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Nov 25, 2009 at 12:47 pm
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800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
That woman in the picture needs a few sharp blows to the head.
How about we just not give a shit?
I hope they show the classic "What Makes the Redman Red?" number from Disney's Peter Pan. Maybe this group can host a party on the day after MLK Day. The day could be filled with forced labor, singing spirituals, frying chicken and eating watermelon. Then they can show Disney's "Song of the South."
Stupid college students.
Not as progressive as we like to believe we are, eh, Washington?
Besides, maybe she's one of the millions of white people that claim they are 1/16th Cherokee or something.
I wasn't bashing Howard Zinn, or oenophiles/winos, I'm a big fan of both. Just acknowledging that having a solemn discussion of the atrocities of US history isn't exactly conducive to having a fun holiday party. Sometimes college students just need an excuse to dress up in skimpy outfits, drink beer, and dance, and flirt and have fun and chill out. I don't see whats wrong with that. Having to deal with the shitty weather, airport/travel delays, and everyones' respective families is bad enough.
I don't go in for knee-jerk reactions and excessive political correctness but there is such a thing as good judgment and good taste and the idea for and execution of the invitation to this party lacks both.
I agree that it's lame and bad judgement, but I don't believe these people are seriously supporting genocide of native americans, nor do I believe that they deserve "a few sharp blows to the head" or to be expelled or punished in school. At least they'll get a dirty looks and maybe some ridicule, so they might actually think about what they are doing next time. Especially considering the theme they attempting to portray is "celebrate the holiday with a little sensitivity", it just shows that they don't know what they are talking about. There are so many examples of this throughout american culture, every single western cowboy movie, elementary school kids doing plays about the pilgrims and indians. I also think that overtime we become more and more desensitized to these things, not saying it's right, but it's just the way it is. Since WWII and MLK were fairly recent events, and the memories are alive today in the people that lived it of course it would be in even worse taste.
To sum up my feelings, yes it is tacky and in horrible taste, and they deserve some ridicule, which they are getting since their photos are on the internet, and we are making fun of them. They are also young college students making stupid mistakes. Big fucking deal. I wish the Stranger would ask Sherman Alexie to chime in on this.
Then again, a response like this is an occupational hazard of sending any message out on an academic listserve: there's always some miserable tight-ass out there who's looking to make their mark by being emotionally wounded, since they're too untalented to do it any other way.
Hard to argue with your logic. It doesn't exist.
And as most folks at UW and here are unaware of the continued strife of indians, their ignorance is good cover for their stupidity.
I'm more offended by Columbus Day and Walker, Texas Ranger (whenever they talk about the history of the Texas Rangers, they neglect to mention they were killing and raping indians up until the middle of this century, and perhaps even further -- oh, and because Walker sucks).
The email sent yesterday and the subsequent events that transpired were in no way a "headache" for the Dean. Dean Archibald acted quickly to organize a forum for students to discuss the email, how we responded, and where to go from here. To the Evans School’s credit, a number of faculty also attended.
Those of us who attended the Dean’s forum today were reminded that talking about race isn’t easy. We left with much work to do. But as someone who just yesterday evening personally called on the Dean to respond swiftly and with leadership, I’m very satisfied with her response. I'm also proud to be a graduate student in the Evans School.
And, ironically enough, the girl in the picture IS 1/16th Native American, though I don't recall the tribe. It's not Cherokee.
A closer paraphrase would be, "People who intentionally refuse to recognize irony in an effort to exploit social taboos are dicks."
The first letter even acknowledges the intention of the people who wrote the email -- it basically says that, because the emailer executed his or her ironic delivery poorly, the email has somehow crossed the line into racism. Which is just bullshit. A failure to convey irony or a failure to sell the irony when one says "nigger" doesn't make you a racist; thinking Black people are genetically or culturally inferior makes you a racist. And pretending not to know the difference makes you a dick.
Who made you spokesperson for all indians? And, uh, way to backfill @20 by implying that none of them will disagree unless they dicks.
