Tim Wise on white privilege and the election

Found at Eric Stoller's place, here is the opening paragraph of Wise's essay:

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for an easy-to-understand example of it, perhaps this list will help.

Follow the link for the list.

[OSU] In Which a Poor Student Is Forced to Defend Ignorance as Education

Again from the Baro, this wonderful letter to the editor:

SEXtravaganza

I am not intolerant. What people do in the privacy of their homes is not my business. However, what people push in my face and spend my money on is my business.

Student Health Services has chosen to sponsor a "SEXtravaganza" event, with 10 different events, only one of which deals with abstinence. Furthermore, they have advertised extensively on campus and even on Facebook.

Has what little money I have been used to support a "Masturbation Workshop" and "Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity of Gingerbread Persons & Baking Workshop?"

...

Jared Hageman

student, pre-communication

OK. He's upset, and believe it or not, I understand that. But there are some real winners buried in this letter (click the link to read the whole thing). Let's look at a few of them:

"I cannot even read the Barometer anymore without being confronted with pictures of people learning how to use condoms or finding expert opinions on how to perform better in bed."

Translation: I really don't like to be exposed to anything that a) might make me uncomfortable or b) might be useful.

Welcome to the world, Jared. It's big and scary and full of things you may not like. Amazingly, this is true for all of us. I, for example, do not like the fact that Bush sits in the Oval Office. Does this mean if I complain he'll go away? Sadly, no. On the plus side, however - and this is key - we do not have to internalize and believe everything we are exposed to. We (and that includes Jared) have amazing ability to consider an idea and then not support it.

There's at least one more thing worth noting in the letter:

"I simply want to be able to get an education without "getting an education." These are the moral values I have chosen..."

Way to imply that a) you have a right to remain ignorant and b) ignorance is actually education! Good job!

Jared, I'm sorry you are being made uncomfortable by all this talk of masturbation and condoms. If you had only given the entirety of the OSU community a list of things that you don't want to be exposed to upon your arrival, I'm sure we could have hidden all the naughty bits for the next four years.

After all, nothing's more important than your comfort. Of course your Special Snowflake status is more important than everyone else on campus.

No one besides straight white dudes ooze this much privilege.

[Social Justice] The Privilege Meme

Found over at Sisyphean Task; check out his post to get a better idea of what this is about:

(Bold indicates that they apply to me)

1. Father went to college
2. Father finished college
3. Mother went to college
4. Mother finished college
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home
9. Were read children’s books by a parent
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
16. Went to a private high school
17. Went to summer camp (one week of church camp for three summers)
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house
24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home
25. You had your own room as a child
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16
31. Went on a cruise with your family.
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family.
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family

Just over half apply to me - 18/34.

Developers of this meme: Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker and Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University.

Hey Newsweek, WTF?

Reading a paper copy of Newseek, I came across a section with the title "The Dignity Index." This purports to rate a particular event of the last week on a scale of 1 to 100, with 1 being "mildly tacky" and 100 being "utterly shameless."

Setting aside for a minute how judgmental and un-journalistic this is, I was a little shocked by the particular items listed in the Index and how they were rated.
From the online edition:

Texas Judge Sharon Keller refuses to keep her court open an extra 20 minutes so lawyers could fix a computer glitch and file a death-row appeal. Hours later, the inmate was executed.
Score: 32

A bittersweet buh-bye to Sen. Larry Craig. Your three-week reign of shame (for ruining Idaho's Hall of Fame ceremony just by showing up) is over. You've been bested. Or worsted.
Score: 73

Pandering for votes, lifelong Yankee fan Rudy Giuliani does the unthinkable: he's rooting for the Red Sox in the World Series. So wrong on so many levels, we're speechless.
Score: 95

What the hell? A judge refusing to wait 20 minutes to give a human being a chance to live rates a 32, and a New Yorker rooting for the Red Sox rates a 95?

Fuck You, Newsweek.

Someone Needs to Lay Off the Meds

Rate Your Students used to be one of my favorite sites, but the farther I get from school, the less interesting I find it.

Normally, I can identify in some way with just about every post and point of view I come across.

There's this one post, however...and it's strange. Really, there are times when I could have written it. However, there's just one bit that pisses me off something awful:

All of this "earnestness" about your profession is making me gag. As an undergrad, I want to know that I'm not the only one fed up with my peers. They can be stupid, slothful, selfish bastards. What is tenure for, if not to call these kids out on their b.s.? These "future leaders" couldn't put together a cogent thought if you held a gun to their head, and everyone is supposed to pat them on the back as long as Mom and Dad's tuition check clears the bank? You have a Ph.D., for chrissakes, so throw it around like it means something.

1. Tenure has little, if anything, to do with treatment of students. It's about research. Readers of RYS will know this.

2. That Ph.D certainly means something, but usually it means one is an expert in their field, not that they've got great classroom skills.

3. This poster is very, very angry. S/he conflates lots of things that I think have no reason to be conflated. For example:

Tell them that you're docking their grade every time they ask if something is going to be on the test, that sitting upright and breathing doesn't earn extra credit points, and that they shouldn't have signed up for college if they didn't intend on reading anything other than highway signage, tv listings, or drive-thru menus.

Tell them that it's not your problem they've made life choices (children, mortgage payments, etc.) that hamper their ability to complete assignments. Remind them of other students who've made different choices (like jumping into the deep end of student loans and Ramen noodles) to be here and aren't asking for favors, so maybe we should all be adults and suck it up.

The lack of care here is pretty shocking. Yeah, I spent a lot of time in college despising folks I had no business looking down on, but I have long felt a sense of compassion for others.

Just to be clear, there's a giant difference between the two paragraphs. Mocking someone because they have "made life choices that hamper their ability to complete assignments" is a shitty thing to do, especially when those life "choices" include having children or having a mortgage. Seriously: who mocks other people for having a mortgage?

I know what's going on here: This person has an immense amount of privilege, and is totally blind to that fact. S/he can't comprehend that there are real and genuine obstacles to succeeding in college. That's kind of sad. I hope the RYS readership nukes them.