<p>[University</a> of Chicago fraternity apologizing for racial insensitivity - Chicago Sun-Times](<a href=“http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/12932080-418/university-of-chicago-fraternity-apologizing-for-racial-insensitivity.html]University”>http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/12932080-418/university-of-chicago-fraternity-apologizing-for-racial-insensitivity.html)</p>
<p>Wasn’t there a movie “A Day Without a Mexican”? </p>
<p>Annasdad- Wow. I hope nobody ever applies to UChicago again! The whole place is going down the tubes…</p>
<p>And who would have guessed that FRATERNITIES would engage in racially insensitive humor? I am shocked to my core by that. I thought they were so much classier than that, especially at the University of Chicago, home of the famous Delta Kappa Epsilon Heidegger/De Beauvoir Annual Rush Symposium on Ontology and Otherness. Gosh, I hope a few bad eggs don’t ruin things for the rest of the guys . . . .</p>
<p>Why are we surprised when 18-22 year olds do/say stuff that is insensitive to race, religion, gender, etc?</p>
<p>I can imagine that on every campus you can find students saying insensitive things. These kids are barely out of minorhood. They don’t have the discernment, the empathy, the sympathy or the sensitivity of older adults. Yes, they’re wrong, but why be shocked by it or think that it has anything to do with the institution at large.</p>
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<p>It seems the second party largely degraded only white European males. How could that possibly be insensitive when it is the history that has been taught in high school (and college) for decades. Maybe it was the reference to Aztec farm implements?</p>
<p>UChicago prides themselves FAR TOO MUCH in their racial diversity. One of the reasons I’m not even bothering applying there next year. </p>
<p>And I don’t intend this to come off as racist. I’m just a little angered at how frequently colleges say they want to represent “minorities” when schools like UC Berkley have more Asians than Caucasians. </p>
<p><a href=“http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2008/06/18/university-chicago-announces-record-diversity-college-class-2012[/url]”>http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2008/06/18/university-chicago-announces-record-diversity-college-class-2012</a></p>
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<p>Word. . .</p>
<p>Anybody else tickled by the name of the “Bias Response Force”? That’s such a ridiculous and juvenile name. I haven’t heard any intelligent person over the age of 19 use the word “bias” in a non-mocking fashion.</p>
<p>Also, as someone who thinks that frats should play a minimal role on college campuses, “Conquistadors and Aztec Hoes” is hilarious, precisely because it’s so over-the-top insensitive and obviously not meant to be taken seriously. It’s something so ridiculous that only seriously overly-sensitive people would ever take exception to it, so it’s been amusing to see all of these people with ruffled feathers, most of whom are over-the-top lofty pseudo-Marxists that have no business being at an institution like Chicago that values rigorous thought. It’s funny; the people who are complaining are the ACTUAL people who should be kicked off campus.</p>
<p>In all fairness, it should also be pointed out that one of the fraternities involved in this, Alpha Delta Phi, was also the same one that came out in protest against the appearance of the Westboro Baptist Church on campus a couple of years ago. </p>
<p>At the time, quite a few people applauded their anti-bigotry stance.</p>
<p>The fraternities at UChicago, by and large, tend to have a rather large minority membership and I am really surprised at these recent problems.</p>
<p>ILoveUofC:</p>
<p>There’s a reason that these kinds of things tend to happen in frats with large minority populations: because the minority members themselves find it funny because it’s so over-the-top ridiculous. It’s like laughing at a Dave Chapelle sketch on white people. Anybody taking it this seriously has major issues.</p>
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<p>I’m not going to support Westboro here, but protesting a group for their viewpoint isn’t anti-bigoted. Not inappropriate either, but just not anti-bigoted.</p>
<p>Yet another reason to ban fraternities from Chicago…didn’t we do that some time ago?</p>
<p>While I’m not a defender of fraternities, I can’t muster any outrage for this incident. I actually see it is just another indication of the more open mentality of young people today who have grown up eschewing the political correctness of the previous generation. The comic culture that young people participate in makes fun of racial, ethnic and gender stereotypes all the time with no malice, with kids often poking fun at their own group. This kind of humor is pervasive in the entertainment media. I see it as this generation actually getting past the negativity of cultural identification…it’s like saying “we are who we are, there are certain generalizations that you can make about our subculture which doesn’t mean that any group is less worthy than any other.” </p>
<p>Of course, context is everything, but from the scant information given here, there is no reason to assume these kids intended to insult anybody, or that there was some uproar among Mexican peers.</p>
<p>Perhaps it’s insensitive because most of the landscapers in Chicago are really from El Salvador.</p>
<p>I think it is insensitive, but I confess I’m having some trouble expressing exactly why it is. Is it a negative stereotype that landscapers tend to be Latin Americans (or perhaps Mexicans)? Is it more or less negative if it’s largely true? I think it’s the sombreros that push it over the line, though.</p>
<p>In thinking about this some more, I pose this thought experiment–What if the following occurred just before this incident:
Frat house president: Joe and Bill, it’s your turn to mow the lawn.
