Reading Between the Lines

People tend to “lose” their prejudice when a tragic event takes place or when they are put

in the spotlight. Beth Loffreda describes the events that took place during and following the

death of a gay college student, Matt Shepherd, in her essay, “Selections from Losing Matt

Shepherd: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder.” She not only describes the

events that took place, but she also depicts the way people acted when the media became

involved with the murder. These acts that people put on are similar to the hidden and public

transcripts that James C. Scott discusses in his essay, “Behind the Official Story.” He uses

transcripts to provide the relationship between people with power (dominates) and people

without power (subordinates). Both essays show how different groups of people are forced to

change how they act and portray themselves because another group is watching them. The

reason a group changes is either to benefit themselves or to follow the standards that are set in

place by tradition. This paper will argue that the hidden transcript of homophobia and the

consequences that arise from revealing hidden transcripts can be seen through Matt Shepherd’s

death. People use public transcripts to hide their hidden transcripts to avoid looking indecent.

These ideas involving transcripts can be seen through prejudice, the exposure of hidden

transcripts, and the media.

To understand how public and hidden transcripts can be seen in the events surrounding

Matt’s death requires one to know the difference between these types of transcripts. Scott

defines hidden transcripts as the true values and beliefs of a group or individual that are not

typically displayed when other groups are present, and can either complicate, confirm, or

contradict the public transcript. When the idea of hidden transcripts is being discussed, it does

not matter whether a group consists of dominates or subordinates because both groups can be

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forced to keep their transcripts hidden (Scott, 524). This shows how hidden transcripts are

typically not accepted by a society; however, hidden transcripts can be revealed if the situation

forces out the transcript. The way that people are able to conceal their hidden transcripts is

because they can hide behind public transcripts. Scott uses the term public transcripts “as a

shorthand way of describing the open interaction between subordinates and those who

dominate,” which he also describes as a mask that people wear in public (Scott, 522). He says

this because an individual or group does not allow others outside of themselves or their group to

see their true feelings. These people act as they are expected either out of fear or to deceive the

other group. When Matt died, people used public transcripts to bury their prejudice deep within

their hidden transcripts.

People use public transcripts so that others cannot see the prejudice, which lurks within

themselves at times when this prejudice would portray them poorly and quite possibly cause

them problems. Loffreda shows how people use a public transcript to allow individuals to hide

their prejudice against homosexual people when she quotes Stephanie, a lesbian woman in the

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Association with Matt who responded to people not acting

how they truly feel, in saying “‘if they had known that Matt was gay while he was alive, would

have spit on him. But now it was a cause, and that made me upset’” (Loffreda, 319).

Stephanie’s words show that some people, but not all people, are trying to shadow themselves

from any type of blame that may be directed towards them. People use a public transcript of

sorrow and understanding to protect themselves from any sort of negative emotions from other

people while they still retain prejudice within their hidden transcripts. Society would frown

upon someone who did not show compassion towards Matt’s death, and thus the public transcript

is forced into existence. A similar type of use of a public transcript can be seen when Scott

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discusses the essay of Orwell’s duty of killing an elephant after the elephant had escaped and

killed a man in a village. Scott explains that

Orwell is no more free to be himself, to break convention, than a slave would be

in the presence of a tyrannical master. If subordination requires a credible

performance of humility and deference, so domination seems to require a credible

performance of haughtiness and mastery (Scott, 530).

This quote illustrates how people are forced to display a public transcript to protect themselves

from various reactions from society. Orwell had to conceal his hidden transcript of not wanting

to kill the elephant in order to maintain the power relationship between himself and the village.

Society’s expectations shape the way that people act, even though those acts may not represent

an individual’s true feelings. However, there are times that an individual’s true feelings are

revealed.

Hidden transcripts are not always kept hidden, and when this revelation occurs,

consequences for one or both groups may arise. Scott demonstrates this idea when he discusses

Mrs. Poyser, a woman who was not well-off and was a tenant of a powerful squire in her town.

Scott explains that Mrs. Poyser did not like the squire’s visits because he often arrived only to

make the lives of her and her husband more complicated. She finally lost control of concealing

her hidden transcripts during one of the squire’s visits and stood-up to him for herself and the

town (Scott, 526). It is unknown as to what became of the Poyser’s and the squire, but the

hidden transcript that Mrs. Poyser revealed allowed the hidden transcript to become public.

