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There was a Wespeak in last Friday’s Argus that condemned the use ofthe word "fag" in a WesCeleb interview from last Tuesday’s Argus. In theWespeak, Joel Nichols writes, "It is not okay to call someone a fag." Sixinches to left on the same page, in a column by Bob Kao, one can read,"Margaret Cho has a huge amount of gay fans because of her self-proclaimedstatus as a ‘fag hag.’" I find this contradiction exemplary of some reallysad truths about this campus’s logic.

I’m sure that there are those who will claim that Margaret Cho can callherself whatever she likes without shame because she’s a minority memberand has lots of gay friends, whereas James Burke is a straight male Republican.People who argue this are the same people who tell you that use of theword "nigger" is automatically ok if you’re black, that Jews can call themselveskikes as long as nobody else does, and that speaking in an exaggeratedcomic Asian accent about doing laundry is ok if you’re Asian (especiallyif you’re Margaret Cho). I say that’s bull.

But this is all beside the point, because any potentially offensiveword can be used responsibly, and this time was such a case. James Burke’sWesCeleb interview was a great parody of journalism, conservativism, andpolitics in general, and anyone who read the interview without blinderson would feel the same. Unfortunately, too many people do read with blinderson. Too many people read "fag" and then the rest of the words on the page(i.e. context) vanished from their sight. So here come the homophobe policeto write us a Wespeak about all the bigotry on campus.

In the interview, Burke and Bobby Zeliger (the interviewer) illustratepoint after point the ways in which Burke seems to negate his claim thathe is a Republican. "You’re voting for Al Gore, you’re pro-choice, yousmoke dope… and you support Gore’s Democratic tax cut," says Zeliger. Burkereplies, "I am so a Republican! Ask me another question." It is at thispoint that the interview shifts gears, and becomes a forum for Burke tothrow out every cliché of contemporary American Republicanism hecan think of: "Nuke all the Commies!" "Jews… they’re bankers," and yes…"Clinton… was a fag," to name a few. This last comment is exactly the kindof ignorant, non sequiter use of a derogatory statements that the emphaticallyconservative throw out to offend anything they don’t like, and that’s exactlywhy Burke says it– to parody his own argument.

Anybody who doesn’t think that the interview is comedy need only lookat the last question — "As a Republican, would you eat a baby just to makea couple of bucks? — to which Burke replies, "Fried or barbecued." Theinterview is — whether you like it or not — tongue in cheek. It’s comedy;get over it. If Joel Nichols, Phil Gentry (who wrote another Wespeak),or anyone else has a problem with a straight person using a word responsiblyfor the purpose of socially relevant comedy, then they better also writeWespeaks on behalf of all Commies, Jews, and fried babies in the world,or else their complaints lose all credibility as far as I’m concerned.

But no, this is the campus where we only look after our own kind, wherewe only stand up for the causes to which we ourselves belong. It’s ironicthat a school as purportedly open-minded and accepting as Wesleyan hassuch a problem with the notion of social satire, and has no tolerance fora Republican in its midst. If hyper-sensitive members of this campus wantto go ahead and blame all the homophobia and hatred in the world on someoneas honest, self-deprecating, and funny as James Burke, then that’s theirright, but they’re wasting they’re time and making a big mistake.

This isn’t a freedom of speech issue either; it’s a "grow up and geta sense of humor" issue. I was talking to a friend of mine — a member ofthe Queer Alliance — about the interview, and when I told him I wasn’toffended, he said that that was easy for me to say because I’m not gay.I asked him what he thought about the Jewish comment, and he said thatthat one was ok because it was just in jest. This double standard is onethat is far too common on this campus, and is far more offensive than any use of the word fag that I know.

Horwitz is a member of the class of 2002.