Expect to be treated equally

On Monday The Heights published a cartoon titled 'A Superfan tribute to history's geniuses.' This cartoon, which drew a direct and inappropriate comparison between the Holocaust and the cancellation of the GLC dance and insulted the intelligence of both the Jewish and Boston College student community, should not have been published.

While comparing one incident of intolerance to another more severe incident may be useful to draw attention to the former, comparing the cancellation of a benefit dance to torture and genocide only serves to portray the worst human actions as less serious. Repression of self expression is a gentle thing compared to mass murder and despite the need to fight for equal rights through speech, such gross exaggeration is never acceptable.

The right to free speech is rightly very highly valued and no person has the responsibility or the right to censure, but some things said need not be repeated to a larger audience. This cartoon is just as such and should not have been published in the context that it appeared. Despite its very inappropriate point, it would be a mistake to entirely ignore the author's goal and instead only criticize his expression of the point.

Yet, we must still consider that some points of view can be as damaging to our community as poorly chosen words or the expression of ideas. I understand that this cartoon attempted to portray the expectation for equal treatment as humorous or ridiculous. The cartoon seems to suggest that expecting equal treatment only leaves one open to harm or unfair and unequal treatment. In truth, however, there is nothing wrong with expecting equal treatment. This expectation is the very thing that drives us to fight for equal rights and moves us to disband intolerance. It can be said that our very country is founded on the belief that all people inherently deserve equal treatment and should expect to receive it.

While our country may have been founded in virtue, we have a history of acting on the terrible vice of intolerance. But we are fortunate that we can look to our past and learn how not to conduct ourselves. This should be the chief factor that guides our actions in the present. If the BC community can learn how to act from the past and all of its members expect to be treated equally, we can defeat racism and sexism on campus.

But this cartoon expresses a different view which I believe is prevalent on campus and is contrary to the one that I have suggested. It criticizes members of the Jewish and the BC student community for not expecting to receive harm and be oppressed based on a history of harm and oppression. It suggests that the intelligent alternative is to judge a person based on what his or her social group has done in the past. To judge any person based on what another who may be like them has done is the very source of intolerance, regardless of whether or not it is directed against a majority or minority.

It is a mistake to judge any student based on what another student of the same skin color or from the same state or of the same religious orientation has done. It is even a poor defense mechanism against further intolerance. Rather, one should be mindful of his or her own safety and rights but should first approach strangers without judging them and with the expectation to receive completely equal treatment. This is especially true at BC, a place praised for the quality of character of its students. To truly search out and accept equal treatment wherever it exists and not judge others before we know them is the first step in defeating intolerance.

I urge members of the BC community to stop criticizing intolerance and to begin praising tolerance. Praise those who show tolerance more publicly than punishing those who are intolerant. First, expect to be treated with equality and never act with prejudice and only begin to fight when equal treatment is not received. The unprejudiced expectation for equal treatment is our most valuable asset and we should unite as a community under this expectation.

Zachary Piccioli is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences.