Let me start off by saying that while I myself am not perfect, I feel that when an example of idiotic ignorance raises its ugly head, it is my duty to point it out. This time, it happened in last week’s story on the wrestler who allegedly made the anti-gay slur. It wasn’t necessarily the fact that the wrestler made the slur, because we really don’t know if he did or not. Nor was it the debate on whether Ohio State and the wrestling coaching staff should be held responsible for the alleged statement. Parents can barely control their own kids, and we expect the university to be able to control its students. Instead, what bothered me most was something that was more ignorant and narrow-minded than the alleged statement. It was the statement giving by Ken Ramsey, an OSU assistant wrestling coach, to Columbus Outlook. Keep in mind Columbus Outlook is a biweekly newspaper that caters to the gay and lesbian community in Columbus. In the article pertaining to the anti-gay slur, Mr. Ramsey was quoted as saying, “I doubt that we have any gay wrestlers on the team, just because of the way the sport is. It’s a very rough sport, really contact-like.”Is it just me, or is there something wrong with this statement? Is there any difference between this and saying “I doubt we have any blacks on our chess team because it requires a lot of thinking, planning and concentration.”What other profound bursts of logic can we expect to spew forth from this man? “Wrestlers good, fags bad?” What sports does Mr. Ramsey think homosexual men should participate in? Synchronized window dressing, tag-team hair styling, or maybe the 100-meter prissy walk? I have some advice for you Mr. Ramsey – in the future, don’t talk to the press until your public relations people have prepared your statement. And more importantly, don’t give a statement stereotyping homosexuals to a gay and lesbian newspaper. It just makes the statement that is much more ironic and idiotic. But since you have already gone ahead and generalized and stereotyped a whole group of people, I think it’s fair game to go ahead and do the same to you.Of course, I don’t know you personally, you may be a great guy – funny, friendly, easy to get along with. I’m just stereotyping you, much the same way you stereotyped homosexual men.I am not really surprised at what you said. Can we really expect anything less? You’re a wrestling coach. Can we expect you to be a contestant on “Jeopardy,” or wax poetic in the style of William Shakespeare? We’ll be lucky if you even know who Shakespeare is. (This is stereotyping Mr. Ramsey. Not a very nice thing is it?)Maybe in a month no one will even remember the alleged comment. Maybe the wrestler in question never made the comment. Maybe years of grabbing and pinning men to a mat have made him have strange, but yet pleasant thoughts about his fellow wrestlers, and lashing out at the homosexual man was his way of dealing with them. We may never know what was really said and who is to blame. But one thing’s certain, Mr. Ramsey’s statement should not be brushed aside so easily.As long as I’m generalizing, let me go on the record and say one more thing: I doubt that we have any assistant wrestling coaches on the Lantern staff, just because of the nature of the job. It’s a very demanding profession that requires you to think, write complete sentences and understand big words.
Anthony Castillo is a senior majoring in journalism.
