Opinion
Culture of intolerance spawns actions of hate on campus
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Also by Emily Friedman:
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- Tragedy provides opportunity to re-evaluate nation's violent culture (April 19, 2007)
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- 'Don't ask, don't tell' hypocritical (March 15, 2007)
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This student is not shocked. Contrary to the naíve opinions of many on this campus, the University of Wisconsin isn't all that great a place to be if you are a minority. Sure, the athletics are competitive and the parties wild, but discrimination runs rampant, and a campus hate crime making headlines was bound to happen.
In an article published in last Friday's edition of The Badger Herald, several representatives of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Campus Center were quoted as saying that they, too, were unsurprised by the alleged hate crime.
Though most already know the details of the crime, I'll offer a brief review. Benjamin Chamberlain and Michael Riha, as well as two out-of-state friends, allegedly wrote discriminatory phrases on an LGBT liaison's door in Ogg Hall. In addition, they spit on the door and ripped down surrounding LGBT posters. The four students face 17 felony charges.
This particular accusation would have been hard to ignore, and, thankfully, it was reported to authorities. According to LGBTCC Director Eric Trekell, this is often not the case. Students who face discrimination often feel it's useless to report crimes because "nothing will be done."
It is extremely sad that students on our campus feel this way.
The attitude that "nothing will be done" is almost as common on our campus as the hatred and discrimination that causes too much pain to too many of our fellow students.
Some examples: hazing that continues to occur but is never reported; people referring to things or people as "gay" without thinking twice; and people labeling others as JAPS (Jewish American Princesses/Princes) without realizing the possible anti-Semitic connotations.
These examples clearly are not as serious as the alleged hate crime on campus, but they are equally relevant to the discussion of discrimination. Ignorance is not bliss; ignorance is the common denominator in all hate crimes.
I would be willing to bet that people like Chamberlain, Riha and their two friends constantly use the term "gay" and see nothing wrong with it. Perhaps they come from communities with a small or non-existent gay community or maybe they are products of their parents, as all of us are to one degree or another. This certainly should not be used as a mitigating factor in their defense. It only poses important questions about how a society plays a role in the actions of other members of the community. Hate crimes do not just happen, and when they do, it is imperative to step back and ask, "Why?"
In a press release from UW entitled "Sapiro: No place for hate at UW-Madison" published Jan. 20, a list of resources and programs were listed "for members of the campus community interested in learning more about LGBT issues." It is great these resources exist, but I am skeptical that many students seek them out and convinced that resources and programming of that nature cannot compete with a peer's advice, opinion or pressure to stop using derogatory terms without understanding exactly what they mean.
In other words, we all need to speak up when we hear the careless use of hurtful language — to say nothing of when we see discrimination in action. Silence is not the answer.
Emily Friedman (ecfriedman@wisc.edu) is a junior majoring in journalism and legal studies.
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Emily, the reason there is so much apathy is because of the hostile environment created toward white heterosexual males. Do all these morons honestly think that every single straight white male in Madison is a big gay-bashing white supremacist? Hasn't any one of these so-called Madison liberals learned anything over the years, that you can't fight hate with hate? Minorities are still decidedly the biggest haters in Madison.
It would have been ideal to present Madison as a city where everyone who embraces tolerance can feel welcome. Even if a few narrow-minded idiots make their way here and do something stupid, most newcomers to our city will certainly feel proud of this town. Instead, straight white males were ominously singled out and excluded from it all. It's like "Sorry, dude, you're not invited to be a part of our little oasis in a sea of hatred and ignorance. Begone from our kingdom, scum!" Um, okay.