Joe and Bill: Geez, we’re hung over–can’t we hire Mexicans to do it?
Frat house president: You think Mexicans should do it? Fine, here are a couple of sombreros. Get to work.</p>
<p>More or less offensive?</p>
<p>I admire the lesser degree of racism, in general, in the current twenty-something generation. They are more likely to say “the guy in the red shirt” than “the black guy in the red shirt” because that’s all the identifier they need. Many have no discomfort with interracial dating. Friendships flourish across the old boundaries of faith/ethnicity. But those are personal, individual choices of what to do or say. Even what’s said in a comedy club is a matter of choice; if your humor isn’t edgy, you know not to patronize comedy clubs, which are private institutions. </p>
<p>The difference is: when a racially stereotyping incident occurs in public (mowing a front lawn, music at full volume seeking attention) there is clearly no concern or allowance for others’ sensitivities whatsoever. </p>
<p>If a Latino dad is walking down that street with his child, and this is going on, what is he supposed to do? And who ought to explain the ridicule to his child – the Dad, or will he take him up to the frat boys and say, “YOU tell him what this all means.” </p>
<p>Don’t say he can choose a different street to walk. It occurred on private property but with all the attention-seeking volume and visual flair of a public performance event. </p>
<p>I also wouldn’t want to walk down a street and find some fraternity doing a passion play wearing long-noses as Jewish men repeatedly picking up quarters off a lawn, and klezmer music blaring. Or smeared with blackface portraying African-Americans eating watermelons and fried chicken, playing a banjo and tap dancing. This event was on the same sewer level. </p>
<p>To mash together the good quality of lesser racism among this generation and this disgusting event is like putting out a dirty cigar in a gourmet meal, and telling me to enjoy it together.</p>
<p>When I lived in the Chicago area some 30 years ago, there was a huge Mexican population. I dated an illegal immigrant (since amnestied) who was a cook in the restaurant where I worked during college. It was typical of restaurants then to be filled with Mexican employees. So, while I have no idea what the origins of current landscapers tend to be, I can’t imagine my bf or any of the Mexicans I knew back then would have been offended by that silly sombrero stereotype as they were very self-deprecating (and proud at the same time) with regard to their culture. I think the PC tendency is a cultural trait acquired in the U.S.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but the party actually made me laugh out loud when I read about it, especially since it just seemed so much more creative the the average “Pimps and Hos” party or “Vicars and Tarts” party. Still, in addition to being culturally insensitive, at least some of the women on campus that it was promoting a culture of rape. </p>
<p>I would have been offended by the sombrero routine, though.</p>
<p>NOT commenting on this particular issue one way or the other, but I think that often a minority culture “gives away its power” by acting all offended over comparatively minor offenses. Sometimes ignoring offense as “@@, whatever, their opinions aren’t worth the time of day so why on earth would I be bothered by them” is a better strategy in life.</p>