WEED WHACKER DISCLAIMER:
When I weed (the verb) my yard, I try the following strategies: yank the weeds out by their roots; cut them with a machete, whacker, clippers, or saw; mow over them; stomp on them; spray systemic poison on them; strangle them with my work-glove hands to not leave any fingerprints; smother them with mulch, boulders, and tar paper; shoot them with my 50-year-old B-B gun; and pummel them with a Louisville slugger baseball bat (Well, maybe, not exactly; it was a Hank Aaron aluminum bat!).
Then, guess what? Yup, you’re right: I was promptly arrested and thrown into the Slammer, the BIG House. WROOONNG! Of course not. What were you thinking? What happened is that, after the next rain, those weeds and their demonic little offspring came back with a vengeance like the botanical version of zombies from Michael Jackson’s Thriller video. (SIDEBAR: I’m having so much fun with this metaphor!)
Anyway, I want to be like Jack Nicholson-A Few Good Men “crystal clear” that I am not condoning any of the preceding actions in your department. Well, maybe the baseball bat would be okay. Naaah!
No matter how bad the weeds are or what they do to you everyday of your work-life to cause you misery and pain and impede your productivity, homicide is not the answer. Yes, I know Adrian Monk and Jack Bauer are no longer available, but Horatio Caine (CSI: MIAMI) is still kickin’ and can be found on Sun. nights this fall. Murder is just not worth the consequences, because those weeds will probably come back like real zombies and invade your classes. Who needs that?
My next blog will suggest specific techniques for killing the weeds in your department. Now you can go load your weapons. See ya soon.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
RIDICULE
DESCRIPTION:It doesn’t get any nastier. Ridicule may be a jest that makes fun of someone sportively or good-humoredly, but usually it is intended to humiliate. It may consist of words and actions, such as scornful or contemptuous laughter. It is usually mean spirited and malicious, and may include sarcasm or other derisive, taunting, or jeering comments. Motives for and functions of this type of insult-humor may range from the actual expression of hostility to self-deprecation to ironic reversal, where the insult is turned around and used against the attacker.
EXAMPLES: In the popular comedy Meet the Parents, the character Greg Focker (played by Ben Stiller) was ridiculed throughout the movie by several hostile members of his fiancée’s family for being a male nurse and, at the end of the movie, for his real first name, Gaylord (“Gay Focker”).
Comedian, composer, author, and producer Mel Brooks describes the power of ridicule in his smash Tony-award winning Broadway musical The Producers. (Note: Brooks also produced movies with the same title preceding and succeeding the show.) In an interview on 60 Minutes with Mike Wallace (April 5, 2001), Brooks noted that the greatest form of revenge he could execute against Adolph Hitler is ridicule:
"How do you get even with him [Hitler]? There’s only one way to get even. You have to bring him down with ridicule…. If you can make people laugh at him [Hitler], then you’re one up on him. It’s been one of my lifelong jobs to make the world laugh at Adolph Hitler."
Brooks did just that in the show’s signature production number, “Springtime for Hitler.”
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: Any personal characteristic can be held up to ridicule. A foreign accent, a lisp, a stutter, an unusual gesture, and a physical disability represent common targets. For example, one of the lawyers on the defunct TV series Boston Legal, Jerry Espenson (played by Christian Clemenson, who was promoted to M.E. on CSI: Miami), had a condition known as Asperger’s Syndrome (a form of autism). In numerous episodes, he was ridiculed repeatedly by his colleagues and clients for his awkward and strange physical symptoms.
BOTTOM LINE: Ridiculing a student in the classroom or a faculty or staff member in a meeting to embarrass or humiliate that person is inexcusable. Be sensitive to unusual physical characteristics and disabilities. Try to understand their source and resist every temptation to ridicule them.
Next, I move on to sexual content and innuendo. Isn’t it amazing that blog time and words are being spent on these topics in an effort to raise your consciousness level about how you teach? Unless you’re willing to make mistakes like I did, your sensitivity to offensiveness needs to be fine-tuned, and, even then, you’ll probably offend. It is a constant battle with which I still struggle in my presentations. I hope these examples and descriptions are helpful.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
