Tolerance paradox still runs deep at Occidental

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Occidental College is an intolerant place. Though students, faculty and administration preach that the school is open and tolerant, they are simply upholding a façade.

Every person is intolerant of something or biased toward and against certain beliefs. It would be naïve to think that any single person can be completely tolerant because people that are completely tolerant are intolerant of intolerance, thereby upholding the catch-22.

The Occidental Weekly has touched on this concept before: calling it the “tolerance paradox” or claiming that students do not listen enough to each other.

It certainly is a paradox. Students claim every day to be tolerant, then turn around and “talk shit” about anything as simple as someone’s shoes or something as serious as skin color and race.

Furthermore, people respond to an intolerant remark saying something along the lines of, “it is retarded for you to say that.” So, basically, it is acceptable to look down on and stigmatize intellectually disabled individuals but not Asian women drivers or African Americans or any other subgroup.

Even more so it is true that we, as a student body, do not listen to each other. And many voices at this school have been silenced—whether a majority or a minority is really not important because voices are voices, and people are people.

And sure, to appease those who think I am just being ignorant, Occidental is tolerant in some ways, specifically to people with the same belief system.

Because someone is male, white and comes from a privileged background, he is told that his opinion is less valid because he does not understand. But people are deeper than the color of their skin, worth more than the money their families have (or do not have) and should not be silenced for any reason.

We get into absurd debates with our classmates and that is encouraged, but we never actually question what we know about a person, or about ourselves. We assume that because they are white, black, blue, etc. that we know something about them or that we know what they are going to say. And we do not.

We go so far as to tell people the kinds of music to which they should listen. For instance, we label music as “bad music” and “good music.” I have been told countless times that I listen to bad music. Well, I am here to proudly say that I love Ke$ha; I could jam out to that all day. But I have also been known to enjoy a Black Keys song; Red Hot Chili Peppers was my favorite performance at my Lollapalooza trip and I have frequented a rave or two in my day.

Yet people tell me that I listen to bad music. That’s equivalent to saying, “you like bad art.” There is not bad art; there is art that one person finds more appealing than another. But that does not make the other decision wrong. It is also like saying, “you think bad thoughts.”

No one should have the right to tell people that what they think or what they listen to is bad because it is all a societal construction of meaningless jabber. We should question who we are and what we believe because faith strengthens itself when challenged. Unfortunately, Occidental just silences those with different opinions: Republicans, Christians, white privileged males or anyone who is not completely politically correct.

For instance, after some hooligan drew a swastika on a whiteboard, Dean of Students Barbara Avery sent an email to the campus stating: “This reflects a lack of understanding of the meaning of diversity that is central to Occidental’s mission and harms all of us by seeking to create an atmosphere of intolerance and fear. Let there be no doubt: efforts to intimidate anyone on campus in this or any other way will not be tolerated.”

Avery presents to the person exactly what he or she presented to Occidental: intolerance. She first assumes that it was in fact a crime of intolerance and then threatens that efforts to intimidate will also not be tolerated. Avery said, in essence, that intolerance at this school is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Thus, we are intolerant of intolerance. Rather than offering an educational facet or answering with concern, she responds with intolerance.

And here is the hypocrisy of Occidental College: we will preach to our dying day that we create an environment of love and openness, but we refuse to extend an education to those who may not know the difference between what is considered right and wrong or what is “central to Occidental’s mission.”

Occidental also forces students to conform to our school’s ideals. At a meeting with the Board of Trustees in January, a student said that he felt like he had to learn a new language in order to converse with other students. This is sad. He should not have to conform to our language of political correctness; we should compromise a bit and accept the background from which he comes.

We silence voices that need to be heard by staging marches, alienating people and by engaging in legal action that could damage our precious reputation.

It is time to put aside our reputation and let our actions do the talking for once.

Juliet Suess is a senior English and Comparative Literary Studies major. She can be reached at suess@oxy.edu or on Twitter @WklyJSuess.

 

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2 COMMENTS

  1. I am honestly so sickened and offended by your anti-semitic comments in this article. To label this heinous act of drawing a swastika on a student’s whiteboard as anything BUT intolerant, you are preaching that it is somehow okay to persecute an individual for their religious beliefs or ethnic background. Hate crimes such as these (which by the way, completely violate the school’s code of conduct) should not be tolerated on any grounds. Moreover, if you had followed any of the news surrounding the swastika incident you would have been aware that this was not an isolated incident, and was actually a hate crime that occurred more than once. The Jewish community at Occidental has struggled to be heard on many occasions, and by writing this article and defending whoever drew the swastika in the first place, you yourself are contributing to the “intolerant” community that you speak out against. Would you defend someone writing a racial slur on another student’s whiteboard? How about causing bodily harm to them because of their beliefs? Not only are these both illegal, but anyone who “tolerates” these acts does not deserve to be a student at an accepting, diverse and intellectual community such as Oxy. Dean Avery speaks truthfully and correctly on the topic, “efforts to intimidate anyone on campus” should NEVER be tolerated. Because you clearly do not comprehend what it feels like to be personally victimized by a hate crime regarding your religion, ethnicity, skin color, etc., I suggest you stop voicing your opinion on the topic. It is you, voicing your anti-semitic and hateful opinion, that is “damaging” our “precious reputation.”

  2. There is something to be said for meeting people where they are, not chastising ignorance but rather promoting mutual understanding and ACCEPTANCE (NOT tolerance). I think many students are frustrated by the culture at Oxy of clinging to political correctness at the expense of bringing new voices into the conversation. If that is what this writer meant, I really wish she had said that and not a word more.

    Unfortunately this article is poorly written and poorly thought out. First I’d like to address the unsubstantiated observations throughout the piece about how Oxy students act and think.

    As to to Nettie’s point, she is right that hate crimes should never be tolerated. We do not need to tolerate them–if you want to chock that up to yet more intolerance, you are missing the point. Perhaps Nettie misses the point that the perpetrator was unaware of the significance of his/her act and an opportunity for meaningful education was missed. But, still, Dean Avery is not wrong to assert that “crimes of intolerance” are not to be tolerated. EVER. We must not allow acts like this–or any other injustices–to play out on our campus unaddressed. We can and must do a better job of talking to one another, listening to one another, and we must continue our proud tradition of agitation and protest to improve our community.

    We don’t need to make white males feel like their opinions are less valid, but we all need to self-evaluate our positions of privilege and open our minds to perspectives of others. To her credit, I think the writer hints at this idea, but fails miserably in its delivery, starting with her assumption that all Oxy students think they know what all other Oxy students are going to say based on certain characteristics. No one can argue that doesn’t happen some times, but to charge the whole community with that is unfounded and wrong. I think we deserve more credit.

    We might not at first be able to see and understand injustices that people in other positions cannot avoid seeing. The reality is white males are born into a privileged position where they don’t have to grapple with injustices that persons in other positions are forced to grapple with. This does not mean they are bad people, and it certainly does not render their opinions invalid. It is incumbent on white males, as it is incumbent on all of us, to hear others first so that we might understand the struggles of others. We can expect this of white males like we expect this everyone else. This might make us uncomfortable sometimes, but we need to step beyond our comfort zones to grow. We all have more to learn than we know, and think most of us are aware that we are currently, and will ever continue to be, learning from others.

    Finally, we should be grateful to students taking legal actions to address injustices having to do with sexual misconduct and we should be proud of students organizing marches to raise awareness about issues they are concerned about. These acts are done out of compassion and concern for our community and its future. They are not about silencing anyone, they are about bringing all voices into the conversation. You are mistaken in thinking that they are intended to in any way silence anyone.

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