Laramie

The Laramie Project is different than many other pieces of literature I have read. Part of its potency is the fact that it is a true story. It is difficult to imagine such a thing actually happening to a person. Though I am from Pennsylvania, I felt as though I could relate to Laramie, or at least the way that it was being portrayed. I am from a rural area and went to school in a small town full of conservative people. My own family is conservative, and I was raised to hold many conservative values. In a college setting, being conservative isn’t particularly popular. Many people, especially those who have had primarily liberal influences in their lives, bring a lot of assumptions to the table; conservatives are racist, sexist, uneducated, backwards, and intolerant. It can be frustrating if these characteristics are assumed of you, and it can be difficult to not feel defensive. I think that because of this experience, I had very mixed feelings about some of the interviews that were portrayed. On the one hand, it is often true that many people who live in rural areas have less exposure to diversity. People generally feel uncomfortable with things that are unfamiliar to them; this is human nature. That is not to excuse prejudice or discrimination by any means, but there is a difference between excusing and empathizing. I believe that you can condemn a belief or a behavior without condemning a person. When watching these interviews and hearing an old white woman proclaim that her town is “live-and-let-live,” it is easy to “call bullshit” on that remark and talk about privilege and ignorance. And I think that it is important that we recognize the implications of that phrase that was repeated over and over, because as one character said, live-and-let-live really means don’t tell me and I wont beat you. It is the same principle as don’t-ask-don’t-tell. And this is not an acceptable norm. But I also believe that saying this does not mean that this woman is a bad person. Perhaps she does not have an ideal perspective on dealing with people who are different than her. But I think that it is important for us to acknowledge our own privilege in having enough exposure and education to be able to analyze that this is a problematic statement.