General News University "diversity" officer bans white people and men from equality meeting

There's nothing that can surprise me with student politics. It's things like this that made me resign from my post as president of my student union, NUS (National Union of Students, or Nutters United by Socialism as I called them) are just like this. Thy ran a 'cops of campus' campaign to ban the police from uni and college campuses after a student was charged with possession and he hit out at the police. NUS also asked union officers not to share information with police about students suspected of terrorism. I put it to NUS that there are so many officers for minority's that if you are a white heterosexual male aged 18-25, you are infact a student minority and are largely ignored (as I saw was the case in a dozen Scottish institutions) as you are not part of NUSs quota.

 

It is important to note that this individual is an elected student union diversity officer and the furthest thing from an administrative authority at the univeristy. She is essentially a student who organizes events on campuses dealing with diversity issues, but she has essential no more power on the campus than any other random student. While she is completely capable of discriminating in terms of who she welcomes into these protests and discussions, and should be fired for that reason, she is not capable of inciting oppression against anyone.

 

Absolutely, but there are too many power mad people in student politics (who ironically moan about Government power!), they only have power because other students give it to them. By their constiution they don't actually have 'power' only a functional role, but unfortunately if an officer wasn't living in a dreamy unrealistic world they were power mad, I lost count of the number of times I'd heard of subordinate officers trying to force out their superiors by a bogus vote of no confidence In order to take over.

I wasn't 'taken in' by it all per day and by looking at it from the sidelines the whole operation was concerning.

 

"Yeah, let's alienate the majority -- that'll get us what we want!"

Somebody needs to stop politicking, and enroll in a statistics class.

 

All of your posts should be required readings. Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

The power to oppress is marked by the presence of an authority.

Words are influence, but all negativity or even hate is not oppressive, nor does it hold significant social power. What is being referenced when the slandering and mis-gendering of transgender individuals is labeled oppressive is that negativity directed at social groups that are already oppressed and persecuted in society serves as a catalyst for violence. It is similar to mob-mentality in the sense that when hate is validated by peers we are much more lightly to form a deeper sense of hate and enact violence against outside groups. This is why hate crimes are commonly carried out in groups.

Ultimately, the ability to enact oppression independently requires the ability to directly subjugate a group that you hold authority over. It is not simply the ability to discourage others from attending an event. If this individual was an administrator with the ability to enforce this ban, then it would be an actual case of evoking power to discriminate against others. This woman is not capable of oppressing any demographic and will not fortify oppression with her words, no matter how ignorant, because she is not encouraging the oppression of an already marginalized group.

As has been shared by Foz, these student union representatives are frequently power hungry and I am completely on board with actions being taken. I am merely saying that this is not an instance of oppression or a use of social power because she has no independent authority and negative opinions are only capable of encouraging oppression with a precedent of oppression has already been established within a society.

---------- Post added 24th Apr 2015 at 01:51 PM ----------

For the record: My point is not that ignorant comments or attempts to exclude others should not be criticized because the person making statements is not a person of authority or is not directed them at an oppressed group. My point in calling attention to this individuals lack of power is because the titles of the articles surrounding this story insinuate that this individual is a true authority and employee within the university. Quite frankly, I wasn't even aware that she wasn't until I eventually clinked on the links and read the full article. I am positive that other people will make the same mistake as well, so that is why I highlighted those points.

 

^Yes, the titles of these articles are meant to be misleading and sensationalist.

That said, this kind of thing is not unheard of. People think "diversity" is synonymous with "everything except white men". But that defeats the purpose. You can't be inclusive and be exclusive at the same time. It's not "reverse discrimination", it's just discrimination. And it helps no one.

 

A racist anti-racist event. How ironic.

 

An NUS officer once told me she wasn't "taking any lectures from a white cis boy" (the argument was do to with funding, nothing LGBT!) and took no account for the fact I was gay because I don't "look gay".

A few weeks later she sent an all union email asking for unions to sign up to her "end LGBT stereotype" campaign, I was pissing myself laughing at that :roflmao:

 

I would argue that white cismale heterosexuals are ALWAYS suspect at any equality event. You don't need to ban them. You just need to independently vet them as being allies.

 

You are arguing against an unjustified simplification of my position. I am not claiming that all white, cismale heterosexuals are oppressive. What I am saying is that they are statistically more likely to be, and therefore women, people who are transgender of any gender, and people who aren't heterosexual shouldn't be negatively judged for being wary about them until they demonstrate a level of empathy.

Nor am I arguing they should be banned from events. Consider Tim Wise, who is a straight, white cismale. He's also an anti-racist activist with the backing of a lot of black activists in the US. He's got a proven record of empathy when it comes to race, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity (that one can go on the web, for example, and research).

Whereas a random straight, white cismale off the street needs to be watched to make sure he's not an asshole.

That's all I'm saying.

I would find it highly surprising if you can genuinely say you're just as worried about homophobic behavior from the LGBT community as you are from people who are straight. I'd similarly be very surprised if women expect to be denigrated because of their sex just as often by a random woman they met than by a random man they met. I'd be very surprised if a black person in the US felt he was just as likely to encounter racism from another non-Caucasian person as a white person.

 

I'm not sure about you Pret, but I've met some pretty big assholes who aren't straight white heterosexual or cismale - the woman in question appears to be one herself. I give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and in the UK at least, most people you encounter will not be prejudiced. I'd probably feel more wary around certain ethnic groups because they usually have more conservative views on such matters, but I wouldn't assume they are homophobic. When I meet people, I presume they won't be homophobic until proven otherwise. That is a very reasonable assumption to make here.

So far so good. I'm out to everyone at work and have never ever been on the receiving end of discrimination in any way shape or form. Honestly.

 

The irony is that she is just solidifying the "we" vs "them" mentality. By doing this she isn't helping her cause at all. She's basically saying "we don't want to join you in equality, we want to rally together to become more powerful than you so we can oppress you like you deserve." Which, of course, garners absolutely zero sympathy for her cause and instead makes the majority want to oppress them further out of fear.

 

Reading what the daily mail has to say (addmitedly hardly the bastion of truthfull reporting in the uk!) I get the feeling that this woman is a serious racist and a sexist.