Still 1948 in Cambridge?
By adamg - 12/7/11 - 12:17 pm
You'd think organizers of a 5K run in Cambridge, of all places, would know better than to promote the race by using an image of Native American women going "How" as they show off their feathered headbands in front of a teepee. To their credit, at least, organizers apologized on Twitter.
Comments
professional whiners
Professional Persecuted Person publicly complains about vintage-art-styled advertisement to try and rile up the twitzerers and blogosquare. Has friend comment on story to try and trend it upwards.
Organization promptly responds, agrees, and apologizes. Twitzerers don't show the slightest interest.
PPP is annoyed and disappointed that organization has responded appropriately and baiting was unsuccessful all around. Tries to further bait twits and blogosquare.
Film at 11; followup with incensed fans of the Hebrew Hammer on the half-hour ( http://cambridge5k.com/storage/Santa-MC.jpg )
Spoken like a ...
... typical privileged white man.
C'mon - those silly minorities and women should know by now that it isn't discrimination OR sexism unless a White Man thinks it is!
everyone keeps telling me about this supposed Male Privilege
People keep telling me I'm privileged because I'm male (and white), but I just can't seem to figure out how.
Under criminal penalty ($250000 fine and up to five years in prison), I have to register with the government when I turn 18 so I can be drafted if the country goes to war.
Society doesn't expect you to hold open doors for me or give up your seat for me on the bus or the train.
If I do something heavily scientific or technical, I'm a "nerd" or a "geek"; if I do something really athletic, I'm a jock; if I do something awesome and different, I'm "desperate for attention." If a woman (especially a minority woman) does any of these things, she's awesome, empowered, 'breaking barriers', etc.
It's considered normal, acceptable, and a service to public health for my gender's genitals to be mutilated either by doctors or members of religious orders, in a way that robs us of a substantial amount of feeling. If a doctor or member of a religious order did the same to a female child, the practice would be considered heinous, they would be vilified, probably even arrested.
Can't get government contracts, because "women and minority owned" businesses automatically get a leg up. Less likely to get a job because HR departments are desperate to fill "diversity" quotas. Less likely to get into colleges and degree programs. You're more likely to get higher grades and test scores. I'm held to different standards for jobs requiring physical labor, despite the reasons for those requirements (like being able to, say, carry a fellow firefighter to safety) having nothing to do with my gender.
If I chose to be heavily involved in raising my child (like taking a leave of absence or quitting my job) I'm an oddity; for you, it's normal and admired. If I work my ass off to provide for my family, I'm a poor parent who's "never there." If I balance caring for my child with my job, I'm looked down upon by my superiors and resented by my coworkers for not "pulling my weight."
If I'm at the park with my child, I'm eyed suspiciously by all the other (female) parents, especially if I interact with their children.
If you decide to raise a child on your own, you're commended for your courage. If I decide to raise a child on my own, my fitness and qualifications are questioned constantly.
Society tells me that if I spend all day sitting around doing essentially nothing to contribute to society, I'm a leech and a drain. If you're a woman, as long as you're married, it's A-OK. If you're female, 30, and in a poorly-paying job or not "career focused", it's okay - you're "finding yourself", or "doing what you love" or "enjoying life." If you're a guy, you're dead-end loser with no life goals.
When a guy shows off his body, he's being "obnoxious" and it's disgusting if he isn't ripped. When a woman does it, it's "sexy"; if she isn't ripped, she's "comfortable with her body image." When a man dresses nicely, he's gay - when a woman dresses nicely, she's "fashionable."
You (I'm assuming you're a "minority") can have a club just for your ethnicity and the government, corporate sponsors, private benefactors, and other NPO/NGO's will throw money at you. If I try and have a "White Dudes" club, even if there's nothing hateful about it and we just play some sport...why, you'll just have a holy shitfit and accuse us of being exclusionary, racist, sexist, etc and DEMAND to be included. You can talk about how awesome it is to be (insert your ethnicity) and not be accused of being racist. Well, unless you're a Latino supreme court nominee...that's pushing it.