Just as it is no surprise that the Ogg Hall incident occured, it should be no surprise as to what the factors that made that incident possible. Or maybe it has to do with the fact that the LGBT community nation-wide had a blast a month ago bashing straight men over the release of Brokeback Mountain. I mean, seriously, could we truly categorize all straight men as homophobic just because they refuse to see this one movie, even after they went unhesitantly to see Philadelphia twelve years ago? How many gay-themed movies do straight men have to see before everyone else is finally convinced that they're not anti-gay? Gay film critic Dave wrote a totally arrogant, condescending piece for MSNBC.com titled "Straight Dude's Guide To Brokeback Mountain." Did you read it, Emily? It is the most ignorant piece of journalism I've read in years. It's no wonder straight men avoid gay issues. A straight friend printed it out and showed it to me. I was just a shocked as he was at just how stupid and thoughtless a well-respected film critic could take such a horrible swipe!
Why am I telling you this? Because as a gay man, I can see firsthand the resentment straight men feel from being ostracized and excluded. We judge them for what they appear to be instead of what they really are. Believe me, tolerant straight men deal with just about as much abuse as we do. To be falsely accused of being a homophobic bigot by someone who didn't even know you existed 30 seconds ago is beyond absurdity. I have one straight friend who helped me fight off a gang of homophobes back in high school, and he got beaten up far worse than me. He was in the hospital for a week! How would anyone dare call him intolerant?!
So give these guys a break. The four who committed the offense at Ogg Hall should be punished, but let's not get carried away with our outrage over it. there are still plenty of tolerant folks out there. And quite a few of them of happen to be straight white men. they're far more open minded than you think, believe me.
Yeah, hi, heterosexual white male here. I don't feel ostracized or excluded, and I don't resent the way I'm treated by the vast majority of people I run into on campus on a day-to-day basis. Maybe the people who do resent the way they're treated should stop acting like babies, grow up, and start treating the people around them with a little respect.
Anonymous - nice piece.
Having grown up in Colorado I have used the phrase, "that is totally gay" at least a million times, I could have said that is totally weak but slang becomes ingrained very easily even when you don't know what it means. I had a freind who used to say "hey MoFo" to his mom all the time. He had no idea what that meant till he became my college roommate and apologized to his Mom for three years of misguided use of slang. So when I say something is totally gay I am not talking about homosexual men just as when I say something is "bitchin" I am not talking about female dogs. I can see how someone could be offended by my "Totally gay" references but then I think they should have to tolerate my use of slang, just like I have to tolerate 50 cents use of slang on a CD. I guess I could choose to be offended but I have better things to do.
I noticed something in this article that was curious, I still do not know what the 4 students did other than tear down posters which hardly seems to warrant a felony charge. Or is the only felony listed something called a Hate-Crime?
If Madison and Wisconsin are so awful for all Minorities/non Heteros then shouldn't all the programs that have been in place for twenty years be scraped and something new be developed. I mean why keep spending good money after bad, that is totally ....
"Maybe the people who do resent the way they're treated should stop acting like babies, grow up, and start treating the people around them with a little respect."
I have a feeling you are not really a heterosexual white male. You sound more like one of those babies that needs to grow up.
You said:
"Maybe the people who do resent the way they're treated should stop acting like babies, grow up, and start treating the people around them with a little respect."
I heard:
"Maybe straight males should accept that we have a very narrow view of straight men that we feel that ALL straight men should pay the price for the actions of a few, while all us politically-correct holier-than-thou morons continue to act like we know what it's all about. Nya-nya-nya-nya-nya!"
"Anonymous - nice piece."
The author or what she wrote?
Here's another interesting thought:
It's widely believed that homophobics are people who are insecure about their own sexuality, meaning that they're afraid they might be gay. Well if that's the case, then maybe the problem of hate crimes against gays is actually a problem within the gay community itself and straights have nothing to do with it. One of their own just can't take that first big step and come out. So why so much crap being dished out to straights all of a sudden? Maybe those four idiots in the Ogg Hall incident really are gay and they just didn't know how to deal with it, so they lashed out at a gay person. Now they're in hot water and all us straight guys are the ones taking all the heat over it. Doesn't sound fair to me that the GLBT's on campus wanna string us up along with 'em. Put those four in therapy or something. 'Nuff said? Good, now back to class.
