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Hate transparent in Wespeaks

By Jesse Soursourian

So, Yuji hates Bob because he’s naïve and bitter, C.J. hates the Wesleyan Queer community because they’re blatantly homosexual, and they in turn hate him because he’s a student athlete. Marty Benjamin hates Phillipe Gosselin. Joel Bartlett hates meat eaters for eating meat, who hate him for being vegan.

All I’m putting down is what I have read in The Argus.

And lots of others could be included in that list, for angrily and violently condemning one person or another for doing one thing or another that for some reason somebody assumes was aimed to attack them. But hey, they’re just fighting back; roundabout’s fair play.

The one thing that has been left out, however, in all this ‘discussion’, is this short little sentence: I hate you. Why mince words, guys? Why pretend that you’re really writing for any other reason than to shoot somebody down and make them look evil or weak or stupid or racist or naïve or inconsequential, and to do that in public? To publicly turn them to dogmeat, to verbally and publicly beat them to shit.

We might as well say it, folks: we hate each other. Oh, yeah, man we can’t stand each other. That makes me think; why don’t we just settle this once and for all. Forget angry wespeaks, or rallies. Forget speeches, chalkings, forums. I’ve got a better idea. One that (like it or not) is all but said outright in the language we are using in talking to one other.

Let’s go gather up branches, poles, rocks, hammers, crowbars, baseballs, knives, sticks, baseball bats, broken glass; let’s take these, let’s meet up at a decided time; let’s approach each other head on, honestly, with no pretensions.

And let’s calmly, and civilly beat each other into submission. Let’s do it. That seems to me to be where we’re all headed. We don’t want to talk, we want to scream. We all think we’re all victims (and that may be true, in one way or another), but we blame each other; in fact, we lash out and retaliate against each other, people we don’t even know, people we assume are The Enemy, because it feels good. Hell yeah, it feels great. Go ahead, hate frat brothers. Hate ‘em for every time somebody called you a bitch or a faggot. Oh, it wasn’t them? Doesn’t matter, get your rocks off, blame it on whomever you like. You’re a victim, you can do that.

Oh, you don’t like sexuality that isn’t your own? Go ahead, mock and antagonize people who flaunt that type of sexuality. Go for it. They’re making you feel uncomfortable, they don’t have the right to do that. Now you’re a victim. Yay.

So yeah, I’m angry too. I’m angry, I’m pissed, I’m ripshit at all of you, all of us, all of me, all and all, for just not having the fucking balls, not having the guts, not having the decency of character to treat each other with respect, to give each other the benefit of the doubt, to approach each other on a personal level, and confront what problems we have. Because we’re young, we have a long time ahead of us. And it’s gonna feel too long, by spending being hateful, cowardly, and cruel.

Soursourian is a member of the class of 2003.