However, it is important to realize that no physical harm was done in this situation, and the

reason that the transcript was exposed was legitimate and could be supported by the past

problems that the squire had created for the people of the town. This situation is very different

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from the one that occurred between Matt and his attackers. Loffreda explains that the two people

who murdered Matt had driven him to the end of town, tied him to a fence, beat him with a gun,

and fled after robbing him. Loffreda continues by stating that “We’d learn all that, and learn that

Matt’s sexuality was woven through all of it” (Loffreda, 310). A concept uncovered by Matt’s

murder is that the hidden transcripts of the attackers were shown. They had killed Matt because

they were homophobic, and unlike the consequences that occurred for the squire, these effects

were permanent and greatly affected many people negatively. However, the attackers, who are

the dominate group in this scenario, also suffered consequences. The attackers and their

girlfriends were brought to court and ended up being charged for multiple crimes (Loffreda,

315). The fact that both the dominate and subordinate groups suffered consequences shows the

severity of the attackers’ hidden transcripts. Mrs. Poyser had every right to be angry about what

the squire had done and to reveal her true feelings, but the two people who killed Matt had no

justifiable basis for the murder. However, following the murder, the people in the United States

began to use public transcripts to protect themselves from being held accountable for the

problems that were caused by prejudice. The lengths at which people will go to stop the fire of

blame from spreading to them can be multiplied when the media becomes involved.

The media is a dominant group, which allows the presence of the media to mold the way

people act in public. Loffreda explains that people changed their true appearance around the

media so that they would not fear the guilt that would be set on them if people knew they had

true feelings of prejudice. This concept can be seen when Loffreda writes, “We didn’t simply

live here anymore: we were something transmitted, watched, evaluated for symbolic resonance;

something available for summary” (Loffreda, 320). It was not only a way for the people to give

themselves a clear conscience, but also to show others that people should recognize them and

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what they were doing to support Matt’s cause. It was just another public transcript that was

being used to protect the people involved from any trouble that may come from their hidden

transcripts. This type of behavior can be seen when Scott describes Aggy, who is an African-

American cook, and the revelation of her hidden transcript to Mary Livermore, who was a white

governess and not her master. When Aggy’s master is around, she is quiet and does as she is

told, but after her master had beaten her daughter, she could no longer retain her silent state of

being. Scott states that “One can only imagine what might have happened to Aggy if she had

delivered that speech directly to the master” (Scott, 525). She was forced to still act as she

normally does when her master is present because of the consequences she would suffer, but she

was still pushed to reveal the contempt she had for her master. It was the presence of a dominant

power that forced her to act this way, just as the media forced people all over the country to act

with sorrow over Matt’s death, despite the various feelings an individual may hold, to avoid

being ridiculed by other people. If there was no fear for the effects of one’s hidden transcripts,

then people would say anything they had on their minds and the world would become total

chaos. The media and the idea of dominance, in a way, help to keep some hidden transcripts

under control and out of sight, even though these powers can also create new problems for

people who have truly sincere feelings for the issue at hand.

Individuals felt very strongly about the issue of prejudice surrounding the murder, and the

people who were truly sorry about the unfortunate event were somewhat frustrated with the way

people with little or no concern had acted at the events commemorating Matt’s death. The issue

of prejudice against homosexuality cannot be declared a public transcript because it is typically

not shown when people with power are involved. However, this prejudice is a hidden transcript

that can be seen within many people. Some people do show their true feelings, but most keep

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them within in themselves and use them to make decisions for certain actions. Loffreda shows

that there were many people who truly cared, people who may not have cared but showed

compassion to protect themselves, but also showed that there were people who blatantly showed

their prejudice. She shows how the media holds a power that can determine if a person’s hidden

transcripts will be shown or not. Scott shows examples and explanations to support the decisions

that people who became involved with Matt’s death made. He shows how the fear of

consequences has a drastic effect on the way people will act in order to conceal hidden

transcripts. However, in all instances the intensity of a person’s hidden transcript makes the

overall decision as to when and if the transcript will be revealed. People cannot be easily

generalized to whether they are prejudice or not, but the way they use their transcripts can make

it possible to categorize an individual on the issue of prejudice.