As a law student and a friend of some of the individuals involved in this alleged "hate crime", I wanted to say a few things. First of all, there was ONE picture torn down, not tons of LGBT brochures, and that picture was of 2 men on top of each other and heavily making out. There was the one comment of, "I hate f'ing faggots. Die" written on a dry erase board. The comment was written by Ben Chamberlin and the picture was torn down by the Auburn student. Riha and the Purdue student are most likely going to cleared of all charges on the 13th, except Riha will be left to argue his obstructing an officer charge for not initially giving the detective the names of the individuals charge (but it is his right to not speak as long as he did not lie). To me, that just sounds like Riha was being a good friend and him and Sochacki were simply guilty by association. There is NOT 17 charges. Each of these so-called "morons" faces a misdemeanor of disorderly conduct with a hate crime enhancer and the felony charge, thanks the enhancer, of destruction of property. Normal maximum punishment for a destruction of property charge is 9 months, which then got doubled to 18 months with the enhancer in this case, thus making it a felony. Riha faces an additional charge of obstructing an officer.
With that said, it is unbelievable to me the uproar this non-violent, non-physical, and definitely not pre-meditated case has caused. This university is simply looking for something to talk about and this was the closest thing to an exciting story they could find. Calm the heck down. Stop looking so in-depth into a night of 2 drunken mistakes. And to the author of this article, who the hell are you to criticize these kids' families? All 4 kids are attending quality schools and must have had an impressive application to get into their respective universities. I'd say they would have to be decent kids with quality families to be attending the schools they are.
All I'm trying to say here is that this was not a pre-meditated hate crime. The "victim" was never in any danger nor was he intended to be. Jail time, expulsion, and fines are not in the future of any one of these kids. It says in UW's punishment policy that expulsion can only to applied to cases like this when there is physical harm done. I am embarrassed to be a part of a university that can take 4 students and drag their names through the mud simply because they are looking for a good story and can't find better material. Read between the damn lines in all these articles and realize, these 4 kids are no criminals. Stop making accusations without knowing details. Those journalist writing articles like this are just proving how uneducated they are and need to stop blowing this out of proportion.
Thank you to the law student from the parent of a UW Madison student. This whole issue is exagerated way beyond reason. No one was physically hurt and it was simply the act of kids being kids. If these acts offend someone to the point of thinking a felony is warranted I just want to add...stop being such a baby and get on with your education. This is just stupid and there is no reason to slow down the education of these young men over such nonsense.
if anything JAPS is more hurtful to Japanese then to Jewish girls. those jewish "japs" you see on campus know that they are rich stuck up and spoiled girls aka "japs"
first how would you know what it is like to be an actual minority? i can understand your east coast upbringing makes you a geographical minority in wisconsin, but you honestly can never say you are a minority. therefore it disgusts me that you would even begin to write from the perspective of an oppressed person. please go speak with the actual minorities on this campus who are not just minorities here but in the eyes of society. these perspectives are the ones that can help us understand what it feels like to be discriminated against on an everyday basis in this community and in the broader american community.
further your reference to JAP as a racial slur should first be though of it terms of its racism towards japanese during the earlier parts of the 1900s. the discrimination japanesse were exposed to, far out weighs the hardship well-to-do jewish students feel on this campus when they themselves refer to themselves as "JAPS." beyond that i do not think the term "JAP" should be used at all. it does bring up past prejudices and the use of it today in reference to jewish people is just as bad.
finally i think it is funny that you began to analyze the socialization process of the young men who committed these crimes. they were from suburban chicago, specifically naperville and crystal lake, IL. i myself am not from the area but know that those are some of the more conservative suburbs. therefore the community they were raised in may have had less exposure to diversity in terms of all differences. but as a "journalist" you should not try to determine the social upbringing of students you do not know and communties you have never visited nor researched. you gave us your opinion on madison from a false perspective and analyzed the details of a problem with only you small knowledge of the broader society and nation. i feel that you should put more research into your badger herald pieces if you would actually like them to be thought provoking and have any sort of significance.