I voting with scout59. Mostly racism. I find it difficult to believe that college students (especially in the South) would not get that this looks like the KKK.
Stupid and frugal. A pillow case costs less than a sheet.
It’s my theory that one kid cut the holes in the pillowcase wrong (on the diagonal) and everyone thought it was somehow funny and copied it. Idiots who thought using a racist symbol is amusing is my guess.
I didn’t know about that @scout59
Definitely paints it in a different light.
I can’t believe the denial by some people.
I can…especially considering the backlash over policy changes to attempt greater inclusion of marginalized groups from old-school unreconstructed segregationists from the '50s and '60s, fellow travelers, and some younger much more extreme analogues of the Alex P. Keatons from my generation.
A few of them are even on this and other threads on similar topics.
It’s stupidity. Believe or not all people think about how something is going to look or if someone is going to interpret what they are doing is racist… There are always going to be idiots but that doesn’t mean that all idiots are racist.
I don’t think people are THAT stupid. Lord, that would be a whole new level of stupid.
I was going to vote for stupid, until I saw in one of the articles that made reference to the photo caption as initially posted, something along the lines of “we know what this really looks like.” I try not to read what is in the heart of a man, but will read it when they tattoo it on their forehead.
They can be that stupid and racist…
Yes, that’s why early on I said it was both. I think they realized it was racist but stupid enough to think that people wouldn’t care.
ETA: To be SOOO stupid that they didn’t even realize it was racist, nope, not buying it. Especially what was written. And even telling the girl that they always wanted to be with a black girl shows a level, however small, of race relations.
Not only that, insisting this could only be stupidity completely ignores the history of racism not only in that state, but also that very military college as several other posters pointed out.
Another related fun fact, one of the reasons the Citadel was founded in the1840’s was to train militia officers to organize, train, and lead militia units in the event of slave uprisings. This was in the wake of slave uprisings like Nat Turner’s which occurred around 10 years previously and aroused much anxiety among southern Whites of the period…especially the slaveowners.
Lived in the south my entire adult life until three years ago. The negative stereotypes of southerners being dimwitted is not true. Southerners are very sensitive to this sort of thing, so it’s definitely not stupidity or idiocy. It’s probably one or two bad apples, and the others ‘went along to get along.’ The one in black clothing looks like an adult. If so, the adult in the room should definitely know better.
I think these particular college students ARE racist. As I said earlier - this is the Citadel. The Confederate flag still flies in its chapel. Two years ago a black student quit after what she called “almost constant” racial harassment.
And of course they knew what they were doing and what it looked like. One of the cadets in the video says, “It’s not what it looks like. [We’re] not white supremacist members.” They knew what it looked like and they did it anyway.
Racist first, stupid second.
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20151210/PC16/151219964
I worked in an office. There were 5 of us. Three were racists. One or two thought all Jews were going to hell.
This was in the SF Bay Area. One racist grew up in the south. One in the midwest. On in the east coast.
I am amazed how quickly people come to the defense of racist acts. Like racism doesn’t exist.
They are all in college. Likely they are all over 18. They are ALL adults.
Have lived in the south for 40 years. Most folks I know are bright. Most are sensitive. Some are dimwitted and some are embarrassing. And some are racist. But this is true for everywhere. No need to single out the south.
Einstein is often misquoted as having said “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the universe.” I tend to agree with him, but in this case my vote is for racism rather than stupidity. A student who can survive K-12 education in the South without learning a thing about the KKK has a decent chance of scoring a 600 on the SAT - too low even for the Citadel.
While the south doesn’t have a monopoly on racism by any means, its dubious historical legacy from the antebellum/Civil War/Jim Crow and continued defense of the Confederacy/Lost Cause Myths/historical revisionist attitudes by prominent individuals and institutions in or associated with the region makes the singling out somewhat understandable.
Especially by marginalized groups and sympathetic allies* who still have living memories of that dubious legacy and its impact on their families or those they know of.
- Including this as it was a factor in not only influencing several White classmates to not apply/attend undergrad/grad school in southern or parts of the midwest with similar histories, but also college classmates...including White classmates who grew up in parts of those regions which still haven't really moved on from the '50s/'60s regarding race/gender/religious/class hierarchy issues which prompted them to leave their local regions after college.
“One or two thought all Jews were going to hell.”
Umm… that not a racist thing that’s a religion thing.
Why are you amazed? Racism and similar bigotry (based on religion, national origin, ethnicity) is more widespread than most people are willing to admit it is.
http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/nbc-wsj-poll-57-oppose-trumps-muslim-proposal-n477941