Chicago版 - Jerry Springer, Northwestern University, 2008 |
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发帖数: 6339 | 1 Jerry Talks Back
Controversial talk show host Jerry Springer gave the Commencement address to
the School of Law's 2008 graduates last May, despite the objections of some
students. Here's an edited transcript.
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I've been lucky enough to enjoy a comfortable measure of success in my
various careers, but let's be honest, I've been virtually everything you can
't respect: a lawyer, a mayor, a major market news anchor and a talk show
host. Pray for me. If I get to heaven, we're all going.
Let's assume that your prime discomfort with me is based on the ethics of
what I do for a living. Well, that's a fair question, worthy of a serious
response. I can tell you with some confidence that you, too, will likely
deal with these very same ethical considerations, no matter what path your
career takes.
Surely, in every one of my chosen professions there were ethical "red flags"
rising virtually every day. When I was Cincinnati's mayor, there were two
or three issues I really wanted to focus on. But how much would I compromise
on other legislation just to get the votes I needed on my priorities? And
how much pandering would I do to the voters, rationalizing that if I didn't
get re-elected I wouldn't be able to get anything done?
Then for 10 years I became a journalist — perhaps the most ethically
challenging profession of all. You see, I knew that 90 percent of what's in
the paper or on the television news, we don't really need to know. And yet,
how often do we go with a story anyway because it will make a great headline
, sell papers or drive up ratings, even if we know it might embarrass or
hurt the business or career or family or reputation of the person we're
reporting on? That is a daily ethical question that I can tell you is almost
always ignored.
And then, of course, there is my profession now as host of a crazy talk show
. Well, at least I can rationalize that the show is only open to those who
really want to be on it, and they get to choose the subject matter, what is
revealed and what must not be revealed. Even with this I grapple with
ethical questions.
What about the career most of you will be choosing, that of an attorney?
Think of the ethical issues you will have to deal with. Will you work for a
corporate client who perhaps is polluting? Will you walk into your senior
partner's office after having been asked to prepare a memorandum in support
of this client's case and say, "I'm sorry, I'll have to leave and find
another place to work," and then explain to your family why there won't be a
paycheck coming in this month?
I'm not suggesting that these moral dilemmas don't have answers. But what I
am saying is that whatever you plan to do with this diploma, the ethical
questions will never stop.
Welcome to life. Unavoidably, you will all join me on this witness stand of
conscience, trying your best to figure it out — never perfectly but,
hopefully, always sincerely.
It is perhaps inevitable that we are inclined to always judge others. But
let me share this observation. I am not superior to the people on my show,
and you are not superior to the people you will represent. That is not an
insult. It is merely an understanding derived from a life spent on the front
lines of human interaction. We are all alike. Some of us just dress better
or have more money, or perhaps we were born into better circumstances of
parental upbringing, health, brains and luck.
On this great day when we honor your achievement, we might also say thank
you to God in full recognition that whatever we achieve in life is 99
percent a gift.
Life is a gift — as is living in America. And I know that from personal
experience. You see, I am not the first lawyer in my family. My dad's
brother was. His practice was cut short, as was his life — in Auschwitz. My
grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins — they met their end as well in
Chelmno, Theresienstadt and in camp after camp, Hitler turning my family
tree into a single vine. Mom and Dad, by the grace of God, survived,
enabling them to bring my sister and me ultimately to America.
With four tickets on the Queen Mary, January 1949, we sailed into New York
Harbor. In silence, all the ship's passengers gathered on the top deck of
this grand ocean liner as we passed by the Statue of Liberty. My mom told me
in later years (I was 5 at the time) that while we were shivering in the
cold, I had asked her "What are we looking at? What does the statue mean?"
In German she replied, "Ein Tag, alles!" (One day, everything!)
She was right. In one generation here in America, my family went from near
total annihilation to this ridiculously privileged life I live today because
of my silly show. Indeed, in America, all things are possible.
So as we honor your achievement, may it be for you as it was for me, "Ein
Tag, alles!" One day, everything!
Thank you for having me.
Jerry Springer (L68) is the host of the Jerry Springer Show, which is
produced in Chicago.
http://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/fall2008/feature/springer. | g******4
发帖数: 6339 | 2 Top 10 Most Controversial Commencement Speakers in College History
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[1] Barack Obama, Notre Dame, 2009: One wouldn’t think getting the
president to come speak at your school would be anything less than an honor,
but that wasn’t the case when President Obama was
[2] Jerry Springer, Northwestern University, 2008: While Jerry Springer
graduated in 1968 with a JD from Northwestern’s prestigious law school,
served as Cincinnati’s mayor, and saw success as a news broadcaster, many
students felt he was an inappropriate choice for a commencement speaker. Due
to Springer’s controversial TV show that focuses on often violent
confrontations between women and their children’s possible fathers,
cheating, and other less than classy subject matter — as well as and
Springer’s own indiscretions with a prostitute while mayor — many felt he
simply wasn’t their ideal choice for a speaker. Despite these criticisms,
and Springer’s own acknowledgement of the controversy, he delivered a short
speech on ethics and honesty to law students that drew applause from many
in the crowd.
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http://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/01/05/top-10-most-controversi |
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