Considering difference

In April I posted some audio from Al Gore’s keynote at the NASPA/ACPA National Conference. This post drew the attention of a certain blogger by the name of Radar. Radar had also attended the NASPA/ACPA conference and he had a few things to say about Al Gore. I love getting comments on my site that differ from my own opinion. This diversity of viewpoints keeps things interesting and forces me to flex my brain cells.

I do not get too many comments on this site so I always check out the URL’s of my commenters. Radar’s blog is called “On the Radar.” According to the blogger profile, Radar is “a conservative graduate student living undercover in liberal academia.” (He probably should update his bio now that he’s gainfully employed…)

Radar blogs anonymously.

I quickly read through several posts at On the Radar. I learned that Radar had attended Iowa State University during his undergraduate experience and that he attended Miami University in Ohio. Radar was in the College Student Personnel (CSP) program. The similarities of my experience and Radar’s piqued my curiosity. I had grown up in Iowa, attended one of the state universities in Iowa, and obtained a graduate degree in college student services.

Radar and I most likely took a lot of similar courses during our graduate experience including: student development theory, racial identity development, legal issues in higher education, etc.

The web detective in me decided to see if I could find out Radar’s identity. I blog using my real name and I was curious to see if I knew who he was in real life. I perused the Miami University website and found a single graduate student in the CSP program who listed Iowa State as his alma mater. I quickly Googled his name. My Google search brought up a lot of Iowa State student newspaper articles that Radar had commented on. The ideological slant on the comments matched up with the posts on On the Radar. Radar had been a student leader at Iowa State. He was the president of one of ISU’s fraternities.

The posts within On the Radar bothered me a great deal. Here was someone who was a student affairs administrator who posted blatant anti-Muslim and anti-LGBT writings. I recently interacted with him on how he could be anti-LGBT and still support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender students at his new job. I stated that it would be upsetting to know that a university administrator was anti-LGBT.

Radar:

“I certainly have the ability to hold my own opinions on social matters regardless of my position within a university. It’s interesting that you yourself surely are totally unable to support a conservative student based on your own political leanings.

Not to mention that there are more important issues in this world other than ones that concern homosexuals. You seem to be a tad obsessed.”

To which I responded:

“Professionally and personally I am able to support the dignity of everyone that I interact with via compassion and charity. It is difficult to work with folks who seem to relish in maiming the dignity of others. It requires a lot of realization that my own self-awareness and identity has grown a lot since I left a small town in rural Iowa and that I was not always philosophically and practically grounded in social justice.

My comment was truly based in gladness. It was reassuring to me that you are able to work with all students regardless of your personal views.

I am indeed obsessed with furthering social justice oriented dialogues. I love talking to heterosexual folks who have not made up their mind about homosexual relations.

Do you regularly interact with openly gay or out students in your office/department? I wonder if they knew your personal views how that would affect that interaction (if it occurs at all…)?

Cheers.”

Radar replied with the following comment:

“Compassion and charity? Are you writing a Hallmark card? Eric, you are more obsessed with finding out who I am than ever actually understanding why I believe what I believe. My personal disapproval for homosexual acts and lifestyles does not negate my ability to work with homosexual students any more than your disapproval of conservatives and conservative viewpoints negates your ability to work with conservative or Christian students, right? Your hiding behind social justice allows you to never truly research or attempt to understand that with which you disagree. Do you interact with openly conservative students, or do any such students attend Oregon State? Or maybe conservative students tend to avoid you. I wonder why – maybe because you think them to be regressive simpletons needing their eyes opened to the glorious righteousness of a “progressive” (liberal) social order.

On one final note, I appreciate your interest in my blog. However, if you don’t have anything new or unique to contribute feel free to frequent another site. Reading your posts is similar to my previous two years in a graduate program – a world filled with only social forces controlling our destinies while ignoring human agency and personal responsibility. If you do choose to respond, I ask you to ponder this (you wouldn’t have learned it in graduate school):

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”

Colossians 2:8″

I’ve been pondering a particular sentence in Radar’s comment.
“My personal disapproval for homosexual acts and lifestyles does not negate my ability to work with homosexual students any more than your disapproval of conservatives and conservative viewpoints negates your ability to work with conservative or Christian students, right?”

