The Helen Thomas controversy seems to be resolved.  Bob Schieffer, moderator of Face the Nation, is the new graduation speaker, and Thomas has resigned out of respect for the critics of her anti-Israel comment.  Finally, seniors can detach themselves from a national spectacle and just enjoy their graduation, one of the most important and touching transitions of their lives.

Or can they?  Some students don’t think so.  Recently, over 150 have joined the Facebook group “Helen Thomas should have been our graduation speaker” to announce their regrets.  In conversation or through comments on Black & White online articles, people have criticized Helen Thomas, the critics of Helen Thomas and the critics of the critics of Helen Thomas.  Some of these criticisms are well-thought and well-delivered; others are less than constructive.   Volunteers in the main office reported constant phone calls from around the nation congratulating or condemning the decision principal Alan Goodwin made to ask Thomas not to speak.

Hopefully, most students will lose interest in the controversy before graduation, especially since the administration announced the new graduation speaker.  Certainly, everyone will forgive and forget the entire fiasco over the summer.

Yet the incident has also taught us several lessons about how the Whitman community reacts to a controversy.  There has been good, and there has been bad, but we as a community can take valuable lessons away from the entire spectrum of examples.  The most important lesson is the following: stand strong, but don’t pick fights, and speak your mind without hurting other people.

Two points need to be discussed before the real juicy points come in.  First of all, for a fact, Helen Thomas is not the graduation speaker anymore.  Any second-guessing at this point is pointless and distracting.

Secondly, far too much blame has gone to Erica Bloom’s Facebook group protesting Helen Thomas as graduation speaker.  Goodwin’s decision is not Bloom’s fault, nor the fault of the sparse 30-odd students who joined her group.  Rather, it’s the result of hundreds of emails to Goodwin objecting to Thomas as the speaker.

Instead of considering why Bloom and others might be offended, students in conversation or online essentially brand them as fanatics. Why blame people who are not really responsible?  Why blame at all?  For the most part, the blow-up is not because of their commendable decision to stand up and announce that they’re insulted by Thomas’ comments.  However, their passionate reactions led to unnecessary assertions (e.g.–anti-Semitism is spreading in America, Helen Thomas is a bigot) that were more offensive, opening them to personal attack. Perhaps sticking to protesting the speaker would’ve helped them avoid the criticism.

Lesson No. 1: Stand strong, but fighting words will get you in a fight.

That being said, counter-reactionaries did the exact same thing. Finger-pointing and name-calling is a favorite pastime for many at Whitman.  For some reason, students love deriding and blaming others, whether it be Helen Thomas or any one of many layers of critics who’ve been arguing that “so-and-so’s problem is the real problem here.”  Now, because everyone seems to love a good-ole’ verbal smack-down, the whole controversy is blown out of proportion.

Lesson No. 2: Don’t pick fights.

There have been cynics and name-callers during this debate, but there has been many a voice of reason, too.  In fact, it is surprising how many Whitman students have contributed their viewpoints in reasonable, considerate statements.  Most have made legitimate points without offending others, and have mostly avoided insulting others by omitting attacks on other people.  They provide inspiring examples to us all, because they demonstrate…

Lesson No. 3: It’s not difficult to have an opinion without ad hominem insults.

There are too many publicized shouting matches, and it’s great that most at Whitman can keep debate to room voices.  While there are still some who don’t get it, this incident is a vast improvement over the viciousness of the Whitnet cell tower debate that occurred last winter.

Helen Thomas has apologized, and it’s time for everyone to forgive.  Let the school and the class of ‘10 enjoy what should be an awesome graduation.  Afterward, we shall go our separate ways for summer, hopefully having gained a little more wisdom, sympathy and respect for others.