Can't use the local "community" center very often, because I'm an adult and male (our community center now has several blocks of women-only time that ate into the already precious few non-youth timeslots.)
It's harder to find housing because landlords illegally screen for and prefer female tenants with varying degrees of honesty, and female roommates won't consider non-female roommates. Funny that lots of housing in my progressive, open-minded community (JP) is "GLBT friendly"...but if you're a straight guy, well, forget about it.
I'm more likely to be murdered, by both other men and women. More likely to be attacked/robbed/mugged. More likely to be arrested. Falsely accused of crimes. Convicted. Jailed.
If you're walking down the street at night in your neighborhood, people don't cross to the other side of the street out of fear of you.
I'm more likely to die of cancer, but hey, let's save the boobies, which, unlike my prostate and rectum, aren't actually biologically necessary (if you're not in need of nursing a child.)
My life expectancy is shorter than yours by a significant margin. Still, health for you is lauded as being so VERY important that health insurance (both government and private) and free clinics provide or cover all sorts of services to women only.
There's only one form of non-surgical birth control available to me and health insurance doesn't pay for it. I get no say in whether or not my partner terminates the pregnancy of our unborn child. Plenty of birth control methods at her disposal plus options to terminate the pregnancy...all of which is entirely her decision, but I'm mandated to pay for 20 years of child support if she decides to keep the child. If she rapes me, I have to pay child support and cannot take custody. I am overwhelmingly less likely to get custody of a child in a divorce.
I can lose half of my assets if I marry a woman and she divorces me 6 months later - and have to pay a massive chunk of my paycheck to her for decades while she doesn't lift a finger.
I can be accused in court of stalking or harassment and with absolutely no evidence, have no right to confront my accuser despite being constitutionally guaranteed as such (supposedly), and have a court order issued against me without even finding out about it, and have it show up on employment background checks.
If I'm raped, I won't be believed at the ER or police station, there's no "rape kit" for men, there are no male rape counselors. If I'm battered by my spouse (male or female) there are no shelters for me.
Here's some reading material for you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_rights#Father.27s_rights
They Have a White Students Club
It's called "college."
They also have a white history class. It's called "history."
You don't need a "leg up" through affirmative action and quotas because everything else is already in your favor.
There are so many self-absorbed, self-pitying, completely out-of-touch statements in here that I'd be even later for dinner than I already am if I stayed here to respond to them all.
nice ad hominem
Way to not address a single point and instead insult me with logical fallacies.
Also, for at least thirty years, women have significantly outnumbered men at colleges. Seriously, go look at the census stats if you don't believe me.
By the way, I never asked for quotas or affirmative action in my favor. I'm asking for a fair shake. Equality.
Here's an Affirmative Action for you
Stop blaming the gains made by minorities and women for your own difficulties in life. You seem to have a problem with equality, only it isn't the problem with equality you paint here.
You still have white male privilege - were somebody nonwhite and nonmale to share your economic and social background, they would still face significantly more obstacles than you have. Believe me, I know that from personal experience.
Women outnumber men in college because women are more likely to aim for college when they are in high school because other pathways to financial independence are highly gendered (such as in the construction trades). Men simply are more likely to be steered into the trades and be told that they don't need to excel in school. Steer more women towards the trades and remove barriers to participation and you would see things level off.
As for the MRA fascination, perhaps you should consider this rationally-oriented male-run site to be helpful reading: http//:www.manboobz.com
Wow, so someone refutes the
Wow, so someone refutes the claims that he's privledged in today's society, without any negative comments or insults aimed at women, and suddenly he's a misogynist?
Odd how when women stand up for themselves they're proud, empowered...and when men stand up for themselves, they're labelled misogynists.
Nice free pass, by the way, to the woman who repeatedly attacked the guy with insults.
Well, hey
When you get told that "it would be wasteful for you to take an honors class because white boys just drop out and get pregnant" (even though your sister with the lower grades and test scores was encouraged to take that same class), we'll talk.
