I love Fall for many reasons, one being, that on a chilly evening, I can build a roaring fire on my patio, sit in my sweats, and write whats on my mind. Another main reason I love Fall, is the new tv shows that air. I get very excited to DVR all the new shows that I find interesting. I take the time to go through every new show and see what great show I might fall in love with. I can't wait to find another gem among them, such as Scandal, The Middle, How to Get Away With Murder and many others. This year, I decided that a show called "Scream Queens" might be a show that Melissa and I would finally watch together. We don't usually watch the same shows and I know how much Melissa loved Glee, and being that this show was written by the same people, I thought just maybe with a little mystery and some humor, we could find one that we both enjoyed.
So the day comes and we sit down with pure excitement to watch our new show that we will possibly both love together....that Tuesday night when we will look forward to cuddling on the couch and watching "Scream Queens". Boy, was I WAY wrong! We made it about a half hour. It was appaling. Melissa said it was depressing. Depressing, because of the message this show is sending our youth at 8 P.M. on a Tuesday night.
For those of you that don't know the premise of the show, its about a sorority that has a President who is named Chanel. She has little minions, who don't have identities, but names such as Chanel 1, Chanel 2, etc. In the opening minutes, Chanel berates the maid of the sorority. "That obese speciman of filth scrubbing bulemia vomit out of the carpet is Ms. Bean. I call her 'white mammy' because she's essentially a house slave." That's what we want our youth hearing? Not only hearing, but thinking its appropriate to say about someone? Of course, the rich, popular Chanel, who everyone strives to become lives on cruelty towards others to benefit herself and all people who she feels are worthy.
The President of the college demands that Chanel open her sorority house to everyone, even the fatties and ethnics. Seriously?
Its been a few weeks since I sat through the longest half hour of my life and I still can't seem to get over it. I can't for the life of me figure out why as a society we think that this type of behavior is "normal" and appropriate. Its Homecoming time around this area for High Schools. So many young kids getting ready for a big dance, being voted onto court, and all the various activities that go along with it, but yet, there are those kids out there, that are still made to feel like they aren't cool enough, or have the right bodies. They are still standing on the sidelines wondering why their lives aren't different. They have been beat down so often, that they feel their only way out is to retaliate. So they make a bomb, or bring a gun to school, because they want payback, they want the others to know they exist. This happens all too often. It happened the other day, just this week at North Royalton HS. There was a bomb scare. The whole school evacuates and sits in the bleachers. Parents, teachers, students all frightened, wondering if today is the day their life is going to change. It does change, no one was hurt, no bomb went off ..... today..... but homecoming activities were cancelled. Was this bomb scare because someone didn't make homecoming court and they are mad? Did they get what they wanted by this scare? Is this what we send our kids off to school to live through?
There are a world of teachers out there working our asses off to teach children to be respectful, kind, and loving. We work hard every moment to teach our youth that hate is unacceptable. We do the best we can to stop bullying and to help every child to be their best selves. Yet, they go home and are taught something the opposite. They watch shows like Scream Queens and they think that's what you do to people to get what you want. Humiliation and hate become their world. What they need to be taught instead is compassion, acceptance and love. We need to work together, media, parents and teachers to help the youth become better than those before them. If we don't do something soon, together, hate, humiliation and violence will become our new normal, if it hasn't already. It will become acceptable and normal to have bomb scares at school and to humiliate those around you to better yourself in the world. I don't want to live in that world or teach in that school. I don't want that life to be normal.....Do you?
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