LET’S INSIST ON BEING CIVILIZED, RESPECTFUL, AND HONORABLE

On the subject of First Lady Michelle Obama’s statement...
Photo Courtesy: Simon Davis/DFID

Hilbert Morales/EL OBSERVADOR

Mainstream TV media executive and producers need to begin transmitting program materials which are not as despicable and salacious as those recently presented which display Trump’s total disregard for women. Many adults, especially parents need to turn off the TV when their children are watching because children continuously learn from their adult role models, especially parents and peers. “How often have you heard a parent say, “Where did you learn that language” to a child who begins to use derogatory & vulgar terms? Kids learn by hearing and seeing what adults do and say to each other. Over time they learn ‘what is right and wrong’.

This current “Presidential campaign” is not “presidential” at all. It is time that those who plan campaign activities, and especially those who advise their candidate, especially Trump, insist that they clean up their act; begin to speak to the many public policy issues which have not been presented nor debated at all. We, the People, must insist upon a much higher and civilized standard of adult behavior…the kind we would want our children to emulate.

Commentator Rachel Maddow (MSNBC TV, 10.13.16) made it a point to broadcast the entire commentary which First Lady Michelle Obama made at a campaign rally in North Carolina. Michelle said, “I am going to get a little serious here because we can all agree that this has been a rough week in an already rough election. This week has been particular interesting for me personally because it has been a week of confirmed contrasts. On Tuesday, at the White House, we celebrated the International Day of the Girls”. A wonderful event; probably the last one I will do as the First Lady for ‘Let Girls Learn”. I had the pleasure of talking to some of the most amazing young women you will ever meet from here and all around the world. I walked away uplifted. That was Tuesday, and now here I am out on the campaign trail in an election where we have been consistently hearing personal hateful language about women. Language that has been painful for so many of us. Not just as women, but as parents trying to protect our children and raise them to be caring and respectful adults. And be the (adult) citizens who think our nation’s leaders should meet basic standards of human decency,”

“The fact is that in this election we have a candidate for President of the United States, who in the course of his lifetime and in the course of this (election) campaign, has said things about women that are so shocking; so demeaning that I simply will not repeat any here today. Last week we saw (a video) of this candidate actually bragging about assaulting women. I cannot believe that I cannot stop thinking about this. It has shaken me to my core which I could not have predicted. While I would love nothing more than to pretend that this is not happening; to come out here an do my normal campaign speech, it would be dishonest and disingenuous for me to move on to the next thing pretending that all this is not happening; that it is a bad dream. It cannot be ignored nor swept under the rug as another disturbing footnote in another election season. Because this was not just a lewd conversation; it was not locker room banter; this was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about (his own) sexually predatory behavior. Actually bragging about kissing and groping women using language so obscene that many of us were worried about our children hearing it when we turn on our TV. And to make matters worse, it now seems very clear that this was not an isolated incident. It is one of countless examples of how he has treated women his whole life. And I have to tell you that I listened to all this. I feel it so personally. I am sure that you do too, particularly (us) women. The shameful comments about our bodies; the disrespect about our ambitions and intellect with the belief that he can do anything he wants to a woman! It is cruel; it is just frighting…and the truth is that it hurts. It just hurts. It is just like that sick stinking feeling that (women) get when they walk down the street, minding their own business, and some guy yells out some vulgar words about your body. Or you see that guy at work who stands a little too close; stares a little too long; and makes you feel uncomfortable in your own skin. It is that feeling of terror and violation which too many women have felt when someone has groped them or forced themselves on them when they said NO. But he did not listen. Something that we know which happens on college campuses and so many other places every single day. It reminds us of stories that we have heard from our mothers and grandmothers about how “back in their days” the boss could say and do whatever he pleased wherever they were (at work) even though they worked so hard, jumped over every hurdle to prove themselves; it was never enough. We thought all of that was ancient history, didn’t we? And so many have worked for so many years to end this kind of violence, abuse, and disrespect, but here we are! It’s 2016 and we hear the very same things on the campaign trail. WE ARE DROWNING IN IT. And all of us women are doing what we have always done…We are trying to keep our heads above water just trying to ‘get through it’. Trying to pretend that this really does not bother us. Maybe because we think that admitting how much it hurts makes us as women look weak. Maybe we are afraid to be that vulnerable. Maybe we have become accustomed to swallowing emotions and staying quiet because we have seen that people will not take our word over his. Or maybe we do not want to believe that there are people out there who think so little of us as women. Too many are dreaming that this is just another day in life. As if our outrage is overblown or unworthy. Is this normal politics as usual.”

