I meant if one does not understand, accept or simply like another people's culture, it is not grounds for them to spin it into their own culture not being accepted. This is what I see happening here at LVC.
Read what you've just written. If person A doesn't accept person B's culture, person B isn't spinning anything. Their culture isn't being accepted.
Universities are a little different than most places. Most of them are an idealistic PC bubble, and much of that is based around the individual university mission statement.
In the U.S.A., individuals have rights. They have the right to pursue education. But they don't have the "right" to pursue education at any particular institution. It's a privilege, one that has to be earned [applications, GPAs, cost] and a privilege that can be taken away as the institution sees fit [suspension or expulsion.] The grey area is when an institution's mission statement proscribes conduct that an individual has the "right" to do if they were not a student or staff member.
To make that simple, as an American, I can go to my nearest street corner and hold up a sign that says "Niggers are Gay." I may get my ass kicked, but I'm not going to get arrested. I'm not going to have the government seize my assets. But for me to be a member of a college community, whether student or staff, I'm most likely forfeiting my "right" to that speech as part of the "privilege" of being part of that community. Depending on the institution's mission statement, and 99% of the one's I've seen have that diversity/inclusivity element.
So if a student feels like they're not being accepted because someone isn't accepting them, and the university mission state says "we're inclusive and value diversity" they literally have the right to protest. That was really a core element in the Civil Rights movement, where young people challenged the established institutional and cultural elements of discrimination and racism.
Not disagreeing about the possibility of the journalist looking to get headlines, but the students using the building name as an issue to get attention is simply wrong.
Again, I'm reading it as part of a list of concerns, and probably not at the top. I could be wrong. But I think a writer with a bias would find it's a lot easier to make the students look like they've lost their minds by focusing on that, rather than on, say concerns about them being called slurs by campus security or by other staff or students.
The Lynch building does not have a "developed meaning". Even if it did, it is not just to change the name.
As cheeseflosser asked, do you attend this school?
Even then, as a white person, I'm not always aware of developed meaning and resonance of some things, as seen by a member of an underrepresented group.
It's a group of copy cat kids trying to gain notoriety like they've seen others do on TV.
I can't speak to that. I'm not a member of that community, and the writer doesn't even make the effort to interview any of the students who feel wronged. I think it's just as likely that the author has an axe to grind with what they see as "liberal/political correctness gone out of control."
Once again, giving words power over you is weak; this weak mindedness ultimately does nothing more than appease someone's trivial and unfounded sensitivity at best; at worst it sets a terrible precedent for catering to the uneducated and weak minded people taking attention and effort away from issues that have an legitimate social impact.
I don't agree with that. I think that often words are symptomatic of a deeper conviction that can lead to action. When you look at the asshole that shot up planned parenthood, his bullshit started with words. If he was addressed back when it was just words, 3 people may be alive today who aren't, as well as all the people wounded and the families that lost a loved one.
How narrow minded is it to associate the term lynch with only black people? People of all cultures, sex, and race have been victims of lynch mobs throughout history.
Lynching as a verb and Lynch Mob are American words, starting in Virginia in the mid 1800s. Certainly, people of all cultures have been the victim of vigilante violence [often posing as justice] and white activists/supporters were lynched as well, but the term is pretty uniquely American. But all that aside, I'm not seeing where it's only black people who are calling for the change. It just says "students."
I'm going to disagree, again.
Words have meaning and represent ideals, meaning and (especially) ideals influences thought which influences actions. The fact that we're conversion only using words negates your assumption. I do agree that it can get taken too far (see George Carlin's "Personhole instead of manhole" joke), but I don't think it's too much to ask a university to add a few extra letters to some signs and building entrances.
I agree.
rh
