Editor’s note: The following opinion essay was submitted by Dr. Jay Walshon for publication.

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The Westport Journal’s outstanding reporting has become a valued indicator of important issues our residents should be aware of. The resident commentary that follows is often an enlightening gauge of community temperature, and an important barometer of our attitudes, principles and ideology.

A few days prior to Thanksgiving — at a time when many individuals and communities express gratitude for their favorable circumstances and reflect upon the less fortunate with kindness, compassion and understanding — there were two Westport Journal articles of note that struck a particular chord.  

One article reported on the persistence of school lice at our elementary schools; the other centered on Baron’s South relative to Westport’s affordable housing initiative.

These two items were not related — until several pejorative proclamations made them so.

Initially, I decided to simply shake my head and move on.  

However, after several similar comments, I understood the danger of remaining silent. The comments at issue:

Re: Lice in our schools —  “While you are scratching your head wondering why your kids are infested with lice, continue mandating that we build more ‘affordable housing’ to welcome the great unwashed to occupy the desk next to your child.”

When another commenter characterized that comment as “vile, hateful and ignorant,” and “spoke only for a very sad and lonely minority,” the initial commenter went further:

2. “… my comment was neither vile nor hateful. It was statement of fact, suggesting a correlation between the advent of lice infestation and the changing demographics … We welcome anyone whether they are chartreuse or from Mars, to live next door as long as they can afford to live here … What we object to is now feeling unsafe in our own home town.”  

3. Re: Affordable housing and Baron’s South, similar thoughts were expressed: “From the sublime to the ridiculous: transforming the iconic estate of the founder of Evyan Perfumes to “affordable housing … Then scratching our heads literally as to why the heads of Westport school kids are now infested with lice.”

I’d like to address all three topics: Lice infestation, affordable housing and Westport criminality/safety. 

“The great unwashed:” Coined in 1830, this pejorative phrase references “the masses,” the “ordinary people,”  those lacking money, power and social status, who were considered by middle and upper society to be uneducated and/or poor, and thereby having deficient personal hygiene.  Since its initial appearance in Victorian literature, this disparaging term has at times (as here) been utilized by elitists to perpetuate (and insidiously convince others towards) the disdain and oppression of less fortunate citizens.

In the context utilized by the commenter, several prejudicial and dangerous falsehoods were promulgated: That based upon “affordable housing” domiciles 1. Westport residents are uneducated. 2. They are unhygienic. 3. Lice infestation is related to income level and domicile cost. 4. And lower income is predictive of criminality.  

Lest some readers might be persuaded, I felt compelled to provide the following:

1. Lice and elementary school infestations:  Perhaps many Westport residents are unfamiliar with what exactly the word “lice” refers to. However its precise meaning vs. general utilization is important in understanding the pernicious motivation behind this resident’s false assertion (as a “statement of fact”) that “residents of affordable housing are responsible for the arrival of lice in our schools. That IS NOT a statement of fact.

Despite there being thousands of insects under this heading, only three pertain to humans. While the general term “pediculosis” (lice) is frequently used to describe them as a singular entity, they are distinct in their categorization, habits and infestation tendencies.

Head lice (pediculosis capitis): Commonly known as “head lice,” this is the insect that schools are confronted with as it’s most common in children aged 3-12 and their families. The CDC estimates 6-12 million cases of head lice each year in the U.S.  Lice hatch from egg casings (nits) adherent to hair close to the scalp where they reside. An inflammatory reaction often results in scalp scratching.

Head lice spreads primarily by direct head-to-head contact as this insect cannot jump or fly. Less often these lice spread by shared combs, brushes, hats, etc. Due to texture, the hair of Caucasians, Hispanics and Asian children are most vulnerable; African American children are much less prone (but it does occur).  Some reports state the majority of infestations originate at home rather than school. Although not dangerous to health (unlike body lice that can spread disease) head lice is frequently traumatic and socially damaging to affected children and their families, even long after treatment is administered. Contempt, disgust, apprehension, stigmatization, shame, anxiety, mockery and isolation are all experiences reported by many who have had head pediculosis.

Pediculosis is the most widespread parasitic disease in the world, regardless of economic development or societal status. Head lice DOES NOT originate in poor people. Head lice IS NOT caused or spread by poor hygiene, NOT caused by those of modest means and NOT caused by “affordable housing.”

