Author: Jessica Simes
What a perfect idea-a forum where responsibility and accountability are non-existent, and students can express deeply kept secrets and beliefs freely. A student project on the site www.jssolomon.com, the front page boasts it as a “place of intimacy and anonymity.” We all have something to hide; we may hide certain ugly truths from ourselves in the hopes that it will disappear with the click of a mouse. I must confess that I contributed to the wall of secrets-it was rather cathartic.
Unfortunately, as many of you have seen, this space of liberation quickly transmogrified into a gutter of racism, misogyny, homophobia, classism, anti-Semitism and other forms of oppression and hate. Surprised? No. Horrified? Yes. In order to demonstrate my feelings about this site and its ramifications for campus climate in general, I thought I would share a few of my “favorites.”
Secret: “I am a conservative, so I live in a giant house made of money [held] together by the blood of gays, minorities and women who stepped out of line. It is all red and green, very Christmas themed.”
Obviously, this is supposed to be some kind of crude attempt at a politically incorrect joke about Oxy’s discourse on diversity. It is clearly not a secret. I think this post clearly illustrates that this “secret” site is no longer about people expressing secrets but has become a forum for students to express their frustration or hate with Occidental’s commitment to social justice. What makes this so hurtful to read is that the author has no conception of the pain felt by students who are bombarded with Christianity every day; the author has no clue what it feels like to have fear because you are a woman at an Oxy dance; he/she has NO idea what it feels like to be human prey for homophobic predators. This so-called secret trivializes the suffering of many people at Oxy and around the world.
Secret: “At least people that buy expensive clothing look presentable! You (and you know who you are) look like shit at all times! Buy some clothing that doesn’t look like rags and for once look presentable!”
This is a rather interesting “secret.” Again, I hardly find this a secret. Perhaps it is more of something this student feels he/she cannot express openly. I’d like to ask this person what exactly constitutes “rags.” Is it last fall’s fashion line? The color orange? (Wait, is orange IN right now?) Or, is it what homeless people wear? What makes someone presentable? I think what this secret reveals more than anything else is the differences in perceptions of wealth, beauty, and “worthiness” at Occidental.
Secret: “LEGALIZE RAPE!!!”
Wow. What a secret. What could possibly make this person feel that it would be acceptable to think something like this, much less type it online? I find it interesting that this is one of the few “secrets” that is in all caps. It almost has asterisks and neon lights-honestly, it’s a RED FLAG. Frankly, this post frightens me. Even if this is supposed to be some kind of joke, it is sick, misogynistic and calls for violence.
Secret: “There’s this gay ass fag that says he’s bi that hangs out with an RA from [Residence Hall] that should pretty much DIE! He’s a gay ass fag that doesn’t deserve to live! I’m one to accept homos but this gay ass fool crossed the line! I’ve been nice to the fag but he’s a hater because he’s a gay ass fag!”
Thank you for being one to accept “homos.” (Do I need to point out the irony in that statement?) Homophobia is not new to me at Oxy. It is thrown around constantly and in every possible space. The author of this post, however, thinks that the so-called “gay ass fag” should die, should literally be killed for being homosexual. When hate speech calls for violence, the administration needs to take disciplinary action. We MUST be intolerant of this hate speech for the safety of students on campus who are and have been targets of hate crimes for their sexuality.
To those of you who think this is all a joke-some kind of Mel Gibson, “I was drunk so I’m not responsible”-I believe you are fundamentally wrong. These comments are repeated over and over on this site. Please go and see for yourselves. Surely, not every person who wrote hate on the site was drunk and decided to make up oppressive comments for the fun of it. THIS IS NO JOKE. If we cannot see the connections between what is said on that site and the quality of campus climate at large, we will never understand what is going on at Occidental and why we lack common humanity.
What this site illustrates is not that we simply need to be more effective in our dialogue about oppression; rather, it elucidates the fact that Oxy is no longer immune to the virus of hate that so many people claim does not exist here. This website is a case study of oppression. If students need a place to vent their hate speech, here’s a forum that is probably more accepting of your beliefs: http://www.stormfront.org/forum. It is ironic to me that the “Secrets” website is where this despicable vomit has been spewed; the jig is up people-it is not a secret that you feel that way. This website underscores the noxious environment that continues to suffocate any real discourse on this campus regarding social justice.
Jessica Simes is a sophomore CTSJ major. She can be reached at jsimes@oxy.edu
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