Laramie Community Definition

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Eng102 Final December 16, 2009 The End... Finally Does a town define who its citizens should be? How they act or they feel toward any given situation? If asked, I can guarantee you that the majority of people would respond along the lines of ìNo, a town should not do any of those.î Sure, that may be the general consensus on the matter, but the point is that it is not whether it should or should not, but that it either does or does not; it is likely that it does whether one knows it or not. A town, meaning the community itself, has the power to mold, to a certain extent of course, who its citizens become. The impact may be either negative or positive, but no matter what it is, it is definitely present. It is up to said community…show more content…
Prior to the incident Laramie had a somewhat picturesque little town in Wyoming which had a strong sense of community. But, when something of great magnitude happens, as in Matthew's case, it cannot just be left alone, especially if it is done by members of the Laramie community. That is something that does more than just affect the community, it ìoffendsî it. There is no doubt in my mind that, had it occurred in a more metropolitan, city-like area such as New York City or L.A it would have probably reached a reasonable amount of media attention, but not on the great scale that had been reached by the small town of Laramie. This leads me to believe that society plays a major role in molding its citizens and how they react to certain situations. I say this only because I feel as if city people are more likely to be exposed to the homosexual lifestyle more frequently and openly than those in a small country setting. Even though Sergeant Hing states that Laramie has ìone of the most vocal populations of gay people in the stateî (45) it is difficult to believe that simply because of that that…show more content…
Not only that, but the citizens of Laramie will also be haunted by it. Jedadiah Shultz had once said that ì... Laramie [was] a town defined by an accident, a crime... a noun, a definition, a signî ( 9). This quote had resonated in my mind the very first time I read it because of its subtle, yet extremely powerful nature. By stating that Laramie was now a ìsignî Jedadiah was entirely correct; Laramie became a ìsignî, better yet a symbol for the homosexual community, not only those in Laramie, or Wyoming, but anywhere and everywhere in the entire world. Due to the wide-spread media coverage and public attention it became a symbol of hope, faith, tragedy, conviction and possibility. This particular incident allowed the world to see just how out of control hate crimes could get, and how even in America, the so-called ìland of the freeî, there are people who live in fear of what can happen to them simply for being who they are. For example, Jonas Slonaker had said ìIf I don't tell you I'm a fag, you won't beat the crap out of me... That's a great philosophy?î (59), and if you think about it he is entirely right, what kind of philosophy is that? Certainly a horid one. It had even gotten to the
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