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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 1992)
OPINION Complaint a model of hypocrisy Pat Malach If there's ono thing students at the University are going to learn about in great detail here in Eugone. It's hypocrisy. In un effort to change the world for the better, many woll intontloned people on campus consistently slide down the slippery slope of inconsistently applying their ideals and be liefs. In philosophy, it's called situational ethics, and it is gen erally viewed as a very negative moral attribute. In a nutshell, situational eth ics means people's beliefs and principles constantly change so thut they am always tho l>one factor, never the loser. It is often practiced by those of the politically correct philos ophy. Admittedly, this phrase has boon considerably overused and there is a definite backlash against it. In this beliof, however, there is ono acceptable idea (it can be either liberal or conservative) -and all others should not be tol erated or heard. It ombraces all positives und conveniently ig nores all negatives. * The recent complaint about a racist statement made against Chinese students is a perfect examole. Tho person making the origi nal statement labeled all Chi nese people with one attribute It was a broad generalization af fecting an entire race of people. It was demeaning and degrad ing because it gave no credit to Chinese people as individuals. However, this racist state ment was not made by Peter Briggs The racial statement in question belongs to Darrell Neet, a Westmoreland mainten ance worker who said Chinese people are at a disadvantage in the system because they urn too _ polite. Briggs' response that Chinese people know how to work a system and "will walk all over you if you let them” was obvi ously deplorable Hal-Yang Yuun, president of the Chinese Students and Scholars Associa tion, was correct in his com plaint thut Briggs' sweeping fWUNOERLAND i!f?i 1e VIDEO PGAMES Wh STREET |$j PUBLIC MARKET ' 683-8464 u 1 - r—lJ VIDEO ADVENTURE T VALLC V mvCM PLAZA I "'niViY-'** I l *oim ju m I Experienced CRIMINAL DEFENSE CALL HUGH DUVALL Veialfud 1 CUik, Attorney* PC 345-3333 • DUIl Br.vilh LVIt-flsu • ()ru«J Dvlufi'iu • Slops A Sejfi.fit'i • T He ft. f ortjt ry Shoplift • Assault H.tftiSMTHjnl • Mif-Vf- alst* Ustt Of l O Price quote by phone'' generalization is by all defini tions a racist stereotype But Neet's stereotypo was just as sweeping, narrow-mind ed and demeaning to Chinese pcoplo as individuals. What does Yuan have to say about Neet's commont? He reaffirms Neet's storootype and adds to It by writing, "Politeness is one of our most treasured cultural val ues." There you have It in writing: complete hypocrisy rearing Its ugly head in the name of cul tural sensitivity. A nogatlvo stereotype attributed to an en tire group of people is a "racist remark." A patronizing stereo type attributed to an entire group of people is a "treasured cultural value." II you view both statements on how thoy fit the definition of racism and stereotypes. they ans identical. If you apply them in an arena of situational eth ics, Neel gets a thanks whilo people call for Briggs to bn fired. It should be either ono or the other, but not both Either there are some truits that can be shared by every member of a culture, or there are no traits that are common to every mem ber of a culture. Most importantly, tho decid ing factor should not be wheth er the trait is negative or pa tronizing, which seems to bo Yuun's criterion Let me say this again for the record, I am not justifying Briggs' statement It was wrong But tho complaint that followed also poses some problems. And tho situational criteria Yuan used in his complaint are not the only strains on the credibil ity of the action The original letter of com plaint is loaded with the empty rhetoric popular with people stretching to prove a point. In the letter, Yuan writes: "we feel that our culture is be ing raped and our dignity Is be ing fractured by those racist re marks.” I'm sure Briggs would be amazed to discover ho is such a The deciding factor should not be whether the trait Is negative or patronizing, which seems to be the criterion In Yuan's complaint powerful man that — silting in his little office in Eugene. Ore. — ho can commit rape against a 5.OOO-yeor-old culture of 1,3 billion peoplo. In fairness to Chinese people everywhere. I offer proof to dis pel Yuan and Neel's racist ster eotype about the polltenoss of every Chinese person ! know of a University stu dent, who happens to be Chi nese, who could tell one person one thing and turn around and tell someone else something completely different. This ma nipulative individual certainly knew how to work a system, and he was probably capable walking nil over you. 1 also would dan; to conclude that the Chinese hardliners who ordered the murder of stu dents in Tiananmen Square wore hardly being polite. It’s probably fairest to say that the Chinese culture is like all other groups of human be ings, The culture probably in cludes many very polite people — and some rude ones. There are probably many kind-heart ed Chineso folks — and some mean ones. There are probably happy Ciunose people — and sad ones. To be safe, rather than mak ing sweeping generalizations — positive or negative — maybe wo should take Martin Luther King Jr.'s advice and Judge members of one of the grandest cultures on Earth by the con tent of their character, rather than the color of their skin. Put A/a Inch in editor of the Emerald. i Ever wonder why dogs attack mailmen? Maybe lt » because they deliver BO billion pounds of junk mail to Americans each year, and it'i wasting a valuable resource Our trees. One hundred million trees are harvested to fill your mailbox with things you never read Instead of throwing your tin wanted mall In the garbage recyrle It by dropping It into the junk mall bins Inrated at any dorm area desk or at the U of O Post Office Your mall will then be coUected and reprocessed to make other paper products Recycle your mad. and give dogs something less to bark about 8pomier*4 k/ lk» U»iv»r»itJ WOwf 8U»4«»> lU*yilili* I’rofrmm RECYCLING AWARENESS WEEK Do Your Share! 10.000 i if* ulatol • l.ul'. 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