College Brain Fart
• 2/16/2008 - Tolerance on Campus
In elementary, middle, and high school, we've heard the message a thousand times - tolerance! Respect your fellow human beings! Discrimination is hate!
But really, what is tolerance? You don't have people breathing down your neck and giving you detentions for using bad words. I have heard the worst racial slurs and discrimination of my life on campus, and I go to a very progressive school. And it's not restricted to African Americans, either - a man in one of my writing classes referred to the Japanese as "Goddamned Japs" and stated that in WWII, they "were just as bad as they are now". In addition, a girl on campus argued with another girl that "faggots are destroying society". And, as there are a great deal of Muslims on campus, too, I've heard every possible reference to them that I will not repeat here.
Needless to say, people are vicious. I have heard so many things I never wanted to hear, and I could only just barely accept that those words were actually people's opinions. And while campuses try to make a point by selecting minority groups as parts of their staff, people still insist on entrenched, hate-spreading ideas. Bigotry is flourishing, even in the twenty-first century. And it is painful.
So, what I want to say in this post is that in college, you will encounter racism. You will encounter sexism, hatred, and every form of bigotry you can imagine. If you're lucky, you'll see a minimum of it. If you're a good enough person, you won't spread it. Even a bigot, I think, won't act when it will make people he respects uncomfortable.
Be a person he can respect.
In my mind, at least, the best defense against prejudice isn't just tolerance - it's acceptance. "Tolerate" means "to allow the existence, presence, practice, or act of without prohibition or hindrance; permit". This isn't a positive message - it's like just stating that it exists, whether we want it to or not. "Accept" means "To regard as proper, usual, or right".
Acceptance is far, far more critical to life than any kind of tolerance. "To regard as usual" - what is usual? Seeing a mentally-challenged man working at your cafeteria? To see a white man holding hands with a black woman? For two women to embrace, hold, and kiss in a public area? It's perfectly ordinary to some people. I see the Muslim students at my school pray at various hours without bothering anyone. I see the Women's Resource Center opening arms to refugees and injured people with nowhere else to go. I see straight couples cheering at a gay rights rally all the time.
This is the very essence of acceptance. To make a good campus, you have to - absolutely have to - accept the differences between yourself and your neighbor. Even if that person is bigoted, there is little that can be done to change him. So, just as you would accept Muslims praying and African Americans, you would have to accept that a bigot is a bigot, and you can't really change that.
So, to end this rather preachy post, I just want to say this:
Tolerance is fine, but acceptance is ideal. Try your best to make your campus a good place to be.
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• 2/16/2008 - Hi!