To the Editor:
The American folk-singer Phil Ochs, in his song "Love Me, I'm a Liberal," elegantly pointed out, with much humor, the hypocrisies of liberalism in America. Of course, here at Oberlin, we are all "progressives," too radical to be mere "liberals," and hence many of us think we have left our hypocrisies behind.
Ha.
I found Trembles Our Rage on the web and read through it. After almost three years here, I can't say that any of it is really new. But because this packet was directed at prospective students, I can't allow myself to pretend I was not offended by at least one of the articles (which, incidentally, offended me as much when it appeared in The Voice last year).
The quote goes something like this: "... the parent of those Jewish White folk who stood up during Ture's speech shovel money down the throats of the administration ..."
Translation: "I am really pissed off about the racism and ignorance on this campus, and it's all perpetuated by those rich Jews who use their money to maintain the oppressive status quo."
Hello? Am I the only one who sees this? In my time here, I have seen too many people deny that comments such as those are derogatory stereotypes (i.e. "Why is it offensive to say that you Jews are rich and powerful? Don't you control the banks and the media?"). But I am sure this won't be the last time I hear such stereotypes spouted on this campus in the name of fighting oppression. Some may say that I am taking the quote out of context, that I am misunderstanding the point this comment is trying to make, but I am not the only one who took offense to this. I know a good number of people, Jewish and not, who found this statement indefensible. If the point of the article was to show the racism of the institution, was it necessary to rely on anti-Semitic stereotyping to achieve this end? If the point of the statement was to comment on and criticize this all-too-accepted stereotype, where was the explanation denounced? The article fails, not only because it alienates many readers, but because it does not challenge those who still hold to these ancient and reprehensible views. And what is especially sad is that I am not even confident that the author does not hold these views.
The twin dragons of hatred and hypocrisy have reared their ugly heads and drooled all over the prospies. I just thought I would point it out to those of you who are too busy deconstructing stereotypes to notice.
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