Guest Speaker Justified?

[moeburn]

The second is this letter I wrote to Maddox asking for help on the situation, but I figured I'd have better luck with you guys.

A guest speaker recently came to our school on the subject of pirating music. To make a long story short, it got way out of hand, hardly any of the kids in the audience were listening, calling out stupid obscenities, or being just plain rude. Finally the speaker told the kids to “shut the f*ck up!”. I was thrilled! A guest speaker who has the guts to shut these kids up and discipline them!

Well after the speeches on “why pirating music is wrong” were over, she invited kids to use the microphones planted in the aisles to express their opinions on the subject. A few did, and they were given rather harsh but acceptable responses from the speaker.

Finally, one girl stood up, flicked her blond hair, adjusted her glasses, strutted over to the mic, and spoke in an “I’m better than you” accent. She basically asked the question “Maybe I should pirate music, after all, half the money I spend on it goes to supporting degrading and sexually explicit music videos.”. The audience of course cheered, in favor of what she said. What this young girl had neglected to listen to, was that this guest speaker was involved in designing pop music videos, the ones that she just devalued.

So the speaker, who had been listening to rude kids calling her a "stupid b*tch" for an hour, had 5 seconds to respond, and just had her occupation attacked and degraded, responded “Maybe you should get a shirt that shows less cleavage." I laughed, the audience gasped and laughed. The young girl cried, ran out the room and slammed the door.

Now the problem is, a lot of people are going to write letters to the organization that the guest speaker was involved in. I know for a fact that most of the letters will be on the side of the young girl, but I really admire the courage and discipline of the guest speaker. I fear her losing her job over something that needed to be done.

I need your help explaining to these kids how what the guest speaker did was justified, if not right.

[zachman123]

That's hilarious (needs to be posted in jokes and funny stuff :D)

That's some courage for the girl as well as the speaker though.

[.will]

i dont think that what the guest speaker did was justified or right. not im not saying the young girl is right, but the guest speaker should not have personally attacked the young girl.'

just my two cents.

[Deaf Spacker]

The guest speaker should not have personally attacked the girl as .will said, after all... From what you have said I dont think the girl personally attacked the speaker.

[A.K.R.]

Firstly, the young girl was absolutely defiant when she went against the speaker. Secondly, the young girl, together with the rest of the children, was wrong in the first place for being so rude to the speaker. Thirdly, the young girl asked for it herself when she replied, rudely to the speaker, that "Maybe I should pirate music, after all, half the money I spend on it goes to supporting degrading and sexually explicit music videos.".

I let you build your opinion from the analaysis I have made.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

I dont think the speaker should have done that, the girl wasnt saying anything about her, she was only saying that most of the videos being made are sexually explicit, but the speaker personally attacked her, yes she was receiving a lot of abuse, but she still shouldn't lashout at people at that, by doing that job, she was being the human face of the company she represented, she should have thought before she said anything.

also, wtf does the title of this thread have to do with the content?

[Colin-uk Veteran]

I would probably side with the girl on this one, she didnt say anything about the Guest's appearance..

[RGSPro]

I don't think its right to ever show disrespect to adults, unless they are wrong. Technically downloading music is stealing, but I have mixed views and think that the money made by recording studios far outweighs the casual downloader who just wants some singles. What the girl said is true, but obciously disrespectful.

[filter04]

how is what she said disrespectful ? she was asked to express her opinion, and then the guest speaker simply steps aside the issue with some lame ass retort. what kind of a guest speaker is that ? a crap one, thats what. you would have to be extremely naive to go to a high school thinking that kids are going to listen to you about why d/ling music is wrong.

Edited October 1, 2004 by filter04

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

Your right, she did ask for there opinions on the subject, the speaker should not have come back with a personal attack.

[dablitz]

the speaker is wrong, a personal attack on the girl was not warrented !!

[+orgitnized Subscriber¹]

Snot? Anyways, (I agree) the personal attack wasn't warranted. Also, your side of the story is simply your version. I'm not saying it's wrong at all. I'm just saying that in a situation like this, people in your school are going to have differing opinions on how this all went down.

There's never a time when a speaker needs to come in to talk about something impersonal and then make it personal. It also sounds like this speaker was a bit too daring and just took it too far. (Is this at a college?)

The situation should have been controlled by administrators before it ever got the point of having a speaker yell obscenities to get students to shut up. That is immediately wrong for a speaker to do. I can't think of a better way to lose an entire audience than to say something as stupid as that. Here, let me talk to you guys on this pirating music (which is already controversial) - by the way STFU! Walking into an auditorium with kids, the speaker should have realized this is bound to happen and should govern herself in a much better way than telling kids to STFU. That's just stupid to me. You lost all credibility you once might have had by saying that. Leave it to the kids to get ****ed. The speaker needs to hold onto something, called composure and credibility.

Hi, I'm here to talk with you about pirating music today? What, you don't like it!? STFU! :rolleyes:

I still can't help but think in the back of my head (on your last part) about the last comments. The girl student said she was down with making those "degrading and sexually explicit videos" yet sounded to have on some revealing clothing. Hmmm...wouldn't this be the pot calling the kettle black? I think (honestly) if I was the speaker I would have had a hard time NOT making that comment. That's like an animal rights activist standing up at a protest with a mink coat on. :rolleyes: I mean, gimme a break.

The student shouldn't have said anything along those lines if she was wearing anything that could even remotely be considered revealing. It almost seemed like it was the student's chance to be cool and she blew it. So now, instead of her being remembered for her heroic comment, she's remembered by running out and crying. :rolleyes:

[er0n]

I thought this was going to be about snot :crazy:

[....]

Sorry, but the guest speaker deserves to be fired. You don't come in and return an attack on a teenager. That shows how incredibly mindless you are.

As a guest speaker you represent not yourself, but the entire company or organization you support. She discredited all in her actions.

[Aaron Veteran]

Sorry, but the guest speaker deserves to be fired. You don't come in and return an attack on a teenager. That shows how incredibly mindless you are.

As a guest speaker you represent not yourself, but the entire company or organization you support. She discredited all in her actions.

Justified, sure she was. SHOULD she have done it, obviously "no".

[moeburn]

Alright, who the hell edited my message title? I thought that the person speaking was being a little snot.

[empty]

how is what she said disrespectful ? she was asked to express her opinion, and then the guest speaker simply steps aside the issue with some lame ass retort. what kind of a guest speaker is that ? a crap one, thats what. you would have to be extremely naive to go to a high school thinking that kids are going to listen to you about why d/ling music is wrong.

bingo. i dont think you ever pay attention to lectures in high school, espiecally ones as irrelevant as music sharing. The girl was asked for her opinion, she complied, she got insulted. Wheres the fairness?