I also suggest that you read up on the "men's rights" movement and its adherents and their views on women. A quick web search will demonstrate that an initially well-intentioned movement has become far less about equal treatment and far more about blaming improved economic and political opportunities for women for one's failures in life.
Here's a good framework for thinking about privilege and deprivation (not just gender and race, but economic and social status, too), although it works best as an activity in large groups: http://www.ncti.org/contactcommerce/images/resources/Privilege_Exercise.pdf
right
The assertion that the men's rights movement is about misogyny and woman-blaming is about as idiotic as asserting the femnist movement is about destroying families and marriages (and misandry. By the way, fun fact: your online spell-check recognizes misogyny as a word, but not misandry. Interesting, hmm?)
If you don't want people smushing the entire feminist movement into one category and calling them feminazis, don't lump me in with men who hate women, feel men are superior, or entitled to anything other than EQUAL treatment.
Stop letting them speak for you
When your "movement" ceases to be dominated by men who hate women and blame feminism for all their woes, then you might have a case.
I just read though several
I just read though several pages of Manboobz blog (okay started with reading, then started to skim in the later pages). All they use to counter-argue the blogs is mockery and most have a sarcasm moniker at the bottom. No rebuttal of points. No editorial anything raised. No seeking to view the other side or explain their own. Correct me if you find that I'm wrong if you can find some kind of well-reasoned rebuttal.
It's another passionate blog railing against what looks like many also very passionate bloggers (though maybe written dispassionately). In movements, passion is important to motivate action towards its causes. In understanding what the hell is going on, passion is the enemy of understanding. Derision and mockery when used right (many comedians have been good at that) is a good way to make people critically thinking and question more. However, all I read is done in a way to dismiss and invalidate the subject matter in all posts I read.
In short, there's no way he is giving an impartial analysis. I can't agree that your link is a rationally-oriented male-run side. I don't see how that site rebukes his post which I think does contain some reasonable grievances and not "all in your head" glasses.
BTW, I'm Asian. I got some BS in the past, though I consider myself pretty lucky, some of my peers really got the shaft. But I also seen BS happened to white guys too. I can write a few stories that Injustice come to every individual and their background and they all should be faced.
Rational counter arguments
The only rational counter argument for breathtaking batshit crazy is ridicule.
Long-winded assertions that off-shoring of jobs is due to feminism since women are inherently non-productive workers doesn't merit any intellectual effort.
What is one person's idea of
What is one person's idea of insanity is another's idea of rationality. The idea of critical think is to give consideration to ideas that regular past experiences is regular dismissal. Yet, regular dismissal means no thought is given at all.
"The only response to such lunacy is ridicule as it is so obvious." No, it is not. It is thought killing. The only reasonable response to the Tea Party is ridicule as they are a bunch of old, angry neocons. The only reasonable response to the OWS is ridicule as they are a bunch of dirty, whiny hippies. The only reasonable response to feminists is ridicule as they are a bunch of whiny, entitled bitches.
Do you see where I'm going with this?
I hope you do. Basically, your line of reasoning, as reasonable it sounds if faced by an idea that can be basically called as absurd is too easily seen as absurd on so many things by so many different types of people. A well-reasoned response must be made. For not everyone person thinks as you, but most have the capacity (willingness is different) to see a flaw or an alternative.
Also I have another much shorter point: it still means the blog is not a balanced view as Swirlygrrl claims.
from my view...
If I do something heavily scientific or technical, I'm a "nerd" or a "geek"; if I do something really athletic, I'm a dyke and just need somebody to fuck the gay out of me; if I do something awesome and different, I'm "an attention whore” and I don’t “know my place”. If a man does any of these things, he's showing initiative and is viewed as a leader.
In Massachusetts I earn 80.5% of what a man earns doing comparable work.
If I am of child-bearing age, I am questioned (illegally) about my intent to have and raise children. If I work my ass off to provide for my child, I am an unfit mother because I am not in the house playing suzy-homemaker. Even if I work outside the house, with a partner who works, I still do over 75% of the childcare and homemaking for my family. If I balance caring for my child with my job, I'm looked down upon by my superiors and resented by my coworkers for not "pulling my weight." If I decide to raise a child on my own, I am viewed as an unwed mother or a welfare mom.
