Conservative student speaks against vulgar comments
October 9, 2019
According to Point Park’s website, one of its most important values is to “foster a community of mutual respect and diversity.” Since moving in, I have been cursed out and attacked with vulgar statements on my door due to a difference in opinion. If anything, I have experienced the opposite of what Point Park has intended.
I am a conservative. That’s right. I attend a liberal arts college as a conservative. I knew that coming to this specific university would be a major adjustment, but leaving my dorm to find phrases such as “you are racist” and “you can’t have an opinion” written on my whiteboard is not helping expedite the process. I came here to move away from home and to take advantage of the opportunities Pittsburgh has to offer, not for people to make assumptions about me based on the political party I affiliate with.
Ever since President Donald J. Trump won the 2016 election, politics have been a major interest of mine. I went from not watching the news to watching it non-stop, and from not having opinions to having nothing but opinions. Taking advantage of my high school paper, “The Knight Crier,” I utilized the idea of an editorial to speak what was on my mind. As expected, I received both positive and negative responses. The positive comments encouraged me to continue writing. The negative comments encouraged me to focus my writing on providing a clear view of my side of the argument, whether the topic was about abortion, the electoral college, the wall at the border, etc. After months of gaining experience and exposure, politics was all I cared about.
Coming into a liberal college in a liberal city, I knew my opinion would not be popular, but it is my right to express my views, so that is exactly what I did – well, not exactly. These vulgar statements all started with a simple concept – the poll.
As a going away gift, my mom gave me these whiteboards that stick to basically anything. I decided to break the ice and put one on my door, allowing daily polls to be posted, giving others the chance to vote. The polls started out simple with questions like “what’s your favorite jolly rancher flavor” and “Monsters Inc. or Incredibles.” Being the political junkie I am, I realized that the election is coming up soon, providing me the perfect platform to make my polls political.
I shifted from Pixar polls to political polls, which caused others to shift their responses from respectful to rude. Want to know what makes this situation even better? I never once expressed my opinion while writing these polls, making each negative comment an assumption.
As a firm believer in our Constitution, I support the First Amendment (Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances). Therefore, I understand that others have and can have different opinions than me, but cursing someone out is no way to solve a conflict.
If these people wanted to discuss or debate a specific issue, I would have gladly done so, but instead they wrote false accusations and ran away. These comments didn’t hurt my feelings, since I know they are false, but it does make me fear the way our country is heading. Due to the number of hours I put into watching the news and reading articles, I am aware of what is going on out there. People have been assaulted for wearing MAGA hats. Conservative college students’ grades are dropped because of most universities’ liberal agendas. It makes me wonder…is speaking my opinion making me a political activist or a target?
From what I have seen so far, Point Park University showcases a variety of people from race to ethnicity to sexual orientation, which is great. Why am I not being accepted due to my political beliefs, though? I am sure over time people will learn to get to know someone before they assume certain things. Yes, I am a conservative, but that’s all I am. I will respect your opinions; I just request the same treatment in return.
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Daniel • Oct 11, 2019 at 2:07 am
Great article Logan. I totally feel what you’re going through. And lol @Henry. You are an absolute moron. Please respect my opinion in saying that.
@ACentristPOV on Twitter • Oct 10, 2019 at 5:43 pm
Even though this is happening, I feel you should continue. Sticks and stones will break your bones, but words will not. Stay strong through it. Perhaps administration will be sympathetic – if you bring it up with them – to your cause, and take actions against students vandalizing your whiteboard with vulgarity. Good luck, and keep writing awesome articles.
Alex • Oct 10, 2019 at 5:16 pm
100% agree with you Logan keep going and let the liberals hate
Jessica Birmingham • Oct 10, 2019 at 4:40 pm
Logan, I completely agree. Very well said! You are going places.
Jacob Schwabe • Oct 10, 2019 at 3:02 pm
Incredible article and word choice. You make me proud to be conservative.
Meg • Oct 10, 2019 at 12:29 pm
You claim that you never stated your political views, and that everyone simply made baseless assumptions about your beliefs, but that seems highly unlikely. Why would people jump to the conclusion that you hold these very conservative opinions unless given a reason? Was it implied through the questions you asked? Did you put it out there on social media?
Regardless of how they reached these conclusions, they clearly were not all that off-base, because you just admitted to being a Trump-supporting Conservative in this article. If you are going to express support for a public figure with a reputation for being intolerant, you really cannot be surprised when people reach the conclusion that you are similarly racist or otherwise intolerant. I am not suggesting that it is okay or productive for people to call you names, but their upset is not coming from absolutely nowhere. Just as you find their harsh words offensive, many people find your apparent agreement with Trump offensive.
Additionally, you absolutely had to know that going from casual polls to asking heavy political questions about the border wall would stir up trouble, especially since you acknowledged your personal choice to attend a college with a “liberal agenda.” Your little whiteboard is simply not an appropriate place to approach these serious issues, particularly if you are not prepared for the harsh responses. Again, I’m not saying that calling you names is okay, but you are not entirely blameless here.
