From Andrew Wasliss-Orlebar's "Think or Thwim," Fall '94 From Andrew Wasliss-Orlebar's "Think or Thwim," Fall '94Tolerance wasn't really much more than a concept until America invented and proposed a land of liberty and free individuals. We all know that. Even amidst centuries of fluctuating priorities, the idea kept alive. However, with recent moral trends and the development of the legal system, the lessons seem to have been reversed. People are still quite ready to assume for themselves the liberties they are guaranteed by the constitution, but they now require of others the restraint and conformity they were supposed to impose on themselves. In the latest development of this puritanical thinking, they have decided that any deviance from their narrow-minded standards should be punished by law, rather than by their muttering breath. All around the country, small town bigotry is being sanctified by law. Basically, people still want eighty channels on cable but require that they all show perfectly sanitized programs that would be healthy for any two year old. Feel like parking your pick-up in your driveway? Not in this Illinois town, sir, it lowers the standards of our block. Does the warmth of Arizona make you crave for an ice cream? Well, fine, as long as you don't eat in the street, not in this town anyway. And, while people talk of banning all cigarette smoking in the streets of L.A., Washington D.C., the helm of this liberty ship, has established daily curfews in certain areas, the sort of situation the United States often publicly deplores in other countries. It's getting to the point where any neighborhood disturbance is solved by a law. As a result of this, the legal system is setting some rather dubious precedents and now provides not moral touchstones, but blatant contradictions for growing individuals in any community. While teenagers now freely admit to having multiple sexual relationships, a Benedictine asceticism is required of anybody hoping for a career in politics. Unfortunately, the optimistic youth trying to live up to the individualistic ideals of America are finding that they are the latest prey of this wave of intolerance. With many schools throwing out male students who dared affront the administration with ear and nose rings, at least one school in Albuquerque has moved on to other serious matters, excluding students for that terrible moral infringement of wearing baggy jeans. Instead of seeking to integrate diversity as a concept into the community, these controversial sixteen year-olds are isolated from the rest of the school, who are often quite undisturbed by the accouterments of their ex-classmates. Everything is cracked down on by rules and legislation, without any focus on remedial measures. There's a problem with racism in this country? No worries, just enforce affirmative action and don't be bothered by the underlying prejudice. Children don't seem to have learned the conformity suggested by their education? Just kick them out of school and make sure they don't get any education at all. This is a fleeing of responsibility on the part of every parent, politician and person. It is not by establishing nit picky laws that the moral path of this country will be corrected if there is no longer any moral path to be found. Any teenager will tell you that the second something is illegal, it is infinitely more tempting than before, so unless people understand their personal active role in defining the standards of their community, the laws they are relying on will continue to be passed in vain. The worst of it all, though is the political correctness appearing in universities. Under pretenses of absolute tolerance, this institutional intrusion proves to be the most stringent form of social control yet. Its defenders say they seek to preserve everyone from the blemishes of prejudice but it is unclear how the grammatical requirements of official bodies are going to shift anyone's prejudices. So far, PC-ness has created a nation with a history of guilty white men, bringing with it new truths engendering only more acceptable prejudices. The puritans of this society have managed to politicize practically every gesture in daily life. Universities are banning "inappropriately directed laughter" along with an ever-expanding list of potential misplaced comments including half the animal kingdom. In the world of individualized majors and free electives, the big-brotherness of speech and behavior codes is clearly out of place. Teenagers grow up in an atmosphere of tolerance, with parents encouraging them to go out and make a living and do their own thing. Their coming to college presupposes they are now also allowed to go out late at night, call their friends, make academic decisions and finally take full responsibility, even financial for many, of their own lives. Seeking only to open their minds in the challenging milieu of the university, they find out that everything is everyone else's fault and that their verbal spectrum must be reduced to innocent utterances such as "hello," "good-bye" and a limited collection of --Americanisms (African-Americanisms, Asian-Americanisms, etc). What sort of example are universities setting then with the enforcement of such political weapons as speech codes and the suggestion of etiquette requirements such as Racism 101? Is education there to teach people the values of this country or simply to abide by its laws, without necessarily understanding them? America has long shown an impressive example of tolerance, with real life serving as the best argument for the ideals of its legal system. Reality tends not to be so glorious these days, but it would be sad to see these ideals completely torn apart by the claws of puritanical eugenics. Andrew Wanliss-Orlebar is a senior Communications major from Paris, France. Think or Thwim appears alternate Tuesdays.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
DonatePlease note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.