If I'm at the park with my child, I often need to fend off sexual advances and harassment from the men around me.
When a woman shows off her body, she’s a slut. Or she’s considered available.
I'm more likely to be raped by both strangers and partners. I am more likely than a man to be murdered by my spouse or romantic partner. The most dangerous time in my life will be when I am pregnant, when murder is the leading cause of death for women. My gender has the most rapidly escalating prison population in the world.
If you're walking down the street at night in your neighborhood, you don’t need to worry about being sexually assaulted. And you won’t be viewed as “asking for it” for being out at night without a male escort.
If you can’t get it up, there’s a pill for that, and it’s covered by health insurance. Getting insurance to cover birth control took an act of congress.
~whew~
glad i got that off my chest.
in all seriousness, some of your points are valid. having privilege doesn't mean that you have it in all areas. there are many ways where men have it tougher. but the concept of privilege (be it gender, race, physical ability, age, or whatnot) just means that there are ways the deck is stacked in your favor. there are ways it's stacked in mine, too. it's okay. but to pretend it isn't there is just silly.
Don't forget
If you have no children, or you are young and you don't have any more children, you will be called "irresponsible" if you try to find somebody to do a tubal ligation. You will be asked to present your husband's permission or told flat out that you aren't married or you don't have kids or you are too young so the answer is no.
Because, as a woman, you can't possibly rationally understand what you are doing.
haha, OH WOW
"If I'm at the park with my child, I often need to fend off sexual advances and harassment from the men around me."
So people being friendly to you = sexual advances and harassment", huh?
Here's a newsflash: just like you're not looking to bone every member of the desired sex that walks past you, men aren't either.
"My gender has the most rapidly escalating prison population in the world."
Shocking! That MIGHT have SOMETHING to do with 92.9% of the current US prison population being MALE and that centuries of women having a lower chance of being considered as perpetrators, not getting arrested, not getting convicted as often, not getting as harsh penalties...all because of sexual favoritism and discrimination.
You might want to find other things to complain about other than "women are finally being held accountable for crimes they commit, rather than getting away scott-free."
i'm not actually getting all girl-power on you...
... and i'm not complaining. i like being female in america. it's a good thing to be.
there are a lot of reasons why both your statistics and mine are true at the same time. gender privilege is a complicated thing. both sides pull power from it in different ways.
i am simply pointing out that it's not the WORST THING IN THE WORLD to be male in america. i am actually sorry that you feel like the white male has been so tragically oppressed historically and currently. i don't know how you sleep at night with all those years of the man puttin' you down.
be free, sister!
On that note no more
On that note no more leprechauns (anti irish) and skeletons (offensive to dead people and people who know dead people) and fat suits (offensive to all americans everywhere).
Whats wrong with Leprechauns?
Uh, one important difference
Uh, one important difference being that Native Americans aren't fictional. Or dead.
Am I missing something? I
Am I missing something? I think it's a cute postcard.
Probably wouldn't be so cute...
If it was two fellas in blackface. Oh but then again, a little blackface never hurt anyone. Right?
But Native American? That's ok because that's not really racist.
Riiiiight.
Keep on crapping on other races & cultures different from your own, it a cheap and easy way to feel superior without alcohol.
Why can't we all just
Why can't we all just acknowledge that every ethnic group has an innate bias towards their own culture and stop with the only "white" people are racist crap? Even calling people of various ethnicity "white" "black" "insert color here" is potentially offensive. As if skin tone alone determines a person's identity! Pale skin can be a trait of a few hundred different ethnicity and cultures, as can dark skin, or yellow, red, blue, and so on, all of which can not easily classified by skin tone without being so generic and stereotypical as to be worthless.
What
.
Indian giver
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV16ECAAACM
Please Explain
Please explain how the card is racist. Take as much time as you like. I'll be checking in all day. The catch is, you have to actually explain how the card is racist, not how I'm racist for not understanding that the card is racist(disclosure: I'm not white).
