To the Editor:
I felt the need to respond to some of the whiners in the last issue who complained about the unfair image of Greeks.
Look, no one likes to be stereotyped. This is because we live in Western society where we are (supposedly) free to be you and me. One result of this type of thinking is that everyone wants to be an individual and, furthermore, we are enraged if anyone assumes that we will behave in a certain way because of the group that we may belong to. I can understand this, and I am sure I am just as outraged when someone commits this atrocity upon me.
However, get some freakin’ perspective people. If you don’t like being stereotyped, consider the single mom who is stereotyped as being a welfare slob, or stupid, or a bad parent. Consider, for that matter, the homeless family who is stereotyped as dirty, unintelligent, or crazy. Consider the person with a different color of skin or wearing different clothes than what you grew up with who is stereotyped as untrustworthy, stupid, or even evil. Consider the person of Islamic faith who is stereotyped as being a terrorist.
Forgive me if I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for a predominantly middle-class, predominantly white, and yes, relatively privileged person who is stereotyped.
Poor you, your life must be very hard. Get over yourselves. If you haven’t noticed, there is a war going on. Well, let me correct myself, there is always war going on it’s just that presently, the war is being carried out by our country, and furthermore, we are admitting to our involvement.
I know you don’t like to be stereotyped. Join the crowd. But maybe your energy is better devoted working for tangible change. If you don’t know how to do that, at least shut up and let the rest of us get on with it.
Shannon Clark
Junior, nursing major
American
Peace Activist
Mom
Non-Greek