Racist joke article in Daily Princetonian

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton University
221

<p>When I get angry, I have a "Southern ghetto" accent and it's very scary.
I never should have come to this school haha</p>

<p>Since this is already a "racism" thread, I feel like I can say this:
My friend and I were discussing what it would be like to have gone to a white/asian school. And we were like, "Yeah, it looks nice on TV. People are laughing and talking and not shooting each other. We would probably speak proper English and we wouldn't see gang fights/fires everyday."</p>

<p>Oh how I'll miss this school next year.... :]</p>

222

<p>Cali - Back in the day I used to do Prose Interpretation and stuff like that (the 'speech' part of 'speech & debate,' I suppose). I was good at it, I guess, I mean I did an excerpt from Paris Hilton's autobiography and placed pretty high at districts. ;) Now I do Student Congress and Domestic Extemp.</p>

223

<p>Bah. International Extemp is a real man's event.</p>

<p>And you guys haven't heard the real, gross sounding accents. I'm more of a Northern transplant, but I'm surrounded by "I reckon" and "Shut yer trap, Jo-Bob! I'm a-fixin' to cook the possum."</p>

<p>Ok, so maybe that last one was an exaggeration, but this "white trash" business is anything but cute.</p>

224

<p>haha whenever we go on national competitions, all the other Texas kids and I never have any accents, but we love talking to and hearing the Alabama accents and those from other Southern states.</p>

<p>Because apparently we're always the only Southern state without an accent</p>

225

<p>Nevermind, you are right; I misread something. Carry on.</p>

226

<p>"haha whenever we go on national competitions, all the other Texas kids and I never have any accents, but we love talking to and hearing the Alabama accents and those from other Southern states.</p>

<p>Because apparently we're always the only Southern state without an accent"</p>

<p>Hey, us Floridians don't have an accent... right?</p>

227

<p>I've never heard of a "Florida" accent!!!
Stereotypically, I always hear of Texas, Alabama, Lousiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi.</p>

228

<p>My extended family lives in South Florida, which is full of Northerners, Europeans, and their corresponding accents.</p>

<p>Central Florida has some pretty atrocious accents, though.</p>

229

<p>i love that we're talking about all sorts of cultural stereotypes now, not just Asian ones.</p>

<p>and ryan, why so sadfaced about Mississippi? =(</p>

230

<p>There is allure to the stereotypical "Southern gentleman."
Or at least...I think so.</p>

231

<p>"Central Florida has some pretty atrocious accents, though."</p>

<p>***? What are you talking about? Central Florida is probably the second most cosmopolitan part of the state, next to Miami. </p>

<p>Florida does have it's "southern" aspects, let me tell you. My two great uncles started "Dixie County" in the earlier half of the 20th century. Trust me, that's not a pretty place. They put all their hunting dogs in the back of a truck and bet money on which one can stay in it the longest while driving (usually not on a main road... usually). </p>

<p>My other great uncles were a part of a certain... organization? Yeah we'll call it that. Uhhh, the one that required them to wear white. That was in central Florida, but I'm sure it's not here anymore. All that stuff moved out towards the boondocks as Orlando expanded.</p>

<p>But I am clueless as to what the "Central Floridian Accent" that you allude to is.</p>

232

<p>more from today's prince:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2007/01/22/news/17158.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2007/01/22/news/17158.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>A message to our community</p>

<pre><code>Since the publication of an op-ed in the joke issue of The Daily Princetonian last week, many readers have raised important concerns about the op-ed itself and the experience of racial and ethnic minorities on campus.

As leaders of the Asian-American Student Association and The Daily Princetonian, we are both frustrated that this episode has led some to believe that Princeton is an unwelcoming place for Asian-American students. This impression is not validated by our own experiences as Princeton students.
</code></pre>

<p>[<em>]We understand that the Asian authors of the op-ed hoped to satirize harmful stereotypes of their community. This intent, however, was unclear, and we deeply regret that this lapse in judgment caused some readers pain. We recognize that the race of the authors does not lessen the op-ed's impact.[</em>]</p>

<pre><code>We are grateful that people both inside and outside the University community have spoken up about their concerns. Using this event as a catalyst, we are taking the opportunity to foster productive dialogue on campus about issues of race.

To that end, we are co-sponsoring a forum after intersession for all community members to share their opinions. The 'Prince' will also renew its commitment to telling the stories of minorities on campus. Moreover, students, alumni and community members are encouraged — as always — to contribute their views to the paper's opinion page.

Together AASA and the 'Prince' seek to move the conversation forward.

Katherine Chiang '08 and Justine Shum '08
On behalf of the Asian-American Students Association.

Chanakya Sethi '07, Neir Eshel '07 and Anna Huang '07
On behalf of The Daily Princetonian 130th Managing Board.
</code></pre>

233

<p>
[quote]
This intent, however, was unclear

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I think that this was the source of the problem. When publishing "satire" such as this, authors would be wise to conclude articles with a brief italicized statement of the message they wished to convey.</p>

234

<p>I think that was a good way of handling it. They apologized. I believe that they're sincere. Is everybody OK again?</p>

235

<p>I am OK. :)</p>

236

<p>These are kids. They have room to grow and learn.</p>

237

<p>How romantic of them to fall on their swords in this way. Chivalry, it seems, is not yet dead.</p>

238

<p>ahhh bullsh.t, they're trying to save their aces by pulling another "trying to foster discussion on the current state of racial affairs in America through a provocative piece of satire" kind of copout. Screw em.</p>

239

<p>Quote:
Originally Posted by Visirale
I miss the days...before kids threw hissy fits on the internet over T0t4lly r4ci57 articles. </p>

<p>Replied by warblersrule86:
You weren't around then, but the old CC had people who knew the line between amusing and racism, and that line was rarely crossed. One of the most hysterical threads from the old forum was on Asian parents and their parenting methods. </p>

<p>I WAS around on the old CC, and I DO remember there were plenty of flame/ racist wars on CC, even then. Nostalgia tends to make the past look so much more desirable than it really is. </p>

<p>As a Chinese Malaysian (therefore not having the minority-complex that I notice a good percentage of Asian Americans seem to have... and I'm speaking from experience here!), I don't think that the responsibility is so much with the Daily Princetonian, or with the atmosphere in Princeton, or with the students there. It's with the whole immigrant-poor-Asian-folks-from-Asia situation - only when there's a large number of wealthy Asian communities, then these jokes will stop. With wealth comes social mobility and respect (One only needs to look at Chinese Malaysians as an example). After all, most of these jokes come from WASPs who think they are somehow more cooler/ more elite than other races.</p>

240

<p>As another Malaysian Chinese, I must say I find this a bit amusing. Malaysians aren't exactly free from racism, and this would undoubtedly be controversial if a premier Malaysian publication had published it, but it's the kind of self-deprecating humour Malaysians like to make about our own ethnic groups. Nobody actually takes ethnic stereotypes seriously - we just use them as the butt of jokes.</p>

<p>I didn't see anything too wrong with the article in the first place - I immediately saw it as satire. Normally I can't get sarcasm or deep humour that well, but this was quite obvious to me. I think it was just poorly done, but what can you expect from college students? They aren't exactly writers for The Onion - and unfortunately, satire is great when done correctly, but when done terribly as in this case, things get ugly.</p>

<p>To the guy who suggested that writers should make satirical intent clear with a note at the end, that normally defeats the purpose of satire by ruining the punchline, so to speak. When there's a good chance that the satire was done wrong, however, it's probably a wise thing to do.</p>