Georgia Southern University: Young Deplorables don’t like to be talked to about white privilege, so they hold a book burning

I agree with the students. Bad form from this author.

Book burning is never good, no matter how you feel about the contents.

The author is not really dark enough TBH to lecture others about white privilege.

She has light-skinned Latinx privilege. In Latin America, she would benefit the most socially and economically from her light skin.

She’s like Colin Kaepernik, all these light-skinned minorities are the most aggressive and entitled when it comes to shaping the dialogue on race.

[quote]Coffee-skinned Colombian

The liquid part or the foam part? Either way, good for you. 🙃

I would have burned the book also. Op didn't even bother to read the link before posting the drivel. Or, OP is an SJW.

Crucet would love "Slave Play." It would speak to her and her attendance would double the audience.

The book author is trying to build a career from this shit. Fuck Her.

The photo of her reminds me of when Elaine Benes’ boyfriend thought she was Hispanic because of her long wavy hair.

Burning books right out of the KKK and Nazi playbooks. If you disagree with an author, do so in a thoughtful, cogent, well-reasoned manner. These kids will be in social media feeds that will pop up from time to time for the rest of their lives. It will be so much fun for them when future employers see their hatred-twisted faces on these clips. Best of luck-they'll need it.

And then they went to the Gap!

[quote]The award-winning book, published in 2015, tells the story of a Cuban American girl from Miami who gets accepted to a prestigious college in New York and struggles to fit into the privileged, predominantly white environment.

I'm sure the overwhelming majority of Cuban Americans don't care about this crap.

The author went to the campus to create division. She got what she wanted.

I know people place all the blame on Trump for the rise in white supremacist views, but I think this relatively recent focus on "white privilege" has done more to cause the uptick than anything or anyone person. When you basically tell an entire race of people that they are inherently racist just for existing, it is not surprising that some of those people will become defensive and combative, especially when the person lecturing them on it is white herself. (Yes, she might be a Latina, but she is a white Latina.)

She's a white Cuban, for god's sake! Here in Florida, they're the most privileged Hispanics in the state, and they look down on anyone who isn't white, including other Cubans. And if you don't believe me, ask Senate Republican Marco Rubio.

Cubans tend to be Republicans -- so that pretty much tells you all you need to know.

Just to be clear—some of you think book burning is a positive, mature way of responding to ideas you disagree with?

[quote]Just to be clear—some of you think book burning is a positive, mature way of responding to ideas you disagree with?

No it's not.

But they're kids....she should be the adult in the room.

These would be the same fools who are screaming about confederate statues being taken down, but no surprise that the white gays on here defend them.

The problem she has is she wants to lecture white people about their privilege, and that would go over really well at a wealthy private school like Oberlin or Middlebury. But kids at Georgia Southern are not wealthy (if they were, they would not be at Georgia Southern). They're poor, and the last thing they want to hear about is some professor from another part of the country telling them how they benefit from white privilege.

Burning books is very extreme and distasteful behavior (although it is not illegal). But I really think she should have thought more about who was her audience before she delivered the lecture.

Once again, this thread breaks down into two camps: either the book-burning students are completely at fault, or the author of the book is.

There's no way of seeing that both parties could have been at fault--so that the author could have tempered her speech, AND the students could have registered their dissastisfaction with her speech in a different way.

I personally don’t like burning books but I am always amazed that the same people who are most against burning books are usually the first to support and champion people’s right to burn the flag. This wasn’t like when the Nazis or the KKK burned books in an organized public way, this was a spontaneous grassroots group of students expressing themselves in a constitutionally protected manner. The author has the right to write whatever she wants and to give a lecture on whatever she wants, and the students have the right to dismiss her arguments and, yes, to burn her book.

Funny how all it takes is a "lecture" to set off white students to the point they burn books, but black person after black person getting shot dead by the police isn't supposed to garner an angry response because then they'll be labelled "savages."

[quote] I am always amazed that the same people who are most against burning books are usually the first to support and champion people’s right to burn the flag.

Whereas I am always amazed that the same people who are most against burning the flag are usually the first to champion and support burning books.

No what people find strange is that if a black person is shot by a cop the community erupts in anger, but not for all the black people killed by other black people. Especially since statistically being shot by a cop, or any white person, is much, much rarer.

[quote] But kids at Georgia Southern are not wealthy (if they were, they would not be at Georgia Southern). They're poor

You clearly know nothing about GSU. The average cost to attend that school is just under $23,000.00/year. The school has an enrollment of over 20,000 students. I hardly think they're all there on full scholarships.

The optics of burning books sucks, but this isn't a Nazi party/Fahrenheit 451 situation. These kids were most likely burning the books they'd been required to buy because the book was a requirement for their coursework. They weren't stopping anyone else from buying the book or getting it out of the library. This was a protest, not censorship.

"Funny how all it takes is a "lecture" to set off white students to the point they burn books, but black person after black person getting shot dead by the police isn't supposed to garner an angry response because then they'll be labelled "savages."

