<p>
Joe, I think your point is well-taken, but possibly overstated as to the intent of those attending the party. I doubt the party-goers set out specifically to protest political correctness. I would guess (and it is a guess) that they just wanted to have fun and an underlying frustration with political correctness came out.</p>
<p>I don’t get it. Why is it called “South of the border” if it mocks at things that people do in the north?</p>
<p>I hope future employers get a hold of the tape. “Free speech” and “free hiring practices” go hand in hand.</p>
<p>My son is taking a team-taught class in media and culture at his suburban but somewhat diverse high school (it’s a senior seminar/elective). He is a kid who loves to argue all sides of an issue and specializes in playing devil’s advocate. Definitely has a future as a litigator…</p>
<p>He has been following all of the media attention being given to the “theme parties” that have been held on college campuses –</p>
<p>For a recent project, he brought in sets of posters he created from pictures that had been posted to sites on Facebook ( he made sure no one from his high school was in the pictures to avoid disciplinary problems ). One poster showed African American students at parties; the other poster showed white students at a “ghetto-fabulous” theme party.-- a lot of bling, oversized clothing, bottles of Miller High Life on both posters. He tried to find pictures that were as similar as possible.</p>
<p>Another set of posters showed African American students/ white students in professional business dress at various professional and honor society functions.</p>
<p>He thought that his project would serve as an interesting beginning to a dialogue or discussion on the topic currently in the news. </p>
<p>One teacher loved his project; the other called him in for a “talk” and did not want to give him any credit for his project.</p>
<p>(by the way–he personally thinks that the theme parties that have been in the news are stupid, wrong, beyond bad taste, he wouldn’t go to one–his only intent was to create a platform for a free-wheeling discussion)</p>
<p>I just got back from Vegas where the NBA All Star game was also in town. No ghetto-fab party can compare to the real things I saw walking The Strip this weekend. </p>
<p><a href=“Las Vegas News | Breaking News & Headlines | Las Vegas Review-Journal”>Las Vegas News | Breaking News & Headlines | Las Vegas Review-Journal;
<p>Expanding on Mini’s point, I will never understand people who exercise their freedom of speech and then whine about the consequences. Freedom of speech doesn’t mean saying whatever you want and then DEMANDING people agree with you. It’s a two way street. On one end of the spectrum, the Dixie Chicks discovered this…and now, hopefully on the other end, moronic college students with obviously defective parenting will also discover it.</p>
<p>If saw one of these students in that gettup and knew that he was applying for job with me, I’m sure I could find plenty of “more qualified” applicants.</p>
<p>On one end of the spectrum, the Dixie Chicks discovered this…and now, hopefully on the other end</p>
<p>Natalie’s never seemed to care about the backlash, except where it moved beyond freedom of speech to physical threats. Not exactly what you mean by “discovered”.</p>
<p>^hard to know if the DCs cared or not. I think they did. It can’t be fun having your peers turn their backs on you or fans threaten your means of making a living. But I think they are none the worse for the wear at the end of it all. Personally, I don’t fault them for what they said, but when and where. But given that I would have never bought a DC album before or after the ‘outburst’, my opinion doesn’t make a difference. To those who did object and made their opinions known with their pocketbooks…well, according to joev, it IS a free country (paraphrasing). ;)</p>
<p>I think there was some pressure from their label to appear sorry for it, but that’s about it. There was an interview with Natalie I caught online a few weeks ago, where she essentially said that she didn’t care, and she’d say it again.</p>
<p>Lubbock musicians can be an ornery bunch. ;)</p>
<p>What about “goth” themes or 'hair band" themes or Seattle Grunge theme parties–are they OK? Mexican comedians get lots of mileage out of these stereotypes as did Jewish comedians back in the day and probably Irish ones before that. Hip Hop fashion is so over the top it is ripe for satire including at parties.</p>
<p>ghost - I’d say the same thing in the face of rejection. I thought their Grammy comments about the difficulty of ‘being without a genre’ betrayed a little of their true emotion.</p>
<p>Barrons, I think it’s a question of context. If a bunch of Mexican-American kids decided to dress up as gardeners etc I don’t think anyone would think it was amiss. But for a bunch of white kids at a Catholic college to do so is in bad taste, imo.</p>
<p>sjmom–I’m surprised at you! One does not have to be Catholic to attend a Catholic college (i.e. cgm’s d’s); nor is one required to be a saint, or even an angel, to gain admission or matriculate! I don’t remember that the Presbyterian affiliation at Macalester was highlighted on that thread.</p>
<p>Do you like John Waters films? What is bad taste?</p>
<p>HH, I didn’t say that all the kids were Catholic – I said “white kids at a Catholic college.” However, I believe that all Catholic institutions place great value on issues of social justice.</p>
<p>Barrons, I’m embarrassed to admit that I don’t think I’ve seen any John Waters films. But I don’t see the relevance here. These kids weren’t making a counter-culture film (a la “Borat”), were they?</p>
<p>Nah! They simply thought it would be fun to get drunk and belittle the images they held in their heads of Hispanics.</p>
<p>I think it would be fun not to hire them, or accept them to law school.</p>
<p>I attended a Catholic college. I really think people in general have a very unrealistic view of Catholic colleges; when it comes to the shenanigans of the kids they are like any other college.</p>
<p>I would like to see people address the question of whether being force-fed pc since first grade has anything to do with this development. This is not to excuse it or the kids, but only to try to get to the root of the problem.</p>
<p>I think it is just the opposite. As the gulf between races and ethnicities as widened, as neighborhoods and schools are now more segregated than they have been in at any time in the past 25 years, as the possibility of really knowing someone outside one’s race/class group has in fact grown dimmer, folks feel it is “fun” to have fun by making use of racial/ethnic stereotypes. People just don’t know each other. </p>
<p>I think a little bit of pc would be an awfully good thing. And I really do mean that - I don’t particularly care what folks think in the innermost recesses of their hearts - I DO care about how they act.</p>
<p>HH, I meant to add that I’m sure the faculty and administration is equally appalled. I love my faith, and I respect and admire Catholic educational institutions. But when something is wrong, I just have to say so. I think this could happen at any number of colleges and I’m just sad that it happened at a Catholic one.</p>
<p>I think it’s more a result of kids not knowing people from other backgrounds. There is another thread that talks about class differences at different schools – maybe if some of these kids roomed with a kid who had professional Hispanic parents, they wouldn’t think this was so funny. I grew up in So Cal and attended Catholic schools – half the kids I knew were Mexican-American, as was the boy who took me to my first dance. I’m pretty sure his parents had professional jobs.</p>
<p>I can’t believe that Mini and I agree on yet another issue. As my kids were growing up I frequently told them that how they feel is THEIR business, but how they behave is MINE.</p>
<p>I know it’s cold in MA right now but does this have any predictive value for that other hot place? :eek:</p>