I am very disturbed. I just watched what could have been a great night of discussion about views, opinions, and hurt be destroyed by closed-mindedness and unrestrained emotion.
I attended the Yvette Schneider talk Tuesday night, and I was discouraged by what she said. I felt that she was not separating peoples' opinions from the basic fact that they were people above all else. She put Christians into a box with the idea that a Christian by definition could only try and "convert" a homosexual person into being a straight person. Her beliefs were shaped by other people's ideas, which is a completely normal thing to do. However, she never figured out her feelings on her own and instead used the rhetoric of others to speak to us all.
But what upset me the most was that, in the question and answer period, discussion was cut off. The three people who got up to speak did not ask questions to promote discussion and an exploration of feelings; rather, they attacked Schneider. The first woman who spoke declared that Schneider was a self-pitying person who never did anything for others but solely worried about what others were doing for her. The second person that stood up declared that Schneider must have had alterior motives to come to Dartmouth. And the third person with a "question" stated that Schneider's presence was hateful and was ruining the shelter that this woman had at Dartmouth.
I guess I'm upset at these people (and the resulting chaos that ensued amongst shouts, attacks, and arguments amongst the crowd), because those people who were upset at Schneider for being close-minded were being just as close-minded themselves. While walking around Collis afterward, I heard people refer to Schneider as a "coward," as someone who "should have come out and said what she REALLY felt." Two people conversing at the candlelight vigil afterward spoke of how Schneider "was running home scared," because she thought, "all the homosexuals at Dartmouth were going to try and convert her."
Thank you, thank you, thank you to the person at the vigil that said, "I think we need to remember to love Yvette." That is something all those people who yelled at and attacked Schneider forgot to remember -- that above all else Schneider is a person. There was a wonderful opportunity to discuss the opinions, hurt, and feelings after Schneider spoke. But attacking her and then sarcastically stating "I thought this was going to be a discussion" only closed off any hope of that happening. The fact that people had made signs before Schneider even spoke shows that these people went into the talk thinking that nothing could be gained from what Schneider had to say.
I disagree with what Schneider said Tuesday night along with many others. But we cannot write her off as ignorant and not listen to anything that she has to say. We are all intelligent people, and we must not let our emotions cut us off from something that we can learn untold amounts from.
That's right. We can learn from Yvette Schneider although we believe that she is wrong. We can learn the underlying ideas behind Schneider's beliefs and try to change them through rational discussion. Anger and hurt, while being completely valid feelings that should be acknowledged, should not be transformed into insults and name calling for that promotes more of the same feelings that precipitated that very same anger and hurt. We need to shape those strong feelings into something that can be learned from by all -- even ourselves.
I am happy that Schneider came. There was enough emotion in that room to really get things changed here at Dartmouth. But that will only happen if we can talk things out and have a REAL discussion, without name-calling and the disregard of other people's humanity. This is something that I know will happen. A better Dartmouth starts with us. So let's do it.