What I Learned This Year: AJ Parillo
If work and school have taught me anything, it is that being tolerant is disingenuous. Avoiding truths or perceptions and failing to express grievances through uninhibited political correctness, however satiating nominally, lends only to ignorance; it is analogous not to advancement and equality but to stagnancy and defeat. Repressed thoughts and dialogue perpetuate our inability to transcend the exploitation of lifestyle and culture.
Corporations and liberal hippie professors who philosophize about the days of tear-gas and police brutality bear the bulk of responsibility. Diversity is a good thing; tolerance is a farce. Frequently bitten tongues and covert speech are exhibitions of intellectual impotence and stifle rational political and cultural progression. Look no further than our own university to witness the extent of our perversity.
As a consequence of our liberal policies, we now promote absurdity and illogic. We are asked to accept gay rights through parades, flyers and the like but are vilified for upholding heterosexuality; we permit multicultural groups to function on campus which reinforces racial barriers; we might soon see illegal immigrants as recipients of financial aid for higher education despite our own financial woes.
What I’ve learned this year through work and school, is that the worst you can be in any dispute is wrong. However, in most instances, merely having and voicing an opinion will win you respect. Being genuine and discerning to change is forgivable; being scheming or indifferent is not.
Alexander Hamilton proclaimed, “Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.” Do not give in to silence; stand for justice and stand for decency. Be scared not of the repercussions to your words but the ramifications of not using them.
AJ Parillo is a senior accounting major.
