The Bowdoin Orient

April 13, 2001
Volume CXXXII, Number 21

What can we do? What can't we do?

   After Dr. Gail Dines's lecture on the effect of pornography in the media, a student asked the always anticipated question, "What can we do?" But when given a specific answer, another student expressed doubt in ever seeing such a solution come into being at Bowdoin. When Dr. Dines addressed that question to the audience, the response from the audience was that the proposed solution seemed "too big."
   What has happened to us that everything seems "too big"? At what point did we lose the capacity to dream big dreams and honestly believe that anything is attainable? We are the young generation. The world is ours to change for the better. It is the young who are purportedly idealistic. If we are cynics, who is left to change the world?
   This, of course, relates to the ever-present accusation that Bowdoin students are apathetic, that they don't care about anything, including bringing down the pornography industry. But that doesn't seem to be true. People do seem to care. When the seats in Kresge filled up, Bowdoin students, faculty, and staff sat in aisles or stood in doorways to hear the keynote speaker for Sexual Assault Awareness Week.
   Obviously, something sparked their interest. And while some people may have been drawn to the lecture by the horrifically explicit posters displayed around campus, it is also likely that some of those people who gathered in Kresge Auditorium were effected by what they heard and had a desire to promote change.
   Though the desire may be present to effect change, it is understandable that the task of changing the society in which we live, in this case battling a multi-billion dollar industry, may seem daunting. But the only reason the solution seems an intimidating proposition is because the problem itself is so big. And yet that should be all the more reason to persevere rather than admit defeat. The alternative is to live with whatever problems exist and stand idly by and watch more problems arise.
   Many Bowdoin students who attended Dr. Dines's lecture probably wondered themselves, "what can we do?" Well, that depends. If you don't try, you can do nothing. If you do try, the question changes from "what can we do?" to "what can't we do?"