(no subject)
I'm so tired of race.
It seems that in all of my classes, we have to have that "race isn't biological, it's social" discussion, and there's always one or two people who just can't get it and have to stand up and spout their uneducated unwanted opinion. There is no BIOLOGICAL difference between people of one "race" and people of another. People make that crap up so they can either A) feel superior or B) feel special.
Granted, it started off innocently enough. Historically (since the europeans write the history books) race as a concept started when explorers left Europe and landed in places where for the first time they were exposed to people who looked different and talked differently. But it was a big big world back then, and it's a small small world now, and I don't see why people get so offended when my biological anthropology teacher refuses to refer to people as having different races.
I swear in my head it sounds much less like I'm a KKK member, and more like a rational person.
This all started (well, years ago in my first bio anthro class, but this rant anyway) today in my Language and Culture class. We've been talking about African-American Vernacular English ("Ebonics") for the past few days, examining evidence of it being an actual dialect, should it be taught in schools, should speakers of AAVE be required to learn the standard language, etc, etc, etc. My answer (which apparently isn't very popular) is 'yes'. Ms. Tari wouldn't let us say "ain't" in middle school, even though she was aware that the majority of the students she was teaching wouldn't make it out of Cedar Key, much less to college.
Anyway, we moved from that topic to the new NBA dress code. Apparently, now whenever NBA players are travelling to and from games, etc, they have a business casual dress code. Why? 'Cause the people who make the rules say so. But whaddaya know? It's obviously a clear-cut example of how the white man is trying to keep the brotha' man down. No more "bling". No more saggy pants.
I think people try to cry "race" in situations where it isn't applicable, and this is one of them. My high school basketball team (boys and girls) had to wear "business casual" clothes to school on game days, and breaking the dress code would buy you a seat on the bench. In the six years that I played varsity basketball, there was only one black student on either team. The coaches decided that "business casual" was the way that the team would represent the school.
Whoever runs the NBA made the same decision. And guess what? Whoever runs the NBA is who signs those multimillion dollar contracts that NBA players agree to. If they feel the rules are unfair, they can forfeit their million dollar paychecks. Burger King has a dress code. Brokerage firms have dress codes. Red Lobster has a dress code. Law firms have dress codes. Who makes those rules? The owners. People who have those jobs conform to those dress codes. If they can't follow the rules, they get fired. Pro basketball players are in it for the money just as much as the waitress who flirts with the ugly guys is in it for the money. And they should have to follow the rules just like she does.
I remember a certain race-related issue I observed once. An African-American woman and a Filipino man got into an argument about a technical problem. The man said, "How do you know? You've only got an A.S." The woman retorted with, "Well, what do you know? You're just a faggot Filipino." The man was labeled a troublemaker and transferred. The woman wasn't reprimanded at all.
I don't even really know where I'm going with this. I'm just tired of sitting through the same lecture over and over again.
It seems that in all of my classes, we have to have that "race isn't biological, it's social" discussion, and there's always one or two people who just can't get it and have to stand up and spout their uneducated unwanted opinion. There is no BIOLOGICAL difference between people of one "race" and people of another. People make that crap up so they can either A) feel superior or B) feel special.
Granted, it started off innocently enough. Historically (since the europeans write the history books) race as a concept started when explorers left Europe and landed in places where for the first time they were exposed to people who looked different and talked differently. But it was a big big world back then, and it's a small small world now, and I don't see why people get so offended when my biological anthropology teacher refuses to refer to people as having different races.
I swear in my head it sounds much less like I'm a KKK member, and more like a rational person.
This all started (well, years ago in my first bio anthro class, but this rant anyway) today in my Language and Culture class. We've been talking about African-American Vernacular English ("Ebonics") for the past few days, examining evidence of it being an actual dialect, should it be taught in schools, should speakers of AAVE be required to learn the standard language, etc, etc, etc. My answer (which apparently isn't very popular) is 'yes'. Ms. Tari wouldn't let us say "ain't" in middle school, even though she was aware that the majority of the students she was teaching wouldn't make it out of Cedar Key, much less to college.
Anyway, we moved from that topic to the new NBA dress code. Apparently, now whenever NBA players are travelling to and from games, etc, they have a business casual dress code. Why? 'Cause the people who make the rules say so. But whaddaya know? It's obviously a clear-cut example of how the white man is trying to keep the brotha' man down. No more "bling". No more saggy pants.
I think people try to cry "race" in situations where it isn't applicable, and this is one of them. My high school basketball team (boys and girls) had to wear "business casual" clothes to school on game days, and breaking the dress code would buy you a seat on the bench. In the six years that I played varsity basketball, there was only one black student on either team. The coaches decided that "business casual" was the way that the team would represent the school.
Whoever runs the NBA made the same decision. And guess what? Whoever runs the NBA is who signs those multimillion dollar contracts that NBA players agree to. If they feel the rules are unfair, they can forfeit their million dollar paychecks. Burger King has a dress code. Brokerage firms have dress codes. Red Lobster has a dress code. Law firms have dress codes. Who makes those rules? The owners. People who have those jobs conform to those dress codes. If they can't follow the rules, they get fired. Pro basketball players are in it for the money just as much as the waitress who flirts with the ugly guys is in it for the money. And they should have to follow the rules just like she does.
I remember a certain race-related issue I observed once. An African-American woman and a Filipino man got into an argument about a technical problem. The man said, "How do you know? You've only got an A.S." The woman retorted with, "Well, what do you know? You're just a faggot Filipino." The man was labeled a troublemaker and transferred. The woman wasn't reprimanded at all.
I don't even really know where I'm going with this. I'm just tired of sitting through the same lecture over and over again.