Quote:
Originally Posted by Dunbar
I made no judgement as to the "legitimacy" of the complaint. I only stated that the issue was important to those complaining. What do you even mean by "legitimate"? Do you mean 'rational'? To label them or your Christmas tree complainant as not "rational" is way off base, IMO. I may think that the Derby-party complaints are ridiculous, but that doesn't make them irrational.
Here's a difference between the Derby party and the Christmas tree. The Christmas tree cannot be replaced by something that would be just about equally appealing to those advocating it. Are you going to tell me that a Derby-themed party has some sort of uniqueness that is irreplaceable? We're racing fans here, but that's nonsense.
So what it boils down to is stubbornness, not "liberty". No one forced the sorority to make that decision. But a decision made in favor of campus harmony (at no tangible cost to the goals of the party), is seen by you and others as some sort of awful capitulation.
--Dunbar
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I don't see it as some sort of awful capitulation. I just see it as a pattern that we've been seeing lately where a group is given special consideration simply because of political correctness. If a group of non-minority students complained that the Woodstock theme was offensive, I doubt the theme would have been changed. By the way, I have less of a problem with a sorority giving in on this type of thing, than I do when the school administrators give in on these types of things. I think school administrators have a responsibility to treat all students fairly. There should not be special privileges for certain groups. Nowadays it seems that when certain groups complain about anything, no matter how ridiculous, the administrators cave in for fear of being labeled racist otherwise.
By the way, I have to admit that if I was being harassed by bullies over something ridiculous, I would probably cave in too. For example, if every time I wore a blue shirt, there was some psychotic person who screamed at me and told me they hated blue shirts, I would probably stop wearing blue shirts if I knew I was going to run into that person. The reason I would give in is because it simply would not be worth it to have to put up with the harassment. Who wants some crazy person screaming at you? It wouldn't matter to me that their grievance wasn't legitimate, I would just want to avoid the headache.
I think it is quite possible that the sorority was doing the same thing. And if that is the case, I think it is understandable. I don't like the idea of bullies forcing people to do something through intimidation, but I guess as long as the intimidation is legal, there's nothing anyone can do about it. You just have to make a decision as to whether it's worth it to stand up to the bullies. Sometimes it is just easier to give in and avoid the headache.