For the past two-and-a-half years, I’ve had conflicted feelings about the political work of Arun Smith, our campus’ most prominent and controversial activist. His defence of GLBT rights is a battle that still needs to be fought. I think bigotry and homophobia have no place in modern society.
But now, his actions have crossed the line into a disappointingly ironic metaphor for activism and political correctness run amok.
Arun Smith tore down a poster supporting free speech.
Why, you ask? The best reason anyone (including even the National Post) has found is that someone wrote “traditional marriage is awesome” on the large sheet placed in Carleton’s atrium.
I think it’s fair to say Arun Smith is against free speech because he thinks the damage words can do surpasses the benefits of free expression.
To demand anti-oppression training for journalists and then attack other students’ attempts to express their views is plain hypocrisy, or at very least a horrible misunderstanding of the word “oppression.”
I wish there was a way to say this without singling him out. I know he will construe this as bullying. However, he’s called so much attention to himself over these years that there is no way I can pretend to address the issue to an entire group of people.
With this ridiculous protest-turned-human rights crisis, Arun Smith has lost me, and I think he’s lost a lot of his nuanced supporters.
— Matt Casey
fourth-year journalism
