WILL.I.AM's comment on Einstein

[jee7s]

Originally Posted by mrnoble

Sure, let's do. Are you allowing females on to your team? If yes, you are offending a significant portion of some cultures. Are you allowing students to work on Saturdays? Again, same issue. Do you happen to believe and teach that science advances humanity, and that we should embrace scientific pursuit? Does this include issues like the age of the earth, or the theory of evolution?...

Consider what is necessary to reach the population you are alluding to. It's not an easy one to reach. And dropping an f-bomb on your biggest stage is vinegar, not honey.

You'll note from my location tag above that I live in Texas. This is the state where government has mandated that students in pubic schools must be taught both evolution and intelligent design. And then they are tested on both on a state standardized test that they must pass to graduate high school. You appear to feel you have a difficult situation with your team in the environment you teach in. Consider Texas, a state where there are significant poverty and drug problems among a population that has one of the highest number of places of worship per capita in the world.

Look, I teach in an urban environment, and the last thing I want to do is put a stumbling block in the way of my students. Cuss words are not a stumbling block here. Maybe they are where your team is.

They are. On my old team in the northeastern US, I would curse all the time as a mentor and no one really cared. It took all of one occurrence of me saying "hell" for me to be pulled aside and admonished by my teacher counterparts here in Texas. It was unacceptable and inappropriate. With the underserved, poor, and mostly minority population of the school it was essential for the teachers and mentors to be role models from the professional world. To do otherwise was a disservice to the students.

...But FIRST probably wants to reach urban kids, and this was speaking their language. So I'm down with it. Sorry you're not.

QED.

[BRAVESaj25bd8]

I have two views on this, which are contradictory to one another.

First, I don't think I would have used Will's words if I was in that situation. I think if I had young children, I would not have wanted them to hear those words. Will's passion spilled over and he cursed because that phrase was the best one he could think of to capture his emotions at the time. Whenever I hear children curse, it is just for the sake of cursing. Until people have the maturity to know the difference, I don't see a need to use profanity.

The other view I have is that while I would not have used Will's words, I don't think I have a right to tell him how to speak. Maybe I do, but why should he listen? He's an adult who understands actions have consequences. He seems to have done a decent job with his life up to this point without me handling his PR.

Finally, for the people talking about "kids in the audience", I see two sides. If you are the parent/guardian of a child who heard this, it's an unfortunate situation. Sorry for the uncomfortable conversation you may need to have with that child. If you are not a parent/guardian, please stop. You are not defending a group who cannot defend themselves, you are just picking a fight.

This conversation is such a train wreck.

[mrnoble]

Thanks for a thorough response. I agree that it is enormously difficult to reach the particular group you are concerned about with FIRST, really with many things. Like you, I've got ties to places and groups that are very divergent. My brother is an evangelical pastor in the Dallas area, and I worked as a Baptist minister for almost a decade before becoming a teacher. So I get it. Any large organization is going to struggle a lot when dealing with very different community standards.

Originally Posted by jee7s

You appear to feel you have a difficult situation with your team in the environment you teach in.

Not at all, I feel very supported.

[dirtbikerxz]

Originally Posted by ayeckley

Agreed that people do that, but it sounds like you are saying that swearing on the internet (i.e. on Chief Delphi) is taboo, but swearing IRL (i.e. on stage at CMP) is not? My experience has been the opposite.

By will swearing in real life you could see that his expressions and other cues, and easily tell that he meant no offense.... you can't do that on the internet

[rick.oliver]

While I appreciated the passion which he intended to convey, I found the words offensive and totally inappropriate.

It is a reflection of the culture which exists and which FIRST is trying to influence. There was nothing gracious nor professional about the comment.

Hopefully, he was confronted about the disrespectful language and will learn and mature from the experience.

I doubt that we'll hear it, but I think that a formal apology would be appropriate.

[dodar]

Originally Posted by ayeckley

Agreed that people do that, but it sounds like you are saying that swearing on the internet (i.e. on Chief Delphi) is taboo, but swearing IRL (i.e. on stage at CMP) is not? My experience has been the opposite.

