Time Magazine named You the person of 2006. With the already enormous and ever-growing popularity of user-created content sites like YouTube, MySpace, Wikipedia, etc., we are entering into a more democratic state of media -- with infinite possibilities.
With these modern tools of communication come certain responsibilities. There is no longer an excuse to ignore racism, sexism, homophobia, and ignorance in main-stream culture. YOU have the power to write about it, respond to it and do something about it at your fingertips.
Take a look at how Beau Sia, a poet in New York, has used the power of YouTube to get his response to a racist event in the media heard. This is the 18th most viewed video this week:
Mr. Sia clearly explains that it is not simply the racist comment that was offensive to so many of us, but mostly Rosie's ignorant and defensive response to her critics.
Beau Sia has taken it upon himself to start a dialogue with the YouTube community, (who is, let's face it, a lot of us: Beau's video currently has 332,892 views and about 4,500 comments), and with the popularity of the video, elicited this response from Rosie:
2 day i found
beau sia
poet
on you tube
with great delivery
wonderful editing
set in a school room
he spoke
an open letter to all the rosie o’donnells
“ching chong ching chong
is not an accent
it is a racist interpretation of a language
often associated with
being buried alive in a mine shaft”
“i would never make fun of who u r
and then make u feel wrong
for just trying to inform u
of y i shouldn’t say
whatever it is i am about to say
about plus sized lesbians”
“so listen 2 me
because i dont think ur evil
i dont care if ur mean”
“learn from this rosie
apologize darling
tap into the humanity
i know that u posses”
2 beau
an open response
to ur informative creative
and quite beautiful video
i apologize
for any and all pain
caused to any and all
by my comments
ignorance
lack of compassion - empathy
understanding
u r right
i didnt get it
i know
my intent
was not to harm
yet obviously i did
there ya have it
and beau
before u refrain from all observations
comments or comedy
in any context or capacity
about the queer community
in all it variations
arttst 2 artist beau
say whatever it is u need
i trust
after seeing u 4 all of 3 minutes -
ur soul is in the right place
ur aim is 2 enlighten
not debase
as is mine
peace out
rosie o’donnell - plus sized lesbian
And while Rosie could have taken a little more time to say, compose a more thoughtful letter or use a spellchecker, she obviously understood the gravity of her racist remark and defensive response to that remark, and apologized for it.
So, can we, as individuals that comprise this online community, take it upon ourselves to make it our RESPONSIBILITY and our priority to use the tools of modern communication be critical, analytical and to challenge the main-stream norm? Let's see to it that we all employ the resources available to us, as Beau Sia has done, in order to earn our Person of the Year title.
