I'm protesting the widespread abuse of the word "gentleman." Newscasters are the worst offenders. To cite a few examples, I heard one just today say something to the effect of, "The gentleman chased the victim into the alley and shot him 5 times." Excuse me, but gentlemen don't chase people down and shoot them.
I hear that misnomer a lot in high-profile cases. I've heard the likes of Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Danny Rolling referred to by news commentators as "gentlemen."
How often have I heard somebody on TV talking about how "the gentleman broke into her house through a rear window, raped her repeatedly, and then strangled her?" Sorry, he was no gentleman and I find that offensive.
News people need to get a clue. Rapists, murderers, robbers, pornographers, child molesters, gangbangers, etc., are not gentlemen. Either refer to them by their given names or call them simply "the man." Or the robber or the killer. When a man of that caliber does what he does, he forfeits any claim to the title "gentleman." Declining to designate every single living male a gentleman is not violating Political Correctness. Get it right. Gentlemen don't rob, rape, or kill.
16 comments:
I totally agree, these guys are barely human let alone, 'gentlemen'......The good thing is, when they meet their maker, he will not be calling them gentlemen.......Or in Eilleen Wohrnos case, gentlewoman.....
You're right, of course. I've heard her referred to as a "lady." She was no lady. You don't hear as much about high-profile female criminals, but I should have specified that women who rob, kill, etc., don't deserve to be called ladies.
I thought the movie about her, humanized her too much....She was serial killer, and she even admitted none of them raped or beat her......They made a movie using her false story as the template.....
A lot of the time when they make movies about these people, they take a lot of poetic license. I don't know why Hollywood thinks it needs to make serial killers more "appealing."
"Hero" is another over used term. I do not mean to sound cold, but not everyone who died on 9/11 were heroes. 3000 were victims. The heroes were the ones rushing into a burning building to save people.
It is a side effect of PC unless "gentleman" was sarcastic.
Henry was a well done movie about serial killers. He was never once shown as anything less than a monster. I still cannot see Michael Rooker (sp?)
I'm not familiar with either of those movies, Kan.
Henry is about as gut churning a movie as has ever been made.....Rooker WAS Henry Lee Lucas...
These are some very good points - in your posts and those made by the commenters as well-
A pet peeve of mine is when they refer to "Alleged" murderers or thieves or perpetrators in general when then there is undeniable proof of their guilt, i.e. videos.
Innocent until proven guily? Not when they are captured on camera or commit the crimes out in the open in front of many witnesses.
Alleged is commonly used to prevent any lawsuits. Just incase the "alleged" is really innocent.
They are just protecting their interest or own ass-which ever you prefer.
What gets me is when one of the talking heads reports from a murder trial about the "alleged" murder. Not the murderer; the murder itself. Let's say the victim was shot, stabbed, bludgeoned, drowned, and then given a do-it-yourself cremation. He was murdered. There's nothing "alleged" about it.
right on!
Hi, Sarah, and thanks.:)
I've heard an explanation for what a gentleman is, but it's not appropriate to put it in writing.
Oh, come now, Steve -- you can't just throw out a statement like that and not expound on it. What have you heard about gentlemen?:)
Daaaamn! What channel are you watching? Where I live, they call them "alleged" rapists, robbers, etc. Once they've gone to trial, they call them inmates.
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