I'd like to offer a fresh perspective on all of the recent happenings and concerns about ethnic and sexual hate.

It is so often claimed that we, as a tolerant society, should learn to accept people of all walks of life, all colors, all persuasions, etc. At least, this is the façade we like to pretend we have.

The truth is there are offensive and hateful people. You have to live with them, too. You have to tolerate them. And part of that is learning a little thing about life.

People will always endeavor to demean you, to assert their power over you with words. And when blatant occurrences of words such as "gay" or "fag" cause so great a turmoil in the gay and lesbian communities, the speaker has gained all the more power.

So here's what you do: Stop giving a hoot. It is a great weakness to be overcome by simple little words — so show them up by strengthening yourself. If those who wish to berate others through language see that their speech has no effect, they might just shut up. You won't change how they feel, but you can change how you react to what they say.

So stop being puny, weak little helpless good-for-nothings and start standing up for yourselves. Show the world that a word doesn't matter to you.

I'm sick of the complaining. I'm sick of the whining. If you can learn to live up to this supposed "verbal harassment," then you're one step ahead of everyone else at earning your place in life.

If you find this simply too much to ask, then the onus is on you to prove why you ought to be respected in your weakness — this is a respect that must be earned; it is not granted unconditionally. You'll never really live if you don't step out of your bubble and into the real world. It's an unforgiving place and you'll get nowhere expecting to be treated fairly and kindly all the time.

Jim Schwartz
philosophy junior