With the controversial postings recently published in the Daily came plenty of negative feedback. Before we exhaust the subject, however, I feel the need to comment as well. When I saw the “Just Sayin’s” about the “squintys” and their impending invasion, I was taken aback. At first I thought I maybe had missed some hip new lingo, but a quick perusal of urbandictionary.com confirmed the racial slurs. I was shocked. “Were they serious? Did they let this print? Am I just ultra-conservative, or does anyone else see what’s wrong with these posts?”

When I saw the withdrawal the following day, I was even more upset. As I was about to submit a “Just Sayin’” online stating something to the effect of, “If I was a copy editor, I would hope I’d be able to see the difference between ‘squinty’ and ‘squirrel,’” I realized that in the slur of questions I had asked myself the day prior, I forgot a very important one: “Who would actually submit this?” All this anger I felt, (and shared with others as I could infer from the string of letters to the editor) was directed at the wrong person.

Mistakes happen. This one slipped through the cracks and has become an unfortunate scandal, but maybe in the end, the “Just Sayin’” served its purpose. Wasn’t the column meant to give a humorous representation of frustrations facing college students? In a way, that’s exactly what this did. No, I’m not implying that we are facing an “Asian contagion.” Quite the opposite. Rather, we are facing a society that finds racism and intolerance funny. Would such a reaction occur had these statements been said among friends? No. Quite often, I say things that I don’t truly believe and say for the purpose of humor. After all, who doesn’t love a good woman-in-the-kitchen joke? I think this is where the problem lies. Once we start accepting these “jokes” we begin accepting the intolerance associated with them.

Yes, it is unfortunate that some people don’t feel welcomed at Iowa State University, especially as I feel that the kind environment is one of our highest selling points. Yes, it is unfortunate that people’s feelings were hurt by these postings. But is it unfortunate that these were posted? I’m not so sure. I think we can go one of two ways: First, we can realize that maybe we’re not as tolerant as we thought, and we can actively engage ourselves to combat this. If this is what happens, I would believe the posting in the Daily to be a blessing in disguise, giving us a swift kick in the you-know-what and a reminder to be better people. However, the alternate is that no one responds. No one corrects their inappropriate behavior or seeks to help others improve. Should this be the case, I would say that the postings serve no purpose but to hurt.

So Iowa State, the ball is in your court. Let’s stop placing the blame on the Daily for highlighting one of our faults, and start taking responsibility for our actions. It’s up to you whether you will seek to help others feel welcome or continue the proliferation of intolerance that threatens to hinder our culture.