Oh Jesus, save us from the idiots who post shit like this.

I think people are catching on to the circular arguments used by the SJW crowd. It shows a total lack of interest in dialogue or even actual thought. It goes like this:

SJW: You are white privileged! Student: What does that even mean? Not all white people have things handed to them! SJW: Just challenging me [italic]proves[/italic] that you're white privileged!

It shows an utter lack of intellectual honesty or sincerity, and I think people are getting sick of it. Imagine the same coming from an Evangelical kook:

Kook: All gay men are pedophiles! Gay man: What does that even mean? Hardly any gay men like boys! Gay men like men! Kook: Typical! Denying it is [italic]proof[/italic] that you're trying to cover for your fellow pedophiles!

This tactic seems to work when you can bully people into silence. But it doesn't win hearts and minds. Or votes.

[quote]Funny how all it takes is a "lecture" to set off white students to the point they burn books, but black person after black person getting shot dead by the police isn't supposed to garner an angry response because then they'll be labelled "savages."

Those students burned a book.

They didn't burn down their neighborhood.

R23: no, most of them are probably there on work/study, student loans, or working while going to school. I’m sure some have parents paying for school. Others parents may be chipping in.

I went to college working full time as my parents couldn’t afford it, couple nominal academic scholarships, and loans. Nothing privileged about that, unless one wants to say the only reason I was accepted was because I am white - as if there were no other admission standards I had to meet? Personally, I felt the jocks (a number of them not white) there on full ride athletic scholarships were the privileged ones.

I can empathize that students there in similar positions felt attacked, as if they were spoiled brats with the world handed to them on a silver platter and they didn’t earn or deserve their spot. As the students pointed out, if it was supposed to be diversity that she was lecturing on she clearly missed the mark. In her position she should understand that what you say doesn’t matter: it’s what the other party heard. She’s had some time both in writing her book and since it’s publication to hone her message. I agree with a previous poster that her intent was to be devisive, and then when people react she points the finger at them.

Not all whites are privileged. Not all whites are racist. And non-whites can be racist, too.

While most people will never be given the opportunity to have a book published, the author apparently had enough white Cuban privilege to get hers published.

She's playing the SJW game and making money from it. It is good she gets challenged on her own bigotry and divisiveness.

GA Southern is a beautiful campus btw. Statesboro is a quaint town.

She teaches at Nebraska. That certainly isn't eastern establishment liberalism.

Don't burn her obnoxious book; don't buy it.

Giving her book attention, can boost sales.

Are 18 year old middle class white kids mostly from southeastern and coastal Georgia the blàme for society's ills? Certainly no moreso than from Miami-Dade where she originated.

The undergraduate 2019-2020 estimated tuition & fees at Georgia Southern University is $6,356 for Georgia residents and $17,142 for out-of-state students

It's a school for dumb kids. My cousin and her husband attended and graduated. She earned a degree in accounting, but didn't even attempt to take the CPA exam. Her husband graduated with a degree in communications and worked as a Coca Cola delivery man for a few years before his father finally let him work for the family's business

r76: The philosopher Karl Popper talked about that dynamic you describe as characteristic of ideologies. he pointed out that an ideology (that is, a totalizing idea-system for explaining the universe) is that they are non-falsifiable.

For example:

If I'm a Marxist, and you reject Marxism's precepts, that's proof of your [italic]false consciousness.[/italic]

If I'm a Freudian, and you reject the tenets of psychoanalysis, that's because of your [italic]denial.[/italic]

And if I'm a social justice warrior when it comes to race, and you reject my arguments, that's just because of your [italic]white fragility.[/italic] Or, if you're non-white and you reject my arguments, it's because of your [italic]internalized racism.[/italic]

There's no winning an argument with an ideologue, because if you disagree with them, you are only proving their ideology is correct because of your rejection of it or disagreement with it.

R32 just because your relatives turned out to be morons too stupid to use their degrees for good (if you're even telling the truth which we all know you're probably not) certainly doesn't mean it's a school for dumb kids.

And your figures don't include books & supplies or lodging costs.

Books/yr - $1200.00 Lodging/yr - $9650.00

*He pointed out that a defining characteristic of an ideology (that is, a totalizing idea-system for explaining the universe) is that they are non-falsifiable.

R34, I live in Georgia. It's not Georgia Tech or Emory. It's definitely a school for dumb kids

It's pretty much on par with Georgia State. It's NOTHING to write home about

[quote]Oh Jesus, save us from the idiots who post shit like this.

Fuckface, I've seen your other posts. I'm guessing you take issue with confederate statues coming down, so I'm not surprised at your response. Trash.

[quote]Oh Jesus, save us from the idiots who post shit like this.

Fuckface, I've seen your other posts. I'm guessing you take issue with confederate statues coming down, so I'm not surprised at your response. Trash.

