
Political Correctness Devours yet Another College, Fighting Over Mini-Sombreros - salmonet
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/party-culture/2016/03/03/fdb46cc4-e185-11e5-9c36-e1902f6b6571_story.html
======
Bluestrike2
The thing that really drives me nuts about the PC movement is that it
infantilizes and stereotypes the very groups and cultures it purports to
protect, robbing them of their own voices and self-agency. It latches onto a
cardboard cutout of a stereotype for a culture and uses it to browbeat others
into acceptance of the activist's interpretation of that culture and what may
or may not be offensive to it.

Empathy is a good trait, and one that societies should encourage. But there's
a significant difference between having empathy for others and using it to
justify forcing your own interpretation of that empathy on others. In so many
ways, the movement is just another manifestation the so-called "white man's
burden." The sheer gall and hypocrisy is overwhelming.

~~~
mschuster91
> The thing that really drives me nuts about the PC movement is that it
> infantilizes and stereotypes the very groups and cultures it purports to
> protect, robbing them of their own voices and self-agency.

Thank you so much. The problem with SJWs is: when you point this out to them,
they'll usually shitstorm you beyond belief.

~~~
jrs235
Warriors look for a fight. Without a fight they can't be warriors. I wish
they'd change from warriors to workers. Most workers aren't vocal and looking
to offend others. They go about getting things done (changing the status quo)
through collaboration and progressivism, not by shouting and bullying others.
There's a reason SJWs see and feel that their causes aren't progressing. It's
because their means are abrasive and offending, causing those they wish to
influence to put up their defenses.

~~~
dogma1138
There are plenty of actual fights remaining to be won, those aren't what SJW's
look for as they quite fine with simply tilting at windmills as it doesn't
requires much (or well any) effort, doesn't involve putting their own skin
into the game and still allows them to boast and leave with a feeling of
accomplishment.

------
thedz
I usually like to give political correctness the benefit of the doubt in these
situations, because sometimes its hard to fully understand how or why
something might be offenseive.

But COME ON. The severity of reprisals and administrations actions on this one
is completely out of proportion. I'm not faulting anyone getting offended. But
I am questioning the administration's response to all of this. Especially
given:

"The school’s reaction seems especially arbitrary when you learn that — on the
very same night of the “tequila party,” just across campus — Bowdoin held its
annual, administration-sanctioned “Cold War” party. Students arrived dressed
in fur hats and coats to represent Soviet culture; one referred to herself as
“Stalin,” making light of a particularly painful era in Slavic history."

~~~
SerLava
>making light of a particularly painful era in Slavic history.

This seems like it was written to shoehorn it into a racist thing instead of
just a run-of-the-mill dismissive insult towards a group of people.

~~~
pmiller2
I dunno. I found the Stalin angle to be far more offensive than anything else.
Imagine if they did a similar thing where people dressed up like SS officers
and one was designated Hitler?

~~~
morgante
Nothing would happen. Jews are "privileged" and therefore not protected by the
safe space movement.

(If you don't believe this, pay attention to pro-Palestine protests on college
campuses.)

~~~
eru
Compare
[https://www.reddit.com/r/TumblrInAction/comments/2tm522/a_ch...](https://www.reddit.com/r/TumblrInAction/comments/2tm522/a_challenge_for_the_sjws/)

------
GuiA
In European colleges, it's common for students to have "USA" themed parties.

Coca-cola is served, hot dogs are made, basketball jersey are worn, red solo
cups are used, and fat costumes (an XXXXL tee shirt with a few pillows stuffed
underneath) are plenty. Oh yeah people bring fake guns too.

[http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/this-is-what-american-
parties...](http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/this-is-what-american-parties-look-
like-around-the-world#.km5YDrDVe)

I wonder if "PC student newspaper editor" and "overzealous administrator" will
become popular costumes soon.

~~~
pipo098
I want a "PC student newspaper editor" and "overzealous administrator" party.
So much irony

------
mschuster91
IMHO, the rise of SJWs of all kinds is caused by rising gender equality in the
US and Europe. Now that women and men are quite equal in our societies (though
e.g. the pay gap and a gap in leadership positions remains, although the
latter is most likely caused by the fact that there are not many people who
want 80+h work weeks to begin with), all those who dedicated their entire
personal life and their careers to advancing feminism need something to
continue to work in their area.

And if you can't find a real job, just look for another "minority" to
"support" at all costs.

