White Privilege Upsets White Privileged

Photo: Luke Weir, The Appalachian

There are a lot of difficult things in the world. Deep sea fishing, Mandarin Chinese, saying the alphabet backwards. I couldn't do any of those things without royally fucking up several seconds in. Luckily for me, I'm not expected to do much. I'm white, male, heterosexual and, to my knowledge, have fully functioning limbs. One of my very few duties in life is accepting that I have it easy. Unfortunately, the myriad others like me do not always share this sentiment.

Recently, in an attempt to humorously educate his residents, Reggie Gravely, a resident assistant in East Hall at Appalachian State, put up a bulletin board highlighting the different types of privilege and urging his residents to "check [their] privilege." Seems reasonable enough. You don't even have to put on underwear! But white people are prickly and sensitive after years of rubbing money on themselves in the bathtub and offense was taken.

Sparking the ire of a couple of East Hall's residents, the board had its picture taken and sent in to Campus Reform. To briefly clarify, the only people who know what Campus Reform is are people with "Ted Cruz 2016" posters and Campus Reform writers. The website, hilariously and incorrectly labeled as "the #1 Source for College News" is actually a product of The Leadership Institute, a Conservative activism group.

Campus Reform, who took a predictable "this board is offensive to white heterosexual men" stance, also likes cultural insensitivity, does not like undocumented immigrants, and apparently has no fucking clue what privilege is, but hates it all the same. In its article about the bulletin board, it frames the narrative in a way that pits the board against the free expression of ideas and opinions.

According to Mike Herbert, a sophomore communication major who lives on the hall, coming back to school after Spring Break to see the bulletin board only added to the already contentious relationship between students on the hall and the RA, who took over only a few months prior.

“It was like a slap in the face,” Herbert told Campus Reform in an exclusive phone interview Monday afternoon. “Although a lot of us have similar views as he does, we feel like it’s a giant middle finger to us.”

(Bolding mine)

"Exclusive phone interview." EXCLUSIVE. PHONE. INTERVIEW. I digress.

Campus Reform and their ilk would have people believe that any challenge to the status quo of white privilege (or any kind of privilege for that matter) is an attack on American ideals and some crazy new form of racism that the kids are trying out these days. They don't like to acknowledge that particular members of society have it better than others because it detracts from an idea that their culture is the only true American culture. To acquiesce to the idea that being born a particular way comes with its own set of privileges and lifestyle butts heads with the Reagan-esque notion that anyone can work their way to the top in the United States, regardless of race, class or creed. Its precisely this drivel that fills young conservatives' heads with delusions of a fair playing field and thus, justifies their refusal to check their privilege.

And that's precisely what it has become: stubborn refusal. In an article by The Appalachian, it was reported that students gathered to discuss the board in a hall meeting. The opposing opinions were, predictably, stupid:

“Talking about a controversial topic [like privilege] should be voluntary, it shouldn’t be brought to your front door,” said Matthew Desantis, second floor resident and freshman accounting major. “Of course certain groups of people have privilege, but the presentation is what bothers me.”

Another second floor resident, senior history major Michael Hebert, said he did not think the board achieved its goal of being educational.

“The content of the board is not inclusive, which is what an RA should be,” he said. “I have a hard time believing that I should learn at [3 a.m.] on my way to the bathroom."

God forbid you should acknowledge that you do still, in fact, have it easy on your way to your 3am piss. It's literally a board that states "you're better off than most people!" and this still somehow manages to piss people off.

Bitching about privilege because you're just not in the mood to think or talk about it is, essentially, the point that the board is trying to get at. You have the privilege to put off inconvenient things or to not engage in them at all. That you can avoid the concept of your own privilege at all is an incredibly privileged thing. Sure, the board comes off a little snarky and perhaps even a little holier-than-thou, but the message is an important one regardless. And, no, it shouldn't be fucking voluntary. How would that even fucking work? "Hi, thank you for calling the privilege hotline. How may we explain how great you have it today?"

As Mr. Herbert, above, points out in both articles, he agrees with the sentiment but not with the way it is introduced. I answer back: Alright; do it better. Make every resident in East Hall aware of their privilege and convince them to merely acknowledge that it exists. If you can manage that, then you will have accomplished something beautiful.

But as for right now, you're just bitching up the wrong tree.

