Political correctness gone AWOL
The good news: YUSU President Tom Scott has dropped his silly pirate act. Forget his West Country chat and his creepy band of followers. It may have won him the election, but now he is trying to do the job properly, with maturity and - no doubt - aplomb. The bad news? He has failed already.
Racism is heinously offensive. Racist ‘jokes’, therefore, are base. Yet at a National Union of Students (NUS) training seminar held on York’s campus over the summer, a “Bring Back Slavery” poster was held up by an NUS officer.
It is reassuring to know that the officer was not from York. (It was in fact Craig Cox from the University of Nottingham.) But it is not at all reassuring to hear our YUSU President’s response to the situation, quoted in the national press. He said: “The student involved was frankly poking people to see if he could get a response which worked - but I don’t think there was any malice intended.”
Come again? Someone has displayed a blatantly racist slogan on our campus, and the official response from Tom Scott is lame talk about ‘poking’ fun and no ‘malice intended’.
Sadly, though, it gets worse. In the same training seminar, one union officer is said to have warned that in a university environment, a higher number of black students would “increase gun and knife crime so require more security.” Again, after an NUS Black Students group complaint, we have Tom Scott’s less than comprehensive answer. “There is a lot of political correctness in the union.”
Scott is the representative of the student body at York. So, the question we should ask is this: has he effectively represented our opinions to the national media? Surely not. We are not a racist university. We are not even the sort of university which disdains ‘political correctness’. And we need a President who can effectively communicate that to the outside world and, significantly, to prospective students.
Black prospective students should apply to York in the knowledge that there is no place for racists on campus. YUSU must work to increase diversity and ensure that no students feel prejudiced. Importantly, it should do this publicly. That we are a progressive, tolerant university should be no secret to anyone.
Tom Scott is not a racist. Indeed, by all accounts he is a thoroughly nice person. But he should forget “PC” and concentrate his efforts on something entirely different: PR.
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YorkAnon
I thought part of Tom Scott’s whole appeal was that he was a straight-talking guy who avoided bombast and traditionally political traits. Without that in mind, it’s easy to confuse common sense for lame talk.
Admittedly, the second quote does sound rather lame, but what is the context? What is the question to which he gave his “less than comprehensive answer”?
In another article ( http://www.nouse.co.uk/2008/10/14/university-hosts-%E2%80%98racist%E2%80%99-nus-event/ ) Nouse gives the quote in its entirity, but not about two separate events, only one of them.
You also fail to mention that the second incident took place during an entirely fictional, roleplaying exercise in which some participants were encouraged to heckle and make protests.
Ant Ordlay
“Black prospective students should apply to York in the knowledge that there is no place for racists on campus”.
Indeed, Will. However, I feel you need a brief history lesson on slavery and slave trades. Throughout history, many civilisations have taken part in the trade of forced human labour. Greeks, Moors (Arabs), White-caucasian and indeed African’s themselves (black tribal elders traded in people of their own tribes to local colonial officials) have involved themselves in this trade in the past.
Don’t be so ridiculously presumptions and self-flagelating by suggesting that only black afro-carribean individuals are victims when they are not. Judging by your ‘comment blog’, you are presuming people are coming here with the whole ‘victim mentality’ that we are all racists on this campus and must go out our way to emphasise something opposite.
I think you’ll probably find its not colour that divides any of us. Instead, it’s people like you writing articles like this and encouraging a multi-layered culture uni that creates and divides people of different colours rather than unites them. Get over your own guilt, and as for the title of your ‘article’, thank God PC has gone AWOL. Long may it continue.
David
“Ant Ordlay” (I dearly hope nobody has any trouble unravelling this rather obvious anagram), I don’t think Will is in need of your brief lesson on slavery and I don’t see any reason at all why you ascribe guilt to him.
Neither his article taken as a whole, nor the comment you highlight, implies that he thinks that only black people have been victims of slavery. Since the second offensive comment mentioned in this article, about gun and knife crime, is explicitly directed at black students, it would not be surprising if it was of particular concern to them (though of course it should apall people of all ethnic groups). Further, though you are correct that people of various racial groups have been victims of slavery, most references to slavery (at least in the western world) that do not specify alternative content are intended as references to the enslavement of black Africans and Carribeans by white Europeans and it seems probable that this was also what Craig Cox was referring to. If he was not and failed to realise that there were racist connotations to his spectacularly unfunny poster then he was, at best, extremely stupid.
Of course Craig Cox’s banner would be extremely offensive and unpleasant even if racial undertones are ignored, as obviously slavery is something intrinsically wrong and particularly because it is a practice that survives to this day, in the abhorrent cases of those being trafficked into lives of sex-slavery, for example. If Craig Cox was possessed by the childish urge to wind his fellow officers up, it would have been nice if he could have done it in a way that didn’t trivialise the suffering of so many people.
Will Heaven
Hello Ant.
Thank you for your history lesson: I found it, as you promised, brief.
Fear not though, there’s no guilt or “self-flagelating” going on here, and I have certainly never referred to anyone as a “victim” - you, it must be noted, introduced the term.
Bogus psychoanalysis aside, I’m pleased that you think there is no place for racists on campus. In fact, you almost emphasised the point - which is rather, i think, what my article was doing (and calling for Tom Scott to do).
David has done very well in addressing your other ‘points’, so I hope you read his comment.
Aris Catsambas
It seems to me that, due to the lack of real problems to be discussed, issues like this one are being aggrandised.
Tom Scott did not in any way support the comments made, and is not therefore culpable in any way.
This ‘joke’ would not have any impact if it was not exaggerated by the media. People would not even know about it if Nouse did not feature articled headlined “University hosts ‘racist’ NUS event”.
Thus, instead of blaming Tom Scott for not overreacting to the particular statement, maybe you should not create an issue out of nothing.
Best,
A.