Bandaids are white privilege
- Thread starter tarheel0910
- Start date
I will continue to never donate a dime to the uber liberal academic side of UNC. Only the Rams Club.
If ever there was a time for gary7's GMAFB to be appropriate, it's this.
If ever there was a time for gary7's GMAFB to be appropriate, it's this.
Yeah, because challenging people to think critically about their own lives and experiences compared to those of others is a travesty!
How dare they! Them lib'rul commies'll never get a dime of my money.
How dare they! Them lib'rul commies'll never get a dime of my money.
I've got no problem challenging people to think critically about their lives, but calling band aids white privilege is just flat out stupid.
Pretty certain those are the author's words and not from the workshop.
If you read the article and/or the page that it links to, it's quite clear that this workshop is all about awareness - asking people to think about activities they may think of as normal, that someone else may have experienced in a different way. And as much as the author tries to stretch it to seem like this may be required for all students, I see no indication that that is the case. Have to be looking pretty hard for something to get offended about to get your knickers in a twist on this one, IMO.
If you read the article and/or the page that it links to, it's quite clear that this workshop is all about awareness - asking people to think about activities they may think of as normal, that someone else may have experienced in a different way. And as much as the author tries to stretch it to seem like this may be required for all students, I see no indication that that is the case. Have to be looking pretty hard for something to get offended about to get your knickers in a twist on this one, IMO.
As a more recent graduate, I disagree. @Hark_The_Sound_2010 can speak to this too. Carolina has never been more liberal and more like the first half of this past season of South Park.
And I know it was more referenced by the writer and not in the actual linked article, but the concept of "white privilege" is dumb as all get out. It doesn't benefit anyone of any race. This is no different than my stance on the incredibly stupid thing they called for in addition to changing the name of Saunders Hall: a mandatory class for freshman (sorry, first-year.....) orientation that thoroughly educates about all the mean racists that are part of UNC's 227 year history. How does that help anyone? All it does is cause more division and more angst.
I hate today's society. Hate it.
Were you required to take this workshop? If not, and this is something that students can participate in by choice if they're interested, what's the problem exactly?
If so, did someone call you out for your white privilege or was it designed to give you fodder for thought and let you draw your own conclusions?
If so, did someone call you out for your white privilege or was it designed to give you fodder for thought and let you draw your own conclusions?
Nope it wasn't required for me. And this one particular thing isn't the problem; it's one of myriad very liberal goings-on at Carolina, both inside the classroom and outside of it.
That whole "study" and the assumptions made are a crock of garbage. Why are band-aids the color they are... and why do I see more white people when I open up magazines, TV, and newspapers in the US? Maybe because the majority of people in the US are white! If there's more white people in the country - you would expect them to show up on TV and other media more often just based on probability and statistics.
Also - they're pretty much dead wrong on their affiliations of certain acts/tasks with an economic status. I'm in the "middle class" that they reference. Yet I couldn't properly set a table if you gave me 100 chances, can't repair anything, and can only really read English. Conversely - I don't have a car and get around Boston just fine, have moved in half a day numerous times, and am such a cheap SOB that I love rummage/yard sales and things of that nature. They make so many incorrect/racist generalizations while trying to prove that others do exactly that.
Also - they're pretty much dead wrong on their affiliations of certain acts/tasks with an economic status. I'm in the "middle class" that they reference. Yet I couldn't properly set a table if you gave me 100 chances, can't repair anything, and can only really read English. Conversely - I don't have a car and get around Boston just fine, have moved in half a day numerous times, and am such a cheap SOB that I love rummage/yard sales and things of that nature. They make so many incorrect/racist generalizations while trying to prove that others do exactly that.
I'm not engaging in an argument about whether UNC is a liberal institution, or why, or whether that's a good or bad thing. That's a whole other discussion.
My input is limited to the seminar referenced in the OP, and that author's attempt to make it sound like some sinister indication of PC run amok, which I don't think it is.
I don't think it's AS PC/liberal as the author makes it out to be.....but it's still pretty PC/liberal.
I'd argue that the whole study is someone looking pretty hard for something to get offended about.
