It's cruel to fault me for being a white guy. I have enough other flaws to make up for: my grades, my personality, my less-than-impressive physique, and my bad habit of listing my personal flaws in newspaper columns.
That's why I'm troubled by the Carleton Undergraduate Students' Association. Last week, they cancelled a cystic fibrosis fundraiser for not being "inclusive" enough. They thought the disease "only affect[s] white people, and primarily men."
CUSA's statements about cystic fibrosis are wrong, and they're reconsidering their decision. But you can read all about that in our editorial. This column is about the denigration of white guys.
I'm not surprised a student union made a bad decision-that's par for the course. Instead, I wonder what would have happened if CUSA thought cystic fibrosis only affected black women. Or Asian men. Or androgynous pygmies. You get my point.
CUSA had the cojones to pass judgement on-to put it bluntly-white people with cojones. And what if this is just the beginning? There are plenty of other diseases (some of them cojones-related, like prostate cancer) that aren't particularly inclusive. As a white guy, I still want them to be cured.
So I'd like to say a few words in defence of white guys. I know we've been responsible for many terrible things. After all, Ivan the Terrible, Vlad the Impaler, and David Caruso were all white guys. But so were Abraham Lincoln, Bertrand Russell, and all the members of Pink Floyd. If you're going to saddle white guys with the legacies of racism, sexism, colonialism, and CSI: Miami, you should also thank us for Wish You Were Here.
I realize that white guys have a history of oppressing people. But many of those oppressed people were other white guys. My family is Polish. That's about as white as guys (or gals) can get. Yet they were deported, enslaved, starved, beaten, shot, and blacklisted-all by other white guys in Eastern Europe. Eventually they emigrated, only to settle in a land where their accents were mocked by a new batch of white guys. When it comes to being oppressed by white guys, it's tough all around.
2008 Woodie Awards
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Just Great
posted 12/06/08 @ 10:16 PM EST
Fantastic piece.
The humor is blunt, honest and generally supportive of the argument.
Good stuff.
Post a Comment