By Jarret Liotta
WESTPORT — Let me start by emphasizing that I’m a lazy white man who grew up in the 1970s and honestly doesn’t want to change how I see the world.
It doesn’t feel fair that I should have to.
I don’t want to change my paradigm, I don’t want to shift my long-standing beliefs and I don’t want to rebuild the long-held views I’m comfortable with — those that bring me some sense of sense in my chaotic world …
More personally, I don’t want to be inhibited where my off-color jokes are concerned, nor do I want to feel like I have to hide my opinions about other people based on my accumulated personal experiences — (even if the result is vaguely shaded with prejudice).
You see, I never asked to be faced with these experiences & opinions, and I don’t want to be told they’re wrong or in need of fixing.
In short, I get it!
I don’t want to change anything and, under the flag of innate freedom, I really believe I should not have to.
Two Reasons to Change
But there are two fair (interrelated) reasons to push myself to change.
The first I seem to write about a lot these days — the simple act of being a good neighbor. Having the “bandwidth” — the spare compassion and magnanimity — to just offer up a little something that might mean a big difference to someone else.
That’s one reason why on my better days I try to practice a little empathizing — try to push myself to just a shade more understanding of how someone else might be perceiving things — their fears and anxieties — again, even if I think in my heart, “What the hell’s their problem?! Why are they so uptight?! Why do they have to make such a big deal out of this or that?!”
For a brief moment — perhaps just intermittently — I have a tangible opportunity to be a good neighbor. I can stop wondering about the reason behind their reasons and instead meet them with sympathy, tolerance, forced understanding — whatever!
The Freedom of a Clear Conscience vs. Fred Flintstone-ism
The second reason to change my paradigm is more selfish — it frees my conscience.
I believe that we all inherently know there’s just a little something wrong with intolerance, with judgment, with whispers and gossip about someone else, with secret criticism done in the shadows …
I believe that when we engage in any of it, even if it’s throwaway, just light, just in fun and we don’t really mean it, we still experience a tiny, gnawing whisper in our heads or hearts that simply indicates there’s something amiss.
Further, I know from personal experience when I’ve engaged in gossip or criticism or — at worst — specific statements or jokes or confidential wink-wink comments about anyone based on a difference, when I finally see that person — or someone with similar qualities — inside a part of me turns into Fred Flintstone.
It’s just like in those iconic moments when Fred is totally busted for some foible, and he literally shrinks down to the size of a mouse, and under the omniscient pissed off frown of Wilma or Mr. Slate, he squeaks in his tiny mouse voice, “Me and my big mouth!”
That’s me! That’s my gut feeling when I’ve done the secret gossip or shadow words — Jeez, sometimes even the terrible thoughts I can think …
That’s me! I identify!
And who the hell needs that feeling!? I’d rather enjoy the freedom of a clear conscience, wherein I don’t have to skulk in the shadows sharing slightly suspect secrets relating to things that in my deep, honest gut I know are— well, if not wrong, at least things I wouldn’t want certain other people to hear me say, to know I was thinking …
WP06880, CRT, WUW, WUWP, KKK, WTF?!
This brings me to Westport’s new shadow organization — WP06880 — which appears eager to spark fear at a visceral level in the community, using a somewhat vague — perhaps even nonexistent — agenda to give voice to some deep secret worries it’s looking to validate.
“Wake up Westport!” their sign declares.
I couldn’t help be reminded of a longtime bit on The Howard Stern Show, wherein he would call the answering machine of a KKK leader named Daniel Carver.
“Wake up White People!” the message would declare!
Hi Jarrett, I have been openly speaking up against the assertion by Superintendent Scarice and others that Racism is a big problem in Westport. I do not believe it is. And I believe that many of those who insist that it is seek to divide and not to heal in order to gain advantage and power. I am openly opposed to the principle of Equity, understood by virtue of Critical Race Theory, to be equated with equal outcomes. I see the opposition in town to CRT as in fact being an opposition to the fact that CRT seeks to replace the foundational principle of Equality with Equity.
For me, it is never about race (my husband and children are POCs by the progressive definition, though they do not seek to identify as such and prefer to be just normal American citizens). It is about values, and I refuse to allow others, who feel guilty for their “privilege” and place in life, to try to shame me, when I feel absolutely no shame. I treat everyone equally and hold all to the same standard, based on their character and not the color of their skin. I appreciate that you have acknowledged within yourself your prejudices and that you have found a more compassionate part of yourself through this introspection. But that is an individual matter and does not mean that you or anyone should project your own guilt onto the entire population and intimate that everyone else needs to “change”, as you have yourself.
I feel very comfortable with myself and how I treat people and how I view them. I always challenge myself and do not respond well when others try to define my motives or who I am.
I understand the desire, even the necessity, for anonymity this Westport Parents Group has, especially given the intolerance shown on FB posts and the fact that many of the signs the group put up around town in order to encourage dialogue about Equity and CRT were defaced or stolen. There is an intolerance in Westport of non-CRT orthodox views, where CRT is merely a byword for progressive orthodoxy and the concept of Equity.
I appreciate the group’s website, especially since I have been trying to raise awareness regarding what I see as increasing “racialization” that results from a focus on race and identities. I support the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism, FAIR in order to stop focusing on race, which I find divisive, and instead to shift the focus onto our shared humanity and how we can continue to pursue equal opportunity for all as we did with the Civil Rights Movement and as we as a country continue to do today. I am for welcoming diversity and inclusion, but I do not support Equity. I appreciate the articles posted on the wp06880.com website, as these are not viewpoints I find in the NYTimes or WAPO so that they help me connect with more people of different viewpoints who share the same goal as does FAIR, The Pro-Human Answer to Intolerance & Racism
Whether or not residents of Westport believe racism to be a problem, the lived experience of students and others as shared in the last year should be enough to convince us racism needs to be addressed. We don’t know what we don’t know and no one should be afraid of learning more. No one is talking about turning Westport’s curriculum upside down; we simply need to expand the discussion to include everyone. Teaching our nation’s history in its unvarnished truth can only help heal the racist events of our past. No one should be afraid to learn more. I applaud all efforts by Superintendent Scarice and the district to create a more equitable learning environment.