The new "Magic Bus" posting below has attracted some adverse criticism. Someone says it is blatantly racist because of the outfit worn by the person who is apparently supposed to be the Dean and who is depicted in the lower right hand corner. I asked the creator who says it is not racist, nor was it intended as such. "It is satire," says the creator. The same author also contibuted the post above the Magic Bus with the leash and the couple, apparently also a satire, one of whom is wearing what seems to be the same outfit, which does not seem to be racist to critics.
The question I would like to put to the public that reads this blog, and we have already heard much from one of you, is this: Should we remove this posting?
Speaking as blog facilitator, I would like to do the right thing. The author has suggested cropping the photo to eliminate the controversial part.
What do you think?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
the "nonette" photo is not racist.
the "bus" cartoon is racist, even if the poster did not mean it to be. that is the usual way with racism. my father did not understand why he was being offensive to my then wife when he used masculine language. my mother once said, "blacks will not be equal until a white can call a black a son-of-a-bitch." she was right, and not because of political correctness.
but, both the photo and the cartoon serve no useful purpose except to make people laugh at other's expense.
if this blog is to be credible, the humor should have a constructive purpose. right now, it looks like the blog is mostly for fights between bloggers, and so it is losing its value as an instrument of the A&S faculty and friends. perhaps that is what mr. none and other anonymous writers want. the best response to a spiteful entry is silence.
Please remove the photo, the cartoon, and all accompanying comentary.
Thank you, Lawrence, for your leadership on this issue.
Though the notion that outspoken women belong on a leash is a bit questionable.
Yes, I would like to see more discussion of proposals and ideas for really improving the college and its functioning, instead of the empty rhetorical claptrap that provides the sound effects in Lloyd Jacobs' speeches. There are a number of areas we should discuss (1) Improving the capacity of departments to deliver quality University-level service, teaching and research by hiring tenure track faculty that are active and publishing (2) Instead of controlling departments and appropriating their budgets, allow them to grow towards the light through independent entrepreneurial, creative action, (3) Improve faculty and student governance stuctures such that the university and college is no longer vulnerable to the half-baked initiatives of the bureacratically-minded (4) maintain high standards in faculty hires and curriculum that will prevent this fine and venerable regional University from being turned into a cattle-barn mass model of education apparently desired by the current administration as the future of this University.
Why are there no proposals? This seems an ideal place to post and discuss them.
Re the "Magic Bus" cartoon, I don't know if it is racist or not. Fix it, apologize if necessary and move on.
I participate in faculty governance because sometimes one needs to speak up, or freedom and dignity disappear, and also out of self interest and in self defense. I don't want to teach or research in the cattle barn, branding each cow as it walks by, an act for which "rigorous assessment" will be applied. I don't want prescriptions from people who imagine themselves my betters. I prefer to talk with people. So let's talk.
An outstanding starting point, Brian. Please all, more posts and questions like this. Can we move his comment into a post on the front of the blog rather than in the comments section?
Yes, yes, yes, yes, to all of the above comments regarding the content of this blog (including None's suggestion that Brian's comment be elevated to a post on the front page). I know I for one would like to read such a blog. I was just about to give up on the blog entirely until I read these comments.
The world is already watching -- the blog has had over 5000 hits and not just from UT. Those readers, too, would probably be more interested in the kinds of posts Brian suggests. (I know the stats because I helped the Blog Facilitator to install SiteMeter to find out how many hits the blog gets. If that freaks anyone out, it doesn't cache data and it only gives basics: city, internet service provider, and if the hit came here from a link somewhere else -- such as the Inside Higher Ed article.)
Also, I would advise the following: 1) write to a wide audience of those invested in UT and also public higher ed in general; 2) assume that your identity can be found out (if you're posting pseudonymously) and write only what you'd write or say in another public forum; and 3) keep in mind that even if you delete something, it may have already been cached by Google or cut and pasted in part or in full somewhere else. All of this applies to commenters as well as bloggers.
That's what I advised in my blogging workshop...to which one person showed up.
Post a Comment