No one wants to hear about it anymore, but it needs to be said. What I have to say is not specifically in reference to what happened at Psi Upsilon fraternity and the reaction thereof; it, again, is in response to a trend recurring everywhere I look on this campus and others. And while I have tangentially discussed this topic on several occasions, it is time I came right out and said it so everyone can take a moment and reflect on their opinions.
Let me start with a little anecdote from my high school AP Euro class (finally, a moment of knowledge retention!). It was very early in the term and my teacher was giving an overview of various sociopolitical ideologies. She drew a circle with a little gap in it (think of it as an especially round horseshoe), leaving two unconnected ends very near each other meant to represent the ideological extremes. One end was labeled communism, the other fascism, and she was showing how, while the ideologies are almost exact opposites, they bear structural similarities in their extreme nature, thus justifying putting them near each other. Several instances throughout my college experience have shown me that this horseshoe has gone full circle: the most liberal people are the most fascist.
Before you panic and write me nasty blitzes, read on with an open mind. The first column I wrote at Dartmouth, freshman fall, was about how uncomfortable I am on this campus since I am not especially liberal in ideology. People immediately assume that I am some sort of unfeeling monster unworthy of having a vote or a voice in society -- they attack me without knowing me outside of my ideological affiliation. Well, we have a democracy for a reason: everyone's views are equally important, and it does not make me any less of a human being for not being a Democrat. Anyone who knows me will attest to this.
A year and a half later, this discomfort is stronger than ever. Since I wrote my column I have witnessed such things as a black-clothed group congregating on the Green to protest Bush's election, the destruction of Republican signs and bumper stickers, and the mass organized theft of copies of the conservative paper. It seems that liberal-minded people have trouble tolerating other beliefs, resorting to intimidation and outright crime to destroy any last traces of opposing ideas. Hence, I use the term "fascism."
At Brown, a student group organized a mass theft of the school paper the day it printed an advertisement in opposition to the proposed lawsuit over reparations for slavery. Again, a liberal organization attempted to repress ideas contrary to its own.
Closer to home, people keep holding the entire Greek system accountable for the behavior of one or two brothers in one house. A perfect piece of evidence showing what I mean was Alfred Valrie's column from Tuesday, March 27, in which he concluded, "Don't you realize, oh noble houses of the moment, that when one part of the Greek system commits a wrong, the whole organization is tainted?" This is a close-minded response to one isolated action. While the action itself was wrong and inexcusable, extrapolating from it a problem with the entire system is a leap that simply cannot be made. It compares to me saying that, since I have faced hostility from liberals, the entire liberal ideology and everyone subscribing to it is wrong. That is obviously not true: I am far from the most conservative person I know, and I choose to call many liberal people my friends. I do not condemn them for the faults of many people who have beliefs similar to their own.
The Greek system is composed of many hundreds of people, each with their own personalities and own ideas, and condemning each and everyone of those people for an action committed by, for most of them, a complete stranger shows a lack of open-mindedness towards the people who simply claim Greek membership as one other thing they do. Membership in a Greek house is not the end all and be all of a person's makeup.
Mr. Valrie also commented on how minorities are made to be invisible, with the majority pretending they do not exist. Well, this does not only apply to ethnic or racial minorities -- the liberal majority on this campus does everything in its power to make invisible the conservative ideological minority. While racial discrimination is obviously a problem throughout the world, ideological discrimination is no less severe and no less obvious, especially on college campuses traditionally with liberal majorities.
It has always been hard for me to admit my ideological affiliation at Dartmouth due to the intimidation I face at the hands of liberals who insist on purging all signs of beliefs contrary to their own; I know now from personal experience that ideological discrimination is a tremendous problem on this campus. It is the sort of discrimination that is often overlooked but still nonetheless is significant. I am a person with a mind of my own and ideas as valuable as anyone else's, liberal or otherwise: going to extremes to repress my ideas is fascist and runs contrary to the freedom and democracy which the liberal ideology prizes so highly. If you really believe in tolerance, freedom, fairness, and open-mindedness, do not make sweeping condemnations and do not attack entire sets of people based solely on isolated incidents; instead allow ideas to flow freely without chastisement.
A liberal arts institution is based on the premise of sharing and exploring new ideas and information. This ideology means not shutting down all ideas except your own -- why even bother going to college if you do not plan on leaving with anything new and only intend on sticking fiercely to what you already believe? As the terms go by I am becoming increasingly cynical about whether the idealized 'liberal arts education' means everything it claims to manifest. I am sick and tired of watching myself and others be repressed and discriminated against based simply upon our differing ideas, ideas that everyone does (and should) possess; the world would be a boring, unproductive place without differing viewpoints. It's high time we restored open-mindedness to the community. It's time we put the "liberal" back in "liberal arts."