“Let me be very clear: This is not normal! This is not how it gets to be real. This is disgraceful; it is intolerable. It does not matter which party you belong to; Republican, Democrat or Independent..,no woman deserves to be treated this way. None of us deserve this kind of attention. I know that this is a campaign…but this is not about politics. It is about basic human decency. It is about ‘RIGHT AND WRONG’…and we simply cannot endure this or expose our children to this any longer. NOT

FOR ANOTHER MINUTE LET ALONE FOR FOUR YEARS! NOW IS THE TIME FOR MANY OF US TO STAND UP AND SAY ‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’. This has got to stop right now. Consider this: If all this is painful to us as grown women, what do you think it is doing to our children? What messages are our little girls hearing about how they should look like and how they should act? What lessons are they learning about values as professionals; as human beings? About their dreams and aspirations? How is this affecting men and boys in this country? I can tell you that the men in my life do not talk this way about women like this. And I know that my family is not unusual. And this mischievous ‘locker room talk’ is an insult to decent men everywhere. The men that you and I know are decent men who do not treat women this way. They are loving fathers who are sickened by the thought of their daughters being exposed to this type of vicious language about women. They are husbands, fathers, bothers and sons who do not tolerate their women being badly treated, demeaned, and disrespected. And, like us, these men are worried about the impact this election is having on our boys who are looking for a role model who knows what it means to be a MAN. Let’s be very clear: Strong men. Who are truly role models, do not have to put their women down to make themselves feel powerful.”

“People who are truly strong, lift others up. People who are truly powerful bring others together. That is what we truly need in our next President. We need someone who is a uniting force in this county. We need someone who will heal the wounds that divide us; Someone who truly cares about us and our children; Someone with the strength and compassion to lead this nation forward. Let me tell you, I believe with all of my heart that Hillary Clinton will be that President. In brief, we all know that if we let Hillary’s opponent win this election, we are sending a very clear message to out kids that everything they are hearing and seeing is perfectly O.K. We are validating it; endorsing it; We are telling our sons that it is perfectly O.K. to humiliate women. We are telling our daughters that this is the way we (women) deserve to be treated. We are telling our children that bigotry and bullying are perfectly acceptable in this county. Is that what we want for our children? And remember, we will not be accepting a bad example for our kids, but for the entire world. America has been a model for so long for countries across the globe, pushing them to educate their girls, insisting that their women have more rights; but if we have a president who routinely degrades women; who brags about sexually assaulting women; THEN HOW CAN AMERICA MAINTAIN ITS MORAL AUTHORITY IN THIS WORLD? HOW CAN AMERICA CONTINUE TO BE A BEACON OF FREEDOM AND JUSTICE AND HUMAN DIGNITY?”

“Fortunately, here is the beauty. We have everything to stop this madness. You see, while our mothers and grandmothers were often powerless to change their circumstances, today, we, as women, have all the power we need to determine the outcome of this (presidential) election. We have knowledge; we have a voice; we each have a vote on November 8th. We, as women; as Americans; as decent human beings; we can come together to declare that ‘enough is enough’. AND WE WILL NOT; WE DO NOT TOLERATE THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOR IN THIS COUNTRY. We can no longer allow ourselves to be self-destructive; shut off the TV and just walk away. And we can not just sit around wringing our hands. We need to recover from our shock and depression and do what (men and) women have always done in this country: roll up your sleeves; get to work; Remember that when they go low; WE GO HIGH! Yes, we do.”

This simple language statement delivered by First Lady Michelle Obama conveys much moral and ethical authority about WHAT IS RIGHT and ‘WHAT IS WRONG’ today. EO thanks her and will do its best to support real change…not only in the Office of the U.S. President, but also in the U.S. Congress, both its Senate and its House of Representatives. But then, that will only happen when more than 66% of America’s citizens…THE SILENT MAJORITY…actually express their moral, ethical and civic power with their votes this coming November 8, 2016.

Juntos lo hacemos con exito (Together we can successfully do it!) and “Mira! Si no nos cambiamos, nos quedamos en donde estamos hoy.” (Look…If we do not change, we stay where we are today).

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Rachel Maddow thanked her supervisors, especially MSNBC’s President, for setting aside advertising revenues in order to allow this Michelle Obama speech to be presented in its entirety without interruptions by commercials. EO also thanks them all at MSNBC.

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