Does the word “faggot” make you uncomfortable? Imagine hearing it roared at you through the window of a speeding car as you’re approaching the French House for a night of revelry.

Let’s rewind a bit. Last week, my co-columnist Vinni wrote about missing an opportunity he had to speak up against homophobia. Last weekend, he got the chance to speak up, and he got pushed down in return.

The car rolled by while the three teenagers inside screamed “faggot” repeatedly. I shrugged and continued on my way, but Vinni spoke up, asking them (but perhaps not very politely) to come back and say it to his face. And they did.

They drove back, got out of their car and got in our faces. They continued their ritualistic chanting of “fag” until Vinni courteously confirmed their suspicions that he was, in fact, gay (a surprise to no one who has ever seen Vinni). They pushed him into the road and sped off in their cars, while I related the license plate number of their vehicle to a 911 dispatcher.

Moments later, a policeman arrived and took our statements. The teenagers in question were stopped by other friendly police-folk, and we were given a joyride in the back of a police car to go identify them.

Not the greatest way to spend a Saturday night. The guy who pushed Vinni was cited with a hate crime. Vinni survived. Bharat was irritated.

So he spoke up. And what can we learn from this little episode?

Everyone always talks about how Stanford is such a safe place. When something like this happens, that bubble is burst. Violence and homophobia come pouring in, and Stanford is no longer such a safe space. How do we resolve this contradiction and handle these momentary hiccups in Stanford’s safety level?

Typically, we find a way of externalizing the violence. In this case, the homophobes were not Stanford students. They came from the infamous “outside world.” If we can imagine them as being outsiders, as pieces of the outside world that accidentally got on campus and that can be just as easily removed, we can keep Stanford “safe.”

But how do we keep them out? One policeman informed us that the next time we see “suspicious characters” on campus, we should call the police immediately. What does “suspicious” mean? People of color? People who drive an old car?

So by keeping Stanford separate from the real world, we can keep the forces of evil out and maintain our Edenic utopia. Unfortunately, this is the same policy that the Bush administration has employed in dealing with “terrorism” — by placing the blame on outsiders, on “suspicious strangers,” and taking the violence to their door. Has the amount of violence in the world as a whole come down? Of course not — just take one look at Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Sudan. Has the violence in the United States gone down? Many would like to think so.

Now we’ve figured something out. Safety isn’t about safety for everyone — it’s about keeping us safe. We don’t care about violence and hatred as long as it occurs somewhere else, safely removed from our homes and our schools. A hate crime citation is not going to make this kid stop hating LGBT people. If his community is telling him that hate speech and violence against gay men is acceptable, a citation is not going to change that. People can rarely overcome the power of their environment.

We have learned that since we have money, privilege and a great police force, we can keep violence out. Our juvenile offender has learned that it’s better to attack people who don’t have access to money, privilege and a police force. And the world, finally, is not a safer place. Just safer for us.

I’m not advocating terror warnings or fear tactics. I’m asking you to keep in mind that the Stanford bubble will always follow people with wealth or privilege. It’s important to figure out what’s outside that bubble and do something about it. Otherwise, your bubble might get forcibly popped.

This week’s column was written by Bharat. Email him at bvenkat@stanford.edu.