Pubdate: Thu, 07 Jun 2007 Source: Boulder Weekly (CO) Column: Stew's Views Copyright: 2007 Boulder Weekly Contact: http://www.boulderweekly.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/57 Author: Stewart Sallo Cited: Conference on World Affairs http://www.colorado.edu/cwa/ Cited: Boulder Valley School District http://www.bvsd.org Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Conference+on+World+Affairs Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States) TEENAGE WASTELAND As the parent of a high school age teenager, I have followed the controversy surrounding the Conference on World Affairs (CWA) event that was recently held at Boulder High School with magnified interest. All parents, regardless of their political or religious predilections, are concerned for the safety and well-being of our children, and these concerns certainly increase as kids progress into their teenage years and become subject to the risks associated with the onset of sexual activity and exposure to drugs and alcohol. Parents of teenagers also bear a unique responsibility to prepare a new generation to successfully address the problems of the very troubled world they are about to inherit from us. I take this "passing of the torch" very seriously, as do all of the parents I know, and have spent countless hours discussing this subject with my daughter. Earlier this spring, I had an experience that served to assuage my concerns about the character of a generation raised on cable TV, Playstation, $100 designer jeans and the iPod. On April 14 at the Boulder Theater, some 90 students from Boulder, Fairview, Monarch and Holy Family high schools participated in a charity fashion show and silent auction, called Fashion for Compassion, to benefit the Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Non-Violence (SPAN). This selfless group of teenagers donated countless hours of their time in procuring more than 100 outfits and several tables full of auction items from the local business community, selling tickets, producing flyers, selecting music and managing countless details in staging an event that belied the youth and inexperience of its producers. The result was more than $7,000 raised for our local safehouse through an event that was a source of pride in our teenage population for the entire greater Boulder community. Witnessing this event convinced me that our local youth have their heads screwed on straight and are truly worthy recipients of the torch we are in the process of passing to them. However, after witnessing another event - the addressing of a complaint that was registered by Boulder High School student Daphne White about the content of a CWA panel discussion she attended - it is clear that those currently holding that torch are less capable of handling it than the generation of naive, inexperienced teenagers they purport to be "protecting." Most of the media coverage and discussion in the aftermath of White's complaint has focused on the relative appropriateness of the content of the discussion, titled "STDs: Sex, Teens and Drugs." This could have been an interesting and productive dialogue between those with different points of view on the subject. But discussing controversial issues intelligently and respectfully is an endeavor that has been all but abandoned by the current torch carriers in our culture. Regrettably, but predictably, those on the far-right end of the political spectrum have seized the opportunity to bang as loudly as possible on their "liberal progressives are ruining the world" drums, thereby obfuscating any reasonable dialogue that might have ensued from such a consequential issue as this. Six-and-a-half years (and counting) of poor modeling of how to engage rationally and sensibly about issues such as teen sexuality and drug use is of infinitely more danger to our future torch carriers than what they might have gleaned from one botched panel discussion. Rather than bore my readers with some of the ubiquitous examples from performer-masquerading-as-journalist Bill O'Reilly, I will instead cite the letter sent to Boulder Valley School District Superintendent George Garcia by a common citizen from Redding, Calif., to illustrate my point. Jack Redding (whose name is being omitted to protect the innocent, namely me, since the sender has been stalking me with emails ever since I came to Garcia's defense), apparently, got all O'Reillyed up after seeing Mr. Bill rant and rave about "Boulder secular progressives" on Fox News. Unable to contain his O'Reilly-inspired rage, Redding sent a despicable, hateful letter to Garcia and copied journalists throughout our area, including yours truly. In his threatening missive, titled "You are a creepy person," Redding warned Garcia that parents whose children attended the panel discussion in question should "hunt you down like a rat and punish you physically." Further, Redding opined that Garcia should be "tortured and then murdered by a distraught parent," and "treated with the harshest form of 'revenge.'" While ramping up to the grand finale, Redding called Garcia a "moron," "lowlife" and "coward." Then, after