Talking points #9 Our Guys

Bernard Lefkowitz "Our Guys"

Premise

• privilege
• legal system
• mental disabilities
• Glen Ridge
• Jocks
• Social Status
• High School
• Hatred
• blind eye
• inequality
• high school

Argument

Lefkowtiz argues that because residents in Glen Ridge gave privilege to a specific social group within the community it felt the need to consider memebers of the group victims of a criminal offense instead of being considered the perpatradors. A community with odd values only instills those odd values in their children.

Evidence

1. "I began to frame Glen Ridge as a story of power and powerlessness." Lefkowitz began interviewing different people in the town and it seemed that those who had power and were privileged viewed the boys as victims. But those that did not have too much power and were not privileged viewed the boys as disgusting beings. Lefkowitz saw the inequalities between the different social groups in the town and based his book off of it. Because Leslie was mentally retarded and not privileged they boys took advantage of her, just like a hunter would take advantage of prey. The strong were the hunters to the weak in Glen Ridge and if you were not strong then you were not considered important.
2. "The list, more often than not, omitted the young woman in the basement and her family." The town's sense of the crime was completely warped. They believed that the boys that were being accused of sexually assaulting Leslie were the victims. Not the mentally retarded girl who was desperate for friends, so desperate that it took her a while to tell anyone. The privileged saw the other privileged boys as victims when they were the ones who caused the problem in the first place. The town's values were messed up and that made the boys think it was okay to commit such a horrible crime.
3. "Maybe the silence of Glen Ridge students was a symptom of grief and shame, colored by self-interest."The jocks told other jocks about the crime they committed and yet no one said anything. Until one boy finally had a conscious and told the principal. The people in the school that were aware of the crime were too shameful to talk about it with anyone and too wrapped up in the jocks. The jocks controlled everyone, they wanted people to like them and they knew they could have complete control over people. They believed no matter how many people they told that it would not become public. Not until someone had a conscious and knew that what they did was wrong.

Comments

Reading this article was definately a shock for me. I was in awe at how Glen Ridge held the boys up to be some type of god. They were good at sports, SO WHAT?Being good at sports does not give you the privilege to walk around and do whatever you want, but it does in Glen Ridge. This crime was only committed because of a long history in Glen Ridge of privilege to the Jocks. If someone was brave enough to stop the jocks from being so high up on the social ladder then this never would have happened. Not only is it the boys who committed the crime fault but it is also the towns fault for not taking action to put them in jail. Granted it was a delicate crime, that does not matter a girl who did not know any better was degraded and sexually assaulted. Yet all Glen Ridge could see was someone accusing "Their guys" of being bad. It was a very good article that showed how bad privilege can be and how corrupting it can be to students.