I read the article the other day. She sounds like a cunt who will not be challenged. Why is her opinion on the matter more important or for that matter, is it even based in reality? I would’ve burned her book...but in my wood stove. And I would’ve slashed her tires. Oh, and maybe punch her in the pussy. Then spit in her face and laugh.

R39, these students sound like cunts who won't be challenged. And they probably hate gays, too.

You sound like a violent person as well as reactionary and uneducated.

When you block a handful of racist posts, large chunks of the thread disappear (like everything from r21 to r31)

The right-wingers are trolling

r15: Stop making excuses for their behavior. They're not "kids". They're adults --young adults, but adults nonetheless. They're old enough to know better than to react in such a backwards manner and given that they're enrolled in college, they should be smart enough to counter an argument with words not a book burning!

If Big Daddy had been there he would have told them that their book burning was all wrong.

One thing that's been emerging is that only ONE copy of her book was burned.

That hardly makes the event the equivalent of the Nazis.

[quote] That hardly makes the event the equivalent of the Nazis

You are right, but damn, these people are ignorant. They really have no idea. I can guarantee you 95% have never heard about the nazi book burning. Georgia has some great areas with great school systems. Those students raise the education rates for the rest of the state which has education systems on par with Alabama and Mississippi. The worst

So the book was required, as was attending the lecture, and people were surprised by an element of anger and rebellion?

White privilege exists. So do other forms of privilege. Being told to "check your privilege" is a total turnoff to 95% of people, especially when it's used to shut somebody down rather than engage. That won't ever change, and people need to get that through their heads. Book burning is a stupid, counterproductive form of protest.

Basically, everybody comes out of this looking bad. The admins and profs for thinking they can shove wokeness down students' throats, the author for saying "white privilege" rather than answering a question, the students for burning books.

R46, it's only a "turnoff" to right-wingers like you.

Right-wingers like you attack liberal students refusing to read books that "trigger" them but apparently it's okay for right-wing students to complain about books they are assigned for school. Nothing is being "shoved down their throat" they are just racist rednecks who don't want to be exposed to a different point of view. Btw, they probably hate gays too

R47 I've never voted for a republican in my life. Been liberal since birth. It isn't only right-wingers who are sick of the far left lecturing and posturing.

Fine, assign the book, but you can't dictate the students' response to it. And when they ask "why are all the white people in this book portrayed negatively?" have a better answer than "your privilege is showing."

If something isn't working, stop doing it. Telling white people to check their privilege hasn't made one single person's life better, hasn't even begin to mitigate the racism in this country. Common sense dictates: find another way.

R48, acknowledging that institutional racism exists is hardly a "far left" opinion. The fact that you think it is proves that you aren't quite the "liberal" you pretend to be. No one at that book burning was a liberal, I can assure you. They are just racist conservatives. Like you.

None of those people would trade places with a minority. Neither would you. That's proof that white privilege is real.

R49 Proclaiming that 2/3 of people in positions of authority be removed from their positions just for being white is as radical as Maoism

R50, you are misinterpreting what people believe. For a "liberal" you sure spend a lot of time attacking other liberals and not much time attacking racist conservatives who believe in book burning. Hmmm....wonder why that is? You come as across as being about as believable as all those "black women for Trump" bot accounts on Facebook and twitter

On the point of questioning white privilege as evidence of white privilege, could the author be making the point that the security and confidence to pose a pointed question is evidence of privilege itself—or the fruit of decades of privilege? Put another way, non-white people would feel less secure in questioning.

R52 Those black transgendered people at the CNN town hall didn't appear like they were less secure in questioning. And, in my personal experience, in college, black students were always asking pointed and aggressive questions, especially around issues of race.

R48, it's not about changing anyone's minds. It's about convincing yourself, and everyone around you, that YOU are the righteous one, the decider of what is and is not correct thought and behavior.

Compare the Westboro Baptist Church. Do you think they believed they were convincing gay men to become straight by constantly blaring their "GOD HATES FAGS" bullshit? No. The point was not to persuade. The point was to put a stake in the ground as The Only Voice of True Righteousness, and then bully the shit out of everyone and hope they'll just sit and take it. And then bask in your good feeling and the glow of being the one and only true voice of what is right and good. If only everyone realized that your way is the only right way!

I'm 100% convinced that anyone, from a religious zealot to an SJW crusader, who takes on this mantle of bullying others with their Big Stick of Truth, is covering for some very dark and evil thoughts or deeds in their past. Scratch any one of these people and you'll find something very, very ugly.

It is probably full of ignorant evangelicos.

The words white privilege angers the trumpsters.

R56, yep!

They want to be racist, while pretending that racism doesn't exist

There's no such thing as white privilege. There's only economic privilege. The economically privileged are creating this rancor so we don't guillotine them.

Eat the rich.

Institutional racism exists, but not for white Cubans in Florida. Seriously.

R59, outside of Florida everyone sees Hispanics people as being the same. Racists can't even tell the difference between Cubans and Mexicans

Racists can't tell white Cubans from white Anglo Saxons. Again, ask Marco Rubio.