Please Don't Attend the Circus

It's no secret that Appalachian has a PR problem. With everything from diversity issues to less-than-effective counseling programs rearing their ugly heads, one would think that the university might be keen on treading carefully. One would be wrong, though. In a remarkably gauche move, the university has decided to host the Garden Bros. Circus for an afternoon of high-flying animal abuse!

The moral outrage aside for a moment, look at that fucking show time: 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm? What sort of sadomasochism do they think we're engaged in up here on the mountain that they think we would ever want to sit through three full goddamn hours of a fucking circus? I digress, however.

Circuses are, in case you are still living in the 1950's, generally awful. With countless organizations advocating for their abolition, citing the awful abuse undergone by animals, it's a wonder that people still file into giant, humid rooms and subject themselves to the dull and sadistic spectacle that is a circus. Most notorious for its rampant depravity is the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. Once mostly known for animal crackers in nifty packaging, they've come to be associated with allegations of horrible abuse of their animals.

Granted, Appalachian has not invited the Ringling Brothers to its campus (though I imagine that might be more of a financial decision than one based in moral outrage). Indeed, it has invited the Garden Bros, an organization that yields very little on Google beyond petitions calling for a boycott of their performance. Admittedly, I know absolutely nothing about this traveling troupe and I am being a bit preemptory in my condemnation of their show. It's not necessarily the Garden Bros. as an individual organization that I am taking moral umbrage with. Rather, it's the circus institution as a whole that sparks my ire.

The concept of a circus rubs me the wrong way in the same vein as "polite" racist comments made by old southern ladies. It keeps itself alive on the basis of tradition, waving away the harmful aspects and moral outrage with an aging hand. Circuses are as outdated as gladiatorial combat, harkening us back to a time when people gathered to receive entertainment at the expense of life. Am I being hyperbolic? Perhaps, but I find the lives and well-being of innocent and confused animals far more important than the reputation of an organization that profits off of abuse.

Here's what I do know: These animals have no fucking clue what's going on. They don't know why, every night, they are subjected to bright lights and loud noises. They are scared out of their goddamn minds because they are, essentially, still wild animals that were plucked from their native lands and forced to run around in circles or face the whip. I cannot express how angry it makes me that a university I pay to attend has decided to allocate its money towards further legitimizing of this sort of behavior.

Please, if you will be in town this Sunday (and I understand many won't be, including myself) take part in the picket protest that will take place on King Street. Will this stop the circus? Probably not. But it will keep the conversation of animal abuse alive which in an important development in the fight against it. Let's work towards making this world a better place to live in for the literally 99% of its inhabitants that aren't shithead humans.

Young Life Pulls Racist BS

Christian youth cult and frequent wearer of hilarious Christ-themed t-shirts, Young Life, found themselves in hot water yesterday when they decided to throw an ill-advised theme party sensitively referred to as "Thug Life." The event, documented on social media, drew the ire of many Appalachian State students, inciting the incredibly appropriate question: "What the fuck is THIS racist bullshit?"

To make matters worse, the event was held in the Plemmons Student Union so that the overwhelmingly white (I assume; probably correctly) group of young Christians could be racially insensitive en masse and in plain sight of as many of their fellow students as possible. Here are just a couple pictures from the event (courtesy of student, Matthew Splawn)

       

There is nothing wrong with your computer screen. Do not call tech support. Those are, in fact,  groups of white folks dressed in stereotypical "thug" garb. Now, the first argument that I imagine many a racially insensitive white fellow jumps to is "white people can be thugs too; why is this a racial thing?" Indeed, if you look closely at one of the above pictures (the right-most Instagram screenshot) you will note that the quote used is associated with (white) rapper and known awful human being, Riff Raff. Now, the inherent racism of Riff Raff's act aside, allow me to dissuade further racist stupidity from trying to utilize this classic non-argument: Cultural appropriation is the nifty practice in which people in a position of power adopt elements (usually clothing) of another, less powerful cultural and use them for their own aesthetic gain rather than for their original purpose. (See: Every fucking Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Native American headdress ever)

The portrayal above is a great example of cultural appropriation of black culture. While, yes, it is true that the type of clothing worn above is not exclusive to the black community, it is most commonly associated with (and I imagine can date its origins back to) lower income black communities, usually in inner cities. And if the kid throwing up a gang sign in the left-most picture isn't enough of an indication that this "black aesthetic" was EXACTLY what they were going for, I don't know what is.

