Straight White Guy Festival

[Steve Butters]

so just so im understanding....you have a legit problem with a festival that would be called "Straight White Guy Festival" but you support every other minority/sexual preference having their own festivals? and you honestly don't see any issue with that? if thats the case - ill just drop it at that....there would be no reason to even have a discussion at that point....cant fix certain things....unless im just misunderstanding the point youre getting at?

[smccrory]

Honestly I'd probably attend a Straight White Guy Festival just for the free Donnie and Marie Osmond CD handouts.

 

I joke of course, and honestly if organizers could pull it off without hate being a part of it, i.e. having to allow KKK participation or some group using it as a way to ridicule or belittle or mock the other parades, it wouldn't be a bad thing at all.

 

Except for the xylophone jazz.

[DAC]

Honestly I'd probably attend a Straight White Guy Festival just for the free Donnie and Marie Osmond CD handouts.

 

I joke of course, and honestly if organizers could pull it off without hate being a part of it, i.e. having to allow KKK participation or some group using it as a way to ridicule or belittle or mock the other parades, it wouldn't be a bad thing at all.

 

Except for the xylophone jazz.

 

No stereotyping there, right?  It's all okay - parades stopped being entertaining after about the 6th grade.

[smccrory]

No stereotyping there, right?  It's all okay - parades stopped being entertaining after about the 6th grade.

 

Not at all.  I'm white, male, hetero and rather enjoy lounge jazz, xylophone included.

 

Most parades suck, yes.  Being in one is a lot better, unless you're 6 and pedal a decorated tractor-style tricycle the entire parade distance, then it's much less so.

[OsuMj]

So, I agree with all of that, and if someone can come up with a parade name that doesn't sound like it's making insensitive mockery of minority celebrations, then count me fully in. 

I think the name is ok.  It serves its purpose and is probably less offensive than if it was modeled after other festival names in columbus.  Here are some other possiblities...

1. Asian festival - Caucasian festival

2. Gay Pride Parade - White Pride Parade

3. Ohio Lesbian Festival - Ohio Straight Festival

 

[Gixxus Christ!]

So are we gonna make this happen or what? Won't be straight for long...If college fraternities and the track day crew around here is any indication, you put enough straight white dudes together, eventually someone's gonna touch a penis.

[redkow97]

The labels are what make everything pointless...  Deciding and announcing which group of people is being celebrated promotes division, not acceptance.

 

why does everything have to be a ___________ festival?  Can't it just be a non-specific event where everyone is welcome to come and interact with one another, highlighting our similarities rather than "celebrating" our differences? 

 

 

If we have an Ohio Riders get together, I could not care any less if an overweight, gay, black woman in a wheel-chair shows up.  I'm there to talk bikes, because that's an interest we share.  Our differences ought to be treated as immensely less relevant than what we have in common.

 

(and if it wasn't obvious, I used that example because it's the most opposite my own description.  I'm a thin white guy.  You can insert anyone else who might be otherwise different from me)

Edited July 24, 2014 by redkow97

[Gixxus Christ!]

My father was an overweight black gay woman in a wheelchair you fucking biggot.

[smccrory]

My father was an overweight black gay woman in a wheelchair you fucking biggot.

 

+rep for you sir!

[Tigerpaw]

So, I agree with all of that, and if someone can come up with a parade name that doesn't sound like it's making insensitive mockery of minority celebrations, then count me fully in.  I just can't imagine that name at this time in history, not while people still "dog-whistle" (or outright shout) racial epitaphs, actively work to disenfranchise minority voters, legislate against same-sex marriage, and use Immigration issues as code for keeping the mexican populous on the down-low (i.e. fine for lawnscaping, construction and fast food service as long as they speak our fooking language).

 

What name would you suggest that won't get me shot or arrested?

[smccrory]

What name would you suggest that won't get me shot or arrested?

