The Rice Thresher, Vol. 94, No. 5, Ed. 1 Friday, September 22, 2006 Page: 4 of 16
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THE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22,2006
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
LETTERS, from page 2
Peace" murals, which were hung in
Farnsworth Pavilion and involved
individuals from various religious
backgrounds—including Muslims,
Christians, Jews, Buddhists, BaTiai
and Hindus — during its creation.
Those murals were painted in a
sincere attempt at seeking under-
standing and reconciliation among
peoples. Organized by an individual
outside the Rice community at the
medical center, the murals have been
honored by a number of Houston
organizations, and have hung addi-
tionally at the Consulate of Pakistan
in Houston, where they were treated
with respect.
Your piece was an unrelenting
diatribe that provides no understand-
ing for the reader or any humor.
However, you may be right in that
what is really needed at the university
is a resource center for the under-
educated, illiberal young men who
are currently running the Thresher.
The apology issued was not enough.
David Brown and Evan Mintz's res-
ignations for lack of good judgment
and common sense may be the only
apology that can be accepted by the
Rice community as a whole.
Calvin N. Preece
Boniuk Center for the Study and
Advnacement of Religious Tolerance
Administrative Coordinator
Backpage untimely,
reaction insufficient
To the editor:
I've been trying to figure out how
to adequately express my feelings
toward the Backpage in the Sept. 15,
issue of the Thresher. I don't understand
why anyone, in light of the climate
surrounding the university and the
nation regarding diversity and toler-
ance, would consider the contents of
the Backpage appropriate.
The most upsetting part of this
whole ordeal is that hardly anyone
cares. After the Orientation Week
controversies — the Jones College
theme, the problems the diversity
facilitators encountered in presenta-
tions— I thought it was clear that it is
not the time or the place for this type
of commentary to be produced.
Another issue with this Backpage
is that by default, unsigned pieces in
the Thresher represent the majority
opinion of students at Rice to the
community: WTiat we think is ap-
propriate or important, what we think
is funny, what we think is offensive.
Maybe the situation would have been
a little bit better if someone would
have formally taken responsibility
for the content.
In my opinion, this entire situation
has shown, through publication and
response, that the university thinks
that the effort for diversity is just like
the Backpage: a big joke.
Alicia Burns-Wright
Jones Junior
ADVANCE'S agenda
tastelessly mocked
To the editor:
I appreciate the Threshers will-
ingness to consider ADVANCE'S
stance on the most recent Backpage.
ADVANCE members, as well as
fellow students and even parents,
gathered on Friday to discuss the
hurtful nature and implications of
the Backpage's content.
As student coordinator of
ADVANCE (Advocating Diversity
and the Need for Cultural Exchange),
my main contention with the satirical
and inllammatory Backpage is that
it mocks the missions, goals and
endeavors of multicultural and minority
outreach organizations. ADVANCE
creates opportunities to recognize
and appreciate our diversity in a safe
space to ultimately facilitate a greater
understanding of ourselves and others.
We believe our differences bring us
together, rather than create feelings
of intimidation and distance. Thus,
we encourage people to raise sincere
questions and comments regarding
different values, sexual preferences,
racial and ethnic backgrounds, and
religious beliefs to bridge the gap of
tolerance and understanding.
Although I understand the Back-
page's intentions to lampoon Rice's
diversity ranking by the Princeton
Review, I do not condone its exploi-
tation of polarizing stereotypes to
crudely gloss over important issues
concerning differences. The one-
sided question and answer dialogue
gives the false impression that hard
questions concerning diversity are
taboo because certain groups can-
not handle the truth, and suggests
that meaningful discussions are
impossible. However, my participa-
tion in honest and stimulating dis-
cussions concerning difficult topics
among open-minded Rice students
proves otherwise.
Diane Wu
Sid Richardson senior
ADVANCE Student Coordinator
Apology appropriate,
so is free speech
To the editor:
I truly appreciate Thresher Editor
in Chief David Brown and Opinion
and Backpage Editor Evan Mintz's
apology, as I did feel most of the
references were simply in bad taste
and not satirical. With that being said,
I'm a firm believer in free speech,
whether one agrees, likes or ap-
proves. With what we see in the world
today, particularly radical religious
responses to inane remarks, 1 for one
would rather have them say what
they want rather than have an edited
version of the Constitution.
Reggie Clarkson
Telecommunications Manager
Reaction should
focus on real issues
To the editor:
I wasn't surprised to see a letter
of apology sent out by the Thresher
over last issue's Backpage. 1 am glad
the Thresher realizes the timing was
poorly thought out.
However, from listening to con-
versations on campus, students seem
to miss the point of the Backpage.