I don't honestly think that the members of Young Life meant anything harmful in their racist interpretation, but intent is only half the shitheadedness of an action. Being ignorant of cultures, especially in this day in age, is becoming rapidly less acceptable. Especially if your ignorance leads to public, borderline minstrel shows such as the idiocy displayed above. That being said, the organization has issued an apology (albeit a half-assed one) on their Facebook page.

Unfortunately, this is too little. We are no longer in a world where shrugging and offering an apology between eye-rolls is acceptable. I suggest you reach out to the black community via the Multicultural Center or another similar organization and put that Christian goodwill to use, perhaps offering service for an event?

We know you want to be good deep down, Young Life. We just wish you could be more tactful in your actions. Stop doing racist shit, mkay?

Why It Matters That They Were Muslim

At around 5pm on Tuesday, three Muslim students were executed by 46-year old Craig Hicks. Hicks later turned himself in and was charged with first degree murder. The reason for his horrendous crime? A parking dispute, according to Chapel Hill police. Why is it, then, that #MuslimLivesMatter is trending all over the internet? Why is it sparking the ire of Muslim academics and being defined as a hate crime? If the issue is over domestic neighborly troubles, why on earth is there so much religious and anti-religious rhetoric being tossed around?

The easy (and short) answer is that the parking story is a crock of shit cooked up to avoid an unpleasant conversation and media coverage. I'm sure there were some parking disputes, as is wont to happen when several people live in close proximity and are all relegated to using shitty apartment parking. And I am sure (thought slightly less so) that Hicks might not have murdered Deah Shaddy Barakat, his wife Yusor Mohammed, and her sister, Razan Mohammed Abu-Salha had there not been some sort of trigger to set him off. Clearly the man is deranged, unable to contain his temper and prone to horribly violent actions. But a violent personality does not a triple homicide necessarily make.

At this point, I would like to delve deep into conjecture. I understand that this runs counter to the oft-touted mission of this blog to be as truthful and fact-based as possible, but in the case of one man's excuse for murdering his three Muslim neighbors, conjecture is necessary to draw out the underlying intentions, however unspoken they may be. What makes me confident in my accusations (not entirely baseless) is Hicks's social media history, a veritable hive of anti-religious rhetoric, according to CNN:

"When it comes to insults, your religion started this, not me. If your religion kept its big mouth shut, so would I."

With the Charlie Hebdo massacre still fresh in everyone's mind, it's not hard to imagine that those already inclined toward hatred and intolerance might find themselves even more prone to commit violence towards a religion they believe to be inherently wrong. Admittedly, I find the notion of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, what have you, to be hilariously outdated and, honestly, quite damaging to humanity. That being said, I don't express that hatred via a gun. However, I digress. I don't think any reasonable person is condoning his method of dealing with his hatred of religious people.

What is being thrown around, and quite ignorantly at that, is that the religion of the victims is irrelevant to the story and to the crime. It's the same tired bullshit that people were trotting out during the Ferguson riots. The insistence and self-inflated sense that one is living in a post-racial and post-bigoted society is exactly why we AREN'T living in a tolerant world. "Not seeing color" is as racist as hating someone for their color. It ignores the cultural lines (read: barriers) that separate the oppressed and the privileged.

If you don't think that Hicks, a self-professed atheist and clearly unstable human, gave any thought to the ethnicity and creed of his victims last night, then you are being willfully ignorant. Of course the fact that they were Muslim came into his decision to murder them. It may not have been the prevailing reason (though it certainly might have been), but it factored in. That is reason enough to spark rage within the Muslim community and it's definitely reason enough to continue the conversation of Muslim oppression in the Western world.

#MuslimLivesMatter   RIP Deah, Yusor, and Razan

Appalachian State's Mental Illness Problem

We are really shitty at talking about mental illness. "Our best" amounts to a couple of links and the phone number for the suicide hotline. "Talk to someone" they repeat over and over again. As if just sitting someone down and talking their ear off about all the little nuances of our psyche is something that never crossed our minds. And yet, mental illness is in vogue. It's quirky and fun, highlighting the unique natures of a generation that is frothing at the mouth to stand out in an increasingly homogenizing world. When a celebrity or person of interest dies as a result of it, we jump at the chance to spout off our opinions on why/when/where/how they did the deed. We extoll the virtues of not committing suicide and vomit vague platitudes about the fullness of life. We hawk Prozac, Xanax, Zoloft, Lexapro and a veritable menagerie of other mind-numbing bullshit aimed at just calming people with uncomfortable thoughts down.

