Media and Angry Outbursts

Since the beginning of our country’s independence, freedom of speech has proven essential to the growth and stability of our nation (with things like the Alien and Sedition Acts receiving particularly negative attention). Recently, however, an issue of freedom of speech has become a nationwide debate, leaving many people wondering, “How far is too far?”

The issue concerns Natalie Munroe, an honors English teacher at a public high school in Pennsylvania. Using her blog, she wrote nasty things about her students, like calling them “utterly loathsome” and “dim.” When asked about her choice of words, she claimed that “the truth hurts” and refused to apologize for what she’d said. She also insisted that since she had not used her own name (she called herself “Natalie M” on her blog) she had not done anything wrong.

When I first read this story online, I was surprised to see the amount of comments other readers posted. Some supported Munroe, others blasted her. It then occurred to me that this writer put this story on the Internet to encourage other people to weigh in on it. After seeing this, I wondered if the media encourages angry outbursts like this.

It can’t be a huge surprise, right? The American people love a comeback kid, but we love it even more if we can tear him down. We like to feel that even if we aren’t too bright, we’re still smarter than the couple who got divorced after 132 days. We have more self-control than the guy who punches the paparazzi. We have more common sense than the beauty pageant girl.

But do we? If our only thrill is finding the faults in others and exploiting them, maybe we need to figure out the qualities we have that make us individually special. We don’t need to compare ourselves to the people in the tabloids by the checkout counter in the grocery store. Everyone has insecurities. Maybe it isn’t your temper, but you have lust. Maybe you’re happy in your marriage, but lying is a problem for you. If we are willing to stop seeing other people and ourselves as only their imperfections, then we’re getting somewhere.

Munroe’s story should remind us the people that we are. We want a big controversial story, so we can slam this person to the ground. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think we can be better than that.

Do you?