People who take themselves far too seriously, Colorado chapter:
“A leader of the protest against Eaton High School’s Indian mascot said Monday that he isn’t retaliating against the school, although his wife resigned her teaching job there out of anger.
“Solomon Little Owl, director of Native American Student Services at the University of Northern Colorado, is a member of an intramural basketball team that has adopted the name ‘The Fighting Whities.’ Team members say they want to raise awareness of the issue of painful cultural stereotypes,” The Rocky Mountain News reports.
The team, made up of American Indian, Anglo and Hispanic players, is protesting nearby Eaton’s use of the team name ‘Fightin’ Reds’ and an Indian caricature as a mascot — both identified with the school for generations.
[…]The intramural team originally took the name ‘Native Pride,’ but a group combating stereotypes provided them white T-shirts with a cartoon mascot of a white male with slicked-back hair wearing a tie and dark coat. The T-shirts are imprinted with “Every thang’s going to be all white!” on the front and ‘The Fighting Whites’ on the back. But the nickname has evolved to the more-barbed ‘The Fighting Whities.’
The irony, of course, is that the group’s milquetoast political message seems to be having the exact opposite effect of what they intended.
‘The message is, let’s do something that will let people see the other side of what it’s like to be a mascot,’ said Solomon Little Owl.
To which Doug Chamberlain, the principal of Eaton High School, replied, “I think it’s great. The white American male is a dying breed in the United States, you know. A little recognition does us good.”
Rather than “raising awareness” of “painful cultural stereotypes,” it seems, the “Fighting Whities” are being widely embraced by dorkish whities everywhere. In fact, “Fighting Whities” jerseys are suddenly in great demand…
Well, at least the money for the t-shirts is going to the actual basketball team.
Unless the dorkish whites are buying bootlegs.
The money is <i>indeed</i> going to the team, Aldo.
But some further irony: The members of the team are using the money to “rent us out some of ‘em hot Asian hookers,” according to Little Owl. “Them Asian hookers—they’re just, <i>you</i> know, so freakin’ <i>horny…</i>”
Textbook example of the Law of Unintended Consequences. Fire up the PowerPoint Presentations.
I guess it never occurred to the Sensitive Multicultural Contingent that someone might actually <i>like</i> a stereotype of their ethnic group. “White people like to fight” was supposed to invite hurt protestations on the order of “we wouldn’t hurt a fly”—and instead seems to have resulted in “Bring it on!” Maybe ethnic groups should abandon Grievance Nation and start indulging in their own bragadocio (however you spell that). Black people can go back to bragging about their superior dancing ability, Asian kids can be openly proud of excellence in math… It would be better than this game of one-upmanship in victimhood.
Jokes aside, I don’t think the reverse-victimization thing could really work. In most places, you don’t really get any shit for being white, and so the stereotypes (can’t dance, dorky…) don’t hurt. On the contrary, for most whites they’re funny, they’re a novelty. And that’s why I (and–I assume–Jeff) can laugh so hard at those Eddie Murphy skits in <i>Delerious</i> where the white guy goes outside in his drawers, and there ain’t…nevermind.
But don’t get me wrong. Blacks, Mexicans, and even <i>hooorny</i> Asian hookers can laugh at themselves plenty, even in mixed (er, white) company. But their ethnicity takes up lots of mental space in a way that most whites don’t appreciate, and as readily–and happily–as I’d wear a “fightin’ whities” T-Shirt, I’d also refrain from any self-congratulation because some American Indian absolutely refuses to wear a Redskins jersey.