Edit: or well, find a real minority with real problems - like PoC who are
being shot by police apparently for sports or Latinos who are in the line of
fire of Trump and friends. "But... wait... there's powerful opposition there
(cops, Trump fans), too dangerous, let's mob against people who party in
sombreros" I hear the SJWs scream...

~~~
spriggan3
> And if you can't find a real job, just look for another "minority" to
> "support" at all costs.

You're being downvoted but that's exactly why "modern" feminists call
themselves "intersectional". They need to spread the "patriarchy" narrative in
all social spheres. By "patriarchy" they off course means "white straight men"
exclusively. Like being white straight and male makes you automatically rich,
powerful, racist and a misogynist ...

~~~
jeremysmyth
_Like being white straight and male makes you automatically rich, powerful,
racist and a misogynist_

No, but being white, straight, and male means you don't have to navigate
barriers formed by even slightly racist, homophobic, or sexist people. And
there are _lots_ of slightly racist, homophobic, or sexist people to
navigate[1].

In motor racing, even a tiny advantage lets you win disproportionately more
races than your competition. If someone is going to get rich and powerful,
it's going to be the person with the most advantages and least disadvantages.
Not having to deal with discrimination is such an advantage, particularly when
you accept that racism, homophobia, and sexism are things that affect real
people.

[1]
[https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html](https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html)

~~~
jazzyk
There are _lots_ of people (of any color/gender) who won't hire me or give me
a promotion because they they find my face smug (for example). Just like skin
color, I cannot change my face.

You can be discriminated against on _any_ physical or behavioral attribute.

And, btw, being white, straight and male is not exactly a bed of roses...[1].

[1] [https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/reading-between-the-
hea...](https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/reading-between-the-
headlines/201305/white-middle-age-suicide-in-america-skyrockets)

------
nefitty
I'm curious to know what other HN readers think about this topic. I was born
and raised on the left side of the spectrum, and continue to be so. I can
empathize with my fellow millenial's struggle to push for a true egalitarian
and respectful culture in the name of liberalism. I'm torn though. I see some
of these actions moving the left to eventually begin embracing seemingly-
fascist policies and aesthetics. What could be more equal than having everyone
dress and act in a way prescribed by the same philosophical system?

There seems to be a crack in this generation's perception of what the West
promises. We, the left, strive for social liberalism, civil equality, freedom
of speech, protection of the individual by institutions, etc. but as many of
us see in the news every week, the reality is that our system continues
failing on all these fronts. This is basically a symptom of the historical
tug-o-war between the left and right, entrenched biases, and the unexpected
results of a complex civilization.

I was influenced greatly by anarchist philosophers, but managed to tear away
from their commitment to dissolving the state. I see the role of government as
necessary, especially in a free market system. I don't know what role social
norms should play in this. Should we try to live inoffensively? Should we
speak and move lightly, lest we offend some minority group? My line is the
blatant racism of people like Donald Trump, no need to mention his support
from the KKK. This article seems like we're wasting energy focusing on
perceived microaggressions, when there are truly violent people around the
corner targeting the same minority groups with truly malevolent intentions.

~~~
_nedR
As an outsider, It doeesn't look to me like a left vs right issue.

>We, the left, strive for social liberalism, civil equality, freedom of
speech,

This seems to hint at the problem. You (the left) conflate freedom and
equality, as though they are similar goals that can be achieved through
similar means. But often these goals conflict with each other; Trying to
achieve one often works against the other. Since we need decent amount of both
in a society, maybe we should strive for a balance between the two using a
common-sense approach?

------
polishninja
There's an update to this story.

Bowdoin update: On Facebook, school flaunted photos of alumni, students in
school-provided sombreros

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/rampage/wp/2016/03/04/bo...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/rampage/wp/2016/03/04/bowdoin-
update-on-facebook-school-flaunted-photos-of-alumni-students-in-school-
provided-sombreros/)

~~~
droithomme
An interesting difference between these is that last year's school
administration sponsored sombrero event was organized by american faculty
members and was considered fine by the same faculty; whereas the "offensive"
sombrero event was organized by an actual latin american student and was
considered by faculty members to be an offensive stereotyping event worthy of
sanctions.

------
aikah
So does it mean that people from a Chinese background celebrating St Patrick
and dressing in green would be culturally insensitive because that's not their
culture ? Or are white people practicing judo and wearing a kimono racist
toward Japanese people ? Or that a latino female cannot teach yoga because
it's cultural appropriation and disrespectful toward Indians ? So did that
college ban all these stuff already because PC ? where does it stop ?
everybody sticks to their culture and we enable global separation by race,
sex, gender, country of origin in College so nobody get outraged at something
somebody different than him might do ?

------
pmiller2
My question is: what the fuck is "social probation"? And how in the world does
throwing a party with silly hats get people kicked out of their dorms? This
would never have happened when I was in school[1].

[1] The people getting kicked out of dorms business, not the party (unless it
was really rowdy and there were injuries or property destruction or
something).

