There is a certain video that has gone viral in the Peterborough community these past few weeks. The video depicts two young men surpassing a crowd of protesters who are holding back traffic near Fleming College. The protesters are nearly struck by the car and, quite obviously, are upset.
Comments have been flooding in on the ptbocanada website. Since the video has been posted the same young man who nearly hit the protesters has turned himself in to local authorities and he has fixed the mistake he made.
This editorial goes out to address another issue in the video -- one that was not brought up by many video commenters. My issue is with the man on the picket line who clearly yelled “faggots” to the driver and his passenger in the car. The voice comes from a man off camera, outside of the car, on the picket line. This man, because of his hatred toward the two people in the car decided that faggots was the proper term to use.
Up until that word was said, I would say I was completely in favour of the union strike. However, this one man made his cause look bad. He also made me question whether this word is too common and too overused.
The word faggot has become more common in the post modern society. The term derived from the Old French term meaning “bundle of sticks” which became a wholly pejorative term for old widows who earned their living collecting firewood. These women were often abused, raped and mocked - and then somewhere along the line this use disappeared and it became the word as we know it today. It has become socially acceptable among young men. I often overhear it screamed into the earpiece of my partner’s headset as he plays Xbox Live. However, what floors me in this situation is the man’s age, and his stature at an post secondary educational institution. He is not an Xbox gamer, he is not a young man “who doesn’t know any better.” Yes, I’ll admit he was in a situation that even I might swear at the thought of nearly being ran over, but why did he go there first?
This question I will likely never have the answer to. I know that this man will likely never pick up this paper and read page three. However, what I do know is that someone else will. My only hope is that we stop and think before we use insults, especially those of this nature.
Peterborough has a history of clashing cultures. My knowledge of these events typically come from the Arthur office and my hope is to continue to bring them to you over the year. Issues like what Jane Braithwaite shares on page 2, touch all students, and should not be ignored.
So this Pride Week, I ask you readers to not accept the social standard of the word “faggot”, the “n-word”, or the term “that is so gay.” And to those people on the picket line - keep fighting for what you believe in - but please don’t ignore what this man said.
Ultimately, I would like to leave you with a thought given by a student in the coverage by Chex Newswatch. This student, who was on the picket line with the OPSEU protesters, was quoted saying, “they are good people, and they would help me out for things [and so I want to] help them out.” This sentiment is exactly what I hope for in our modern day education system. People helping people and an open type of learning. I just hope that the educators can take what this student said into consideration and remove the bigotry and hate.
