I find the not-so-new signs for the "We Are Changing Penn State" campaign to be incredibly abrasive as well as ineffective. While I realize they intend to foster conversation about public attitudes and behaviors, I find that most remark more so on how judgmental and confrontational the posters are perceived and less on how the reader can improve.

I must thwart those who will e-mail me and call me a bigot or a coward, because I agree with the overall goal of the campaign to encourage the average student to be more considerate of others. But I disagree with the methodology used to achieve this goal. The posters imply that doing one of its tasks makes you rude, ugly, etc.

The problem with these posters is that they try to encompass a general attitude with several specific actions. The campaign's target (people with ugly or rude attitudes) are those least likely to receive the posters open mindedly. If someone laughs at a racist joke without caring about the implications, chances are they aren't going to care about these posters either. Using abrasive messages propels these types of people to put up walls rather than self-reflect on the posters' intentions.