This letter is a response to Margaret Miceli's April 20 column, "Tune-out pesky campus distractions," regarding picketing on campus. Ms. Miceli, I believe, has made one of the most common and unfortunate mistakes of our time: to ignore hate speech so we will not have to hear it. This does not, however, mean it will go away. After all, it is nearly impossible for any of us to change the opinion of a racist or homophobe, and if such people do not voice their opinion here they will voice it somewhere else. If we are to advance our culture and discourse beyond simple bigotry, then progressive thinkers cannot afford to stand silent.
The point of public forums like this opinion page and the sidewalk of the HUB are to allow us to interact and build civil discourse. The solution to hate speech is not to ignore it, allowing it to fester under the surface of our society unchecked. At the very least we should turn off our iPods and engage, if only for a moment, to at least know our own view of the world by knowing our antagonists.
Ms. Miceli is right in one regard: We will not convince the propagators of hate speech that bigotry is wrong. We may more importantly, however, convince those among our peers and friends who have not yet made up their minds. Those who want to disagree with hate speech have a duty to meet such lies and hatred with speech of their own, speech that promotes not only tolerance but also acceptance of the qualities that make us unique.
Daniel J. Tamul
graduate-communications
