Activism Making Everything an Issue
Joe Tarzi
Issue date: 11/7/06 Section: Opinions
There are still racists everywhere, and so there are racists at Trinity, but that does not by default make Trinity a racist college and it does not, as Professor Luis Figueroa suggested in an article in the Hartford Courant, create a "climate of fear." One person using a racial slur and a handful of people demonstrating their homophobia does not create a climate of fear. That's what exists out in areas of the real world (you all should go there sometime) where there still are lynchings and gay people being beaten and killed for their orientation - so for those of you still keeping score: rural Mississippi = climate of fear, Trinity = not climate of fear. And seriously, who could be afraid of a pink-shirt-wearing Trinity preppie anyway? If anyone actually became afraid because a racial slur was used on campus they should fill out their transfer applications to Wesleyan right now or, better yet, to the Institute of Living.
I went to a public high school on Long Island, and do you know what we called it when someone got called a nigger? A weekday - you dealt with it. And no, racial slurs and jokes did not create a "climate of fear." Everyone I went to school with knew I was an Afghan, but did I think that the people making jokes about middle-easterners being terrorists (particularly after 9/11) were going to come and get me? Of course not, only an idiot would.
When I went to the discussion about the EROS chalkings I learned a few things. For one, as I stated before, Trinity is apparently not a "queer-friendly campus," which is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Again, people are confusing individual actions and the will of the community. Judging the entire campus to be unfriendly to gays or blacks or whoever is simply unfair and untrue. You want to see someplace that is unfriendly, go try some of those chalkings out in the North End, see how many you can get done before you get a cap popped in your ass. I don't know where most of you people grew up, but I know that at my high school if there were any gay people none of them were out of the closet, that's the real world and we should all be really thankful to be in a place as tolerant as Trinity College is.
I think some of the problem really lies in the fact that (again, for the majority of the community) tolerance has been achieved on this campus. Allow me to state an example - you're gay, you're black, you're handicapped, you're a WASP … I don't care. I really don't care what you are - you would be amazed how many people take offense to that statement and try and twist it to mean things like "oh, so you just don't want to see gay people, you want them to be in the closet." No, I just don't care. It's the epitome of tolerance, but that's no longer good enough. Now you have to be a member of EROS or you're a homophobe. There is no middle ground anymore - as the Bolsheviks said, you're either with us or against us. Or, as one of my activist friends is so fond of pointing out about myself and other moderates, I won't be spared when the revolution comes … thank God.
I went to a public high school on Long Island, and do you know what we called it when someone got called a nigger? A weekday - you dealt with it. And no, racial slurs and jokes did not create a "climate of fear." Everyone I went to school with knew I was an Afghan, but did I think that the people making jokes about middle-easterners being terrorists (particularly after 9/11) were going to come and get me? Of course not, only an idiot would.
When I went to the discussion about the EROS chalkings I learned a few things. For one, as I stated before, Trinity is apparently not a "queer-friendly campus," which is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Again, people are confusing individual actions and the will of the community. Judging the entire campus to be unfriendly to gays or blacks or whoever is simply unfair and untrue. You want to see someplace that is unfriendly, go try some of those chalkings out in the North End, see how many you can get done before you get a cap popped in your ass. I don't know where most of you people grew up, but I know that at my high school if there were any gay people none of them were out of the closet, that's the real world and we should all be really thankful to be in a place as tolerant as Trinity College is.
I think some of the problem really lies in the fact that (again, for the majority of the community) tolerance has been achieved on this campus. Allow me to state an example - you're gay, you're black, you're handicapped, you're a WASP … I don't care. I really don't care what you are - you would be amazed how many people take offense to that statement and try and twist it to mean things like "oh, so you just don't want to see gay people, you want them to be in the closet." No, I just don't care. It's the epitome of tolerance, but that's no longer good enough. Now you have to be a member of EROS or you're a homophobe. There is no middle ground anymore - as the Bolsheviks said, you're either with us or against us. Or, as one of my activist friends is so fond of pointing out about myself and other moderates, I won't be spared when the revolution comes … thank God.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Zee
posted 11/07/06 @ 3:59 PM EST
I am very disappointed with Joe tarzi's article because he fails to realize that everyone does not think the way he does. If we (those who participated in the demonstration) truly preaching to the choir the racial slurs that were written on a fellow students white board would not have been written. (Continued…)
rrivera7799
Rachel
posted 11/08/06 @ 10:34 AM EST
What you are failing to realize, Mr. Tarzi, is that there is a very real reason to be afraid. Trinity is a CEO factory, 90% of the students who graduate from Trinity will be in high powered positions within 10-15 years of graduation. (Continued…)
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