School Dance Article

School Dance Article

Betsy Hart's article is talking about how teenage dances have been out of control in the past years. Teenagers are teenagers and they will do at dances what they want to do. Dancing has changed over the years from conservative to very outgoing. School dances are a place where teenagers get to be around their friends and should be able to dance how they want to a certain extent. The problem is that when teenagers are punished for the way they are dancing, they want to dance that way again even more. Modern dancing is considered sexual behavior when it is really just a way of having fun.

Betsy Hart uses many rhetorical questions in her article. She asks "If the '$400 dress girl' had been sexually assaulted in the parking lot after the festivities because the dance wasn't a 'dud,' would her mom be happy, or suing the school? " This question emphasizes her point because it points out occurrances that could happen due to the lack of control during the dances. She is trying to show that the outrageous behavior within the dances could lead to major problems outside of the dance.

Don Imus Article

Don Imus Article written by Laureen Stiller Rikleen

I completely agree with what Laureen Stiller Rikleen says in her article about Don Imus. What he said was completely wrong, but he did not make excuses for what he said and took the punishment that was given to him. Other people have made remarks that have been much worse than the comments that Imus has made.

The comment that stands out to me the most is Bill O'Reilly's comment. He suggested that African-Americans eating peacefully in a restaurant was an extraordinary event. To go unpunished for that comment, after Imus, who has been banned since April and was taken off the air immediately, is completely absurd. It was the correct thing to punish Imus for what he said, but to let others get away with stating comments that have almost the exact same intentions is completely hypocritical. What both men said were offensive and demoralizing to the opposite race. One man should not be able to get away with a completely inappropriate comment while another was banned from the radio for nearly eight months. Bill O'Reilly escaped his turmoil with little media coverage, but his comment brought up the issue, and all people unfairly turn to Imus when they heard of racial discrimination.

America supposedly has freedom of speech and the press, but yet one man is punished for what he says while another man who says nearly the same thing gets off spot-free. Yes, the comments made were outrageous and deserved punishment, but punishment can't be placed on one and not another. Hypocrisy is a wicked thing, and this example is a perfect showing of hypocrisy.