No, the rule is on CD because this is the internet. You act with reckless abandon in front of a computer screen, whereas, people have reserve in real life.

[marshall]

Originally Posted by dodar

No, the rule is on CD because this is the internet. You act with reckless abandon in front of a computer screen, whereas, people have reserve in real life.

It's true. Penny Arcade coined a term for it that is definitely not safe for this thread but those interested can use Google to look up "Penny Arcade Greater Internet Theory".

[Anthony Galea]

Just so everyone knows, Will.i.am has apologized today in a tweet.

https://twitter.com/iamwill/status/727794531219951617

[dirtbikerxz]

Originally Posted by 3175student17

Just so everyone knows, Will.i.am has apologized today in a tweet.

https://twitter.com/iamwill/status/727794531219951617

I honestly wish he hadn't, but he does handle it gracefully.

[rick.oliver]

Originally Posted by 3175student17

Just so everyone knows, Will.i.am has apologized today in a tweet.

https://twitter.com/iamwill/status/727794531219951617

Thanks for sharing. The very gracious, professional and courageous thing to do. Personally, very much appreciated. Well done, Will.i.am!

[pfreivald]

Nobody's going to be scarred for life having heard Sir Will.i.am Blackeye of Pease's coarse language during the robojoust. He shouldn't have said it, the language was inappropriate for the venue, the passion was genuine, and it probably won't happen again.

This is known as a "mistake," and we all make them. Usually quite a few of them a day, well more than we'd like to admit in public.

This particular mistake can be used as a teaching tool--I often tell my students that I don't care whether or not they swear, but I care whether or not they have the ability to turn it off when they need to [One of the larger employers hereabouts will fire you for cursing on the first offense, no matter how long you've worked there. And they're not even a customer service-heavy company]. Because it is my role as a teacher to help them learn the lessons that they need to learn in life, it is therefore inappropriate to swear _in my presence_ and will be treated as a violation of the rules. Not because I personally care--I really, really don't***--but because the skill (both in terms of knowing when not to swear, and being able to turn on the swear filter between brain and mouth) is a good one to learn.

When Sir Will.i.am exhibited a poor mastery level of this particular skill it became a teaching moment as well as an expression of passion, rather than just an expression of passion. It shouldn't have happened and steps should be taken to keep it from happening again, but when it comes to the seething reactions I've seen here and elsewhere, I'll just say the same thing I tell my team members and/or students when something unfortunate happens:

We're all going to die. But probably not today, and probably not from this. There are bigger things to worry about.



***[Keep in mind that the above is coming from a person who learned the "c" word from his mother at a very young age, dropped an "f" bomb at his kindergarten teacher during the first week of school, uses what some people consider swear words ("hell" and "d**m" and sometimes "pissed off") in his classroom without a second thought and has done so for many years because he doesn't consider them swear words, and on some very late nights due to minor injury or incredible frustration has sworn in front of his team--usually at a computer or robot, never at or about a person.]

[JeffB]

Originally Posted by Taylor

It is possible to provide a counterpoint without attacking the person.

Perhaps in a non-election year we can remember how to do that.

That was exactly my point. The posts you're suggesting are attacks are merely counterpoints. It's shameful to suggest they aren't being civil because they offer a counterpoint.

[TehSwegGey]

Peace is a thing we appreciate, or at least we should. Some will take WILL.I.AM's comments for what they were to him [A Passionate Response] And others will take them for what they seem to others [An offscript remark filled with not-so-clean language]. Nonetheless, nothing we do here is going to change anyone's mind. To the build room!

[Mr. Jeff]

Peace my friends,

Thanks to everyone for their sacrifices in making this a better world.

Mr. Jeff, "Out"

My comments do not reflect the opinion of my team

[techhelpbb]

Originally Posted by pfreivald

We're all going to die. But probably not today, and probably not from this. There are bigger things to worry about.

I plan on transplanting my consciousness into a bending unit.
So speak for yourselves.