paying homage to his hero, O'Reilly - whom he copied on this missive, as well as the five similarly hateful letters he sent to me after I got involved - Redding played his "trump card." "Frankly, you are on your way to hell, and most probably some distraught parent may assist you in reaching your destination. Change your ways Garcia or burn in hell." After reading this nauseating attack, I was overcome by a deep sense of sadness. Our world has become so horribly divided along political and religious lines by those who maintain and enhance their positions of power by turning us against each other, thereby obfuscating their own greedy agendas. And they have purchased the partnership of mock journalists, such as O'Reilly, to do their bidding for them. The result is an unwarranted attack on a beleaguered, outgoing school superintendent whose legacy is about to become unfairly tainted by virtue of an ill-timed controversy blown out of proportion by those who would abuse it for its usefulness as a political tool. Circling back to the original theme - passing the torch of leadership of our culture to a new generation - how ironic it is that the example being modeled by our current "leadership" is far more devastating to our youth than a handful of well-intended but poorly delivered messages on the part of some apparently ill-chosen panelists. While the latter can easily be dismissed as personal opinion, the former is nothing less than a nightmarish lesson in the disrespect and intolerance of differences of opinion that have become far too commonplace in the "land of freedom." After reading the hateful attack on Superintendent Garcia, I felt he was owed an apology. Knowing that he would never receive one from Mr. Redding - and certainly not from the instigator of Redding's angry rant, Bill O'Reilly - I decided to take it upon myself. Last week I issued to George Garcia an apology on behalf of all of us who have collaborated in creating a culture where differences are met with such negativity and disrespect. I have included it below. Sent to Boulder Valley School District Superintendent George Garcia by Boulder Weekly Publisher Stewart Sallo on Friday, June 1, 2007: An apology on behalf of humanity Dear Mr. Garcia, I am the owner/publisher over here at Boulder Weekly. I was copied on the hateful note that was sent to you recently by Jack Redding (editor's note: the name has been changed in this column, but was unchanged in the original letter), assumedly because he is operating under the delusion that a reputable media organization would take such a vile missive seriously. Let me reassure you that Boulder Weekly does not take people like this seriously, and I would encourage you to follow suit. I am writing to you on behalf of humanity to issue an apology. We are truly sorry that you have been attacked in this manner. You did not deserve this, and it is truly regrettable that you have become the target for a lifetime of hate and unhappiness that has apparently been accumulating in this particular individual. Jack Redding's letter stands as evidence that there is clearly something fundamentally wrong with our society, and as a member of that society I am personally apologizing to you for being part of a system that is so horribly broken. For 25 years, I have been a newspaper publisher, and I am proud of the fact that my newspapers have tried to encourage respectful and constructive dialogue between and among people of various points of view. In a free society, there should always be room for multiple viewpoints and the means to respectfully share them. Jack Redding is certainly entitled to his point of view, which, as I understand it, is that the material presented at Boulder High School as part of the Conference on World Affairs was inappropriate and not in the best interest of the students who were in attendance. As a champion of free speech in our free society, I support Jack's right to express his perspective. However, the abusive and scurrilous manner in which this opinion was expressed would be considered unacceptable to any reasonable, clear-thinking individual. Have we devolved so far in our culture during recent years that we are unable to discuss the critical issues of our time with the understanding that those who have different ways of looking at things are also human beings who are entitled to be treated with respect and kindness? What I find particularly ironic about Jack Redding's wish that you burn in hell is that his hateful manner of addressing his thoughts and feelings on this issue flies in the face of the "religious beliefs" he seems to hold as a justification for his despicable attack. I would assume that Jack would describe himself as a "Christian," but the lack of "Christianity" in his note is unmistakable. So, again, on behalf of humanity, I apologize for the contemptible way you have been treated. We are all accountable for having created a society that promotes this brand of hatred. Please rest assured that we at Boulder Weekly are doing our utmost to remedy this problem. Yours truly, - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake