Trent, I am offended that you would label someone a racist for calling Grandma a “sweet old black woman” (“It’s Not About Appearances,” Feb. 24, 2009, Volume CXLV, Number 8). Guess what? She is! Always asks how you are, gives you a hug, always smiling; it’s her personality. On top of that, I have worked with Grandma at both Mocon and Summerfields, and she tells everyone to call her Grandma. I don’t know her real name and very few people do because she goes by Grandma and that is her choice. In light of this fact, your use of the “Aunt Jemima” reference is horrific because it reveals just how little you know about this woman and her interactions with people on this campus, not to mention your tendency to be hyperbolic.
Do you automatically cry “Racist! Bigot! Classist! Derogatory! Homophobic! Etc.!” (and simultaneously cry “Wolf!”) every single time you see words that can be used to describe race, gender, class, sexuality, the list goes on and on … in any way, shape and/or form that isn’t immediately followed by a paragraph-long explanation of why that one word was used? If life should have taught you anything by this point, it’s not the words that are used but the tone, emotion, and meaning that are put behind them. Along with the comment about “oriental” labels, you have successfully revealed that you are oppressing just as much as you feel oppressed by trying to forcefully limit freedom of speech. Oops, your privilege is showing!
Sometimes in reading your Wespeaks you remind me of Ann Coulter, simply for the shock value of your pieces. But there’s a major difference. With Ann, you can tell that she knows everything she says is a big joke and she’s just doing Fox for cash and attention. With you, Trent, I think you believe every word you write, but sometimes I am not certain. Either way, it’s setting you up for disaster. And it doesn’t matter one way or another, because there is a story I referenced earlier that I will expand now. The little boy cried, “Wolf!” until no one came anymore, and then the real wolf showed up and devoured him whole. That is pretty much what you are doing to yourself, just so you know.
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