Because it is offensive
Somebody who belongs to that class of persons known as native americans doesn't like to have their race and ethnicity boiled down to a stereotype.
They were offended by it.
That makes it offensive.
That's all you need to know.
Sorry if they failed to get your permission for that.
Still Waiting
"Racist" and "offensive" aren't synonyms. I find bank ads on the front page of my local newspaper "offensive." That's my problem, not everyone else's.
Feel free to give it another shot. But, again, please leave me out of it. I'm not the one calling the card racist. I'm trying to figure out why someone else is, and the way people keep turning the issue back on people who ask the question suggests to me that they don't really have an answer.
Do you ever see Asians portrayed with TeePees?
How about Native Americans with fried chicken and watermelon?
It is a stereotype of Native Americans, and Native Americans are classified as a racial group.
However, the anon above you is correct: people who racially identify as Native Americans take offense at this casual use of a stereotype, therefore, it is racism.
I Get It, But
Where's the firewater, gambling and tomahawk-chopping? Because those are the stereotypes, not celebrating Yule.
I've never seen a black man with fried chicken and watermelon except in an ignorant and obvious racist caricature, or in a display of irony. I have seen Native Americans next to tipis because those structures are part of several Native American nations' histories. The figures on the card aren't depicted as subhuman, sneaky, threatening or any of the other ways that the "other" is usually portrayed in racist propaganda as different/dangerous.
For some reason I had this idea that it was the forced assimilation into European culture and denial of identifiable ethnic heritage that were racist. But I guess dopey-cute faux-vintage qualifies too. Good to know.
Not knowing their market
Anyone else notice Clover sponsored it? Maybe they should stick to the free advertising and ditch the sponsorship...
Leaving aside whether it is 'offensive' or not ...
... the artwork in question just doesn't make a lot of sense. I understand the desire to reach back in time before 'Christmas' to an earlier pre-Christian winter feast, but 'Yule' is northern European in origin. If they wanted to find a Native American winter feast they should have done just a bit more research.
Raven is Badass
He steals the sun and keeps it for himself!
There's a lot to work with there.
How I read the card
Christmas used to be fun, back in the day when we called it "Christmas." Back then, everyone celebrated Christmas, and it was a great time for families and people of all races, cultures, etc., to celebrate the spirit of giving. The spirit of giving was so pervasive, in fact, that even (ostensibly non-Christian) Native Americans celebrated Christmas and put up Christmas trees in their tipis.
It's supposed to be jokey and ironic, and it wasn't supposed to be offensive, even if the hegemony of western commercialism and imperialism of the past is the reason why everyone celebrated Christmas, instead of the bland generic solstice holiday that comes in late December on the same day that used to be Christmas.
I'm old enough to remember the good old days
So trust me when I say not everybody celebrated Christmas, no matter how many times the even more ancient Joe Fitzgerald drags out his Jew who Loves Christmas every year (he's about due).
Not gonna lie
Between this and mocking the Hollaback women, UHub commenters are really bumming me out today, Adam.
internet postings can change opinons after all...
At first I saw nothing wrong with the postcard, and I thought, "yeah, here comes another professional victim trying to stir up something."
I think it was the comparison to blackface that convinced me.
True, there's nothing inherently demeaning about the picture of the feather-adorned teepee-dwellers. The illustration doesn't portray anybody as criminal, stupid, incapable, undesirable, any of that stuff. Any more than a drawing depicting a full-lipped, kinky-haired, black-skinned person eating a slice of watermelon says anything inherently bad about its subject, either.
So what's wrong with either picture, then? Hard to put my finger on it, exactly, but they're obnoxious. They trot out and reinforce tired stereotypes. Are they "racist" for some pure definition of "racist"? While they don't say anything negative about one race, they reinforce racial stereotyping: they encourage to view Native Americans as "feather-wearing teepee-dwellers" and African Americans as "fat-lipped watermelon eaters." While those stereotypes aren't inherently hostile, they're certainly narrowing and limiting.
Kudos to the event sponsor for a prompt, non-smarmy apology.