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Students’ Heckling of Speaker Understandable
Richard M. Perloff
To the Editor:In the March–April issue, Martin Snyder writes about an incident in which a California State University–Sacramento graduation speaker raised serious concerns about the wisdom of government decisions to limit civil rights and establish military tribunals. Snyder, noting that we have the obligation to respect others’ views, chastises the students who voiced their disagreement with the speaker by applauding policies she opposed and even heckling her.
Wait a minute! Let’s remember that the speech was delivered in December, just three months after the horrific terrorist attacks of September 11. It is not surprising that students (especially if they were not attuned to the speaker’s positions) might have had a visceral reaction, remembered the horror of the day, and empathized with those who died or suffered. They might understandably have been less than entirely tolerant of a speaker who, in her verbally complex style, could have projected more concern about abstract concepts like civil rights than equally important constructs like empathy with victims, respect for those who died, and love of country.
Let’s also remember the context in which the speech occurred. It was a graduation ceremony, in which students understandably expect a speaker to fill them with pride and hope. Could it be that the speaker filled these students with gloom and nuanced, ambiguous cognitions rather than with the type of optimism students rightly expect from a graduation speaker sending them on their way in an ever-more uncertain world? Isn’t it likely that, had the speaker shared her views in a classroom with its implicit openness to diverse points of view, the same students would have been more tolerant, even deliberative in their responses?
Richard M. Perloff
(Communication)
Cleveland State University
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