End Of The Line

I have started posting my State College Magazine column for the previous month, once the new issue comes out. Here's the End of the Line for April:

The End Of The Line
by Steve Biddle

There have been, in recent weeks, two deplorable incidents on the Penn State University Park campus. The first one took place in February, when Penn State Black Caucus President Ed Smith said he had been verbally assaulted. Apparently, some slobbering hulk shouted racial slurs and a death threat at him from a window. This resulted in the organization of a No More Hate Rally, during which demands were made on the University to do something about racial tensions on campus.

The other incident took place in late March. Some pointy-headed cretin or group of cretins (what would a group of cretins be called? A herd? A flock?) attempted to share its philosophy by spray-painting the word “tang” in bright orange on several buildings. Why “tang?” Who knows? A couple of fires were also set during this celebration of free speech. University police estimated total damage at more than 100-thousand dollars.

I submit to you the theory that these two incidents have a great deal in common, and that they were promulgated by, if not the exact same individuals, at least the same type of individuals: jerks. I may be going out on a limb here, but I believe that the incident involving Mr. Smith has far less to do with real racist attitude and a climate of hate and tension than it has to do with jerks. Probably just one jerk. Probably just one drunken jerk. That doesn’t make the incident any more pleasant or any less frightening, but I think it does help to put it in perspective.

There are other, stronger names for jerks, but one of the most common cannot be used in a civilized forum such as State College Magazine. It is, let us just say, uh... orifice-oriented.

It is my strong belief that the huge majority of people everywhere are good, decent, well-meaning folks, who go through their lives trying to do the right thing. And then there are the jerks. In the brotherhood of man (and, of course, woman) the jerks are our common adversary. They drive boom cars, let their dogs bark all night, cut in line, and litter. They are nasty and belligerent neighbors. They are bullies. They are foul-mouthed in public. They are boastful, brash, crass and obnoxious. They are white, black, Latino, male, female, rich, poor, highly-educated and illiterate. Their ranks cut across all races, religions and demographics. They are jerks.

And it is they who are the scourge of the Earth. Are some of them racists? No doubt. In fact I’d go so far as to say that among the racist population, jerkdom is pretty prevalent. And it is they against whom the rest of us must unite. And how do we do this? It’s easy: We treat each other with respect and courtesy, and expect the same in return. We steer clear of negative people. These things are not always easy, but they are certainly worth the effort. The people who populate our worlds are reflections of our individual attitudes, and we tend to get what we expect. If we approach the world expecting hostility, nastiness and confrontation, that is exactly what we get. If, on the other hand, we expect civility, friendliness and cooperation, that is the world we inhabit.

One of Gary Larsen’s great “The Far Side” cartoons showed a house with a group of nasty-looking people sitting on its front porch. A sign over the house read something like “Home For the Terminally Unpleasant.” Sometimes I think that’s a pretty good idea.

By the way, a small self-indulgence if you don’t mind: I recently started a blog, more or less for my own amusement. I don’t know at this point exactly what direction it’ll take, so I’m not making any grand promises. It’s called “St. Bee,” for reasons explained there, and can be found at http://stbee.blogspot.com. I invite you to stop by if you’re on line; comments are always welcome.