 

I don't know!  I can't figure out one myself.  But with all the other festivals already out there, is one even necessary?  I mean, what part of being white, straight and male isn't already addressed by music and special interest cons, fairs and parades?  I mean, other than the part where it's overtly or covertly a jab at the others.

[Steve Butters]

I don't know!  I can't figure out one myself.  But with all the other festivals already out there, is one even necessary?  I mean, what part of being white, straight and male isn't already addressed by music and special interest cons, fairs and parades? 

 

Same can be said for any of these festivals.

Edited July 24, 2014 by Steve Butters

[smccrory]

Same can be said for any of these festivals.

 

Oh really?  Let's test that theory.  If you're male, white and hetero, can you legally marry in Ohio?  Are you constantly worried about being "outted" at work and fired because of your sexual orientation, and worried about someone ridiculing, beating or killing you because of it?  Do you have to fight for equal pay and access to health care?  Are you looked at with suspicious eyes whenever you enter a fancy store?

 

Puleeeez.  We white hetero men have it easy compared to the deck stacked against others because we're already established.  And yet some of us still whine whenever someone else wants a piece of the same "equality" we enjoy, by raising awareness through parades, festivals and so on.

[OsuMj]

 

Puleeeez.  We white hetero men have it easy compared to the deck stacked against others because we're already established.  And yet some of us still whine whenever someone else wants a piece of the same "equality" we enjoy, by raising awareness through parades, festivals and so on.

I don't think anyone here is whining about lifestyle/ethnic parades or festivals. I think people are upset because its such a big deal that someone wants a festival for being a white male (or rather wants to make a point about the unfairness of it being ok that there are all of these festivals for other lifestyles/ethnicities, but completely NOT ok to celebrate if you are a white male).

 

So you think white men have it easy?  So, why not be allowed to celebrate how easy your life is?  Maybe some white men don't think they have it easy because they got passed up for scholarships or jobs, so why should they not gather in a festival to enjoy each others company and lament on missed opportunities? 

 

They aren't excluding anyone, it clearly says "everyone welcome".

The best part about a public festival, is that you don't have to go if you don't want to.  Its just so dumb that people are getting upset about this... especially since it probably isn't even real.

 

 

Edited July 24, 2014 by OsuMj

[redbarron77]

What name would you suggest that won't get me shot or arrested?

 

Cracker Congregation!

[smccrory]

Cracker Congregation!

 

I'd join that!  It would demonstrate a sense of humor at least.

[redkow97]

Puleeeez.  We white hetero men have it easy compared to the deck stacked against others because we're already established.  And yet some of us still whine whenever someone else wants a piece of the same "equality" we enjoy, by raising awareness through parades, festivals and so on.

 

so hetero white guys are supposed to apologize for our position in life?  Or are we just supposed to go out of our way to 'dethrone' ourselves from the top of the socioeconomic food-chain?

 

I'm not going to pretend I understand "the struggle" and all that, but I also don't buy into the notion that parades and festivals diminish said struggle, or advance any cause.

[smccrory]

so hetero white guys are supposed to apologize for our position in life?  Or are we just supposed to go out of our way to 'dethrone' ourselves from the top of the socioeconomic food-chain?

 

I'm not going to pretend I understand "the struggle" and all that, but I also don't buy into the notion that parades and festivals diminish said struggle, or advance any cause.

 

No, not apologize for our position in life, nor dethrone ourselves, but to acknowledge that at least a component is/was won by taking advantage of a stacked desk, that the deck hasn't been fully unstacked yet, and that we have an ethical obligation to fairness and equality.  If we ourselves don't want our minority-children-to-become to suffer the same unfair fate in 20-40 years, we should be especially interested in this concept.

[redkow97]

"the system" IS fair.  You're talking about personal biases.   We can't control how people feel.

 

I am totally willing to admit that my 'status' as a white male of upper-middle-class pedigree has afforded me advantages throughout my life, but if I were a black male with the same education, I would have had quadruple the number of job offers.  Tell me that's "fair."

