CLICK HERE FOR THOUSANDS OF FREE BLOGGER TEMPLATES »

Monday, April 14, 2008

Talking Points #9

Bernard Lefkowitz: "Our Guys"

Premise:

~ privilege
~ school
~ education
~ mental retardation
~ Glen Ridge
~ Newark
~ acceptance
~ popular
~ perfection
~ anger
~ "Jocks"
~ segregation

Argument:

Lefkowitz argues that because the town of Glen Ridge held "their guys" at such a high level of privilege, they were excused for the terrible acts they performed in the basement that March afternoon.

Evidence:

1. "In a bigger town or in a city, most of these guys would be considered average athletes at best. But in the insulated world of Glen Ridge, they were the princes of the playing field." (13)

2. "The growing number of actual participants, would-be participants, and observers made me wonder about the environment in which they grew up. I wanted to know more about how this privileged American community raised its children, especially its sons." (2)

3. "The silence of the students and adults. The inclination to blame the woman and exonerate the men." (2)

4. "I began to frame Glen Ridge as a story of power and powerlessness: the power of young males and the community that venerated them, and the powerlessness of one marginalized young woman..." (3)

5. "Although graduation was an emotional ritual, made more intense by the recent arrest of four seniors on rape charges, there were no outbursts of feeling, no overt expressions of anger, grief, or remorse. The adults and their progeny exercised near-perfect restraint." (3)

6. "Often, they identified the victims of the tragedy. It was a short list: the young men who had been arrested, their families, and the good name of Glen Ridge. The list, more often than not, omitted the young woman in the basement and her family." (5)

7. "Many of the parents didn't want to hear anything bad about their children." (27)

Other Stuff:

There was something about this article that made me both want to continue reading and stop reading. I wanted to continue because I found it very interesting how privileged these guys really were. Each time Lefkowitz would go into great detail about the school and the Jocks, etc... I wanted to continue reading. I wanted to stop because it was all so disturbing. I found the argument pretty easily and the evidence seemed to follow one after the other. I think that was these kids did was absolutly disgusting and should have received a larger punishment. It is so easy these days to get away with anything possible if you are a "jock". Many people think that that stereotype doesn't exist anymore, but it does. I witnessed it in my high school. Because of their social class, they thought they could get away with anything. In my opinion, the Glen Ridge community is highly disturbed. I find the parents disturbed because they let their sons get away with an awful rape with a slap on the wrist. They wanted to just dismiss it. I think that is awful. Reading this article makes me want to go watch the movie that Erica mentioned in class last Thursday. I want to put two and two together between the article and the movie.

0 comments: