The other day I was ecstatic to notice that I had passed the “two months until graduation” mark. With a spring in my step and the sun smiling in the sky, I whistled my way to class. Until, that is, I heard it – the rage of Michael Venyah, the voice I had tried for months to ignore a couple of years ago. My mind was automatically clouded with anger and frustration, my good mood gone quicker than you can say, “You’re going to hell.” I thought, surely he can’t be back.But back he is, and with a vengeance, spewing verbal abuse at passers-by and using scripture to condemn, quite literally, everyone. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I recall his speeches of 2005 being much tamer than what he’s bounced back with. Now he has T-shirts, signs, a special renewed aversion to homosexuality and a wife and child in tow. The child, thankfully, is still too young to be impressionable.
I thought about joining the crowd gathered around Venyah to handpick some choice quotes, as I know he’s full of them, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was forced to pass him on my way to class every day of his stay in 2005, and I remember that he pointed at me one day and called me a slut, when all he knew about me was that I was dressed in a modest T-shirt and jeans.
Venyah freely calls women whores and sluts, uses graphic and obscene language to explain why homosexuals are damned, claims that all other religions are wrong and, according to Tuesday’s article in The Reflector, calls MSU students “ignorant.” How is this acceptable, even within the bounds of free speech?
To me, everyone should be able to express his or her opinions without being condemned. The line between acceptable and unacceptable is crossed, though, if those opinions are targeted at individuals who may be hurt by his or her words. While I sincerely hope that no one is hurt by Venyah’s opinions (not facts, but opinions), the potential is still there. And targeting anyone, be it women, homosexuals or the average MSU student, is no more than bullying. When directed at specific individuals, it is verbal abuse.
While I haven’t heard a single person agree with Venyah’s approach, the act of congregating around him surely fuels Venyah’s will to keep preaching, and we should try to do everything possible to keep from encouraging him. Although it is worth it just to take a gander at his T-shirt. “No homos go to heaven” is boldly written and cited as a Bible verse, as if one could actually flip through the Bible to 1 Corinthians and see that very sentence.
The best way I can think to go about getting Venyah down from his high horse is simply to ignore him, despite the fact that his voice carries and carries and carries. While his loud, obnoxious, hateful diatribe is difficult to tune out, it’s even worse if I allow him to get to me when I’m having an otherwise lovely day, especially since I disagree with everything he says.
I wish something could be done to rid our otherwise peaceful campus of Venyah immediately, but I have a good feeling either one of two things will happen to do that job. Either he will finally cross the line between free speech and verbal abuse to the degree that he will be removed from campus, or a target of his rage will decide enough is enough and give Venyah a well-deserved punch in the face.
There is a brighter way to look at it, though an idea that I’ve constructed in my dire need to justify his presence. For once, the entire student body is united in one opinion, regardless of race, sexuality, political affiliation, gender, age and probably even religion. To me, this is a comforting thought. When else do we have a chance to unite in one feeling, whether it be for or against something? It’s just nice to know that we’re all, the majority anyway, on one side.
In Venyah’s book, I’m damned. And so are you. Michael Venyah apparently wants heaven to himself, and I say, if there’s a heaven, let’s leave it to him.