Friday, June 22, 2012

This is What is Wrong with Higher Education in America!......



‘Not Fair to Be White’: See the Unbelievable New Campaign Sponsored by the University of Minnesota-Duluth

Posted on June 21, 2012 at 6:21am by Mytheos Holt

Here’s a pop quiz: What do we usually call unsubstantiated assumptions about someone’s class, or position in life, based upon the color of their skin?

That’s right, racism. And that appears to be what Campus Reform has uncovered at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, which is sponsoring an ad campaign whose core message is very difficult to distinguish from undiluted racism. Watch the ad below if you don’t believe us, and if that doesn’t convince you, keep reading:



Here is what Campus Reform has to say about the ad campaign:


The University of Minnesota – Duluth (UMD) is now sponsoring an ad-campaign designed to achieve “racial justice” by raising awareness of “white privilege.”

The project disseminates its message, that “society was setup for us [whites]“ and as such is ”unfair,” through an aggressive campaign of online videos, billboards, and lectures. The ads feature a number of Caucasians confessing their guilt for the supposed “privilege” that comes along with their fair features.[...]

“You give me better jobs, better pay, better treatment, and a better chance – all because of the color of my skin,” reads one poster that features a close shot of a Caucasian male.

The Un-Fair campaign also held a series of lectures and events on campus last semester. One included a presentation by Tim Wise, author of Dear White America. In his book, Wise confesses a “longstanding fantasy” where he turns to a man with a “God Bless the USA” button and asks him, “why can’t you just get over it?”

These lectures were publicly endorsed by university Chancellor Lendley Black. Black sent a message to the campus community in April describing his effort to “create an inclusive campus climate for all” through providing “support and… leadership to the Un-Fair Campaign.”

For those who are familiar with the work of Tim Wise, this should come as no surprise. Wise is one of the more infamous “anti-racist” activists alive, and is especially notable for having written a “Letter to the White Right” after the 2010 elections which includes quotes which dance dangerously close to an open desire for genocide. Consider the following, with special attention to the quotes in bold:


For all y’all rich folks, enjoy that champagne, or whatever fancy ass Scotch you drink.

And for y’all a bit lower on the economic scale, enjoy your Pabst Blue Ribbon, …

Whatever the case, and whatever your economic station, know this . . .

You need to drink up.

And quickly.

And heavily.

Because your time is limited.[...]

And in the pantheon of American history, old white people have pretty much always been the bad guys, the keepers of the hegemonic and reactionary flame, the folks unwilling to share the category of American with others on equal terms.

Fine, keep it up. It doesn’t matter.

Because you’re on the endangered list.

And unlike, say, the bald eagle or some exotic species of muskrat, you are not worth saving.

Wise has also accused the Founders of deliberately setting up a white supremacist society on CNN. Ironically, Wise is himself white.
Wise

But even if one of the campaign’s speakers is crazy, some might be saying, that doesn’t mean the entire campaign is racist, right? Wrong. The evidence shows that this pervasive effort to tar hundreds of millions of people with the racist brush is an integral part of the Un-Fair campaign.

As for the campaign’s slogan, “it‘s hard to see racism when you’re white,” the irony is almost too deafening to remark upon it at all. We certainly are not prepared to make such a harsh generalization about a race of people, but it does seem fair to say that, if this organization is considered to be representative of the white population, this slogan might have a point. Unfortunately, we don’t think self-hatred is the kind of racism they mean.

Worse yet is the fact that the idea of “white privilege” is as easily disproved as any other ugly racial stereotype. For instance, unless this campaign wants to argue with a straight face that a coal miner in West Virginia is more privileged than Colin Powell (in which case, they’d be laughed out of most reasonable company), their generalization completely falls apart. More to the point, using the term “white privilege” and slogans like “it‘s hard to see racism when you’re white” is a transparent and logically fallacious attempt to shut people up. The claim that whites who don’t agree with this stereotype are automatically trying to perpetuate racism completes the exercise in bullying that this campaign is.

A few weeks ago, the Blaze reported on the disgustingly racist attitudes of a resident of South Buffalo, who argued in full view of a camera that “blacks ruin neighborhoods.” This absurd stereotype was rightfully condemned. Yet now the University of Minnesota Duluth is lending institutional support to a campaign whose message is essentially “whites ruined the world and are trying to keep it ruined so that they can profit.” Granted, this isn’t particularly surprising, coming from a university whose very administrators consider the Constitution to be a symbol of “white privilege,” but it is still wrong.

Clearly, the Un-Fair campaign is aptly named.

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