From a blog, but so funny from so many angles at a source many of us may not frequent, that I thought I'd share. EFL More at link.
In a move seen as possibly setting a precedent for universities across the nation, Duke University today mandated cultural competency training for all landlords and neighbors of their students in Durham.
Really? Just who died and left Duke University in charge of the town?
âDiversity in this great nation cuts both ways,â explained Dukeâs provost in a press conference hastily called this afternoon in response to the latest arrest of a group of undergraduates. âWe all know we need to demonstrate the ability to deal with disadvantaged people, and people of different ethnicities, and so forth. But the offspring of Americaâs affluent represent every bit as legitimate a culture as, say, the Hmong, or the Amish."
Ah, so the townies are not getting down on their knees and kissing the feet of the offspring of Americaâs affluent donors to Duke. How rude, just who do they think they are, not kowtowing to their betters!
"Itâs time for the shopkeepers and homeowners of Durham to demonstrate that they understand the cultural backgrounds and sensitivities of our student population, and to behave accordingly.â
"They may be drunken students, but they're our rich drunken students!"
To that end, he continued, Duke has decided to mandate two-week summer diversity training sessions for citizens who interact on a regular basis with Duke students.
And if said citizens tell you to go F*&k yourself?
Asked to be more precise about what he had in mind, the provost said: âWell, let me give you some examples. Last September, there was a pool party at some luxury apartments near campus. Police described it as âa chaotic scene of profanity and drunkenness.â
Like I said, rich drunken students
"Those are words designed to hurt. They stereotype an entire group."
Just your student population, apparently
Now, as the police rounded up the students, one of the students said, âHey, everyone, as soon as you get out of high school, you can become a Durham police officer.â The police apparently found this statement offensive.
I think if I was a hardworking cop, dealing with a drunken a-hole Duke student who thought he was better than me just because his daddy sent him to a so-called "elite university", I might take offense. I also might be tempted to have them bump their heads getting into the patrol car.
A little sensitivity training will help them understand that in these studentsâ world, vicious comments directed at people who are not rich are a rite of passage.â
We've noticed that it doesn't change much in your world either.
Hat tip to Norm Geras. Cathy Buckle, a citizen of Zimbabwe, has been writing letters to her friends for several years. This is the latest one. If you really want an education on life in that unhappy land, go read the previous letters in her archives. This is frightening.
Dear Family and Friends,
I am writing this letter from a very tense Zimbabwe where the situation is changing rapidly. Here are just a few things that have happened in the last couple of weeks.
The inflation rate jumped 94 percent in a month, going from 265 percent in August to 359.8% in September 2005.
In the last sixteen days the price of a standard loaf of white bread in Marondera has almost tripled in price from eight to twenty thousand dollars.
The four pack of toilet paper that I wrote about last week, the one that cost fifty two thousand dollars - this week that same pack costs ninety one thousand dollars.
In a country where at least 2 million people face hunger this Christmas and where the government has to import 37 000 tons of maize a week, productive farms continue to be invaded. In the last few days 2 farmers were evicted in Manicaland, another was shot in the shoulder and the CFU said 25 other farmers had been ordered to be off their properties by the end of the month. The Governor of the Reserve Bank said that these invasions were fuelling inflation and just had to stop. He said all productive farms should be regarded as sacred but again his words fell on deaf ears as they are not backed up with political intent or action.
Zimbabwe's only tyre manufacturer, Dunlop announced that they have been forced to stop production and sent over 800 workers home as they have no foreign currency for critical imports.
National Foods, the country's biggest miller has said that the closure of its mills in Harare and Bulawayo is now in sight as they have nothing to grind, mill or refine - no wheat and no maize.
At the top of my son's mid term circular from school this weekend is a statement which reads: "We have received a Directive from the Acting Permanent Secretary of Education to close school on the 24th November." This is 8 days before the official end of the school term and the second time in six months that the government have closed schools early so that they can hold elections.
In between all these things life sort of staggers on. Every day we wait for, and usually get, water cuts and electricity cuts. Every night we get no explanations or answers to any of the fuel, food or economic calamities but just more self congratulatory propaganda on state television. In this atmosphere the MDC finally announced they would not take part in the Senate elections. Ordinary Zimbabweans who have lost everything, who are hungry, unemployed and walking around in transparently thin second, third and fourth hand clothes, hope that this time the MDC will stick to their decision and remember who it is they represent.
Until next week, love cathy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/19/2005 00:03 ||
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#1
Truly frightening, but why doesn't Cathy get her family out. Those who were wise got out of Hitler's killing fields before they were part of the slaughter that was to come.
#3
"...four pack of toilet paper that I wrote about last week, the one that cost fifty two thousand dollars - this week that same pack costs ninety one thousand dollars."
Simple solution - put money dispensers next to the toilet. Or use toilet paper as an exchange medium, sort of like cigarettes in prison.
(When I evacuated for Katrina & then Rita I made sure to pack a couple of rolls - so I wouldn't have to use dollar bills.)
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
