could end up being a whole lot higher than we want to imagine.  Personally, I am very disappointed by the actions of these students...joking or not, racism, sexism, and flat out disrespect forces our generation one step backwards.  And unfortunately, those who don't agree with hate are taken back too.  

To respond to the linguistic hate that is happening on our campus, our students who believe in respect for all (including those who are different) need to continually step up for those who are ridiculed   This blog in my opinion is awesome, because it teaches all of us -not just those who had statuses posted on the site- that what we say on the internet is permanent   I'm sure that most of those posts have now been deleted from Twitter and Facebook, but with one little print screen from another laptop, the message lives on.  In conversation as well, we need to remove the idea in our minds that disagreement with others will make them not like us.  It is basic human nature for us to want others to like us, and it truly okay to speak your mind, even if it is in disagreement.  Telling someone to simply "be nice" spreads love to those who need it the most.

To truly create a respectful campus climate, we need to first of all, not feed the trolls.  In meme lingo, the "haters gonna hate" and it is our job to build up our students who want to be built up.  Let's provide minority students, women, homosexual students and others afflicted with events where they can be proud to be themselves.  Especially with no stigmas attached.  Where is our fellowship of students?  Husker pride expands far beyond game day, and we need to show the nation that Nebraska is a place for love, acceptance, and peace.   We need to be a campus of "UNL pride" not "UNL prejudice".