Slug: American hypocrisy/ American idiots

Hed: Push me all you want

SubHed: This American stands by her words

01 Oct 04

Sybil Priebe

Opinion Editor

When push comes to shove, I’ll be the first to take my 5’7” inch frame and shove back with all my might. Maybe it’s because I have been listening to Green Day’s new CD, American Idiot. Maybe it’s the recent shoving my car endured at the Turf (just because you don’t own your car, doesn’t mean you get to touch my ‘bought and paid for’ import). Or maybe it’s the month’s worth of chaos over the sex column (which just makes me want to puke on myself), but I have got some rage built up in me. I have had it with American culture and American media and American idiots. Green Day has got it right; we’re American idiots. I’ll admit my own hypocrisy, I’ll even admit my stubborness, and that is why, I have one last column to write on this issue. Here are my words that I stand by:

Currently, the American way is the Hypocritical way. We view sex and violence and political bashing and religious wars on TV, but the minute those subjects are in print, particularly sex, Bam!, letters to the editor come pouring in. We can’t handle those topics in our paper, but we’ll surely go shop at Abercrombie where naked people are used for advertisements or purchase magazines where half the ads use sex to sell us something. Like one of the latest ads on MTV demonstrates, we’ll let our kids watch a head get blown off on TV, but the minute someone fondles someone on TV, the wool comes over the eyes. We’ll fight openly about politics in our kitchens with 8-year-olds nearby, but we have parents that won’t let us ask “What do Muslims believe in?” or tell their sons that it’s a “penis” and not a “pee-pee.”

One beautiful quirk that came out of all the recent sexual chaos in our community is this: People started to talk about sex. Ooooh, we tricked you. You didn’t want to talk about it, but then you saw those articles, and Bam, you talked about it, and you thought about it. It all makes me smile an evil smile because I would do it over again all because it got a discussion started.

Just because we are situated in a conservative town/state/region doesn’t mean that that should be our excuse to bypass discussions on sex or politics or religion. Even if it were true that most of the population of NDSU was republican, white, Christian, and abstaining from sex, discussions relating to the other side of topics should be allowed. Why? These discussions make us critical thinkers. They make us learn. And if we learn more, we’ll be better people whether it changes our views or not. What can it hurt to know how to please a mate now even if you’re waiting for sex ‘til after marriage? What can it hurt to learn about the Muslim culture? It won’t make you a terrorist. What can it hurt to learn about the democratic party even if you remain a strict republican the rest of your life? (Learning about “their” side may make you a better opponent in an argument anyhow.)

This is why I teach. This is why I am in graduate school. I want to learn more, and I want to encourage others to learn/discuss/write about subjects they are ignorant in. I’ll deal with being pushed and shoved because I want to have discussions, even if they’re “uncomfortable” ones. If life gave you what you wanted, you’d never grow as a person. If a newspaper or a TV show or a movie gave you what you wanted, where would the fun or enjoyment be? What would you talk about afterward? How it sucked, obviously.

So, let the Face-Offs begin. Let’s talk about subjects, let’s get them out in the open. This American is not going to point fingers or complain about “uncomfortable” subjects. This American is going to stand by her words and stand by her vote in November. And that is the American way.