Fuck off.

Mental illness isn't the next talking point that you get to include in your "good-little-progressive" quota for the day. This will not be KONY 2012 because this isn't a problem that you can throw money and "awareness" at until it just goes away or climbs back under a rock. This will require work and it will require shoving yourself face-first into the ugly side of human life and the human mind. If I sound melodramatic, it's because I'm still bristling at the latest bad handling in a long line of poor responses to suicide in my community.

Earlier this week, Mary-Catherine Johnson, a student of Appalachian State, was found dead in her dorm room. She was 19 years old and she was from Raleigh.

Early last semester, a young freshman named Anna Smith went missing. After two weeks of searching, police found her body in the woods near campus. She was 18 years old and from High Point. 

These tragedies have rocked Appalachian's campus and caused a great deal of grief and uproar from students and faculty alike. In response, Appalachian State sent an email from Chancellor Sheri Everts with a vague link to a university website dedicated to giving you all sorts of phone numbers....including 911! Have no fear, victims of mental illness and personal strife, Appalachian has its best web designers on the case. 

Tongue in cheek aside, I understand that the university is trying. I really do. It's nice that the Chancellor takes time out of her busy day of posing for photographs to write us an email about how much this death has affected her personally. But you guys really aren't trying hard enough. Let's take the counseling center, for example. It's a great resource on paper. Free counseling (occasionally with dogs!) for all Appalachian State students! What a bargain, right? That is, if you wait for several weeks for them to match you up with a counselor who then spends the first meeting talking about the problems they'd like to address in the coming months and sends you packing until two weeks from now.

For those of you that do not understand the toll mental illness takes on the mind, let me put it this way: If you were to walk into the emergency room with a wound that, while not immediately a threat, might become one over time, would you find it reasonable to be told that a doctor will be available to see you in two weeks? Fuck no.

I get it. Hiring enough mental health professionals to accommodate a university of thousands is a daunting task. But it's not an impossible one.

Let me be clear: I am not blaming the university for the suicides of its students. There is no way that people in power could know what each and every student is going through. What I am saying is that there are ways to prevent this in the future that the university is not currently exploring. An idea off the top of my head: Dorm counselors. Because right now the only in-house solution are several confused kids who just happen to have a shiny badge that says "Residence Assistant." 

I'm not saying I have all the ideas, either. I'm just an angry bystander who finds the amount of effort and passion put into suicide prevention lax and irresponsible. 

We don't want phone numbers; we want help. 

A Cursory Explanation of Falling Oil Prices

Because I am neither an economist nor a geopolitical expert, I can not claim to give you the full rundown on why, exactly, this exciting price of oil free-fall is occurring. For the sake of brevity, I will do my best to summarize what has been the strangest and most surprising economic event to occur in (my) recent memory.

Indeed, it would seem that everyone is baffled by the recent price of oil across the United States. With prices dipping below two dollars in many states, shouts of Christmas miracles and the impending return of Quetzalcoatl are tempting. But behind every miracle is a logical collection of data and an asshole to explain it to you. I accept the mantle gladly and willingly.

On the surface, there is an obvious (albeit incomplete) reason for our sub-$2 gas range. You see, where once we relied heavily on other countries for our oil, the United States has (gradually) become one of the largest producers of oil in the world. That's right! We've drilled our way into the big leagues and our shale-oil cup overfloweth with more gas than we know what to do with. But with great power comes.....well, no responsibility. As a non-member of OPEC, we really aren't obligated to play by their rules and adhere to their needs, letting us give them the oil-doused finger and laugh our way to the bank.

Of course, we aren't just hurting big oil with our antics. We're also effectively crippling the economy of those countries that rely on oil production for their livelihoods. With Russia's currency losing "half its value against the US dollar in 2014" it's clear that we are about to make a lot of powerful players very desperate. But that's conjecture and I don't like to deal too much in that.

