True freedom needs everyone to be free

I completely agree with journalism professor Fred Fico that words such as “diversity,” “multiculturalism” and “cultural relativism” shouldn’t be used.

Kris Turner

In fact, it’s my hope that we can eliminate these words from our daily lives. But that dream is a long time coming.

In a letter to the editor Conservative faculty seek to protect America’s freedom (SN 9/4), Fico argues freedom is under attack because of diversity and university speech codes, which prohibit things such as hate speeches. It’s funny that he thinks it’s OK for people to spew hate. In fact, it’s even funnier that he thinks freedom is under attack by promoting a tolerant society.

We don’t live in a time where we can simply say society is one and everyone is free. There is a lot of hate, discrimination and blatant inequality in this land of the free. I’m an openly gay man and I can say America isn’t such a great place for freedom, at least if you’re a minority.

President Barack Obama might be a person of mixed race, which is a huge step for this country, but we still have a long way to go. It’s time that every person not only says it’s great we live in a diverse society, but truly embodies those values. Tolerance is a lesson we can better learn.

Fico also writes about individual rights in regard to diversity. He states: “In effect, individuals have no rights; indeed, the idea of freedom is grounded in individual rights that have no meaning in the context of multiculturalism or cultural relativism.”

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Individual rights only can be achieved by fighting for what you deserve with others like you.

I don’t have the same rights as the person sitting next to me as I write this column. That doesn’t make me feel good. Every day I’m reminded that in the United States, I’m a second-class citizen. My right to be married and live my life with a committed partner doesn’t exist in most places. It limits the places I’d like to live after graduation. Am I free? I don’t think so.

Maybe Fico doesn’t know what it’s like to be a part of a group in society that’s treated much differently than the rest. He’s probably never gotten “the look” when going about something so routine in a day that you are flabbergasted.

Before fall semester started, my boyfriend and I took a trip around the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. We camped, cooked over fires and spent time walking along the beaches. A good vacation overall.

But one thing that struck me as odd was the way people would look at us as we shopped in a grocery store or went to dinner. The look said, “you are different, you don’t belong and you are not normal.” Late one night, over a fire, I asked my boyfriend if he ever noticed “the look.” He said he did and that it’s something we probably will have to deal with. Again, a good dose of tolerance could help remedy this problem.

Tolerance is not a veiled liberal ideology. It’s a way to promote the open and free lives of all people. When Fico writes tolerance has morphed into a way for faculty at the university to spread their political ideals, he’s wrong. Dead wrong. Tolerance is necessary so that people can learn to live in harmony with one another.

It doesn’t mean you have to love everyone, but it means you treat a person with dignity, no matter their sexual orientation, skin color, background, economic status or creed. Without it, we’d be living in a society made of people who don’t take the time to appreciate those who are different from them.

Fico also states that majority rules in his letter, which could not be more misguided. Just because slavery was an accepted institution in the past didn’t make it right. So what if some people make up a majority? That doesn’t mean I or anyone else deserves fewer rights than them.

The thought that this is an accepted ground rule is absurd. His logic is that of an old, privileged man who doesn’t know the sting of discrimination and inequality.

In fact, he’s somewhat of a hypocrite. Saying he’s defending freedom by masking his beliefs behind conservative ideology is an easy way to spout hate speech and discrimination. He does the very thing he accuses other faculty at this university of doing. I, and everyone else, can read between the lines.

If you really care about freedom and making America a better place, I challenge you to stand with minorities and demand they have equality in society. Make the “tolerance” and “diversity” you detest a thing of the past by helping to make society a level playing field for all. Only then will these words not be necessary.

Kris Turner is the State News deputy managing editor. Reach him at turne112@msu.edu.