Censorship From the Red Part of our Blue State
Washington State (and Oregon, actually) is more than a little bipolar in both its topography and its politics. Many people, including me before I drove out here from Ohio for the first time, think that the entire state is characterized by rainforest and rushing streams. However, by snagging most of the abundant rainfall as it wheels inland from the Pacific, the Cascade mountain range separates the moist and temperate western side from the sagebrush desert of the eastern side.
The state’s politics are divided along almost the same boundary. It’s as if the rain germinated liberal seeds as it blanketed the west, leaving conservative Republicanism to scratch a twisted living from the desiccated glacial till of the east. (I’m sort of kidding here - I have clients who are personally dear to me in eastern Washington, but they are also people who receive hand-written notes from Congressman George Nethercutt.) The divide is actually a result of the urbanization in the west vs. the agricultural/resource extraction/nuclear industry of the east. Richland High School’s mascot designation, for instance, is The Bombers, and a mushroom cloud is part of their team logo.
The defeat of House Speaker Tom Foley in the 1994 election marked the extinction of Democrats as a species in eastern Washington. Yet Democrats have winnowed narrow victories in statewide offices (two female Democrat senators, a Democrat governor, Gore in 2000) owing to the dominance of urban centers in Seattle, Olympia and Bellingham. The east resents this domination, especially in its environmental regulatory incarnations, but also in its cultural excesses.
Thus it is not surprising to hear of actions such as that of Jack Anderson, a high school principal in Kennewick, who snuffed his school’s performance of a play based on the movie The Breakfast Club due to its language and content. What’s surprising is that the guy is so out of touch with his school that he was unaware of the play’s threat to the morals of women and children while it was being rehearsed for three months, pressing the destruct button only after its initial performance. Here’s what Principal Anderson had to say on the school’s web site under the Thoughts and Advice heading:
Take advantage of every opportunity in high school. Be involved in sports, activities, clubs and learn as much as you can. You will never get these years back and you don’t want to look back on high school in 10 years and wish that you had done better, or had tried out for the school play or run track. High school will give you memories that will last a lifetime. Start building your memories now.
I’ll bet the kids in that play will remember Principal Anderson 10 years from now.