Also conjecture, however, is the entire notion that our shale production is wholly responsible for the falling prices. It would, of course, be insane to dismiss it entirely, but it plays a much smaller part than seems initially evident. It's worth noting that we didn't just suddenly start producing shale-oil this year. It's been a process several years in the making. Why are prices only just now falling? According to Mother Jones (quoting James Hamilton), that can be rather simply attributed to reduced demand. Seems rather obvious now that you think about it, but it's a significant aspect of the whole ordeal.

Oil is what economists like to call "price-inelastic," which means that demand is not easily affected by a change in price. Obviously, people still need to get to work and visit family and go out for a midnight snack. In other words, lazy Americans are going to drive regardless of the price and bitch about it later.

So why is demand down? 

I'm glad you asked! I also asked (read: Googled) this question and was brought to a lovely little article in The Economist that sums up these questions and more. In short, demand is down due to "weak economic activity, increased efficiency, and a growing switch away from oil to other fuels." This is, of course, merely one in a laundry list of reasons including turmoil in Iraq and Libya and some weird wheelings and dealings amongst the Saudis and their Gulf friends, but I felt it was the most explicit answer to the persisting question of: what in the hell is going on with the price of gas?

Hopefully, it's evident to you that I have barely scratched the surface on this entire thing and I do urge you to research much further should you want to learn the nitty-gritty details. Besides that, I hope I've enlightened you just a tiny bit on the state of oil prices, and now you have a fun little list of articles that you can use to educate your friends! Just please don't be a pretentious asshole about it.

Don't Worry. Practically No One Is Graduating On Time

When I arrived at college almost four years ago, I expected to follow a very specific trajectory. I would take enough hours per semester to graduate by May 2015 (my then-projected graduation date) while juggling extracurriculars, a social life and the occasional night of drunken revelry. But life is not a university brochure and, sure enough, I found myself switching majors (twice) by my junior year of college, setting me back considerably. I imagine many of you share the same story and, if you're anything like me, it is probably a source of hair-pulling (or, in my case, hair-losing) stress. But don't worry, according to a recent study done by Complete College America, we're apparently in the majority.

Indeed, it would appear that a country notorious for shitty high school education is also notorious for being shitty at higher education. With many universities (mine included) urging a "Finish in Four" attitude, it can be disconcerting to find yourself looking at your fifth year of college. And why shouldn't it be? College is expensive as shit, forcing many to pay off loans well into their working years. But that doesn't change the fact that it's nearly impossible to achieve the mythical goal of graduating on time. First, some numbers to mull over:

Only 5% (!!!) of people seeking a two-year associate's degree finish on time. As for a four-year Bachelor's degree, between 19% (non-flagship schools) and 36% (flagship/high research schools) of the students graduate by their projected date.

These numbers fucking suck. To put the whole thing in the perspective of the larger picture, a paltry 50 of the 580 public four-year institutions in the country "report that at least half of their first-time, full-time students graduate on time."

That means almost no one is graduating as promised. The big question here is why?

Well, according to the research, it's because many colleges have excessive degree requirements. Excessive here being defined as over 120 hours for a four-year degree, 60 hours for a two-year degree and 30 hours for a certificate. From personal experience, I can attest to this excessive course load. My degree currently requires 122 hours over the course of 4 years (that's 8 semesters) amounting to a whopping 15.25 hours a semester. 

Now, to a seasoned college student, this hardly seems like a daunting number, but factoring in that there is an average one adviser per 400 students (leading to uninformed choices), 60% of bachelor's degree recipients transfer colleges and are screwed over by shoddy transfer policies and 33% of students have been fucked by not securing a class that they needed to take, it's easy to see why 15.25 hours a semester might start to look like a bleak and fading legend of old.

I won't vomit the entire study here on this page. I've provided a link above so that you may peruse it at your leisure. The point I'd like you to take away from this is that the college four-year system is broken and overpriced. People that can barely afford four years in the first place are getting shafted due to broken policies and cumbersome course loads (mainly stemming from the outmoded idea of "general education"). The stress that should be reserved for taking final exams and completing complex projects is now being added on to by unrealistic expectations of finishing college by a particular timeline.

Though, I suppose there is one positive takeaway from all this: We're all being screwed together.