Governor Texas Rick Perry, well known for his stringent anti-gay, anti-abortion (and female healthcare in general) policies, visited Dartmouth college on Sunday to have an open discussion with students. This went maybe only slightly better than Bill Cosby (or more likely, Bill Cosby’s former social media manager) asking the internet to meme him.
Dartmouth sophomore Ben Packer, who identifies as neither Democrat or Republican, came prepared to the event with a crib sheet of colorful questions to ask the governor which he distributed before the event. To give you an example of the questions that were asked of Perry, the first question on the sheet read: “In 2002, you supported Texas’s anti-sodomy law. Do you dislike bootysex because the peeny goes in where the poopy comes out?”
Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly, being that the event was attended primarily by Dartmouth Republicans) the stunt didn’t go over so well with Packer’s classmates, according to The Dartmouth.
“They were phrased in incredibly insulting ways, and I’m horrified,” Michelle Knesbach, president of the College Republicans told The Dartmouth. “We allow people to ask policy-driven questions, but when they’re phrased in an insulting manner, we try to avoid that, because it just detracts from the overall political discourse we can have on campus.”
Packer stuck by his guns, however, explaining his rationale behind the stunt:
“People that are opposed to this act are opposed to it because they think that it hurts their political discussion,” said Packer. “I think the desired effect was to point out that their political discussion is not meaningful.”
“Since the event organizers knew what we were doing before it happened, they sort of controlled the lens through which the questions were viewed,” said Packer. “The questions – they’re funny, right? I think they’re funny. I think a lot of people think that they’re funny, but since the event had control over the framing of the questions, nobody in the audience laughed. They booed.”
This is a tough one. Being that I am both an admirer of fine potty humor and disagree with the politics of Rick Perry, I’m inclined to take the kid’s side. But just because a politician is totally, 100% on the wrong side of history doesn’t mean he should be denied the right to civil discourse. Either way, Packer’s probably got a future ahead of him as a Daily Show writer or something.
Here’s the actual flyer that was passed around, which includes other gems such as a question asking whether Perry would change his stance if new documents revealed that Jesus liked to play with his own “hairy hollow.”
(The Dartmouth via Campus Reform)