Though discrimination may be on
its way out, we as students are still
uncomfortable discussing the differ-
ences in, influences on and impacts
of our multiracial and multicultural
society. What this means to me is that
the Backpage should have provoked
dialogue on the issue. 1 wish people
had looked at the Backpage as an
opportunity to discuss what issues
still remain in society — especially
within the Rice community.
Instead, we immediately
assumed that the Backpage was
solely offensive and contained no
inherent intellectual value. I would
disagree, because the Backpage
made me realize two things.
The first is that these jokes point
out stereotypes that are actually held
by a lot of people, though perhaps
not to the same extent as stated.
So the question then should have
been, what should we as students do
about it? I think Stephanie Jennings'
column provides a good start to that
dialogue. At a most basic level, we
need to own up to the fact that these
stereotypes do exist apart from the
comedic realm.
The second is that though I was
taken aback at first, the Backpage
did make me think about exactly why
that happened. The "shock value" of
something can and should provoke
discussion and even solutions. We
were of fended as a community because
previously, no one had the audacity to
showthattheseprejudicesdoexist Itis
easier for us to retreat into the safety of
political correctness than to take what
we are presented with and actually
examine its veracity and implications.
To that end, by putting the issues out
there, the Backpage shocks usin order
to point out an issue we'd otherwise
be too scared to talk about for fear of
offending anyone.
So while I agree with the outcry
against the offensive nature of the
jokes on the Backpage, rather than
simply feeling good about ourselves
for eliciting an apology from the
Thresher, let's use this to discuss the
problems of political correctness and
the racial tensions which actually
do exist on our campus rather than
the Thresher's consistent inability to
make you laugh.
Kirti Datla
Sid Richardson junior
Thresher staff writer
Equal offender a
uniter, not a divider
To the editor:
I love America. The sights, the
smells. I love every KFC-scarfing
pastor in the South and every tight-
fisted, neurotic yoga yuppie in the
North. And I love that I have the
freedom to make jokes. This free-
dom, this right that I have to make
fun of whoever I want whenever I
want, is protected in our Bill of Rights.
That's why I am doing my duty as a
protector of our First Amendment
by protesting the apology forced on
the Thresher in the interest of a status
quo that effects a different but still
unacceptable form of "separate but
equal" on everyone for the sake of
"political correctness."
The Backpage was brilliant, not
because it made fun of Asians or Cam-
pus Crusade for Christ; it was brilliant
because it made fun of everyone.
Fairly. Don't we all have the same
rights as citizens of this country
to vote, live and pay unreasonably
high taxes together? If we're truly
united under one flag, why can't we
make fun of Asians as much as we
make fun of WASPS? If it's only OK
to make fun of white people, it's still
separate but equal. That was thrown
out in 1954 — it's time for humor to
catch up.
So to those who wrote to the
Thresher complaining about preju-
dice: Remember, jokes we make
about each other are jokes we make
about ourselves. We're all humans,
if not Americans — don't worry,
international students, I'm not forget-
ting you or your weird accents and
customs. It is my privilege—indeed,
my duty — to make fun of everyone
fairly. So thanks, Thresher, for boldly
going where every person should go
in the interest of togetherness.
Maria-Elisa Heg
Martel sophomore
Backpage humor
same as stand-ups'
To the editor:
I'm sure the Thresher will get a lot
of heat for last week's racial profiling
Backpage — at least in words from
your friends and enemies, if not also in
letters to the editor. Anyone who writes
in to the lliresher, though, should
also seriously consider contacting his
or her favorite stand-up comedian to
request additional sensitivity tocultural
identities. Playing with racial and cul-
tural stereotypes is the d;iily bread of
comedians, as well as a familiar topic
amongst close friends. Rather than
deny every stereotypical thought
that enters the brain, the Backpage,
like all comedians, makes light of the
differences between us to show that
they are not such big deals after all.
Ian Ragsdale
Hanszen senior
Jokes not derisive,
nor a problem
To the editor:
I thought I would compose a short
letter approving last week's Backpage,
because it was so funny, and because
apparently a few people were offended
by it. I have close friends from every
single group that was made fun of in
the Thresher, and all of them think
it was funny and understand and
appreciate the satire that was last
week's Backpage; some of them even
think it was the funniest Backpage
they have yet seen. Whoever got
offended by it and wrote angry letters
and threats really needs to take some
time to reflect and see how secure
they are about whatever it is that
they got offended about — and then
decide how offended they are about
the harmless Backpage and write
another letter. I personally hope it was
a bunch of white, conservative, up-
per-middle class, straight. Christian
males as mentioned in the Backpage,
just because that would be the most
ironic and funny in this context
The difference between the jokes
in the Thresher and jokes that one
should be offended by is that the
Thresher is not derisive. Derisive
jokes dehumanize and open the way
for bad things like persecution and
prejudice. Non-derisive jokes lead
only to laughter, which is part of
being human. However, there is the
question of tact. In this case, it was
rather tactless to exclude Hispanics
and Native Americans. We should be
able to poke fun at them too.
