QUOTE (Hannibal @ Dec 23 2004, 01:24 AM)
you know what...stories like these bore me.
iraqis are being tortured and executed in American custody and it barely gets mentioned on the news. Some fag can't wear a t-shirt to school and its the top of the headlines. sorry for being politically incorrect, but i say fuck Matthewson and his fucking whining. There are real problems and there is real suffering going on in the world and he can shut the fuck up.
A - This story is not at the top of the headlines. No major news outlet has covered this story, at least with any depth. I can't even find reference to it on the Kansas City Star's webpage, the major daily paper of what is likely the 'major' city in closest proximity to these events. Unless there's been some sea change in news consumption habits for which no evidence exists, the PlanetOut network and gay.com - the sources of the original article - hardly qualify as all over the headlines.
B - The argument that this is somehow a stupid story because there is 'real' suffering in the world is a commonly advanced one for paying little to not attention to situations like this, but it must ultimately be seen as insufficient cause for apathy on an issue like this. You're right that this is a far cry from the heinousness of the prisoner abuse scandal - an issue for which our collective nonchalance borders on the criminal - but that's an illogical non sequitor. You've dismissed any discussion of the issue in favor of only talking about 'real' problems.
What has been overlooked is the likely reality that this student, the principal, the other students and their parents are all well aware of the images of recent, and likely still going on, torture at American detention facilities, but ultimately they see it as either too remote to their everyday lives or too far afield of their ability to influence the situation that they can affect the same result by just not caring about what's going on overseas with foreign prisoners. Is that a good outlook? No, not at all. Is is understandable? Yes. People will generally get worked up only about the parts of their lives that they can actually influence, the parts of the world that are tangible. In that light, this is a very real problem for the people in this Missouri town, and suggesting that they all shut up because it's time to all sit at home and stare ponderously and repeatedly at images of prisoner abuse, at images of 'real' suffering, is asinine. For this young person, there's no greater problem than understanding who he is and how he'll incorporate his sexuality into the rest of his life.
C - Though my general and palpable distaste for the bulk of post-modern and post-structuralist (give me Louis Althusser any day) thought precludes any really involved discussion, I will point out that such writers are absolutely right when they bray that there exists no heirarchy of oppression, for it is felt as 'real'-ly by its sufferers regardless of the merits of their complaint in the eyes of a third party.
D - The problem with the stickers being allowed and the shirt being unacceptable is that the former represents a public accommodation taking a clear view on a political issue very much open to debate and the latter is an example of people in authority marshalling that authority to reinforce silence on a controversial issue. In the first case, the inconsistency should be clear. If stickers and placards were placed throughout the school in the 1970's, encouraging students to stick it to the soviets, of course there would be no problem; sticking it to the Soviets was a national goal. If the stickers called for the support of the troops, then likewise no problem. But when the issue is something so divisive as a comprehensive amendment to the state constitution that seeks to prohibit marriage rights for 5-10 percent of the population no public institution should be taking a position, especially one that is serving children exclusively.
Now, if you disagree with that view and think the overt support of the anti-gay amendment in school is fine, then there's an even bigger problem. By taking a position, the school is inviting those who disagree to take their own position and state it clearly. So now the student in the article wears articles of clothing expressing his position on the issue. The school says he's out of line in doing so. Quite frankly, bull shit. If an institution, especially a school, is going to stake out a position on a controversial issue, then it, just like any person, should either be willing to defend that position and face disagreement or cease advancing its position. This school is looking to make its case and then use its authority to prohibit any visible displays of dissent. Sure, it looks nice to the parents who don't want their feathers ruffled, but it's setting an example of intellectual dishonesty and one-sided arguments that is frankly disgusting.
Further, I will merely state that I'm pretty damned sure that if this kid showed up a school wearing a shirt saying "I'm a Christian," there wouldn't have been any problems whatsoever.
E - Finally, whether or not any person finds this issue compelling or interesting, there are only going to be more such situations arising in the coming years. As general tolerance of open homosexuality spreads in American society - regardless of what, if anything, changes in places like Missouri - we will see the continuing of the current trend toward young people coming out earlier and earlier. Representations of gay people on television and in movies allow young people to see that people can live fine as openly gay people. The internet allows younger and younger children to access general information on homosexuality and get in contact with other gay people in a way never before possible. Problems like this, once the exclusive problem of college campuses, have become high school problems and likely are exacerbated by the close proximity of the gay teens and their parents. It's entirely likely that within a couple of decades - or less - we'll start hearing of these problems in middle schools, if only because that's when heterosexual teens start taking their first furtive steps into active sexuality. (right Jen?)
This issue is nothing like the prisoner abuse scandal. It's not Rosa Parks. It is, though, a very real problem, and indicative of an issue that most people have really no faculty for handling. Suggesting it be ignored in favor of bigger problems is ridiculous.