I had admired your directness and Diane's humility during the conversation you'd had about her words.  So now you've left me to wonder why you would not see the similarities between the two comments.  I refuse to believe that it's because, as a thin person, you can't understand the perspectives of the overweight—or take seriously the national epidemic of obesity  But I am thinking that if the implications of Diane's comment were so obvious to you, then the implications of your own should have been crystal clear too.

Please understand that I think the world of you... but I think this is a much broader issue in broadcasting.  Here's another example.  Shortly before the holidays, I believe it was a GMA weekend segment pit a “brain surgeon against a rocket scientist” in a race to see who could build a complicated children’s toy in under an hour.  One of the anchors.. not sure who... noted that the directions said that it should take several hours to build… “but those directions are for the community college set.”  (Apologies if I’ve mangled the quote, it was a few weeks ago.)  Was the host implying that community colleges do not produce brain surgeons or rocket scientists… or anyone capable of more easily handling complex tasks?  I do know that there are many fine doctors out there that began their educational journey this way, and once again, I do not believe that the comment was intended to offend-- in fact I think it was supposed to be humorous, but as an educator it made me wince.

There's a part of me that feels as though the general public needs to dial down our "offendability" meters a bit and give each other a break when it comes to colloquialisms, even though that leaves us to wonder where to draw the line.  But whether or not our casual conversation speaks volumes about our imbedded perspectives or biases, you folks are a national team of new broadcasters with a huge viewing audience.  I'm sorry, but you need to hold yourselves to a higher standard… especially if you are going to periodically tackle topics that challenge your viewers to do the same.  You cannot ignore the power you wield and the potential harm that you can cause when you speak casually to each other as if were are not there.  If you expect to make a difference, you must pay even closer attention to the content and subtext of all the language you use.  We really are listening to you.  Thanks for listening to me.

GSK