The angry “repent or perish” religious guy has been frequenting campus this week, so naturally the enormous crowd of equally angry and criticizing college kids gathers around. They all stand for hours and yell at each other, making a scene and attempting to get through to each other. What bothers me about this is the fact that nobody seems to realize how entirely futile it is. No one is in the right in this situation. By arguing and yelling, you are giving this man exactly what he wants: attention. You are fueling him and empowering him by giving your time. You can’t put out a fire with gasoline, but that is exactly what everyone is trying to do. The only thing resulting from this situation is hate, exchanged and tossed around no matter how you disguise it. As a gay person I appreciate the attempted support, but to be honest, there are better ways to be an ally other than gathering around and contributing to the malicious cycle of hate and accusation. We need to accept that people have a right to believe whatever they want, even if it contradicts or threatens our own beliefs. If you want to silence that man then leave him alone. He will only stick around if people are there to listen. Without the reaction of those around him, he is nothing. He is only as powerful or as heard as we make him.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 18:43:49 +0000
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