Op-Ed
The Wack Attack Is Back
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Wack Attack
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Yes, Cornell’s conservative columnist is back. In honor of the freshmen who had to attend “A Tapestry of Possibilities,” I will dedicate my first column to the wonderful topic of diversity.
Based on the fact that I am Republican, people often draw the following “logical” conclusion about my views on diversity:
- Mike Wacker is a Republican.
- Republicans are racist.
- Therefore, Mike Wacker is racist.
But I thought it was bad to use stereotypes.
I do not hate people who look different than me. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Dice-K pitch against Ichiro at SafeCo Field. Unlike Barack Obama, I would have appointed Justice Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. And given a choice between a black candidate and a woman candidate, I would have chosen both; it is not my fault Condoleezza Rice did not want to run.
That paragraph alone was more enlightening than the entire “Tapestry” presentation. When I had to attend “Tapestry,” I remember one moment in the discussion portion when one person asked whether Ujamaa was causing segregation at Cornell.
Poor freshman. He did not see the backlash that was about to come. Nobody told him that diverse viewpoints were discouraged at a presentation on diversity. But at the same time, it is OK for Cornell to boycott D.P. Dough over false allegations of racism or for protesters to accuse a conservative publication, The Cornell Review, of racism.
In fact, after I wrote an article defending D.P. Dough, I ended up in a confrontation with some black students (I said some, not all; some of you are just waiting for an opening to paint me as racist). While I relied on logic and evidence, they mostly relied on identity politics. I was left with the following impression:
Imagine myself and other Republicans on the ice at Lynah Rink. Imagine these students and their supporters filling all of the seats in Lynah. Now imagine all of them chanting, “It’s all your fault! It’s all your fault!” (Don’t worry, freshmen, you’ll pick up on that reference eventually).
For the record, it’s not all our fault. As it turns out, the person convicted last year of a racially-motivated West Campus stabbing wrote for Turn Left, not The Cornell Review.
Even Rush Limbaugh ran into identity politics when he attacked Obama on just about anything. But Limbaugh found an ingenious solution. It turns out his assistant Bo Snerdley is black, so he got a promotion to the position of “Official Obama Criticizer.” Basically, he has the same talking points as El Rushbo, but since he is black, he is therefore “officially qualified” to criticize Obama.
But at Cornell, Review writer Raza Hoda, who identifies himself as Muslim, ended up as the target of a protest for writing “racist” things about Muslims. Aside from how ridiculous that is, you cannot racially discriminate against a religion; invoking racism does not work if you do not even know the difference between the Muslim religion and Arab ethnicity.
Diversity has become a double-standard, not only at Cornell but on the national level. Imagine what would happen if you said, “you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent,” or described Obama as, “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”
For a Republican, that is the end of a career. For a Democrat, that is a vice-presidential nominee — Joe Biden. Even now, the media is running stories on Sarah Palin and the female vote that it would never have run when Hillary was in the race.
This could be seen even during the Democratic primary. Even though her situation was not as bad as Palin’s, Hillary still had a rough draw. After all, she had to put up with some Ludicris sexism which received little attention in the media. On the other hand, Obama gave a big speech on race not in response to some blatant racism, but in response to his own pastor preaching “God damn America,” and the media pretty much fell in love with him.
The same divide between racism and sexism could also be applied to the incident at D.P. Dough. Was there racism involved? No. Was D.P. Dough at fault? No. Was sexism involved? Yes. Guess which angle got the least attention?
These discrepancies exist even in the domain of race alone. If you are black, Hispanic, or Asian, you are bound to get a lot of attention — and even your own community center. If you’re not one of these, for example Indian or Arab, you’re not going to get the full package that others get. One could even argue that a hierarchy exists among the former group. All minorities are included, but some are included more than others — sounds like the sequel to Animal Farm.
Additionally, when I attended Tapestry, the narratives on LGBT issues came off as insensitive to religion. Several religions find themselves at odds with LGBT rights. While their followers can certainly get along with LGBT people just like anyone else, asking religious people to accept their beliefs on a personal level is downright insensitive.
Furthermore, as Cornell’s history has shown, it is acceptable to express one’s disagreements with The Cornell Review by stealing and burning a bunch of copies of the newspaper. It is also acceptable to have speech-limiting codes which have received a rating of Red from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
So while Cornell does support a skewed and misguided interpretation of diversity, mistakenly confusing equality with certain political or personal beliefs, it struggles with diversity when it comes to religion, the press, and speech. Strangely enough the latter three items are all in the First Amendment.
And given a choice between the enlightenment provided by Cornell’s variant of “diversity” and the enlightenment of our Constitution, I would much rather choose the latter.
Mike Wacker is an assistant web editor at The Sun. He can be reached at mwacker@cornellsun.com. Wack Attack will appear alternate Fridays this semester.
Another year of regurgitated
Another year of regurgitated Bush administration talking points. Looking for forward to it. McCain Gimmick '08
Wacked
Excellent column. But I could not help but think how easy it must be getting to write about all the contradictions contained in the multi-culti world. Are you finding that the limited space you're allowed cannot contain all the examples and violations of logic on the part of the Left? Poor Hillary: she clearly found out, but only after years of backing "The Village." I think she discovered the Village was more of a cannibalistic than nurturing local. Any Black who steps out of line with the "Party Line" is subject to the same treatment, as you pointed out so clearly.