~~~
Thetawaves
You are delusional. University administration has always been filled with the
worst kinds of totalitarians.

~~~
morgante
The difference is that historically students opposed their totalitarianism.
Now they're egging administrators on, even protesting when they don't adopt
authoritarian enough positions.

------
danharaj
If there's an issue, it's that university administrations are fundamentally
authoritarian bureaucratic institutions.

But being outraged about political correctness is more emotionally satisfying
than wondering whether university power structures could be rethought in order
to be more democratic, i guess. free speech is not threatened by people with
opinions you disagree with; free speech is threatened by power. people buy
into authoritarianism so much that it's almost invisible. when a university
administration crushes somebody, why is it the fault of political correctness
and not the fault of the power structure? perhaps the students overreact, but
overreacting people are harmless unless they are attached to power.

considering students authoritarian is either absurd or irrelevant. students
aren't the ones abusing power.

~~~
gherkin0
> satisfying than wondering whether university power structures could be
> rethought in order to be more democratic

University power structures shouldn't be entirely democratic. The students
need to be clearly subordinate to their teachers.

I think what's happening here is that, through fear of student power or
laziness, the administration is using its power to appease the overreacting
students rather than control and moderate their overreaction.

~~~
danharaj
I don't think the ideal relationship between students and teachers is at all
subordination. In any case, the real subordination relationship is
"Investors/Trustees/Donors > Administrators > Teachers/Students".

------
force_reboot
Meanwhile, no punishment for the Black student who tweets "7000 retweets and
I'll smash this b __* 's computer", with a photo of a woman with a laptop with
a Trump sticker in a computer lab.

[http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/student-
threatens...](http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/student-threatens-
smash-woman-laptop-trump-sticker-article-1.2527304)

------
patrickburke
Imagine there's a vending machine, and a group of young people learn that if
you it hit in a certain way, a soda pops out... so they stand around hitting
that vending machine...popping out sodas...

'Offendedness' is that way you punch that machine.

------
AndrewKemendo
Is the goal that nobody feel bad or offended at what someone else does?

If that's the case then just close everything down.

------
justin_vanw
Meh, liberal arts college does stupid stuff, has stupid faculty. I wonder if
Mr. Ripley will add it to the next edition of his book.

------
rayiner
The deep and abiding irony of "cultural appropriation" is that nothing will
reinforce Anglo-American culture more than people being scared of borrowing
elements of other cultures. If you're worried that Anglo-American culture is
being diluted by outside influences, well these Bowdoin students are coming to
your rescue.

------
ilyaeck
The whole PC/"hurt feelings" trend is downright dangerous. It goes as much
against plain common sense as it does against pluralism and free speech. And
the fact that millennials seem to uphold it is particularly troubling.

------
thucydides
Many here are debating the school's arguments as if they had been advanced in
good faith.

Consider instead: perhaps the overwrought response is an exercise of power for
its own sake.

------
gherkin0
Someone needs to put some mature, level-headed adults in charge of these
schools. There needs to be someone to remind students when they're being
unreasonable and foolish, and then put a stop to it if needed.

------
chrismcb
I'm curious, who was actually offended? Did any Latin Americans complain? Or
was it some white folk thinking some one might be offended? Most of the
Mexicans I know would have been helping to hand out the Sombreros and having a
good time. As a person of Irish decent am I supposed to be offended in a
couple of weeks?

------
harryh
How long does it take to read this article and then express a hateful opinion
about Bowdoin College's administration?

About two minutes would you say?

------
umanwizard
Without passing judgment on whether both are right or wrong, how is this any
different from a "Chinese people"-themed party featuring slanty eye costumes?
I have a feeling HN commenters (and most Americans) would view that much less
charitably. I'm genuinely curious: why?

~~~
chrismcb
For one thing it wasn't a Mexican people party, it was a equals party.
Sombrero are very much identified with tequila. shoot half the tequila bottles
have somber orbs on them.

------
douche
This reminds me of an incident where a fraternity and a sorority at my alma
mater were crucified for holding a Cinco de Mayo party, named Phiesta, when
the organizations had the letter phi in their names.

Idiocy.

------
fweespeech
> The statement deemed the party an act of “cultural appropriation,” one that
> “creates an environment where students of color, particularly Latino, and
> especially Mexican, students feel unsafe.” The effort to purge the two
> representatives who attended the party, via impeachment, soon followed.

> The school’s reaction seems especially arbitrary when you learn that — on
> the very same night of the “tequila party,” just across campus — Bowdoin
> held its annual, administration-sanctioned “Cold War” party. Students
> arrived dressed in fur hats and coats to represent Soviet culture; one
> referred to herself as “Stalin,” making light of a particularly painful era
> in Slavic history.