My interpretation of Radar’s comment is that he disapproves of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. How can you work with LGBT students if you disapprove of their very existence? I’m guessing that Radar did not mention that particular view during his interview at Iowa State.

I think the difference between myself and Radar is that I approve of the existence of conservative students. I am not anti-conservative student nor am I anti-Christian. I am against the maiming of dignity. Conservative, Christian, LGBT (these identities are not mutually exclusive) are all valid identities.

Why is it that Radar, who identifies as a conservative, Christian, heterosexual, white man, seemingly needs to disparage, dismiss, and denigrate people who have different identities than he does?

The key difference between myself and Radar is that I can honestly support conservative and/or Christian students. I value their identities. I value everyone’s dignity.

I am friends with a lot of people who self-identify as conservative. They know that I value them as human beings who live, breathe, dream, have hopes, etc. They also know that I do not value or validate views which seek to maim the dignity of folks in marginalized groups.

My web statistics tell me that Radar has checked out my site while at work. This host name appeared on my web statistics during our most recent blog interaction :
129-186-45-150.alumni.iastate.edu

I’ve thought a lot about what it means to be an ally during my exchanges with Radar. I feel that my biggest task as an ally is to challenge my own awareness (aka working on my own junk) and to educate people who have identities which are similar to my own. Radar is a heterosexual white man who grew up in a small town in Iowa. He’s in my sweet spot of social justice. His lived experience is at the very least geographically and educationally very similar to my own.

I have thought a lot about what I’m calling “the ethics of outing.” Outing someone from the LGBT community is a painful and sometimes dangerous thing to do. I wonder about the effects of outing someone who is blatantly homophobic on his website and yet closeted about his bigotry in his professional life.

I tried to “friend” Radar on Facebook. I poked him too. He never added me as a friend nor did he reciprocate by poking me back.

Outing Radar would probably accomplish little with regards to his self-awareness, his white privilege, his homophobia, or his Islamophobia. In fact, it would probably cause him to create another anonymous blog. This new blog would probably be full of the same discriminatory rhetoric that is on the current site. The new blog just would not have anything that would lead to discovering Radar’s true identity.

What about the students at Iowa State University? Students who are Muslim, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender (Note: Muslim and LGBT are not mutually exclusive). What is my role as an ally to those students who are interacting with someone who “disapproves” of them?

I would love to read what you, my reader, thinks of this conundrum.

12 thoughts on “Considering difference”

  1. Eric, I thought we already talked about this. I appreciate your interest in my blogging and your inexplicable obession with who I am (aka your stalking of me) but I never would have come back to your site if I didn’t see the links from you driving traffic over to my blog. Honestly, I don’t remember ever going to your blog at work (you might want to check your site meter or whatever).

    Two things: First, disapproving of someone’s lifestyle and actions is quite a different thing than disapproving of the individual themselves. These are two different ideas entirely. Calling me “homophobic” and “islamaphobic” underscores your lack of understanding in this area. You are unable to distinguish between who I am and what I think and believe, and this is a common mistake. You disagree with me, yet you still don’t hate me (I assume). This is the distinction that you claim I cannot make myself. You are stuck in a quandry.

    Finally – you have “outed” me – and you know it. Your lack of concern for my situation nearly has me speechless. You seem to be the type of person that loves difference, but attempts to destroy difference of opinion – another typical quandry for people usually sharing your opinions. Eric, you are wrong about another thing – if my anonymity is destroyed I will simply stop blogging altogether – which I assume is your final aim.

    So thanks, Eric. It appears it is your intolerance of people that are different from you that has nearly silenced that differing opinion. It appears that that is your end goal, so I congratulate you.