A moment, please, to address the insensitivity of "sensitivity" as it is understood by the Left and enforced upon the rest of us. I work for HP now, a hot bed of "sensitivity." It used to be an egalitarian meritocracy. No more. GBLT issues capture the internal news on a regular basis. Hardly 'sensitive' to those of us subject to the constant memos about the hard times they’re subjected to. No one wants to hear my stories of woe but GBLT is shocked, shocked! when we don’t want to hear their tales of self-inflicted pain. How is GBLT work-related or get a spreadsheet, regression analyses or support decline rates completed? Butt out! Whoops, sorry about that.
See? It's up to the responsible folk to be sensitive, but GBLT can fling their crap where ever they want to. Stop the navel lint exams, get a job, raise a family and don't count on those of us who have, to support the stupidity and life-style of those who won't.
Adios,
Esteban
So many things to comment
So many things to comment on, but I know how you conservative kids on campus love to feel like mini crusaders fighting the good fight against the evils of diversity and inclusion, and I don't want to feed any imagined ego you might have... so I'll be brief.
1. The Cornell review is not only racist, it is also homophobic and sexist. No, I was not at the protest, yes I have read many of their articles, yes I think that even a Muslim himself GASP can use anti-muslim or racist commentary. Just as women can be sexist, and even good jesus following christians can be judgmental and close minded (oh my!).
2. Palin is NOT repeat IS NOT Hilary Clinton. Though I see you evoke the baseless claims of John McCains camp that this is all based on sexism, in fact Sarah Palin has little to no experience (no, literally... not like Senator Barack Obama's ACTUAL experience in state and federal politics) and has lied, and used her powers for evil against people in her home state. Got Pork? Hillary Clinton HAS gotten incredible scrutiny from the media, but not for the same reasons.
3. Boohoo, poor oppressed christians are being "forced" to be tolerant and accepting of LGBT people who deal with both local and national, formal and informal oppression/discrimination. Equal protection by the way is in the constitution as well... if you've read it, and that religion you speak of is intentionally detached from our most important institutions for good reason. So that people can't formally discriminate against others on a set of beleifs that they don't share.
What a hard life you lead... having to attend diversity workshops that you and your Cornell Review friends shrug at and write about to try and make a "difference" to the 10 kids on campus who read your paper without laughing... Hard, indeed.
Thanks Ashley M.
Wow Ashley, thanks. You pretty much proved everything he said in his article.
Amen-terrific column. Don't
Amen-terrific column. Don't let the PC Police bring you down
I have no problem with
I have no problem with religious people, or there beliefs. It just depends on what those beliefs are. You wanna believe the earth was created in 7 days- more power to you! If you wanna believe that homosexuality is evil, I'm gonna have a problem with that. Why? Because that leads you to make bigoted (sorry kid, they are) assertions like "gay people shouldn't get married". See where I'm getting at? People on the right operate on this untrue assumption that when the "left" calls for diversity they are calling for acceptance of all beliefs. Thats not true. There is no reason to be tolerant of intolerant beliefs. That's counter productive. You are obviously not tolerant of Muslims who believe in Jihad, rightfully so. Why shouldn't you be? It effects your life. You might think, oh but commenter, me thinking homosexuality is wrong doesn't affect anyone. Unfortunately, that's not true. You have the power to vote on policies that affect homosexuals' lives. Which is why they get up in arms about people accepting them. I don't think the "pc police" care that much about you to want to change your beliefs. They just accept, unfortunately, you have the ability to limit their lives. Also, I'm curious as to why you are so fixated on homosexuality as a religious belief? The bible has all of like three verses on homosexuality, and about a thousand on poverty. Why not focus on that instead?
Cheers, PH
P.S. Instead of dedicating so much time to getting your "conservative" views out, why not try developing some empathy? I think thats the greatest thing college students (republicans and democrats) can gain
P.S.S Can you be more specific about what you consider "LGBT" views? The right to be treated like human beings? The right to not to have to go through reversal therapy, as you so politely suggested in a previous column? Homosexuality is not a belief, but an orientation, so you can't really compare accepting homosexuals to accepting certain religious beliefs. And while you may you have your own beliefs about homosexuality, I think you can agree that they don't shouldn't have to listen to sermons and political speeches dedicated to why they are "evil" and "unnatural". Recognizing that doesn't mean your part of the pc police. It means your a decent human being.
Political correctness is all
Political correctness is all about euphemisms right? So I guess republican must be the PC term for "I have a perpetual stick up my ass". Oh golly, you would've voted for Condi Rice? You enjoy the company of people who look different than you? Hot damn, Wacker, I was wrong about you!! You too enjoy the colors of the rainbow!!!!!! Please, get over yourself, and then perhaps you'll be able to write a column more insightful than the "oppressed conservative" jiggly bit that's been more recycled than the condom used by Bristol Palin and her lovely boyfriend (How were they supposed to know? Momma don't teach no birth control!)