WU Abstains from Palin

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Yesterday, a friend of mine expressed his outrage and concern at the notion that Bristol Palin had been invited to speak on the subject of abstinence at Washington University, St. Louis. Apparently, she had been scheduled to receive, for this one engagement, approximately what my friend earns annually as an enlisted member of the US Navy. I do not have a problem with Bristol doing anything she likes, but I do not subscribe to the camp that feels comfortable with paying people large sums of money when there are better examples to be found. Accordingly, I wrote the following letter.

Dear Sir-

My friend tells me that you head the Student Health Advisory Committee at the University of Washington in St. Louis, and it is in that capacity that I address to you the following remarks. It has been brought to my attention by a friend of mine currently serving in the Navy but who attended your institution that you intend to bring Bristol Palin to your campus to give a speech on Abstinence. My friend and I both find it somewhat disturbing that you have selected an individual who is the antithesis of the topic to speak on abstinence education, however broad her appeal, exposure, and reach may be. I worry about the kind of message that it sends to reward someone with a payment (in this case the figure repeated to me was $17,000) for a speaking engagement when she became a famous advocate for it, not because of her resolute stance over years in defense thereof but because she suffered the consequences of defying it.

I can think of many other people whom I would recommend to you who would be better examples of a moral and ethical life. I can think of people who believe in and live by principles of chastity before marriage and fidelity in marriage, because they always have and not in the wake of such a personal tragedy. From a health perspective, yes this is the message to send, but not by someone who has violated the law. How is a man better who has done heavy drugs at enforcing laws against them than a man who never participated? I can only guess at the message that might be sent by hiring her to deliver this message when we have men and women fighting overseas who earn barely more than that on an annual basis. Keep in mind that I support the abstinence movement; it is with your choice of spokesman with which I take my particular exception when there are better men who can speak on other topics of health and wellness. When we tell a person, "Don't do such-and-such", they usually hear it without the 'don't', and if, by exercise in rhetoric, she follows with "be like me", subconsciously, that might invite the audience to follow not just her present part but also Palin's path entire.

As an educational professional and scientist, I respectfully request you reconsider your choice and your offer as tendered in favor of a more worthy individual and/or topic. As a man who has kept his animal urges in tact, I implore you to find someone else more worthy of emulation. Do not settle for or on her because she has become a celebrity and has exposure. Overexposed film is just as worthless as film used to capture things of no worth.

Thank you for your attention in this matter.

Palin is just not that great of a rolemodel.

This morning, I heard that WUSL has redacted their invitation. Abstinence education works every time it's tried.