Would the perpetually offended at the University of Redlands engage in a little introspection concerning what is offensive if, instead of shooting up a Christmas party about 5 miles west in San Bernardino, the terrorist couple had been so politically incorrect as to burst into a (gun free) "safe space" on campus and mowed down a bunch of thumb sucking, "adult" students?
For a couple of weeks or so before Thanksgiving, the Riverside County Press Enterprise devoted a seeming ocean's worth of ink to stories in multiple editions, some front page, about race and ethnic consciousness on campus. It even got so silly as to involve 17 second hand sombreros, apparently used as parts of Halloween costumes, being surplussed and resold which resulted in outraged sniveling about "the injustice of cultural appropriation" by at least one student and an ethnics studies professor at the U of R.
An observation:
"Take 'cultural appropriation' and something that's supposed to be fun, like wearing a sombrero as part of a Halloween costume. That heavy, impractical, wind catching, museum piece headgear is now almost exclusively seen on Mariachi musicians, who 'appropriated' 19th century Mexican Indian costume (white pants and shirt) before they 'appropriated' a 19th century charro style costume. Currently, if one desires to cover the head in Mexico, it is normally done with either a cowboy hat or a ball cap. I don't see anyone ranting about 'cultural appropriation' concerning cowboy hats and ball caps, as to do so would be silly, and there's not one student or faculty on any campus in the world that wouldn't look ridiculous wearing a sombrero as a part of daily dress rather than occasionally as part of a costume. By comparison, top hats and spats went out of American fashion a long time ago, and a ball cap worn as it was originally intended might seem ancient custom to some. If someone is culturally American enough to buy into campus stereotypes concerning race and ethnicity, chances are that person won't fit into any of the foreign cultures of his or her ancestors and probably has too much unproductive time on his or her hands, faculty included."
It probably won't happen, but it would be nice if the Press Enterprise revisited the U of R campus and re-interviewed their quoted subjects about what is truly important versus what is truly trivial concerning campus outrage.
For a couple of weeks or so before Thanksgiving, the Riverside County Press Enterprise devoted a seeming ocean's worth of ink to stories in multiple editions, some front page, about race and ethnic consciousness on campus. It even got so silly as to involve 17 second hand sombreros, apparently used as parts of Halloween costumes, being surplussed and resold which resulted in outraged sniveling about "the injustice of cultural appropriation" by at least one student and an ethnics studies professor at the U of R.
An observation:
"Take 'cultural appropriation' and something that's supposed to be fun, like wearing a sombrero as part of a Halloween costume. That heavy, impractical, wind catching, museum piece headgear is now almost exclusively seen on Mariachi musicians, who 'appropriated' 19th century Mexican Indian costume (white pants and shirt) before they 'appropriated' a 19th century charro style costume. Currently, if one desires to cover the head in Mexico, it is normally done with either a cowboy hat or a ball cap. I don't see anyone ranting about 'cultural appropriation' concerning cowboy hats and ball caps, as to do so would be silly, and there's not one student or faculty on any campus in the world that wouldn't look ridiculous wearing a sombrero as a part of daily dress rather than occasionally as part of a costume. By comparison, top hats and spats went out of American fashion a long time ago, and a ball cap worn as it was originally intended might seem ancient custom to some. If someone is culturally American enough to buy into campus stereotypes concerning race and ethnicity, chances are that person won't fit into any of the foreign cultures of his or her ancestors and probably has too much unproductive time on his or her hands, faculty included."
It probably won't happen, but it would be nice if the Press Enterprise revisited the U of R campus and re-interviewed their quoted subjects about what is truly important versus what is truly trivial concerning campus outrage.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
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