The Editor,
Re. "Best kids target NW strip club" (The Tri-City News, Jan. 18).
The campaign against the Paramount Gentlemen's Club in New Westminster by a Social Justice 12 class at Coquitlam's Dr. Charles Best secondary school is especially upsetting to me - a former student of the course - not just because of the many reasons widely cited by others already but also because it represents the precise opposite of what the course is all about.
If nothing else, the course is designed to impart on students the need for tolerance and respect of all manner of lifestyles, races, religions, classes and so forth. It's designed to develop in students a capacity to think critically about conflict, injustice and ignorance; to help students understand from what contexts such thoughts arise from; and how to a) Identify such prejudiced views within oneself and b) propose solutions to create a more just, peaceful society in general.
Calling to shut down a law-abiding, well-regarded establishment and denigrating both the patrons and providers of a form of entertainment just because you happen to find it distasteful is the antithesis of the message to which this course is intended to expose students.
Religious fundamentalists who try to enforce their doctrines and personal belief systems onto society are rightly ridiculed. Just because a doctrine happens to be of a secular nature does not mean that it is any less inappropriate to attempt to impose it onto others.
Sebastian Zein, Port Coquitlam
