The Bullsheet

There was a lot of talk in the Bullsheet last week regarding a sensitive, almost taboo subject: rape. But that's really all it has been: talk. Not that talk is bad, but that's all we did last year. I've been told that there are some slow changes in the works from an administrative standpoint, but what does that mean? Let me put the question in a different context. If murder was not illegal, then would you kill people? If you haven't killed anyone yet, then probably not.

I'm not sure what is in the works from the administration, but I know it can't be the
whole answer. One of the hardest things to do is take a stand in front of an audience, and I applaud last week's articles. But it is my opinion, just my thoughts, that it is harder to take a stand when no one is watching. I say it because I know it to be true for myself. I have been taught to seek rewards, near immediate rewards. If taking a stand means putting myself on a limb with no one to watch and say, "how brave!" then I'm probably less likely to take that stand. Perhaps that is my own weakness, and nobody else shares it, but I think not.

As a freshman one of my friends took a girl back to her room when she was clearly too
drunk to know the difference. I didn't see it happening at the time, or maybe I looked away because making myself aware of it would have sobered my enjoyment. Later I heard him say, "I just took advantage of that poor girl." Everyone laughed, including me. I will say that my laugh was forced and that I shook my head, but I still laughed. I still kept my mouth shut. Everyone kept their mouth shut, and I don't know why. Certainly we each experienced some level of disgust, but yet we said nothing. Could it have been because we were all XYs trying to fit into our XY box? I think so.

But this is not a valid excuse. Being a social species we have no choice but to
experience pressure to fit in to "comfortable" societal niches. They are comfortable
because "everybody's doing it." But that's just not true. Let me use another analogy. How many people think that voting for a third party candidate is throwing your vote away? What if enough people throw their votes away? It's comfortable to be told what to do. It's comfortable to have that scapegoat. Responsibility is a difficult pill to swallow, and everyone is responsible. That girl was responsible for getting too drunk to stand up for herself. That guy was responsible for taking advantage of her. I was responsible for ignoring the situation and not expressing my true opinions on this utterly disgusting behavior. It is a moment that I regret.

However, I have learned from that moment, as we can all learn from our collective regret about the state of rape on this campus. Everett, I appreciate your enthusiasm for starting a dialogue, but I think you will just be preaching to the choir. No rapist will attend that dialogue. Collective wills are reflections of accumulated individual actions. If that means I have to "cock-block," then it means I have to "cock-block." The solution rests in what we do when no one is watching and waiting to pat our backs and say, "way to stand up." The solution rests in personal responsibility. Ladies, you don't need to get black-out to have a good time, gentlemen too. Perhaps we are wearing blinders, but we choose to wear them. Gentlemen that have sex with blacked-out women, how can that possibly be enjoyable? I don't get that in any way. Sex is best sober in my opinion, and you're not any more accomplished at the end of the night because you lied to some girl to get in her intoxicated pants. Let's grow up people and maybe the administration will stop trying to make this the best prep-school in central Ohio. Probably not, but we can still act like adults.

Shake it Sugaree, because I will forget I knew thee...

Brandon McAdams