Edited July 24, 2014 by redkow97

[smccrory]

"the system" IS fair.  You're talking about personal biases.   We can't control how people feel.

 

I am totally willing to admit that my 'status' as a white male of upper-middle-class pedigree has afforded me advantages throughout my life, but if I were a black male with the same education, I would have had quadruple the number of job offers.  Tell me that's "fair."

 

Maybe but I doubt it, and that's only one minority and only one expression of balance/imbalance.  I'm getting bored of the topic though.  It's nice out.  I need to ride.

[Tigerpaw]

What name would you suggest that won't get me shot or arrested?

 

Awareness of Sunburned Scalps....Parade.

[Anden]

The Normal Parade. Wait that's already taken.

[bloodninja420]

Do I need to "check my privilege" before commenting on this topic?  Despite our white skin, most of my immediate ancestors didnt exactly have life served up to them on a silver platter. But I guess their struggle can't be compared to the immense problems faced by a gay born into the wealthiest and most tolerant society in human history...

 

This kid said it very well earlier in the year.

http://theprincetontory.com/main/checking-my-privilege-character-as-the-basis-of-privilege/

 

There is a phrase that floats around college campuses, Princeton being no exception, that threatens to strike down opinions without regard for their merits, but rather solely on the basis of the person that voiced them. “Check your privilege,” the saying goes, and I have been reprimanded by it several times this year. The phrase, handed down by my moral superiors, descends recklessly, like an Obama-sanctioned drone, and aims laser-like at my pinkish-peach complexion, my maleness, and the nerve I displayed in offering an opinion rooted in a personal Weltanschauung. “Check your privilege,” they tell me in a command that teeters between an imposition to actually explore how I got where I am, and a reminder that I ought to feel personally apologetic because white males seem to pull most of the strings in the world.

 

I do not accuse those who “check” me and my perspective of overt racism, although the phrase, which assumes that simply because I belong to a certain ethnic group I should be judged collectively with it, toes that line. But I do condemn them for diminishing everything I have personally accomplished, all the hard work I have done in my life, and for ascribing all the fruit I reap not to the seeds I sow but to some invisible patron saint of white maleness who places it out for me before I even arrive. Furthermore, I condemn them for casting the equal protection clause, indeed the very idea of a meritocracy, as a myth, and for declaring that we are all governed by invisible forces (some would call them “stigmas” or “societal norms”), that our nation runs on racist and sexist conspiracies. Forget “you didn’t build that;” check your privilege and realize that nothing you have accomplished is real.

 

But they can’t be telling me that everything I’ve done with my life can be credited to the racist patriarchy holding my hand throughout my years of education and eventually guiding me into Princeton. Even that is too extreme. So to find out what they are saying, I decided to take their advice. I actually went and checked the origins of my privileged existence, to empathize with those whose underdog stories I can’t possibly comprehend. I have unearthed some examples of the privilege with which my family was blessed, and now I think I better understand those who assure me that skin color allowed my family and I to flourish today.

 

Perhaps it’s the privilege my grandfather and his brother had to flee their home as teenagers when the Nazis invaded Poland, leaving their mother and five younger siblings behind, running and running until they reached a Displaced Persons camp in Siberia, where they would do years of hard labor in the bitter cold until World War II ended. Maybe it was the privilege my grandfather had of taking on the local Rabbi’s work in that DP camp, telling him that the spiritual leader shouldn’t do hard work, but should save his energy to pass Jewish tradition along to those who might survive. Perhaps it was the privilege my great-grandmother and those five great-aunts and uncles I never knew had of being shot into an open grave outside their hometown. Maybe that’s my privilege.

 

Or maybe it’s the privilege my grandmother had of spending weeks upon weeks on a death march through Polish forests in subzero temperatures, one of just a handful to survive, only to be put in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where she would have died but for the Allied forces who liberated her and helped her regain her health when her weight dwindled to barely 80 pounds.

