Post by Heightism Report on Apr 27, 2017 20:30:15 GMT
It's extremely rare to see a letter to the editor in a newspaper about heightism, especially one that frames heightism as an issue that needs to be dealt with. This particular letter was recently in The Sentinel-Tribube, which is a newspaper in Bowling Green, Ohio. The short man who wrote it does a good job of pointing-out how short men get left-out of all social justice initiatives, and he cited the statistics about CEOs, the wage gaps, and mentioned Hollywood portrayals...Then, at the very end, he had to Garmin-it-up. Here's the letter.
www.sent-trib.com/opinion/please-don-t-forget-short-males-when-it-comes-time/article_829bfec4-1a02-11e7-9d8b-93ba1f22e8f4.html
To the Editor:
As I watch Bowling Green desperately try to prove to the world that we are inclusive, I ask our leaders not to forget short males. Heightism is a real form of discrimination that doesn’t get its due in today’s discourse about how unfair life is for certain groups of people.
Are you aware that short people earn 1.8 percent less income for every inch of height? Only 3 percent of CEOs are below 5 foot, 7 inches and 90 percent of are above-average height. Short people are seen as less intelligent despite no correlation between the two measures. Short males are often portrayed as the hapless losers or clowns in movies and television (George Costanza, Louie DePalma and Mini Me). And of course there’s the sociological relationship between height and perceived attractiveness. The list goes on and on.
So as the steady drumbeat of campus forums, guest lecturers, newspaper articles, marches, protests in the junior high green space, fake assaults and a city council resolution (or legislation — the Sentinel called it both) goes on, I ask you not to forget the obviously hated and unprotected class of short males. I must however give credit to the “Hate Has No Home Here” crew. You may think the slogan is written in five languages, but it is actually written in six. The signs are displayed low to the ground and we, the vertically burdened, appreciate the gesture.
Rob Martin
Bowling Green
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As most of you know, short men are indoctrinated with a compulsion to show that they're "one of the good ones" by offering themselves as a punchline to appease the status-quo.
For those who are new to anti-heightism dialogue and would like to know more about this phenomenon, read the following post
heightismhub.freeforums.net/thread/42/garmin
Anyway, the last thing we need in anti-heightism dialogue is more "humor." A substantial part of the issues we face are based-on the belief that our issues are humorous, and nothing is more humorous than a short man who is struggling to live a normal life. We are expected to always present ourselves as humorous, and are treated as agitators when we demand to be taken seriously. This is why the author of the above letter felt compelled to end the letter by making a joke at our expense. The rest of the letter covered extremely serious subject matter, but he totally derailed that train of thought by allowing the readers to retreat back into their indoctrination where they view short men as punchlines, and as punchlines only. This is to be expected from people who are full-on Garmins, but it's maddening when a short man who understands that we are granted second-class status falls into the trap of perpetuating the "short men and their issues are humorous" trope, especially when he does so while trying to educate people. I didn't put this in the Garmin forum because Mr Martin is challenging the status-quo by by educating people about heightism, but it's sad that he still feels the need to jingle the bells on his court jester hat in the end in-order to soothe the emotions of his masters who might've been uncomfortable by their layer of comfort being challenged. Don't do this, short men. We don't need more humor in the anti-heightism realm, what we need is people to get used to discussing heightism seriously, and we can't do that if we keep self-deprecating to the exact people who tell us that our role is to be whipping boys and punchlines.
www.sent-trib.com/opinion/please-don-t-forget-short-males-when-it-comes-time/article_829bfec4-1a02-11e7-9d8b-93ba1f22e8f4.html
To the Editor:
As I watch Bowling Green desperately try to prove to the world that we are inclusive, I ask our leaders not to forget short males. Heightism is a real form of discrimination that doesn’t get its due in today’s discourse about how unfair life is for certain groups of people.
Are you aware that short people earn 1.8 percent less income for every inch of height? Only 3 percent of CEOs are below 5 foot, 7 inches and 90 percent of are above-average height. Short people are seen as less intelligent despite no correlation between the two measures. Short males are often portrayed as the hapless losers or clowns in movies and television (George Costanza, Louie DePalma and Mini Me). And of course there’s the sociological relationship between height and perceived attractiveness. The list goes on and on.
So as the steady drumbeat of campus forums, guest lecturers, newspaper articles, marches, protests in the junior high green space, fake assaults and a city council resolution (or legislation — the Sentinel called it both) goes on, I ask you not to forget the obviously hated and unprotected class of short males. I must however give credit to the “Hate Has No Home Here” crew. You may think the slogan is written in five languages, but it is actually written in six. The signs are displayed low to the ground and we, the vertically burdened, appreciate the gesture.
Rob Martin
Bowling Green
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As most of you know, short men are indoctrinated with a compulsion to show that they're "one of the good ones" by offering themselves as a punchline to appease the status-quo.
For those who are new to anti-heightism dialogue and would like to know more about this phenomenon, read the following post
heightismhub.freeforums.net/thread/42/garmin
Anyway, the last thing we need in anti-heightism dialogue is more "humor." A substantial part of the issues we face are based-on the belief that our issues are humorous, and nothing is more humorous than a short man who is struggling to live a normal life. We are expected to always present ourselves as humorous, and are treated as agitators when we demand to be taken seriously. This is why the author of the above letter felt compelled to end the letter by making a joke at our expense. The rest of the letter covered extremely serious subject matter, but he totally derailed that train of thought by allowing the readers to retreat back into their indoctrination where they view short men as punchlines, and as punchlines only. This is to be expected from people who are full-on Garmins, but it's maddening when a short man who understands that we are granted second-class status falls into the trap of perpetuating the "short men and their issues are humorous" trope, especially when he does so while trying to educate people. I didn't put this in the Garmin forum because Mr Martin is challenging the status-quo by by educating people about heightism, but it's sad that he still feels the need to jingle the bells on his court jester hat in the end in-order to soothe the emotions of his masters who might've been uncomfortable by their layer of comfort being challenged. Don't do this, short men. We don't need more humor in the anti-heightism realm, what we need is people to get used to discussing heightism seriously, and we can't do that if we keep self-deprecating to the exact people who tell us that our role is to be whipping boys and punchlines.