    Finally, I would appreciate if you removed the links to the outgoing sites that give away my identity. If not, radar and On the Radar will be deleted – it’s as simple as that. Unlike you, I do not have the opportunity and “privilege” to blog under my real name – as you demonstrate by this post it is dangerous to exist as a conservative in higher education – if you dare to do so you are outed, lynched, and silenced. This will likely be my last post.

  2. Hi Eric,
    It is a sticky situation! Just a few thoughts (and thanks for asking!):

    The crux of the matter is how well Radar is actually able to appropriately serve the students whose identities he invalidates by his disapproval, as he claims to do. I think that this is within the realm of possibility. However, the students he disapproves of are the only ones who can testify to how well he does this.

    If those students don’t know he disapproves of them, how will they know whether or not he is able to set aside his own hatred in his treatment of them? Yes, this is a rhetorical question. They will know! If LGBTQQIA and/or Muslim students report (or would report, if asked) that Radar consistently interacts with them with dignity, respect, equality, fairness, and love, then Radar’s claim is valid.

    However, if his claim is valid, why does he need to hide his identity? If Radar’s behavior towards all students is beyond reproach, blogging under his real name and being “outed” in his workplace would demonstrate the depth and authenticity of his commitment to treating all students alike (which I infer from several of his statements above).

  3. For the past few years I’ve been trying to understand the concept of a “liberal academia” that attempts to silence “conservative viewpoints.” I don’t get it, and have failed to find the issue articulated well enough to satisfy my criteria for undue and unwarranted criticism.

    I see that Radar has closed his blog, but the following two quotes from his last post struck me:

    “This minority status of my opinions and identity leaves me a target for virulent criticism and attacks by those in the ideological majority.”

    I can’t help but wonder… is that it? Criticism is what he fears? Someone pointing out critiques of the beliefs he holds? Or what sort of attack is he talking about?

    And then:

    “They support those who are different, but not those with differing opinions.”

    Ah yes. The common retort to liberal criticism – you’re intolerant of different opinions. Unfortunately, an opinion is a view or judgment we hold without necessarily a regard for fact. So, if folks in higher education hold different “opinions” about certain subjects, and are unable to seriously address critique, then it’s a non-rational belief – if you cannot change your opinion, if there is no chance for falsifiability, then a belief leaves the rational world.

    Again, if Radar is incapable and unwilling to address critiques of his beliefs – especially critiques that deal with the core of how he supports the students he serves – then by all means, out him. I think public figures (as I would argue someone in Radar’s position is) are fair game, especially hypocritical public figures (those who are hired to serve all students while secretly disliking large groups of them).

    In regards to outing someone: there are threads and articles you can read about it that the queer community has had to deal with since about, oh say, 1990 or so.

  4. Hey Eric
    Interesting post. I recall struggling with a very similar dilemma during our graduate studies. I empathized with the conservative members of our cohort since there was a general feeling of unacceptance toward such views. At the same time, I’m not conservative so, I have a hard time fully relating to conservative views. A person with conservative views can be a student affairs professional. However, anti-anybody views can’t really be part of those convervative views. I think people can find a balance though; you don’t have to be hateful in order to comply with religion. In fact, I much prefer religions that love everybody and leave the judgement up to their god.

    In this case, Radar has decided to speak out against a couple of different groups in a very public forum. This is very diiferent from simply not agreeing with a lifestyle because of one’s religious beliefs, for example. This is striving to inspire further hate, just as Eric uses this forum to inspire social justice.

    What is unfortunate here is that Radar thinks he must be anonymous because of the liberal bias in academia not because his behavior as a student affairs professional is wrong.

    I agree with Radar though, you did already out him, and you know it. I don’t support that because that is just going to piss him off and make him reject you and anything you have to say. People who are hateful toward other people obviously have not had positive relationships/interactions with people from the community at hand. Scathing people will never get them to see the light.

    I think you pose good questions about whether or not we, student affairs professionals, can serve all students if we are anti-fill in the blank. There is a big difference between disliking someone’s beliefs (i.e conservative) and disliking someone’s being (i.e. LGBT identified). That is the point we must prove to conservatives. We can have different views and still serve our students well, we just can not hate and still serve our students well.