Well I can't speak to how liberal Carolina was in the past, but I can attest that it has definitely jumped the shark in terms of liberalism in the past 10 years. My aim for getting out of MA for college was because all the universities up here are disgustingly liberal. I figured I'd go somewhere that I could get at least a politically neutral experience - and figured NC would be perfect. Unfortunately I was wrong and ended up at a very liberal institution - I'm fortunate that there were several other things that made the experience very enjoyable and not a complete botch.
This made me laugh. Such a perfect example right there. Let's make sure we don't offend anyone by calling them that dirty nasty derogatory term "freshman". Let's call them first-years (please don't mind the fact that we switch back to the sophomore, junior, senior terminology after first-year - thus making the whole thing confusing).
Egg-fuc*ing-xactly. By the way, I find it hilarious that whenever you hear "civil rights" it's code for only black people. Civil rights leaders don't give a flying f*** about Latinos, Asians, and any other races. Just black folk.
I maintain that white privilege is a very racist notion and school of thought; it's just racist in the other way and it does zero good for anyone except for lowering white folks' feeling of self-worth.
My thoughts on white privilege are like this: I'm sorta in between "middle class" and "upper class" based on my family (although based on my own assets, I am firmly in the lower middle class lol), and I used to date a girl from rural Georgia who was fairly poor (which I don't give a crap about how rich or poor someone is). All the damn time, she used to try to guilt trip me about how "rich" I was relative to her, and how I had it so easy and I didn't know what she went through, and her life was so hard, and blah blah blah. Basically she was trying to make me feel guilty and ashamed of my upbringing, simply because I was born into a different situation than she was. And that's something I don't have to effing apologize for or feel guilty about. Sorry not sorry.
The concept of white privilege is exactly the same. Black people want whites to feel guilty and hang their head because they (the white people) perhaps were born into a well-off family, or at the very least, were born white which gives them a huge leg up in life, blah blah blah. It's not constructive dialog and it does nothing to improve race relations. You know how you get ahead in life? You f***ing work your ass off and don't ask others for free handouts. You don't focus on race or how other people supposedly have it easier than you do. Tough titties. That's life. I wish I was born into the Rockefeller family with a silver spoon in my mouth -- but I wasn't. Them's the breaks. Get off your ass and make something of yourself. Don't rely on others.
Okay, I'm off my soapbox now.
I think his intent was to point out the ridiculously stupid way they discussed the subject matter. My intent was to do the same.
I feel your pain on that one. I knew going into it that UNC was super liberal, but I was comfortable enough in my political views that I attended anyway because it's a good school. There are certainly conservatives on campus; their voices are just loudly drowned out by the DTH, campus organizations, and just the general liberal tilt of the campus. Did you ever attend College Republicans meetings? I wasn't active in the club, but did at least attend some speaking engagements they booked with people like Karl Rove and Jonah Goldberg.
I'm not easily impressionable like some people are, so the liberal slant on campus only strengthened my political views, rather than transforming me into something I don't believe in.
I got the FULL indoctrination of this feminism term revolution crap as a journalism major. I kid you not, one day in one of my courses (copy editing maybe?), they gave us a three-page reading with like 120 terms that were considered sexist. It was broken down into a T-chart, with the sexist word listed on the left and then the recommended "gender-neutral" replacement word on the right. I kid you not, here was some of the words they said were sexist:
Manhole cover
Mailman
Mankind
Man-made
And many others. "Mankind" and "man-made" are sexist? Are you f---ing high? JFC. I straight up laughed at my professor.
P.S. As a member of the class of '02 I consider myself a recent graduate as well, and I'm offended by your ageist insinuation that I'm old.
And get off my lawn.
I was 12 when you graduatedP.S. As a member of the class of '02 I consider myself a recent graduate as well, and I'm offended by your ageist insinuation that I'm old.
And get off my lawn.
Technically, "man-made" and "mankind" are sexist. It is gender-specific. But, most of us (I think) realize the context and aren't confused. In that context, saying "African American" is racist. It's making a racial distinction. But, it's certainly not racially PREJUDICED. I think the element of prejudice is where people need to focus their thought and perceptions. A lot of so-called "liberal thinking" proposes that if language is forced to be reevaluated and then changed, it will remove the thoughts and feelings and, thus, racially prejudiced results. I'm not convinced that is true. I'm not convinced it isn't true, either.
