When SMU student Charles McCaslin delivered an inebriated toast at a convention after- party, he referred to his opponents as “nerds and “fags.” He was talking about fellow members of the College Republicans who were in a race for the leadership of National College Republicans. He prefaced this remark with some incoherent story about having gotten “hammered” with another College Republican at a girl’s apartment and “hooking up” with her.
Should we give this Hunt Scholar and otherwise responsible young man a pass? He is young, he was drunk .
. . . No, I don’t think so. I think the incident, caught on a YouTube video by a supporter of the opponents, reveals a culture of incivility lurking beneath the surface, a culture where heterosexual males still think gay jokes and bragging about sexual conquests is funny and macho. Drinking does not make a person homophobic; drinking merely releases a person from the restraints that would otherwise keep these prejudices buried.
McCaslin has had to apologize to everybody—the College Republicans, his fellow SMU students in a letter to the Daily Campus, and most likely to his parents and the Hunt family. We should accept his apology. If it is sincere, he will examine his attitudes towards women, gays, and whoever he meant by “nerds”—those people who will be getting the $100,000 starting salaries in computer technology? And he will speak up and be a crusader against incivility in politics.
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