Louis_Schmier,��
Good words. Everyone Should Read It?!
����
======= 2002-11-10 10:43:00 ��=======
> We had what I would call a little PC spat on my campus a couple of
>weeks ago over what I might call in modern technoligical parlance, a five
>minute sound byte. It made the university newspaper; it's is being
>mumbled and grumbled about in the halls. It reminded me, as I recently
>told some people, that there are times I have to agree with George Will's
>statement that while our campuses may pride themselves as sancutaries of
>diversity, they are anything but sancutaries of diversity of thought or
>expression.
>
> Now, before I go any farther and get into deeper trouble,
>understand that I am what some would call--perhaps brand or accuse--an
>unabashed, unrepentant, card-carrying member of the ACLU left over (pun
>intended) liberal from the 60's and 70's.
>
> In that spirit, I am not particularly in love with these "walk on
>the surface of the water," self-appointed, "be reasonable and only agree
>with me" self-righteous guardians of our freedom, these straightjacketing
>moral legalists, these censoring legal moralists, these silencing "speak
>only what and as we say." These left-handed and right-handed advocates of
>political correctness--or in the wake of 9/11, patriotic correctness-- in
>their zealotry forget about one thing: the first amendment in our sacred
>Bill of Rights. It is the amendment that keeps us free, the one that has
>stood as the cornerstone of American democracy for more than 200 years.
>Aside from guaranteeing freedom of religion, press, assembly and petition,
>there's that other "little" protection "hidden" in the first amendment.
>It's called "Freedom of Speech." I've read, thought about, practiced,
>lived, discussed, fought for, defended, and taught about the First
>Amendment almost every day for many a decade. If I've learned anything,
>it is that the true test of being an advocate of free speech is to defend
>it when you think such speech is least defensible, most unsupportable,
>most offensive, and most detestable. Never have I seen in that
>amendment's eloquent terseness anything said about convenient or
>inconvenient speech, comfortable or uncomfortable speech, appropriate or
>inappropriate speech, patriotic or unpatriotic speech, agreeable or
>disagreeable speech, offensive or inoffensive speech, troubling or
>untroubling speech, acceptable or unacceptable speech, minority or
>majority speech. Were it to have imposed such retricting and imprisoning
>and subjective adjectives on speech, it would be mere colorless glitter
>and empty. Where would be the likes of those proverbial movers and
>shakers, those unsettling and disagreeable speakers such as Frederick
>Douglass, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Margaret Sanger, Rosa Parks, Martin
>Luther King, Sojourner Truth, Dorethea Dix, David Thoreau, Eugene Debs,
>Susan B. Anthony, Lenny Bruce, George Carlon, Oliver North, Jesse Jackson,
>and, yes, even the likes of David Dukes and Jerry Falwell. How poorer
>would we have been if we didn't have those who got under our skin, pushed
>our buttons, tweaked our noses, got us mad, needled us, gave us pause to
>reflect, and caused us to articulate. How much farther would we be from
>the ideals of American values .
>
> Again in my defense, I am an avid, almost fanatical, opponent of
>verbal violence. Whether we come from left or right, we can be so hurtful
>when we think we're so right. In Solomon it says something about reckless
>words pierce like a sharp sword. The ditty "sticks and stones may hurt my
>bones, but words will never harm me," might be right and Solomon wrong,
>and we might not have to be thoughtful, if all people had thick inner
>armor protecting their spirts from verbal grenades. The reality is that
>they don't. Yes, words can harm. They can break our hearts and subdue
>our spirits; they can destroy our dreams; they can lessen our desire; they
>can render us worthless; they can crush our courage; they can douse our
>flame. Negative, devlauing words like "spastic," "fattie," "nerd," "dumb
>blonde," "four eyes," "flat-chested," "shorty," "chesty," "fag," "dummy,"
>"infidel," and worse can hurt. Vicious words, bigoted words, can destroy.
>Ask anyone who was and/or is ridiculed and taunted because he or she is
>Polish, Jewish, Liberal, Conservative, female, Catholic, homosexual,
>Irish, Oriental, Italian, African, Moslim, Arab, etc. Ask anyone who is
>the brunt of unkind words, tasteless personal jokes, brutal nick names,
>and shameless ridicule if these words ever lose their sting.
>
> No, I don't think there is any deeper wound than humiliation. It
>is wanton cruelty. It is verbal lynching. As the saying goes, the tongue
>doesn't weigh all that much, but its wagging can weigh heavy on someone's
>heart. It doesn't create close relationships. It does create a lonliness
>and distrust. Do you realize that when you speak negatively about someone
>specifically or stereotypically, it causes you to dislike them. The
>minute or two in which we feel powerful and important is so insignificant
>and temporaty compared to the amount and duration of damage we can cause.
>Words we say today often may last a lifetime in someone's heart. A simple
>comment can travel deep, can penetrate like a bullet, causing untold
>damage in its path. That comment may not penetrate someone with a
>stronger inner steel, but it can richochet, penetrate the thin skin of
>another, and impact on attitudes and relationships of those others. That
>is not a legacy to put on a resume or tombstone.
>
> With that said, know this. Forcing others to speak what you think
>is right isn't right either. You're not defending the freedom of speech
>by violating that right in the name of right. Besides, it doesn't do much
>good. Just because you don't hear it doesn't mean it went away or
>disappeared. It merely has been hidden away or went underground. You
>can't shut lips as a way of opening the mind and heart. Silencing the
>mouth is not mind or heart altering. Banishing does not eliminate; it
>merely disguises. Imposed silence cannot alter lives; it just creates a
>pressure cooker where things stew. Prohibiting words does not get to and
>root out emotions, beliefs, and attitudes.
>
> Of course, we should replace hurting words with healing attitudes,
>discouraging words with encouraging belief, impovishing words with
>enriching actions. If I don't not utter these distasteful words, if I
>don't not think these distasteful thoughts, if I don't act
>disrespectfully, it is not because I think and do what someone says I must
>think and do. It is because the inner me sincerely says I must; not out
>of fear, but out of a deep-rooted respect for the dignity of each
>individual. And when we hear such words on our campus, we shouldn't shut
>people down in a impassioned knee-jerk reaction; we should fight with
>compassion to open their hearts. We should seize the moment of having a
>teaching moment. If want such insensitive people to be sensitive to the
>feelings of others, so much we be sensitive to their feelings. We should
>do that not with force of threat by a speech police force, but with a
>convincing moral force; we should not accuse with a close-mindedness, but
>discuss open-mindedly; we should not hide, but bring out into the open and
>identify; we should not silence, but talk and listen and exchange. We
>need wisdom, common sense, understanding, sensitivity, awareness. It is a
>beautiful, uplifting habit to get into.
>
>
>Make it a good day.
>
> --Louis--
>
>
>Louis Schmier www.therandomthoughts.com
>Department of History www.halcyon.com/arborhts/louis.html
>Valdosta State University
>Valdosta, GA 31698 /~\ /\ /\
>229-333-5947 /^\ / \ / /~\ \ /~\__/\
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>
>
>
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2002-11-11
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