The fuck kind of hypocritical bullshit is this?

~~~
dingo_bat
>creates an environment where students of color, particularly Latino, and
especially Mexican, students feel unsafe

There's a part of this that I really don't understand. What's with all the
misleading word-usage? Did people of Mexican origin feel unsafe? Their safety
was compromised? I don't think so. This is 1984 level of double-speak where
words have been redefined to fit the narrative. Feeling unsafe means there is
a credible threat of violence. Not feeling offended by people dressing up in
your ethnic dress.

~~~
whoopdedo
The worst part is these tolerance policies are written in such a way that it
does not actually require anyone to complain, only that there exists a
situation in which a hypothetical minority might complain.

Which is to say, the purpose of the rules is not to protect the people who
represent minority cultures, it is to protect the university (or employer, or
government) from a lawsuit.

Earlier today HN had an article accusing the Chinese government of enacting
"precrime" in the form of a terror threat analysis system. But all around me
in the United States I see forms of before-the-fact suspicion being used to
punish people. This is one of them: no one of Latino heritage felt harmed by
the party, but someone _might have_ and thus the students are being punished.
A man with a felony conviction on his record didn't do anything threatening,
but he was told he couldn't attend a parent-child activity at school. You can
buy alcohol if you're over 21-years old and show valid ID... unless a 19-year
old friend is with you in the checkout line because you _might_ give the beer
to an underage person.

All situations where people are being accused of committing a crime before it
happens. The government may not be literally throwing you in prison without a
trial, but they passively-aggressively encourage it by passing laws that
mandate zero-tolerance policies. And appointing judges who authorize civil
suits that punish people who don't perform this kind of criminal profiling,
such as a supermarket being liable for selling beer that is later served to a
teenager.

------
vasilipupkin
I am sorry, perhaps I am being obtuse. Why do you need to party with
sombreros? When you wear a sombrero, what is that supposed to mean? why is it
funny or amusing?

~~~
lazaroclapp
It means nothing. Hell, I am Mexican and if I wear a sombrero (which,
literally just means hat, any hat), it just means either its really sunny
outside and I don't have a cap for some reason, its an old-fashioned town
party or I just felt like wearing a hat. A sombrero is not a yamaka, it has no
religious or deeply symbolic meaning beyond that of a baseball cap or a pair
of overalls.

Nobody _needs_ to have a party with sombreros, but at the same time, there is
no reason to ban a party with sombreros, just because it is a party with
sombreros. Thing is, we don't ban everything that is not strictly necessary
for survival, we ban things only when there is a damn good reason to ban them.

I'll give this whole thing the benefit of the doubt, either way, because I
really don't know if the point of the party was just to wear sombreros or if
there truly was some sort of weird racist overtones to it. Like, if I throw a
party back in Mexico where we all dress in baseball caps and overalls, that's
probably fine. If I do the same, but additionally make it known to the guests
that part of the party theme is to act like stereotypical rural Americans from
the southern states (e.g. I go and call it a "hillbilly party"), then I am not
so sure I shouldn't be called out on that... (where "called out" is different
from "evicted").

If the party was being used as a platform for racism, then yeah, cancel the
whole thing, talk to students involved. If it wasn't, if it was just about
having fun and wearing a "funny" hat... well, I fail to see the issue, even if
it's my country's funny hat.

~~~
colanderman
Really, yours is the only comment that should be made on the article (and most
of the article itself shouldn't have been written either, since the author
didn't seem to care to find a Mexican to interview). The _only_ thing relevant
in any PC incident is what _actual_ people from the possibly-offended group
_actually_ think and feel. It behooves the rest of us to just shut the hell
up.

~~~
lazaroclapp
Well, I don't claim to speak for all Mexicans, though. Much less for Mexican-
Americans, who might have a stronger reaction to this sort of thing after
decades of considering themselves American but having Anglo-Americans be "oh,
so, aren't you one of those foreign peoples with the funny hats?". So just
interviewing me and having me be "oh, if it's just wearing sombreros it might
be fine" is hardly comprehensive.

But I think what matters, in addition to (and co-varying with) how the
affected minority feels, is the attitude of the people doing this. There is a
fine but still relatively objective line between a party that celebrates
Mexican culture, one that mocks it, and one that does neither. Also, even if
you think you are in the third or first case, if someone comes to you and
tells you that they feel you have done the second, how you react to that is
important.

~~~
colanderman
Right. But even talking to _one_ Mexican is better than saying "well, I talked
to a Dominican, a Costa Rican, and a Guatemalan, because they speak the same
language as people who wear sombreros". That's ridiculous.

