Duke Students Lead 'You Don't Say' Campaign Against Commonly Used, Inherently Offensive Phrases
ByDuke's "You don't say" campaign, in which students state in bold print why they don't say commonly used (or misused) phrases that are inherently offensive, feels, at first glance, slightly behind the times. In 2011 when Suns president and CEO announced he was gay, the team and Grant Hill ran a similar campaign focused on the saying "that's so gay." Duke highlights that word combination and others in their strangely timed campaign. Aren't college kids already aware of the gravity of such phrases?
'"Think Before You Talk is a wonderful example of a student-lead initiative to engage everyone to be active bystander interveners," said Vice President of Student Affairs Larry Moneta. "While difficult to measure, the frequency with which I hear students talk about this suggests to me great adoption by our students...and that makes me very proud."'
Upon closer inspection, the idea put forth and executed by Duke students still isn't startling original, but it was a job well done. The campaign posters are catchy and smartly constructed. They feature a picture of a student with the lead, "I don't say..." and then a description or example why the phrase is offensive. A few examples:
"I don't say 'fag' because it only serves to hurt and oppress homosexual men."
"I don't say 'man up' because the strongest people I know have cried in front of me, regardless of their age, gender, or sex."
"I don't say 'no homo' because it limits the ways we express kindness to others and disfigures the kindness of an entire group of people."
"I don't say 'that's so gay' because the words gay & stupid are not interchangeable."
"I don't say 'don't be a pussy' because it implies that having a certain body feature is indicative of being a coward."
They might also want to add, "You don't say the 'things LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling