The Student Room Group

Cambridge students cancel theme party over 'cultural appropriation' fears

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Original post by DiddyDec
Well there was reggae night, although they banned blacking up, so many opted for the use of heavy fake tan and fake dread locks.
The 1st rugby team dressed as terrorists, all Islamic of course.
Bavarian Beer Night with oompah band and steins.

You would have loved it.
And best of all, I was the Equality and Diversity Officer for the SU.


Just why?
Original post by PQ
This.

We all know some dipshit 18 yr olds would have turned up dressed in blackface or dressed as Cecil Rhodes and it would have ended up all over the papers like Harry in his Nazi uniform.

The college sensibly recognised it would be setting themselves up for terrible press so called it off.


It could have been worse: someone might have dressed in a miniskirt or a teddy boy outfit and appropriated the western culture of the 1950s or 1960s; or, even more shudder-inducing, worn black tie and appropriated the culture of the nineteenth century.
Original post by Good bloke
It could have been worse: someone might have dressed in a miniskirt or a teddy boy outfit and appropriated the western culture of the 1950s or 1960s; or, even more shudder-inducing, worn black tie and appropriated the culture of the nineteenth century.


Lol,our women in the Middle East used to wear mini skirts long before,nothing to do with cultural appropriation
Original post by queen-bee
Just why?


Why to what?

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Original post by DiddyDec


Why did you do the things you mentioned?
Original post by queen-bee
Why did you do the things you mentioned?


Because they were fun, in fact they still are fun.

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Original post by queen-bee
Lol,our women in the Middle East used to wear mini skirts long before,nothing to do with cultural appropriation


That went right over your head, didn't it?
One wonders how students are being prepared for the world they will inhabit after university (unless they stay in the increasingly weird groves of academe, of course). Here are some more examples of lunacy:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/university-yoga-class-suspended-over-cultural-appropriation-dispute-a6744426.html

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/29/uea-student-union-bans-racist-sombreros

http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/24868/

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-university-accused-of-cultural-appropriation-over-undercooked-sushi-a6781821.html

Universities and the NUS seem to be conspiring to create a generation of unemployable snowflakes with no idea of how to behave in the real world.

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2015/11/this-obsession-with-cultural-appropriation-is-leading-us-down-a-very-dark-path/
Original post by Good bloke
One wonders how students are being prepared for the world they will inhabit after university (unless they stay in the increasingly weird groves of academe, of course). Here are some more examples of lunacy:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/university-yoga-class-suspended-over-cultural-appropriation-dispute-a6744426.html

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/29/uea-student-union-bans-racist-sombreros

http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/24868/

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-university-accused-of-cultural-appropriation-over-undercooked-sushi-a6781821.html

Universities and the NUS seem to be conspiring to create a generation of unemployable snowflakes with no idea of how to behave in the real world.

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2015/11/this-obsession-with-cultural-appropriation-is-leading-us-down-a-very-dark-path/


You're trying to combat hysteria with hysteria. Do I agree with these things? No, most of them are silly. Is it breeding a generation of people who are incapable of thinking rationally and are unable to behave in the real world? No. These incidents actually are not particularly common, they just get blown up out of proportion by people looking for an excuse to complain about "political correctness gone mad" whenever they happen. I don't think I've ever met anybody in real life who genuinely agrees with these incidents. Most university students don't care and just get on with their lives. This is not a serious problem.
Original post by a noble chance
Can someone please explain to me what 'cultural appropriation' even means?


It means that if you are white you are always wrong.
Original post by Plagioclase
I don't think I've ever met anybody in real life who genuinely agrees with these incidents. Most university students don't care and just get on with their lives. This is not a serious problem.


But I and others have - if we're relying on anecdotes. You can't claim they don't exist because they don't appear in your circles.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by Kvothe the arcane
But I and others have if we're relying on anecdotes. You can't claim they don't exist because they don't appear in your circles.


Do you seriously believe this is impacting your life in a significant way? Do these news stories genuinely belong in national newspapers?
Original post by Plagioclase
Do you seriously believe this is impacting your life in a significant way? Do these news stories genuinely belong in national newspapers?


I think any news is worth reporting in one form or another.

If it were an isolated incident then perhaps not. But I can see why this incident was reported as it is felt that "the move has been heavily criticised as the latest example of students taking a militant approach to political correctness and enforcing it on campuses across Britain and the U.S". If this is true - and you're free to continue to say that this claim is false - then it would indeed make sense for a national newspaper to report such a thing.
Original post by Plagioclase
I don't think I've ever met anybody in real life who genuinely agrees with these incidents.


Yet the student body has elected these wowsers to represent it. How can this be if nobody agrees with what they do and say? Are there no sane candidates to vote for?

It is making British and American universities a laughing stock.
Original post by Good bloke
Yet the student body has elected these wowsers to represent it. How can this be if nobody agrees with what they do and say? Are there no sane candidates to vote for?

It is making British and American universities a laughing stock.


One reason might be because most people have very little to do with their student union so don't take part in elections.

Original post by Kvothe the arcane
I think any news is worth reporting in one form or another.

If it were an isolated incident then perhaps not. But I can see why this incident was reported as it is felt that "the move has been heavily criticised as the latest example of students taking a militant approach to political correctness and enforcing it on campuses across Britain and the U.S". If this is true - and you're free to continue to say that this claim is false - then it would indeed make sense for a national newspaper to report such a thing.


You're probably going to accuse me of going back to using analogies but I'm at a university which has been in the news a lot recently for stories like these and as a normal student, it hasn't impacted me in the slightest. I'd also add that I've been to several events that I'd argue are a lot more controversial than some of the events that were widely publicised to be cancelled... yet they didn't get any attention because events not getting cancelled isn't a news story.
Original post by Plagioclase
One reason might be because most people have very little to do with their student union so don't take part in elections.


Then students who do not vote (which can hardly be all that much trouble, can it?) have no right to complain when the outside world laughs at what is undertaken by their elected representatives in the name of the student body.

Original post by Plagioclase
You're trying to combat hysteria with hysteria.


No. I'm laughing at the ridiculous things NUS representatives get up to.
Original post by Good bloke
Then students who do not vote (which can hardly be all that much trouble, can it?) have no right to complain when the outside world laughs at what is undertaken by their elected representatives in the name of the student body.


You're more than welcome to laugh at stupidity, and I think I'm also justified in calling it petty when people whip themselves up into a hysteria about SJWs taking over the world.
Original post by Good bloke


No. I'm laughing at the ridiculous things NUS representatives get up to.


*Jazz Hands*

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Original post by Plagioclase
You're more than welcome to laugh at stupidity, and I think I'm also justified in calling it petty when people whip themselves up into a hysteria about SJWs taking over the world.


It could easily be argued that they have taken over the student world, and they seek to take the despot's route of closing down political views they don't like by simply banning their expression. The Southampton SU has made a stand against the NUS's madness, so some student union officials are sane:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/luke-goodger/an-open-letter-to-all-stu_b_2175029.html
Original post by DiddyDec


Feel free to be vocal (er, or, I suppose, manual).

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