You have convinced me sir. It is as though you were made out of impenetrable rubber, and your opponent fashioned from the most stubbornly adherent glue.
What the fuck is it with the reading comprehension problem on Slog lately?
No, I didn't take a poll. But I do make jokes about Custer and breaking treaties and alcoholism, and my Indian friends make pretty much the same kinds of jokes and don't mind when I do it. The Indians I've met who like to get wound up about this shit are pretty much the same personality type as vegans who never shut the fuck up about the suffering went into my sandwich -- they're a personality type that just enjoys having something to be a dick about.
Jesus fucking christ -- they had a convention. Didn't you hear? They voted. It was on all the news channels? What do you, live in a fucking cave somewhere or something?
thanks!
Yes, because permission is the vital element -- I need permission to make obnoxious jokes and permission to celebrate thanksgiving.
Look, either you can tell the difference between actual racism and what might be called, at worst, racial insensitivity -- or you can't. You obviously can't. Or you choose to pretend the difference doesn't exist. Personally, I find that angle of analysis to be dickish.
And no, you don't need permission since we celebrate thanksgiving, too.
Have a lovely Genocide and Turkey Day.
Just wow.
Somebody really put their blood-encrusted jackboot in their mouth when they thought up that one.
wow.
http://www.derailingfordummies.com/#back…
and
http://www.derailingfordummies.com/#over…
Judah is kind of an ignorant asswipe, no?
After all, his friends told him so.
@37- Part of getting through life is learning to communicate clearly. If your attempts at irony entirely miss the mark and you get called on it and you just keep going, you're either socially retarded or you really weren't being ironic.
(Also, people who try to be ironic meta-racism funny fail more often than not. Usually because they're not funny or interesting people to begin with, and trying to use that sort of humor as a crutch.)
That said, I view this as not so much a sign that more "sensitivity training" is needed, but a clear reminder that there are some people who are so tactless, privileged, and just plain dumb, that they'll embarrass themselves like this even at the "esteemed" Evans school.
I would like to point out that there weren't "dozens of e-mails" in response. A few e-mails were sent out, then the discussion was taken to a private Evans School online forum, followed by the forum today.
I'm not really sure why this deserved a Slog post. A student made a bad choice sending this out, but the response by the school was very appropriate.
Slow news day, The Stranger?
There's a great page on the ADL's website, that basically says that anyone who questions anything about the Holocaust -- ever -- is an anti-Semite. One way to win an argument is to just declare preemptively that anyone who argues with you is A) wrong and B) a racist/sexist/whateverist. You may notice -- but probably not -- that all I expressed was a subjective judgment: I think the people who flipped out about this party invitation (people I disagree with) are dicks. I find that kind of public furor, when even some of the people creating it admit that the whole thing was clearly meant as a joke, to be stupid and self-aggrandizing.
And, as to your charming Derailing for Dummies links, talk about backfilling (since you don't seem to be able to shut up about it); that site you linked to basically says, "1) First-hand experience with people from a given culture should be disregarded if it contradicts political correctness and 2) Failure to validate hysteria based on historical events, no matter how hyperbolic, is always wrong."
And, at the end of the day, you're just debating about how I'm debating. But you have yet to debate my actual point -- which is that there is a distinction between actual racism and just being obnoxious -- with anything other than name-calling and snotty remarks.
What the fuck is going on with the comments section of this blog lately. Did some Evergreen State College seminar course just decide to camp out here and re-run every tired fucking cliche from the age of spelling women with a "y"?
I believe that the basic problem here was not going far enough with the theme. Were it called, for example, the Native Brain Cell Genocide Blanket Party and celebrated the rape of the entire North American Continent by Humans, I think that they could have risen above.
journalisically (if that's what you call it), it isn't that far of a stretch.
Yeah, speaking as someone Chinese, I'd hate to be cited by someone as their "Asian friend." It's not even the racist humour, whatever, but the fact that that's what they're using me in their battle. Please don't race-drop me.
Some said it was done with "good intentions"?! If that's so, their delivery stinks. Nothing about this party was sensitive toward indigenous people of this continent and it certainly wasn't funny.