    Tanya

  5. I truly appreciate all of the comments from everyone on this post.* I am super swamped with work until Wednesday, so please be patient with me. I plan on responding to everyone’s comments.

    Certain comment selections are particularly interesting —

    Radar: “I do not have the opportunity and “privilege” to blog under my real name – as you demonstrate by this post it is dangerous to exist as a conservative in higher education – if you dare to do so you are outed, lynched, and silenced.”

    Michelle: “However, if his claim is valid, why does he need to hide his identity? If Radar’s behavior towards all students is beyond reproach, blogging under his real name and being “outed” in his workplace would demonstrate the depth and authenticity of his commitment to treating all students alike (which I infer from several of his statements above).”

    Luke: “Again, if Radar is incapable and unwilling to address critiques of his beliefs – especially critiques that deal with the core of how he supports the students he serves – then by all means, out him. I think public figures (as I would argue someone in Radar’s position is) are fair game, especially hypocritical public figures (those who are hired to serve all students while secretly disliking large groups of them).”

    Tanya: “In this case, Radar has decided to speak out against a couple of different groups in a very public forum. This is very diiferent from simply not agreeing with a lifestyle because of one’s religious beliefs, for example. This is striving to inspire further hate, just as Eric uses this forum to inspire social justice.”

    Dennis: “Getting back to the question at hand, I am inclined to ‘out’ Radar as well, on the grounds that his personal beliefs seem to contradict the requirements of his job. This reminds me of some recent news stories I’ve read in which pharmacists refuse to hand out birth control, emergency contraception, the morning after pill, etc. based on their personal beliefs. My take on that is that those folks are not doing their jobs, and should leave the pharmacy business if they refuse to fulfill the requirements of the job. I feel the same way about Radar; ergo, I think outing that person to their boss(es) is probably ethical, since Radar has (tacitly?) admitted to being unable to do the job at hand.”

    *Per Radar’s request I have “removed the links to the outgoing sites that give away [his] identity.” Also, Radar has exited the blogosphere.

    @ Dennis – It was never my intention to “out” Radar to his peers at his current institution.

  6. Eric,

    While I strongly disagree with a vast majority of your opinions on your blog, I have generally given you credit for being willing to at least listen to differing viewpoints. However, this situation is absolutely despicable and serves as a demonstration of the hypocrisy that can so often be seen in liberalism.

    Reading your comments and Michelle’s comments here and on Radar’s blog and the above quote by Dennis, it seems that you have placed yourself in the position of judge and jury here. I completely understand the concerns of Radar about maintaining his anonymity considering that he works in academia, an environment often associated with liberalism that has been shown to have little if any tolerance for viewpoints that differ with its own. This is not unreasonable on his part.

    The apparent crux of the issue is that the left cannot seem to understand that you can disagree with one’s lifestyle (wrt homosexuality) but still be respectful of their rights. You claim to do this in valuing everyone’s identity but yet you have decided, with no evidence of wrongdoing, that Radar is not capable of being fair to people with whom he disagrees with their lifestyle. This is blatant hypocrisy! If there was some suggestion that he had actually acted in a way detrimental to his minority students, then you might have some justification for your pursuit of his identity. However, you have nothing more than your suppositions founded on your apparent liberal philosophy that anyone that does not embrace any and every type of behavior and lifestyle cannot possibly be fair.

    I have worked with homosexual colleagues. I do not approve of that lifestyle. However, I respect that they have the same rights as an American citizen that I do and that they have the freedom in America to make the decision to live their life by their decision. I also firmly believe that it is not my place to judge them. While I consider homosexuality to be a sin based on my reading of the Bible, I also recognize that I am a sinner as well. We all are. So while I may oppose that lifestyle and oppose actions by society to promote that lifestyle, I do not support any behaviors or actions to infringe upon anyone’s rights as an American citizen.

