UncleSunny
Well-Known Member
I found this quote, and I wanted to share
The University of Delaware subjects students in its residence halls to a shocking program of ideological reeducation that is referred to in the universitys own materials as a treatment for students incorrect attitudes and beliefs. The Orwellian program requires the approximately 7,000 students in Delawares residence halls to adopt highly specific university-approved views on issues ranging from politics to race, sexuality, sociology, moral philosophy, and environmentalism.
I found this on a really great site, FIRE - Foundation for Individual Rights in Education . What these guys do is defend the First Amendment rights of college students. If you are looking for some righteous indignation, check these guys out.
But their work is not what I want to discuss. I want get to the issue of University approved views. I went to college and I have a Liberal Arts degree from a respected school. I studied Writing and History, and the issue of Diversity Education was a daily topic. In the stacks of required books one must read to get a Writing degree at my Alma Mater, very few of them were written by white male authors. A theme of oppression and struggle ran through the entire reading list. My History classes were much the same. I dont protest having a curriculum involving minority history or minority literature, but when those perspectives become the overwhelming majority of material, I think the problem someone was trying to fix became a whole new problem.
I believe that it is vital for Cultures to respect one another, and to acknowledge that the ruling culture of our society, for centuries, has oppressed people of different shades or sex. They still do and it is an uphill fight to erase such an ingrained idea.
But it must also be acknowledged that the method in which people became programmed to accept racism is the same method often used to program us to reject racism, or homophobia, or sexism, etc. Something about that doesnt sit well with me.
As a white man, I am going to be more swayed to reject racism by watching a Klan rally than I would be swayed by listening to a Cultural Auditor give a lecture on why I should be ashamed of being White. Im not ashamed of the race I come from, nor do I feel a shred of White Guilt. The reason a Klan rally would repulse me is because I can see both sides of the argument and see that their reasoning is just not logical.
Fighting against an accepted ideal is just fucking stupid. However, attempting to take an opposing viewpoint and extolling its virtues over the other is the very backbone of educated opinion. Dont tell me that Im wrong; explain to me why you are right.
I think that if we look at the core reason for racism, it comes down to a primitive fear of the unknown. 30,000 years ago, if you were living in a tribe of similar people and an obvious outsider showed up, youd be right to be skeptical of him. More than likely, he was there to steal your shit and take over your territory, killing you and all you love in the process. I mean, if you were African during the Slave Trade days, youd be very prudent to fear white skin. Does that make them racist? Of course not.
With the Information Age, the face of Culture is changing. It isnt about family or skin color; its about music and political agendas. A person who is intimidated by Snoop Dogg might not feel the same way about Colin Powell or Bill Cosby. Its culture, not color, which is the cause of all this mistrust. However, in the fight for diversity and harmony, the solution has been to silence those opposing voices rather than explain why they are bad. Universities and workplaces basically force people into submitting into a particular way of thinking. Whether that thinking is right or wrong, its still counterproductive to a society to limit free thinking, especially in a University.
Really what it comes down to is that Diversity Education tells people who are African-American, Female, Homosexual, etc, that you are not strong enough to handle the real world. We are going to coddle you because we believe you are too weak to deal with being offended.
I remember being in a class about the propaganda campaigns of Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini. It was run by a Womens Studies professor who was a very vocal protester in the womens rights movement.
One day, a young girl asked the teacher, I dont understand why Hitler was so aggressive if he only had one testicle.
The teacher thought about it, and laughed, wondering why herself. I was offended, but I was a white male, and when I protested it, I was shot down, being told to just drop it.
Whatever. I think the concept of Diversity is just the new Affirmative Action of the mind. We need to accept that others have ideas which we dont agree with. The real responsibility is on the individual, not societyto find the strength to actually listen to many differing opinions and form our own, rather than adopt University Approved beliefs.
The University of Delaware subjects students in its residence halls to a shocking program of ideological reeducation that is referred to in the universitys own materials as a treatment for students incorrect attitudes and beliefs. The Orwellian program requires the approximately 7,000 students in Delawares residence halls to adopt highly specific university-approved views on issues ranging from politics to race, sexuality, sociology, moral philosophy, and environmentalism.
I found this on a really great site, FIRE - Foundation for Individual Rights in Education . What these guys do is defend the First Amendment rights of college students. If you are looking for some righteous indignation, check these guys out.
But their work is not what I want to discuss. I want get to the issue of University approved views. I went to college and I have a Liberal Arts degree from a respected school. I studied Writing and History, and the issue of Diversity Education was a daily topic. In the stacks of required books one must read to get a Writing degree at my Alma Mater, very few of them were written by white male authors. A theme of oppression and struggle ran through the entire reading list. My History classes were much the same. I dont protest having a curriculum involving minority history or minority literature, but when those perspectives become the overwhelming majority of material, I think the problem someone was trying to fix became a whole new problem.
I believe that it is vital for Cultures to respect one another, and to acknowledge that the ruling culture of our society, for centuries, has oppressed people of different shades or sex. They still do and it is an uphill fight to erase such an ingrained idea.
But it must also be acknowledged that the method in which people became programmed to accept racism is the same method often used to program us to reject racism, or homophobia, or sexism, etc. Something about that doesnt sit well with me.
As a white man, I am going to be more swayed to reject racism by watching a Klan rally than I would be swayed by listening to a Cultural Auditor give a lecture on why I should be ashamed of being White. Im not ashamed of the race I come from, nor do I feel a shred of White Guilt. The reason a Klan rally would repulse me is because I can see both sides of the argument and see that their reasoning is just not logical.
Fighting against an accepted ideal is just fucking stupid. However, attempting to take an opposing viewpoint and extolling its virtues over the other is the very backbone of educated opinion. Dont tell me that Im wrong; explain to me why you are right.
I think that if we look at the core reason for racism, it comes down to a primitive fear of the unknown. 30,000 years ago, if you were living in a tribe of similar people and an obvious outsider showed up, youd be right to be skeptical of him. More than likely, he was there to steal your shit and take over your territory, killing you and all you love in the process. I mean, if you were African during the Slave Trade days, youd be very prudent to fear white skin. Does that make them racist? Of course not.
With the Information Age, the face of Culture is changing. It isnt about family or skin color; its about music and political agendas. A person who is intimidated by Snoop Dogg might not feel the same way about Colin Powell or Bill Cosby. Its culture, not color, which is the cause of all this mistrust. However, in the fight for diversity and harmony, the solution has been to silence those opposing voices rather than explain why they are bad. Universities and workplaces basically force people into submitting into a particular way of thinking. Whether that thinking is right or wrong, its still counterproductive to a society to limit free thinking, especially in a University.
Really what it comes down to is that Diversity Education tells people who are African-American, Female, Homosexual, etc, that you are not strong enough to handle the real world. We are going to coddle you because we believe you are too weak to deal with being offended.
I remember being in a class about the propaganda campaigns of Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini. It was run by a Womens Studies professor who was a very vocal protester in the womens rights movement.
One day, a young girl asked the teacher, I dont understand why Hitler was so aggressive if he only had one testicle.
The teacher thought about it, and laughed, wondering why herself. I was offended, but I was a white male, and when I protested it, I was shot down, being told to just drop it.
Whatever. I think the concept of Diversity is just the new Affirmative Action of the mind. We need to accept that others have ideas which we dont agree with. The real responsibility is on the individual, not societyto find the strength to actually listen to many differing opinions and form our own, rather than adopt University Approved beliefs.