 

Perhaps my privilege is that those two resilient individuals came to America with no money and no English, obtained citizenship, learned the language and met each other; that my grandfather started a humble wicker basket business with nothing but long hours, an idea, and an iron will—to paraphrase the man I never met: “I escaped Hitler. Some business troubles are going to ruin me?” Maybe my privilege is that they worked hard enough to raise four children, and to send them to Jewish day school and eventually City College.

 

Perhaps it was my privilege that my own father worked hard enough in City College to earn a spot at a top graduate school, got a good job, and for 25 years got up well before the crack of dawn, sacrificing precious time he wanted to spend with those he valued most—his wife and kids—to earn that living. I can say with certainty there was no legacy involved in any of his accomplishments. The wicker business just isn’t that influential.Now would you say that we’ve been really privileged? That our success has been gift-wrapped?

 

That’s the problem with calling someone out for the “privilege” which you assume has defined their narrative. You don’t know what their struggles have been, what they may have gone through to be where they are. Assuming they’ve benefitted from “power systems” or other conspiratorial imaginary institutions denies them credit for all they’ve done, things of which you may not even conceive. You don’t know whose father died defending your freedom. You don’t know whose mother escaped oppression. You don’t know who conquered their demons, or may still conquering them now.

 

The truth is, though, that I have been exceptionally privileged in my life, albeit not in the way any detractors would have it.

It has been my distinct privilege that my grandparents came to America. First, that there was a place at all that would take them from the ruins of Europe. And second, that such a place was one where they could legally enter, learn the language, and acclimate to a society that ultimately allowed them to flourish.

 

It was their privilege to come to a country that grants equal protection under the law to its citizens, that cares not about religion or race, but the content of your character.

It was my privilege that my grandfather was blessed with resolve and an entrepreneurial spirit, and that he was lucky enough to come to the place where he could realize the dream of giving his children a better life than he had.

 

But far more important for me than his attributes was the legacy he sought to pass along, which forms the basis of what detractors call my “privilege,” but which actually should be praised as one of altruism and self-sacrifice. Those who came before us suffered for the sake of giving us a better life. When we similarly sacrifice for our descendents by caring for the planet, it’s called “environmentalism,” and is applauded. But when we do it by passing along property and a set of values, it’s called “privilege.” (And when we do it by raising questions about our crippling national debt, we’re called Tea Party radicals.) Such sacrifice of any form shouldn’t be scorned, but admired.

 

My exploration did yield some results. I recognize that it was my parents’ privilege and now my own that there is such a thing as an American dream which is attainable even for a penniless Jewish immigrant.

 

I am privileged that values like faith and education were passed along to me. My grandparents played an active role in my parents’ education, and some of my earliest memories included learning the Hebrew alphabet with my Dad. It’s been made clear to me that education begins in the home, and the importance of parents’ involvement with their kids’ education—from mathematics to morality—cannot be overstated. It’s not a matter of white or black, male or female or any other division which we seek, but a matter of the values we pass along, the legacy we leave, that perpetuates “privilege.” And there’s nothing wrong with that.

 

Behind every success, large or small, there is a story, and it isn’t always told by sex or skin color. My appearance certainly doesn’t tell the whole story, and to assume that it does and that I should apologize for it is insulting. While I haven’t done everything for myself up to this point in my life, someone sacrificed themselves so that I can lead a better life. But that is a legacy I am proud of.

 

I have checked my privilege. And I apologize for nothing.

 

 

[Steve Butters]

I'm at a loss for words about how fucking stupid this is... Smccrory, you're part of the problem, not the solution. I'm out.

[smccrory]

I'm at a loss for words about how fucking stupid this is... Smccrory, you're part of the problem, not the solution. I'm out.

No big loss there. You don't get it, so, do your thing man.