    What is ironic about this situation is that Luke posted in his comments that he did not understand the idea of liberal academia. Well, he needs to look no further than this example of the consequences to someone who works in that industry to dare to differ from the liberal party line.

  7. FinanceBuzz,

    You raise a oft-repeated point, but one that’s probably irrelevant to this discussion. I was really interested in this part of your comment:

    The apparent crux of the issue is that the left cannot seem to understand that you can disagree with one’s lifestyle (wrt homosexuality) but still be respectful of their rights. You claim to do this in valuing everyone’s identity but yet you have decided, with no evidence of wrongdoing, that Radar is not capable of being fair to people with whom he disagrees with their lifestyle.

    This might be true, if Eric had offered no evidence of wrongdoing. However, Eric was pretty clear that what he considered evidence in this case was the presence of some of the posts authored by Radar on their website. Whether or not this evidence is indeed evidence of Radar’s beliefs towards the LGBT community is something we can certainly discuss. However, to pretend that Eric offered NO evidence is a bit dishonest.

    Then there was this little gem:

    However, you have nothing more than your suppositions founded on your apparent liberal philosophy that anyone that does not embrace any and every type of behavior and lifestyle cannot possibly be fair.

    Speaking of putting words in people’s mouths, or maybe beliefs into their heads…before you comment again, please look up the terms ‘misrepresentation’ and ‘strawman’, as in, “FinanceBuzz did a great job demolishing that strawman, but Eric was left pretty much untouched.”

    Thanks.

  8. Dennis,

    Evidence of what?? What exactly did Eric provide “evidence” for? A couple of posts expressing an opinion? And what does that prove? How is making a post on a website infringing upon anyone’s rights in any way? How are any homosexual students that may seek the assistance of Radar harmed because he made a post?

    As for creating a strawman, perhaps I did. So maybe Eric will be so kind as to give a concrete rationale why I can not agree with someone’s lifestyle but still treat them fairly and ensure that I respect their rights and provide them with the service that my job or position expects of me? And please do not base any such explanation on respecting dignity or identity. Whether I respect the identity of being a homosexual (whatever exactly that entails), does not keep them from exercising their option to live their life any way they choose.

  9. How about writing posts that are anti-gay marriage and/or anti-domestic partners benefits (which largely affect LGBT folks)? Are those not rights? Although I am not a fan of marriage, a lot of LGBT folks would love to get married. Radar is saying to anyone in the LGBT population (who wants to get married) that they should not have that right. Radar is saying that LGBT folks should not be eligible for domestic partner benefits (I believe that Radar is hiding behind the constitutionality of certain laws in Ohio to make the not so subtle point that he is anti-LGBT). Feel free to search the archives of Radar’s blog. I’ve read most of his posts…

    On a related note, who says that heterosexual folks can marry and have a whole bunch of rights while LGBT folks cannot marry and have the same rights?

    “And please do not base any such explanation on respecting dignity or identity.”

    Why not? This is the basis for the entire freaking post.

    Whether I respect the identity of being a homosexual (whatever exactly that entails), does not keep them from exercising their option to live their life any way they choose.”

    Yes, but in Radar’s situation, he works with LGBT students. How would you like to interact with someone who does not want you to have certain rights or who disapproves of your existence? Personally, I would be very uncomfortable in that situation.

    I have worked with homosexual colleagues. I do not approve of that lifestyle. However, I respect that they have the same rights as an American citizen that I do and that they have the freedom in America to make the decision to live their life by their decision.

    Do you live in the same United States that I do? Since when do LGBT folks have the same rights as non-LGBT people?

    So are you saying that you chose to be heterosexual?

  10. FinanceBuzz,

    It’d be hard for me to avoid respect and dignity in this situation, since that is the whole point of the exercise, at least for me.

    Respect has everything to do with the ability to do one’s job. Homophobia (and sexism, for that matter) get institutionalized precisely due to a lack of respect for LGBT folks and women. I fail to see how you could claim to treat them fairly and yet not respect them at the same time….?

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