(State College, Pennsylvania) Members of the Chi Omega sorority at Penn State University threw a Mexican-themed party last Halloween and posted a photo on the Internet which has been called racist. To wit:
The racist sorority photo, which was apparently taken on Halloween, features several girls dressed up in sombreros and ponchos for a Mexican-themed party.Arguably, one could say the sorority simply displayed immaturity in an era when everybody seems to be offended by something. And they're college kids, duh! A demographic group that is universally known to do crazy and stupid stunts.
The costumes would probably be enough to get the girls in trouble on their own but a few sorority members are also holding up drug related signs. One reads ”Will mow lawn for weed + beer” and the other says “I don’t cut grass I smoke it.”
In any event, I dispute the contention that the sorority exhibited racism by having a Mexican-themed party. 'Mexican' is not a race anymore than 'American' is.
2 comments:
Everything is racist to a racist.
If the post had just said, political correctness gone too far....and left it at that, I'd have agreed wholeheartedly. But reading the defense of why it's political correctness gone to far tells me conservatives still have a lot to learn about what is and what isn't racism.
"The costumes would probably be enough to get the girls in trouble on their own..."
Give me a break....The racism claim wasn't based on having a Mexican theme party, nor the kids wearing pancho's and sombreros. The costuming is clearly a part of Hispanic culture and heritage in both North and South America, and by itself is not derogatory in nature. (Just as having a toga party would not be derogatory towards Romans or Greeks.) It was the offensive stereotyping signs the two girls held that sent them over the edge. It was the minimization of mexicans as nothing more than gardeners and dope smokers that most people....except conservatives apparently....recognized as being offensive.
Then there is the argument posed stating that "Mexican" is not a race and therefore there was nothing racist about what the girls did. Which is both laughable and pitiable in it's ignorance, if that's truly what the poster believes. I suppose a petty technical argument could be made regarding the specific definition of racism. But a rose by any other name still smells the same. And the signage held by the girls displays a demeaning view towards a culture, a nations population, whatever...and as I said, still smells the same. And anyone trying to sell this "Mexican isn't a race" argument is being disingenuous, to say the least.
I do agree, however, that for the most part, this was all much ado about nothing, and it's a shame that the kids were demonized and not given a break. The media attention that was given this is PC run amok, no doubt. But at the same time, the spin conservatives want to give the story (trying to sell the argument that the issue being made by those raising a stink is more about the costuming and having the audacity to have a Mexican themed party, rather than the stereotyping as gardeners and dope smokers) is equally inane and disdainful.
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