This might be something to think about.
Henry • Oct 10, 2019 at 11:49 am
Just a few quick things that might help with the authors cognitive dissonance.
A. You say you only got into politics AFTER trump got elected in 2016. Your proud republican ideas only formed when it became something popular. You call yourself a political junkie. You don’t follow politics because people in the government are debating your right to exist or get married or adopt children or have bodily autonomy or get a job without discrimination. You got into politics cause it was fun? Cause you think it’s interesting?
For you politics is a game, a fun conversation piece. For people that aren’t you it’s life or death. It’s people who don’t understand your identity deciding if you get to legally be acknowledged or not. So you aren’t bullied. People have a right to be mad at you and judge you for being in support of those ideas, policies, and politicians
B. People don’t have an obligation to debate you for your bad ideas. When you proudly and openly support politicians and policies that target their very existence, they don’t need to be nice to you or debate you. It’s their existence at stake vs you just wanting to feel smart.
C. In being a proud republican you support the ideas of the Republican Party. Ideas like gays shouldn’t be able to get married or adopt children. Transgender people are just mentally ill and should be denied gender reassignment surgery. Abortion should be illegal. As well as the downplaying of things like slavery and discrimination. So you are racist, homophobic, transphobic, and xenophobic etc. No matter what if you are a proud conservative/republican/whatever. You support those ideas and the people trying to make laws around these ideas. You are racist.
D. You aren’t oppressed. You aren’t bullied. You aren’t discriminated against. You’re just a straight white male who wants to feel oppressed. You chose to be a republican. You chose to put up those polls. You support the people that discriminate against those that dislike you. They have good reason to call you those names because you are what they say. Being a republican is nowhere near the same thing as being trans or being a person of color. And I reiterate, You’re just another straight white male who wants to feel oppressed. Have some personal responsibility, recognize who is effected by the policy you support and why those people might be mad at you.
E. This article is just written poorly and it’s boring and really might be my final straw in never reading the globe again.
You aren’t special. You aren’t unique. You aren’t smart. You aren’t bullied. You aren’t suppressed. You just support racists and the like and people see that.
John Dooley • Oct 9, 2019 at 11:35 pm
FINALLY SOME PERSPECTIVE! I am tired of newspaper articles following one agenda (especially when it comes to the liberal agenda). Thank you for sharing your story Logan! It is so sad that you are dealing with this, when school should be about getting an education and taking on opportunities to benefit your future! I want to see more from you! Please publish more!!
Hannah • Oct 9, 2019 at 10:58 pm
It’s amazing that people can be so narrow minded. I thought excepting everyone was something our country was supposed to do. Do liberals ever actually have a conversation with us first to see that we aren’t racist or have hatred for others? No they don’t. I understand what it’s like to be judged based on political opinions and it’s hard to be a conservative in public.
Andrew Spaziani • Oct 9, 2019 at 7:12 pm
Logan, I feel your pain. Whenever I want to express my political opinion, which is also conservative by the way, I get ridiculed and called a racist. I also have people saying my “white privilege” helps me through life. Ive had a hard life, and the only thing “white privilege” means to me is that I have to pay taxes and be accountable for myself. I don’t get special treatment like people want to believe, and I know you don’t either… I just wish people can speak to each other without an argument or fight to break out.
Austin Shuey • Oct 9, 2019 at 6:45 pm
I completely, 100%, understand where they’re coming from, unfortunately, that’s the worst part about going to a liberal college. Maybe years and years ago it was more relaxed but now it’s if you don’t fit into this narrative, you are wrong and called assinine names, basically not treated the same as others. You don’t know how it feels to have to write papers on a topic that you have to basically lie about and not give your true opinions on to get a good enough grade to pass the assignment/class. We live in a country where we can express ourselves any way we want to. We have our freedom of speech and freedom of expression, but not when you come to a liberal college because “you can’t have an opinion” and you’re indoctrinated into thinking a certain way. Which shouldn’t be the case. In conversations with other people on campus, somehow things turn political – and I have to shut up and not give my “two cents” because then people will realize quickly that you’re not “one of them” and shun you. It’s not what college should be – it should be a place where you can express yourself. The person in the article is not doing anything wrong. They are expressing their opinion, which is perfectly fine. But colleges are brainwashing students into thinking that if you don’t think, act, do as I want you to do mindset that you’re wrong and not thinking as they do.
Rj Galbraith • Oct 9, 2019 at 2:58 pm
I don’t know what you expected putting political pools on your door at a liberal arts college. It’s kinda common sense if you think about it. The part where you said you just got into politics when Trump got elected, were you even old enough to vote in that election? Im not against what you believe in but its just kinda expected that people get mad easily, especially when you don’t agree with what they do.
Noah • Oct 9, 2019 at 12:02 pm
“please respect me even tho I hate people who are different than me.”