FROM THE MOUTHS OF BABES
Don't worry, not those kind of babes, I'm talking about young adults in this case. And let me preface this column by admitting without prejudice that I could fill volumes with the enlightened proclamations that left my lips when I was in High School. But this past week, at the Concord, New Hampshire High School, new ground was broken by a young man named, appropriately, William Sleaster. William is the young man garnering national attention for his talking-down of Senator John McCain during a Tuesday morning visit there. Dissapointed by McCain's lack of knowledge regarding LGBT (lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender) issues, and by the Senator's lack of support for gay marriage, William told the Presidential candidate that he had come "hoping to see a leader...I don't." William told the Concord Monitor how he had disclosed to his classmates last February that he is bisexual and that it had been a relief for him to get it out in the open. Less fortunate, his parents found out when they heard it on CNN this week, but William said that's not a problem, that they allow him to be whoever he is. It is odd, nonetheless, that in such a libertine home, there had been such a substantial delay between his "outing" himself to friends and classmates, and his "outing" himself to his parents. More on William later.
Look, we were all Sophomores once and I'm willing to cut Willy a little slack. What is more astounding is the headline piece in the Concord Monitor by columnist Ray Duckler, titled "The Teen Who Challenged John McCain", which literally falls all over itself in celebrating this young mans tenacity. The column is dripping with congratulatory inuendo, as though William was the new Martin Luther King. What courage! What bravery! To be willing to stand up and be unabashedly rude and condascending to a visiting candidate for President of The United States, and I can only imagine how McCain must have folded into the fetal position and was probably shaking uncontrolably. I'm trying to recall if there have ever been any other events that were so unsettling for Senator McCain.
The Monitor revels in this non-event as though something substantial occured here, something beyond yet another example of how hopelessly removed from reality so many of today's young people are. Mr. Sleaster simply missed an opportunity to engage an extremely articulate and thoughtful man in a meaningful dialogue regarding his concerns as a young, bisexual man. It is yet another story of the never-ending campaign for "equal-rights" from a group that isn't really being denied any rights. Memo to the homosexual community: You can scale back the crusade, America has accepted you, just try to keep your private life a little private, please. It is the Monitor that suspends belief here, not drawing any attention to the obvious holes in Mr. Sleaster's diatribe.
For example, the Monitor may have reminded William that to sharpen the edge on his courageous style, any one of John McCains books...Faith of My Fathers...Character is Destiny...Worth the Fighting For...Hard Calls..yes, any of these would provide William with examples of the kind of company he will no doubt be keeping if he continues his relentelss advocacy for the downtrodden. The Monitor may have reminded him that it is because of John McCain and the tens of thousands like him, that we enjoy the freedom of speech that allows William to say what he did, to who he said it to, and still leave with your head attached. Yes, William, it's true, there are many countries where that kind of luquaciousness might land you in a squalid jail cell, or worse. The Montior, if aware, may have pointed out that John McCain himself is known for taking unpopular views, even sometimes being ostracized for them, yet stood by them by virtue of principle, and that in a strange sort of way, he probably understands your plight more deeply than many others seeking the same office. But all of these ironies were either lost on, or not important to, the Concord Monitor, or at least Ray Duckler, who chose to reel and stagger in elation at an opportunity to somehow diminish John McCain.
I see William Sleaster as a sad example of a young man. Not because of his sexual preferences, which don;t bother me one bit, but because of his complete lack of vision and depth of thought. " An emotional outburst from a coddled child "may have been a better headline, or perhaps, "an awesome opportunity to engage an American hero missed", would have been another. That a newspaper would print the equivalent of a high-five to William Sleaster without pointing out any of the obvious pitfalls of his behavior, is astounding to me. I am a John McCain supporter, but this is not about JohnMcCain, I would be equally baffled had the story centered around any adult who was speaking at the High School, you see, William, it's about respect for others with whom you disagree.It's about repect for your elders, a timeworn American tradition that has generally served us well. The irony, lost completely on the Montior and William Sleaster, is that what transpired was an intolerant, rude, obnoxious plea for people to stop being intolerant, rude and obnoxious. Get it, William?
|