Comedian Jimmy Kimmel who is known for humorous pranks, stunts, parody skits and monologues on the late night show, made a jest at the accent of the first lady of the United States while she was reading to young children at the annual Easter egg roll festival. Apparently, Kimmel's monologue did not sit quite well with American author Sean Hannity who called him out for his boorish behavior towards a woman who couldn't defend herself and he asked Kimmel to apologize to FLOTUS for his insensitivity. But instead, Kimmel hit back at Hannity and the current political tempo, describing it as some sort of circus with a burlesque that resorted to back and forth banters from both parties on their different tv shows which further extended into a vitriolic dialogue on social media.
This attracted various reactions from more people especially immigrants who had struggles subduing the lingering accent of their native or initial languages in the attempt to speak fluent English. Some detailed the extent to which the struggle to improve the quality of their vowel sound had led them in the attempt to overcome the stigma attached to having an accentuated accent.
Some others simply called him out for his incivility towards authority, demanding an apology from him.
If a monologue got Kimmel into trouble with conservatives and the accentuated population, the name calling vitriol dialogue between him and Hannity piqued him further into shenanigans when during the perversely heated belligerence, his gay joke at Hannity aroused the ire of the LGBT community who demanded an apology. It was followed succinctly with threats that resulted in a tendered apology from Kimmel to all parties nettled in the feud, thereby preventing a civil social media war.
The thing about war is that everyone knows when it starts but cannot predict how long the war would last. Some conflicts could have gone on for generations beyond the contempt that started it, if something wasn't done in time to curb it in the nib.
Many observers approve Kimmel for taking the moral high road of reconciliation rather than keep a "Hatfield and McCoy" type situation going. He was also recognized for refraining from adding incentives to the juicy news feed weighing from the attention this feud was generating on the traditional and social media platforms, blogs and vlogs.
Perhaps understanding that sometimes people simply want to feel good about the choices they make for themselves without being unfairly judged about their proclivities nor ostracized because of their lifestyle choices, could help in conflict resolution and bring about a greater camaraderie. According to Maya Angelou it is not what you say or do that matters but how you make people feel.
How different will our lives be if a parent talking to a child didn't monologue; If schools were more interactive when impacting knowledge;
If politicians instead of hammering down tough political points and agenda, employed the use of dialogue to focus on the process of exchanging ideas and building on ideas; Or in some cases instead of delivering speeches, interacted and genuinely exchanged ideas, what a huge difference that would make.
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