In the past week, news came out that people are angered at the new Florida Business logo for using a tie as the “I” in the word “Florida.” In the past two weeks, people were angered by 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver’s anti-gay comments. In the past month, people were angered by the NECA toy company for making dolls based on the popular film “Django Unchained” because they were “slave dolls” and inherently racist.
Huh? What we’re talking about here is a cartoon logo of a tie, an ignorant football player and a toy company making dolls from a movie that has made over $300 million worldwide. I can’t stress this enough: I am not here to make fun of feminism, homophobia or racism. I am here to tell people to pick their battles more wisely. All of these efforts are important, and we need strong leaders at the helm to make change. But are we so bored as a society that we’ll take offense at anything?
Listen, we all get upset from time to time, rationally or irrationally. Over the Super Bowl I got an email from a coupon company with the subject line of: “Ray Lewis would kill for this deal.” I was so distraught by this subject line that I emailed the service back voicing my displeasure. But here’s the thing, I have no right to be upset. I don’t know Ray Lewis personally; I don’t know whether he did or did not commit the crime (for those who don’t know, Ray Lewis was in court for a double-murder in 2000; he was sentenced to 12 months probation for obstruction of justice and that’s all). I’m not even a Ravens fan. However, that joke, to me, went over the line. In retrospect, it was kinda funny.
But I took offense to something so insignificant that I wasted time sending an appropriate email response (just kidding; it just said, “That’s fucked up”) when I could’ve been making my famed taco dip. Is it really worth your time, citizens of Florida, to attack the new Florida Business logo (which was designed by a woman, by the way)?
I get it. America is a nation built upon the right to protest. If we don’t like something, we say something. It’s in our nature to rebel and to make sure everyone has fair rights. But at some point shouldn’t we reflect on what we’re looking at and say, “This is really silly.”
Here are some simple solutions to your problems: People don’t like the fact that a tie is in the logo, then women should start wearing ties. People don’t like the fact that Chris Culliver said anti-gay comments—Chris Culliver is a dope—then they should cheer for the Baltimore Ravens (more on this in a second). People who don’t like dolls based upon “Django Unchained,” then don’t support the movie and the company that makes the dolls—don’t buy the dolls. Just so everyone knows, NECA stopped production of these dolls after they made 1,000 of them. As a result, the dolls went from costing $80 to now costing $400. Because of this overreaction, the dolls are now a collectible, making them even more valuable.
Instead of finding offense in everything, we should look for the good and support that. Brendon Ayanbadejo is a linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens, is 36 years old, married to a woman and is an adamant supporter of the NOH8 Campaign. Guys like Ayanbadejo and Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe are all over the NFL, but instead we focus on the one guy that angers everyone. Ayanbadejo and Kluwe are heroes to the LGBT campaign.
Complain when the issue is important. Is it outrageous that women still only get paid 77.4 percent as much as men? Yes. Is it outrageous that gay men and women still cannot get married? Yes. Is it outrageous that nine out of 10 stop-and-frisks in New York City are done to minorities? Yes. Is it an inane issue that a logo has a tie on it, an NFL player is anti-gay and toys made for a movie are inherently racist? Absolutely.
People, pick your battles because if you nitpick at every little thing that annoys you, nothing real will ever get done. However, you can protest my article because this wasn’t very funny.
What are your thoughts on these topics? What events should people care about? Not care about? Tell Voloshin about it at mvoloshin@wisc.edu.
