laramie project and the formation of a persecuting society at ole miss

Recently at University of Mississippi, a student production of the Laramie Project was interrupted when members of the audience began yelling homophobic slurs and other insults at the cast. Although the university administration reacted responsibly, the student body appears to have been virtually unmoved by this event. Why such an apathetic response? Perhaps it is because of the students themselves: they are not engaged, they are more interested in rush, they don't want to make waves... Or perhaps it is because most of them were raised in an atmosphere that either marginalized or denounced homosexuals. Even if the students wouldn't personally have shouted insults, they did not want to be seen defending homosexuals. Even if they have not yet decided their own beliefs about homosexuality, they felt too much ambivalence and discomfort to openly support it. Coincidentally, my class on the Early and High Middle Ages was also reading The Formation of a Persecuting Society, by R.I. Moore. This book details the increased persecution of three marginal groups in the Middle Ages: Jews, heretics, and lepers. It traces the way narratives were created around these groups that emphasized their malignancy, spiritual degeneracy, and potential to spread. These narratives combined biblical explication, folklore, the patristic writings of the Church fathers, and science. They resemble at several points contemporary narratives regarding homosexuality, and its potential threat to the moral and physical health of our society, from destroying families to spreading AIDS. The power of the narrative to create feelings of fear and discomfort is also the same. As I attempted to point this out to my students, the blank stares I received in response informed me that while unjust oppression is extremely easy to see from a distance, it is much more difficult to recognize in one's own life.