“Oh yeah, I’m very supportive of breast cancer,” I say to her with a big smile on my face, noting that the irony of the statement blew right on by her. I walk on, nodding at a pretty girl blabbering on about homosexuality.
Speeding past signs and e-mails ranting about our sustainability efforts and banners promoting the latest disability awareness function.
Sigh. The overload of public opinion is numbing my mind.
And they are everywhere. You can’t throw a Dillin banana 10 feet without hitting a sign promoting some cause or issue. The campus has ventured beyond social awareness into the land of forced awareness while constantly reminding us of how intolerable we are. I’ve probably heard about 10 different discussions this month about seeing other perspectives.
In reality, we need to work less on diffusing uncomfortable situations, since students are now walking on eggshells everywhere they go to avoid offending anyone. They think, act, write and work as if we are all the same and have the same open views about everything.
People get strong-armed into supporting all sorts of causes simply to demonstrate that they’re not against them.
Diversity has become a system of tiers in which everyone fights to climb higher while simultaneously raining hell on those below. The best way to dodge a hit is to keep climbing. And people do, ignoring the fact that they actually don’t care at all about any of the issues. Society makes them care whether they want to or not.
In our efforts to promote acceptance, we’ve somehow managed to belittle anyone not directly in balance with our own views.
Let me get one thing straight: Students do not have an obligation to fix every societal problem in the world. There should be no guilt involved in your situation. Do what you can with what you believe in.
Cultural awareness is a great thing. Respecting others is excellent. But neither of those concepts should or can be forced. They’re genuine perspectives that we choose consciously. And some people just don’t feel that way, which seems to put many people into attack mode. Diversity is not a weapon to swing at those who have alternative viewpoints.
I had a friend here once tell me he “hated people who weren’t open-minded.” I was amazed at how sincere he was about the statement.
We’re getting to the point where we try so hard to be nice to each other, that we don’t even present our true nature. Or the fact that we have opinions about all these social issues.
If I am against an issue, I should be allowed to speak my piece, right? On the contrary, if I expressed my views against homosexuality or Judaism or global warming or feminism, I would find myself crushed under a wave of public opinion. If I mentioned that wearing a T-shirt or a wristband doesn’t actually change anything for a public that has heard it 10 million times, I would receive more angry e-mails than I could read.
This isn’t right. Being vocal about any viewpoint, mainstream or not, should be Ok. This is the land of diversity; let us think whatever we wish and speak openly.
Trust me, it’s better for the mainstream opinion anyway. If people actually believe it, they’ll become vocal. They’ll question what they actually believe. And if, as many of you so obviously contend, your opinion is the correct one, you have no reason to fear.
We need to stop towing the line on every issue. We need to stand up and fight for anything we strongly believe in. And we need to stop telling people that the majority is always right. Public opinion changes quickly.

Matt Olson/Columnist
Matt Olson can be reached at [email protected]