Ed Bonnyman
Sid Richardson sophomore
At least Backpage
sparked discussion
To the editor:
Hie backlash over the Backpage
is only half of the problems with
diversity that we face at Rice. Hie
other half are opinions like the one
Stephanie Jennings' guest column,
which grossly understate the diver-
sity issues facing the Jones (Menta-
tion Week theme. If the whipping up
of an e-mail frenzy about the theme
three months after it is announced
and no direct contact between the
coordinators and those protesting
the theme to talk about it shows the
situation was handled "smoothly
by all involved parties," I dare not
consider what a bumpy handling
would look like.
Secondly, the guest columnist
laments our distinction of "IjOts of
Race/Class Interaction" — not "Has
no Diversity Issues," as she is wont
to believe. Rice does have diversity
issues, not the least of which when
it tried to address them in a forum
known for silliness without malicious
intent — the Backpage — cries for
censorship abounded. The mere
fact that we have the freedom of
speech to print what may have been
an ill-timed Backpage sarcastically
stereotyping all sorts of groups at Rice
is an indicator that Rice students are
socially aware and willing to tackle
discussions of stereotypes, rather
than hiding behind propriety. The
Backpage is the discussion the Jones
O-Week coordinators never got: the
Backpage as a discussion sparkplug
in a student-accessible format is itself
representative of our diversity and
tantamount to why we receive awards
for our race and class interaction.
Lyssa Myska Allen
Sid Richardson senior
Diversity workshops
divide new students
To the editor:
I am writing in response to
Stephanie Jennings' column on
diversity at Rice. Jennings talks
about how diversity workshops
are supposed to help our allegedly
racist university, yet coming in as
an international freshman three
years ago, I was appalled by the
way diversity workshops were
conducted at an otherwise accept-
ing and diverse institution such as
Rice. I walked out of that session
aware of differences that previ-
ously I had never even thought
about. My Orientation Week group
walked in as a group of human
beings and walked out as a mix
of blacks, whites and Hispanics. I
felt antagonized by my facilitator
when I mentioned that even though
I am Mexican, I do not identify with
American Hispanics. How on earth
this is supposed to be helpful is
beyond my understanding.
Jennings also went on to criticize
a workshop that turned into an argu-
ment on world politics. I was obvi-
ously not there when this happened,
but I'm pretty sure that this would
not have happened if the diversity
facilitators had exercised better judg-
ment when leading a discussion that
touches on such sensitive issues.
Nobody wants O-Week to turn into
a political debate, but if people are
put in such a situation, then of course
they will start arguing for their posi-
tion. And the truth is that a political
argument, in which international
students are obviously going to have
opinions different from their Ameri-
can counterparts, does not reflect
a lack of "race/class interaction"
at Rice.
Carla Martinez Machain
Jones senior
Ambassador omits
Israeli meddling
To the editor:
Hie Thresher reported that Israeli
Ambassador Daniel Ayalon stated,
"We are not meddling in Palestinian
internal politics" ("Israeli Ambas-
sador Ayalon: Key to Middle East
peace is modernity," Sept. 15). As
a follow-up question, one might
ask whether the abduction and
imprisonment of 33 democratically
elected members of the Palestinian
legislative Council by Israel ought
to be construed as "meddling."
Carl Fearson
Visiting professor
History department
Tuck Fexas shirts
inappropriate
To the editor:
I attended the Rice vs. Texas
football game on Sept. 16with family
members, and we were dismayed at
the number ofT-shirts with offensive
messages worn by Rice fans. The
fact that Rice University endorses
the T-shirts (they are purchased by
the Student Association) is cause
for more concern. Free speech is
one thing, suggestive messages
considered offensive by a polite
society is quite another. In any case,
something needs to be said loud and
clear to current students and alumni.
The message: "Tuck Fexas" is not
appropriate — anytime, anywhere.
Rice is not alone. UT has been
trying to curb unsportsmanlike
conduct among fans at home and
away games. The September and
October issue of its alumni maga-
zine devotes two pages to this topic.
I encourage people to research
this further. Surely these two uni-
versities can do better by setting a
high standard of propriety for our
great state.
As a native Houstonian, I have
always had a high regard for Rice
University. I hope I will have reason
to retain that regard in the future.
Joe Montalbano
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Brown, David. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 94, No. 5, Ed. 1 Friday, September 22, 2006, newspaper, September 22, 2006; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443079/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.