Three questions in response to my school's performance of The Laramie Project

1) Consider the comments below. Maybe you've heard people say something like them before.

• "I'm not racist, but . . ."
  
• "I'm not homophobic, but . . ."
  
• "I'm not sexist, but . . ."

How could being aware of, and challenging, these types of comments lead to the acceptance of our society's diversity?

If the comment referred to in the question is an opinion, then a convincing counterargument could convince the speaker that his opinion is wrong. Or, it could lead the speaker to further develop and believe in and dwell on his opinion. I'm not sure which is more likely to happen in the average case, if, say, a person were to challenge every such comment he hears. I am, however, pretty sure that if a large group of people opposed the single speaker of the comment, and if this speaker is not convinced by the large group, he may be persuaded by peer pressure, or at least become embarrassed and hide his opinion. This last case would lead to the speaker not being any more accepting, while being less accepted.

If the comment referred to in the question is a fact, then I do not see how the substance of the comment could be challenged. One could, however, challenge whether the fact should be said. This would lead to acceptance of our society's diversity by censoring facts which are not conducive to that idea.

2) Think about the quote below.
"Canadian society is a reflection of the world's diversity."
Describe some examples of how Canada's diversity enriches our community.

I agree with the quote. Canada's diversity enriches our community by making more ideas present, from different cultures. This is enrichment as if instead of eating a four course meal of salad, steak, pie, and cheese, all of the foods were mixed and eaten together in a single, enriched, piece of food.

3) Reflect on the statement below.
"The Laramie Project demonstrated how the actions of a small number of people can negatively affect an entire community."
Do you think this could happen in Vancouver?
If yes, why do you think so and how could we avoid it? If no, why do you think that it could not happen here?

Certainly two people is a small number of people, but I do not think that The Laramie Project showed two people negatively affecting an entire community to a significant extent. Hundreds of people may be a small number of people; and if so, then I agree with the quote. The hundreds of people would be the media, who caused the death of Matthew Shepherd to be a major issue when it would probably have, without extensive media coverage, gone largely unnoticed.

Do I think that extensive media coverage drawing attention to an issue that would probably otherwise have gone largely unnoticed could happen in Vancouver? It has happened many times before and will happen many times again. We could avoid this publicity of human interest stories by defying both the purpose of the press and basic economic principles.