And We Call Ourselves Accepting?

October 12, 2010 12:00 pm     Posted in Reality  Erica- University of Michigan g+ page


By Erica

As far as people go, I am rather intolerant.  I am intolerant of people who do not clean the coffee maker after they use it.  I am intolerant of couples that walk too slowly together on the sidewalk and therefore block all of the people behind them.  Mismatched outfits and too much eye makeup make my blood boil. And don’t even get me started on people who don’t know how to parallel park.

However, I’ve always felt that I exemplify a very accepting society when it comes to the bigger issues. Things like racial inequality or sex discrimination. I’m all about equal rights for everyone, regardless of race or gender. In fact, when my professor made me argue for school segregation and against gay marriage last week as a class exercise, I started laughing because I literally had nothing to say.

Why wouldn’t we want everybody to be happy?
Doesn’t everyone feel this way?
Doesn’t the law basically say just live and let live?

Yeah, apparently not. The events of the past couple of weeks have informed me that I am completely wrong about the world and the people living in it. Turns out, my tolerance isn’t the rule, it’s the exception. And minority groups, especially the gay population, have to put up with way more than I realized.

As a University of Michigan student, my local news is recently headlined with the story of Chris Armstrong, our student body president who is being harassed by Andrew Shirvell.  An Assistant Attorney General for the state of Michigan, Shirvell has gone out of his way to harass Armstrong online, accusing him of using his presidency to advocate a “radical homosexual agenda.”  Shirvell has not only shown up at student government meetings to criticize Armstrong, but also seeks him out at home.  While Shirvell claims he has freedom of speech to say whatever he wants, as someone who has actually studied Supreme Court cases, I was always under the impression that government officials were the ones trying to limit hate speech despite the First Amendment preserving its existence.  Wrong again.

And then I heard about Tyler Clementi jumping off of the George Washington Bridge forty minutes from where I live.

In an effort to not turn this into a rant about cruel people or bad judgment, I’ll just sum it up again.  Clementi’s roommate had a WebCam in their dorm room that taped Clementi having sex with another man.  His roommate took this footage and streamed it to the Internet.  A couple of days later, Clementi jumped off the bridge.  Coincidence?  Highly doubt it.

Though the Civil War ended in 1865, it took about a hundred years for real laws to come in place giving African-Americans their rights.  And in the middle of all of this, there was still persecution and murder and violence.  I can no longer speak for what the rest of the world thinks, but I do not think it is appropriate for a group of oppressed people to have to wait one hundred years before they can stop worrying about being bullied on a daily basis.

While America may allow everyone to have his or her own belief, this freedom does not entitle us to be cruel.  As a society, we see stories every day about our neighbors going out of their way to make others’ lives a little more difficult. For what? What’s the point? If Shirvell or Clementi’s roommate are experiencing higher quality lives after what’s gone on during the past two weeks, then someone please alert me.

So just stop.  Stop being difficult just for the sake of being difficult.  Stop ruining other people’s lives just because you can. I don’t think that being a little more accepting really ever hurt anyone.

11 Comments on "And We Call Ourselves Accepting?"

  1. L says:
    Tue, 12th Oct 20107:20 am 

    I kind of wish they were "being difficult just for the sake of being difficult", but most people believe they are in the right when they are discriminating against gays, blacks, etc. That's what makes it so depressing and scary, that these people think they are superior and that they have the right to be above others (hence being accepting is harmful since they lose their superiority). Sadly, this sort of hate will always be around, but maybe one day we can make it a hard world for the haters.

  2. Rachel says:
    Tue, 12th Oct 20108:15 am 

    I went to high school with Chris Armstrong and he is truly a remarkable person. Why do people insist of relating an individual's worth to their sexuality? Such bigotry is disgusting and shameful. People have the right to be with whomever makes them happy: male or female. That's not wrong. What IS wrong is blaming someone for something they never chose, like their sexuality.

    Stay strong Chris.

  3. sam says:
    Tue, 12th Oct 20109:29 am 

    This is the first time I have heard of the Andrew Shirvell and Chris Armstrong thing.. I am shocked. Literally shocked and disgusted.

  4. eesha says:
    Tue, 12th Oct 201012:55 pm 

    I completely agree! Frankly, I wasn’t aware of the situation with Shirvell and Armstrong but it’s disgusting to know that an attorney general would stoop so low as to publicly humiliate a university student body president. It makes me wonder if USA is anything but conservative! If this is a nation where you’re supposed to be respected regardless of who you are then why is an attorney general outing a college student?!

    Shirvell is just plain disgusting. One of the sites Shirvell used had the word RACIST on Armstrong’s picture. HOW is that related to being gay? It’s nice to know that the attorney general has nothing else to do with his life than to interfere with someone’s personal life.

  5. criolle johnny says:
    Wed, 13th Oct 20104:09 am 

    "I am shocked, SHOCKED!" Casablanca.

    "Doesn’t everyone feel this way?" Actually, no. This comes as a surprise to many college students who never talk to anyone outside of the education community. You managed to step outside of the books and slam into the real world.

    Nicely done. You got a look at why all those great ideas that trickle out of D.C. seem to flop when THEY slam into the real world.

    The hard part is presenting the opposing argument rationally, without becoming a stereotype or laughable caricature. THEN, and only then can one deconstruct the opposing position.

    You cannot ridicule someone to your side. It only makes them madder and more adverse to your position.

  6. evaaaa says:
    Wed, 13th Oct 20108:16 am 

    Homophobic behavior should not be tolerated. Period. Freedom for allllllllllllll :]

  7. Louise says:
    Mon, 18th Oct 20109:14 am 

    personally I believe some politicians to act in way's that can only lead me to believe they are Neanderthals at best, mindless over powered thugs with a big influence at worst.

    I'm not gay, but I would NEVER belittle a person that is, I know a fair amount of people from uni or work who do just so happen to be gay and that's their business. Their people just like us, it's not a sickness and it can't be changed. It's just the way they were born, some like boys, some like girls at the end of the day we all want the exact same thing from life….love and acceptance. & aanyone that denies another of that basic right is in my books a GIGANTIC douchebag!

  8. Ivy Maiorino says:
    Tue, 19th Oct 20101:11 pm 

    wow, this Shirvell guy is crazy. This article is right on.

  9. amandabyes says:
    Wed, 20th Oct 20101:03 am 

    All people have their own life, they should be allowed to do whatever they want, unless it don't hurt anyone. Many people are there who just without any reason creates issues and don't let anyone live happily.

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