It is critical to understand that pediculosis is NOT caused by individuals from lower socioeconomic classes. One medical article reiterated this essential point: “In order to reduce the incidence rate of pediculosis, it is necessary to change the stereotype existing in society about this disease being a disease of socially disadvantaged people with poor personal hygiene.”

This false stereotype is propaganda, weaponized by some to advance elitist tropes, and is meaningfully counterproductive during infestation prevention and treatment initiatives.

Body lice (pediculosis corporis): Unlike head lice, body lice live on clothing and in bedding, and travel to the skin (usually in areas adjacent to seams) several times a day to feed. Unlike head lice, body lice IS associated with crowded and unhygienic living conditions, such as shelters, internment camps and crowded urban conditions.   Unlike head lice, body lice IS commonly spread by contact with an infected person’s clothing, and IS responsible for the spread of disease and epidemics such as typhus. However, THIS IS NOT THE LICE IN OUR SCHOOLS.

Pubic lice (pthirus pubis): Also known as “crabs,” it’s most common in adults, and usually spread through sexual contact, but can be spread by close personal contact and sharing bedding, clothing and towels. Its presence on children (eyelashes and scalp) can be an indication of sexual exposure/abuse that emergency physicians and pediatricians are attuned to.

2. Affordable housing: While the state’s “affordable housing” solutions deserve criticism and revision, the reality is that Westport must comply with legislative mandates, and our maintaining control while protecting dignity should be commended. The commenter utilized derision, scapegoating, fear-mongering and division as pretense of superiority, promoting the classist trope that fiscal success entitles exclusivity and confers a special dispensation against societal ills.  We’ve seen how that self-deception usually ends.

3. Criminality and safety: With equal “certainty,” it was asserted that Westport’s law abidance and personal safety is incrementally imperiled by “affordable housing” residents, thereby implying that wealth reduces or eliminates criminality, and that our collective “safety” correlates to resident affluence. While details of Westport’s crime demographics might be determinable, I doubt such data is public or that this asserted correlation exists. To wit, Westport doesn’t sing with pride about residents like Harvey Weinstein and others whose wealth and affluence made a mockery of safety and security while shattering lives within and beyond our borders. Nor does Westport’s affluence confer special immunity against substance abuse, bullying, racism or other intrusions upon “personal safety.”

4. Meritocracy: The commenter’s invitation to society’s “chartreuse and Martians” who “can afford” Westport’s housing prices (insinuating her “racial tolerance”) while denigrating affordable housing residents, elucidates that “elitism” and “classism” need not be “overt racism” to qualify as manifestations of prejudice. In addition, the justification of using “meritocracy” as being determinative of “worthiness” has been proven a myth — and wealth is an unreliable measure of both character and virtue. At a time when “class mobility” is increasingly difficult, when advancement is detached from “work-ethic,” when disparate environments influence opportunity, and when wealth disparity continues to grow, “meritocracy” becomes a “go-to” rubric perpetuated by upper classes to exclude others — a more “palatable” means to perpetuate the status quo.

That these comments promulgated pernicious falsehoods — utilizing targeted propaganda cloaked as “statements of fact” — is disturbing. We all know how insidiously xenophobia, scapegoating and denigration can spread. While the comments were rightly characterized as “distasteful,” “hateful,” “ignorant” and “vile,” the underlying intention make them even more.  

Utilizing our schools’ infestation of head lice as a basis to restrict, inhibit or eliminate socio-economic groups from Westport is not just “ignorant,” it is dangerous. Promulgating false “certainty” to stigmatize targeted families and children, demonstrates nefarious intention unrelated to any pretense of health concern.  Redirecting a community’s anger, frustration and heightened parental emotions by scapegoating a vulnerable population is reprehensible. The comments were intended to sow fear, instill paranoia, increase division and foster intolerance, with the obvious objective of recruiting others to her agenda.

I’m NOT arguing that the state’s affordable housing regulations are fair, necessary or beneficial. That’s a different, more complex discussion. However, the comments in question debase that worthy discussion, and is counter-productive when our representatives request legislative modifications.

Recognizing that Westport’s reputation is further tarnished by such prejudicial resident commentary is not “nit picking” — it’s a “lousy” reality.  

Although I take some solace that the comment generated an abundance of “dislikes” (34 at last count), that it is not an isolated opinion, and that there was only a single person willing to denounce it, is further disheartening.  Historically, prejudice has proven more difficult to eradicate, and far more dangerous, than head lice.  

At a minimum, it requires recognition and denouncement without anonymity when it rears its head.