In her e-mail sent to students Sept. 30, Zoila Airall asserted that the Community Standard was upheld by the people who painted rainbows and unicorns over the message. Although I am not writing on behalf of the Honor Council, as a member I am pleased with her direct application of the Standard to an ethical issue, but I do think the Standard was applied incorrectly in this instance. Duke should not be proud for sending out an official e-mail endorsing this kind of hypocrisy from people who claim to advocate tolerance yet practice intolerance.
The centerpiece of the gay pride movement is tolerance. Tolerance does not mean censoring those who don’t see eye-to-eye with you. Tolerance does not mean targeting and silencing a specific group’s message just because you disagree. As Airall said, let’s celebrate our differences! A tolerant person would have allowed the original opinion to remain intact and written a thought-out response next to it. Maybe it would have even started an actual civil discourse, can you imagine that? Tolerance means having enough confidence in your ideas and philosophies so that you are not afraid to listen to and rationally respond to counterarguments or challenges. Tolerance especially means tolerating those who are intolerant. I know it’s not easy sometimes, but you cannot pick and choose whom to tolerate. Selective tolerance is not tolerance.
For the future, keep in mind that when you act, you represent the group you belong to. We should strive to be a living examples of what our groups stand for. When we act in an uncivil and hypocritical manner, it reflects badly on the groups we represent.
Kevin Tao
Pratt ’11
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