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> The statement deemed the party an act of “cultural appropriation,” one that “creates an environment where students of color, particularly Latino, and especial

> 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?

free_speech 11y ago
Well, why don't you first try a party where everybody shows up like an inbred redneck with some missing teeth and no Tshirt? Or a bunch of Polo wearing blond guys walking like they have ants up their ass? Try that and then come back to report.
- free_speech 11y ago
  Oh so you are offended now?
  - kordless 11y ago
    Actually, you are making an illogical argument with your hypothetical party. You have no idea what a redneck would feel at a party full of people dressed like rednecks. They might like it. They might not. The point is, you are actually asking these leading questions in a way that can't be answered and are doing it for the intent of inflating the argument further. Worse, you are doing it in a way that discriminates against several other groups of humans in the process. Now, as a Polo wearing redneck, I could get mad about it, or I could just say "dude that's silly". I chose the latter.
  - strictnein 11y ago
    No. People are downvoting you because no one would care about either of those things.
    - danharaj 11y ago
      Speak for yourself. Stereotypes of working class people are awful.
- AndrewKemendo 11y ago
  That's a real thing that real people do. There's even a website devoted to "redneck" themed party attire: http://www.billybobproducts.com/ http://www.billybobproducts.com/
- fweespeech 11y ago
  > Well, why don't you first try a party where everybody shows up like an inbred redneck with some missing teeth and no Tshirt? Or a bunch of Polo wearing blond guys walking like they have ants up their ass? Try that and then come back to report. 1) I've done the first one. 2) Ants up their ass sounds unpleasent, so no ty. 3) The administration sanctions Russian stereotypes by not Mexican ones. That is the hypocrisy I'm pointing out. You can't just say "It is okay to do this about racial group X yet not okay for Y".
  - cgriswald 11y ago
    Those who would argue with you would simply describe racial group X as privileged and racial group Y as oppressed and in need of protection, thereby "justifying" the hypocrisy.
    - fweespeech 11y ago
      Russians and communists are protected groups? o.O
      - cgriswald 11y ago
        I'm not sure how you got that from my post. I'm saying people who pick and choose which stereotypes feel okay do so by justifying their actions with 'privilege' versus 'protected'. In this context, the Russian group would be considered 'privileged' and the Mexican group 'protected'.
        fweespeech 11y ago
        Yeah just I can't wrap my mind around the idea that being Russian == priviledged.
- douche 11y ago
  That party is down the road a piece in Brunswick, where the locals are hanging out in a gravel pit, unironically drinking PBR, lighting shit on fire, and shooting at beer bottles, in the time-honored Mainer tradition.
dingo_bat 11y ago
>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 11y ago
  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.
- fweespeech 11y ago
  > 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. Well, I'm not sure a credible threat of violence is really the requirement. Actively stalking someone to take pictures, for instance, doesn't necessarily equal violence but its still a form of applied force in many respects. However, I think the Russian party is equal and equivalent given there is a Communist party in the US + Russians + the animosity towards Russians (despite the fact they are white) in general in the US. Yet, who the fuck says that is okay yet goes after some kids with a sombrero theme?
mobystrip 11y ago
Why is it assumed all people from Mexico are "people of color"? Mexico has amazing diversity much like the USA. One could not call "USA a people of color" without downplaying all those who are not. Additionally, there is no "hispanic race" which everyone wants to use. It is very difficult being latino and having fair skin. Spanish is a European Language. Let's not forget that.

free_speech 11y ago

Well, why don't you first try a party where everybody shows up like an inbred redneck with some missing teeth and no Tshirt? Or a bunch of Polo wearing blond guys walking like they have ants up their ass? Try that and then come back to report.

free_speech 11y ago
Oh so you are offended now?
- kordless 11y ago
  Actually, you are making an illogical argument with your hypothetical party. You have no idea what a redneck would feel at a party full of people dressed like rednecks. They might like it. They might not. The point is, you are actually asking these leading questions in a way that can't be answered and are doing it for the intent of inflating the argument further. Worse, you are doing it in a way that discriminates against several other groups of humans in the process. Now, as a Polo wearing redneck, I could get mad about it, or I could just say "dude that's silly". I chose the latter.
- strictnein 11y ago
  No. People are downvoting you because no one would care about either of those things.
  - danharaj 11y ago
    Speak for yourself. Stereotypes of working class people are awful.
AndrewKemendo 11y ago
That's a real thing that real people do. There's even a website devoted to "redneck" themed party attire: http://www.billybobproducts.com/ http://www.billybobproducts.com/
fweespeech 11y ago
> Well, why don't you first try a party where everybody shows up like an inbred redneck with some missing teeth and no Tshirt? Or a bunch of Polo wearing blond guys walking like they have ants up their ass? Try that and then come back to report. 1) I've done the first one. 2) Ants up their ass sounds unpleasent, so no ty. 3) The administration sanctions Russian stereotypes by not Mexican ones. That is the hypocrisy I'm pointing out. You can't just say "It is okay to do this about racial group X yet not okay for Y".
- cgriswald 11y ago
  Those who would argue with you would simply describe racial group X as privileged and racial group Y as oppressed and in need of protection, thereby "justifying" the hypocrisy.
  - fweespeech 11y ago
    Russians and communists are protected groups? o.O
    - cgriswald 11y ago
      I'm not sure how you got that from my post. I'm saying people who pick and choose which stereotypes feel okay do so by justifying their actions with 'privilege' versus 'protected'. In this context, the Russian group would be considered 'privileged' and the Mexican group 'protected'.
      - fweespeech 11y ago
        Yeah just I can't wrap my mind around the idea that being Russian == priviledged.
douche 11y ago
That party is down the road a piece in Brunswick, where the locals are hanging out in a gravel pit, unironically drinking PBR, lighting shit on fire, and shooting at beer bottles, in the time-honored Mainer tradition.

dingo_bat 11y ago

>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 11y ago
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.
fweespeech 11y ago
> 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. Well, I'm not sure a credible threat of violence is really the requirement. Actively stalking someone to take pictures, for instance, doesn't necessarily equal violence but its still a form of applied force in many respects. However, I think the Russian party is equal and equivalent given there is a Communist party in the US + Russians + the animosity towards Russians (despite the fact they are white) in general in the US. Yet, who the fuck says that is okay yet goes after some kids with a sombrero theme?

mobystrip 11y ago

Why is it assumed all people from Mexico are "people of color"? Mexico has amazing diversity much like the USA. One could not call "USA a people of color" without downplaying all those who are not. Additionally, there is no "hispanic race" which everyone wants to use. It is very difficult being latino and having fair skin. Spanish is a European Language. Let's not forget that.