Bigot:
big·ot
[big-uht]
noun
a person who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion.
or
a person who is intolerant of any ideas other than his or her own, esp on religion, politics, or race
At Inside Higher Ed, they’ve published a bigoted essay by Nate Kreuter, in which he goes into detail justifying his bigotry of those who would take an active role in protecting themselves from violent attack.
“I hope my legislature doesn’t send guns into the sacred space of the classroom. But if they do, I hope I have the guts to stick to my decision. We all have a breaking point, a threshold to not cross. Other than being in the woods, the classroom is the closest thing I have to religion and the closest thing I have to faith, and once that particular sacred space is profaned by the presence of a weapon, I don’t want to inhabit it anymore.”
…”I don’t fear guns. I fear the person who wants, for any reason, lawful or otherwise, to bring one into my classroom.”
…”I fear the kind of person, the kind of barely-not-a-child-anymore-student, who would want to carry a gun on campus, legally or otherwise. I fear that kid, and I don’t want to be around him. It isn’t his gun that scares me. What scares me is his brain, which controls the hand that controls the gun that can kill.” – Nate Kreuter in On Gun in My Classroom
One wonders if Nick feels anxiety over black persons on campus. Does he not fear them, but only ones that want to come into the classroom? Do they profane the sacred space of a classroom too? Does he fear them as well, and not want to be around them?
Fearing African-Americans in school classrooms is as irrational and bigoted as fearing law-abiding, responsible Americans trained in the use of personal defense tools to carry them to stop bad people from evil intents. Those “kids”, the kind of barely-not-a-child-anymore student would certainly have been old enough for at least three years to serve his nation in the military, protecting our nation and indeed may have even already served a tour in Afghanistan and done things Nate Kreuter will never know and could never do – to risk everything for the love of his nation and fellow American.
From reading his piece, I have to wonder if Nate Kreuter realizes late at night, laying in bed in the stillness of the night, that he is a lesser man than some of his students who would man-up when the going gets tough and display bravery and courage under adverse conditions.
Imagine being Nate Kreuter, suffering under the weight of knowing that potentially a female coed, with a license to carry, and the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to employ a simple tool to stop a malevolent attack, has more tenacity than he does.
It’s okay. Nate’s apparently a lover, not a fighter. Gun ownership isn’t for everyone. Some people go to work when danger calls, others “go” in their pants as they cower.
Nate Kreuter is in a state of denial about how the world works when it comes to evil men doing asocial endeavors. As Lt. Col. Dave Grossman says, “Denial has no survival value.”
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