The Student News Site of Macalester College

The Mac Weekly

The Student News Site of Macalester College

The Mac Weekly

The Student News Site of Macalester College

The Mac Weekly

Staff Editorial

By

MCSG President Owen Truesdell ’11 rightly called attention to Macalester College’s liberal bubble at convocation Tuesday afternoon. It is important to live and study in a safe and supportive community, but it is in no Macalester student’s best interest to disregard or ignore arguments of conservative members of the community. Whether this community is our campus, St. Paul, Minnesota, the United States or, dare we say it, the globe, resting on accepted principles regarding equality, marriage, women’s rights or health care will make it impossible to argue for causes we hold so dear.

One cannot advocate for gay marriage without first confronting religion’s role in the governance of the United States, the legitimacy or interpretations of cited biblical texts, what constitutes equal rights for all or whether or not being gay is a choice. Regardless of whether Mac students find any or all of these considerations rooted in bigotry or ignorance is not a reason to disengage.

Rather, we must be prepared for those who will not or cannot dispute the intricacies of race theory. Upon graduation, we will be incapacitated, unable to fight for the causes we care about. Furthermore, if we are to disregard all conservative arguments as nonsensical prima facie, we are robbing ourselves of the chance to find what it is we really believe.

As ironic as an affirmative action policy for conservative students would be, there is no question that more conservative voices in our classrooms and dining halls would produce better-informed students more capable of persuading others of their arguments. We are not in control of the realities of our liberal leaning student body, but we can look to conservative opinions to inform our own opinions. We encourage both our closeted conservative peers, as well as those who hold conservative viewpoints, to assist us in complicating our discussions. And, of course, write for the Mac Weekly opinion section.

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