On deaf students and comedy

While many of the posts in this blog are going to be about subjects you've already heard about (that's kind of the point, after all), I'll do my best to come up with the occasional regional topic, to kind of change things up a bit. I figured now would be a good time to do that, as we wait on the verdict to be passed on Mr. Imus.

In any case, I currently attend the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY. (A very good school, by the way.) RIT houses the largest deaf technical institute in the country, nearly a tenth of RIT's 15,000 total student population is hard-of-hearing or deaf. Props to RIT, sure; but it also creates a very unique social situation for all students who attend, hearing or no. They are two very, very different cultures; with different desires, ideas, and personalities.

Recently, the activities board here managed to get Lisa Lampanelli to come to campus. For those of you who might not know, she is a comedian in the same vein as Carlos Mencia; her comedy is based of insulting different nationalities and persuasions. Apparently (I've never seen her perform and I wasn't able to attend the show itself as I was way too busy at the time) a solid part of her shtick is bashing deaf people; I guess one of her jokes is 'maybe deaf people are really just retarded, and just fake being deaf to slip by.'

Alright. I can see how this kind of thing would offend someone. Sure, especially in a campus with so many deaf students. Understandably, there was a big outcry from the deaf community, as well as your usual liberal student activists-in-training. However, the student body president (who is hard-of-hearing herself) and President Al Simone let Ms. Lampanelli's show remain on the schedule, wisely in my opinion.

Cue more agonized whining, but let's take a moment to think about this. Needless to say it's another example of selective offended-ness. I don't remember anyone standing up for the Mexican, Arabic, or Handicapped communities when Mencia came here and talked about 'beaners standing in front of Home Depot', or Arabs deserving to get checked out more often in airports because it's 'their turn', or even the physically/mentally retarded part of his shtick. Nah, no one made a sound. But when you are the one under the gun, hoo boy, watch out.

President Simone wrote the following on his 'Ask the President' page after Lampanelli's show:

'Free speech does not come without consequences or without certain constraints. One constraint is to not use free speech unnecessarily in a fashion that would disrespect, embarrass, humiliate or offend others. On the other hand, when a large number of students on this campus choose to bring someone like Ms. Lampanelli to the campus, knowing the nature of her humor, to deny them this right when they have followed the campus rules with regard to selecting outside speakers violates their freedom and our willingness to allow them to make decisions and learn from the consequences.

This was a close call. My personal preference would have been to never invite her in the first place - not only because of what she has to say about deaf people but because of the disrespect she shows every racial and ethnic minority in her brand of humor. However, we do allow the student body, through the Campus Activities Board, to bring in provocative and controversial speakers so that the campus as a whole can make up its own mind. If I draw the line on Ms. Lampanelli, what speaker do I draw the line on next? Do I become a speech policeman? Is that what the campus wants from its president?

I think not. From the point of view of RIT as a whole, I believe it was best to bring Ms. Lampanelli in and then have a campus wide forum afterwards to discuss the proper expression of free speech, especially on a campus which prides itself on its commitment to diversity.'

Millions of kudos to Simone. I think he put the situation into words far classier than I could hope to do. The student body president has said much the same thing in the aftermath of the show. This is the type of stance I wish more people would take; people in power are not put in to power to police what is said and done, and in the end, if you don't want to hear what someone has to say, don''t listen. Especially if its a comedy show you have to pay to see. Just don't buy tickets. Protest peacefully, but don't do it in a way that hampers the rights and desires of the majority. This is what this country is based on, but people seem to forget that. Rule by the majority, with an eye to maintaining the rights and privileges of the minority. If you don't like something, fine, no one is making you. But don't ruin it for everybody else.