Prejudice, and recognition of it, and the perpetration of it, is something ALL people have a personal responsibility toward. If a society is proposing that only white people can be prejudiced... well, THAT is prejudiced! The longer people engage in identifying one another aesthetically, it will take that long, or longer, to finally stop. The way this seems to be going, it's not eliminating prejudice, it's just passing it around. Now, maybe that's necessary for a balance of oppression since we don't seem to be prepared to stop identifying each other with our eyes first. I don't agree with the outrage in the article, but I am glad it's being discussed, if only to sort it out as needed. SOme say "this is just a load of garbage." Well, if it truly is garbage, it will be thrown out eventually. Truth has a way of being the truth. Whether we acknowledge it right away, or 100 years later. It's there.
Prejudice, and recognition of it, and the perpetration of it, is something ALL people have a personal responsibility toward. If a society is proposing that only white people can be prejudiced... well, THAT is prejudiced! The longer people engage in identifying one another aesthetically, it will take that long, or longer, to finally stop. The way this seems to be going, it's not eliminating prejudice, it's just passing it around. Now, maybe that's necessary for a balance of oppression since we don't seem to be prepared to stop identifying each other with our eyes first. I don't agree with the outrage in the article, but I am glad it's being discussed, if only to sort it out as needed. SOme say "this is just a load of garbage." Well, if it truly is garbage, it will be thrown out eventually. Truth has a way of being the truth. Whether we acknowledge it right away, or 100 years later. It's there.
P.S. As a member of the class of '02 I consider myself a recent graduate as well, and I'm offended by your ageist insinuation that I'm old.
And get off my lawn.
I was class of '02 as well. Only it was my middle school class - not college
Don't worry. You have 10 years to get as awesome as I am. Of course by then I'll be 10 years more phenomenal, and so on.I was 12 when you graduated
You guys had that wack 2400-point SAT, didn't you? How do you expect anyone to take you seriously?I was class of '02 as well. Only it was my middle school class - not college
I also would like to know why someone can be referred to as "African American" if they're black - no matter how far back the ancestry to Africa goes. If there's someone out there who's relatives came from Africa to the USA in the 1600's, and have been here ever since - we still refer to them as African Americans, even though they're like 10th generation.
Actually even more comical than that - is the people who try to be so PC by referring to black people as African Americans - that they call all black people that. So if they met a dark skinned guy in London (who had never even been to the USA) they'd refer to that person as "African American" lol.
My great grandparents were born in Ireland/Italy/Poland. If I claimed to be an Italian American - people would ask me where in Italy I was born, or at least, where in Italy my parents were born. When I told them, that my parents and I were born in the USA, they'd tell me to stop referring to myself as an Italian American.
Actually even more comical than that - is the people who try to be so PC by referring to black people as African Americans - that they call all black people that. So if they met a dark skinned guy in London (who had never even been to the USA) they'd refer to that person as "African American" lol.
My great grandparents were born in Ireland/Italy/Poland. If I claimed to be an Italian American - people would ask me where in Italy I was born, or at least, where in Italy my parents were born. When I told them, that my parents and I were born in the USA, they'd tell me to stop referring to myself as an Italian American.
Well we're all thankful you're not Italian-American, or especially Polish-American.... I kid I kid
I agree with you that the use of African-American is ridiculous and hilarious. It's also simply inaccurate. This is why in fields of academic study, like in history for example, the proper term is "blacks." Now I know that term sounds super racist to the PC crowd, but that's literally what they are, just like Caucasian people are whites. Also, speaking of African-Americans, funny story -- there was a white guy at my high school from South Africa, and he'd always check African-American on his standardized test. It caused more than one teacher heartburn, but it was much more accurate than any of the American-born black kids in class checking the same box. It's a silly, silly world we live in. Thank God for alcohol.
They will always be Rats to me.
All colleges are liberal now. Professors and others in academia know who butters their bread.
