thom space

At one point I was rather concerned that I was in a campus community that was filled with really dumb people. So I decided to see why that was. Well I did not come to any conclusions. But I was pretty angry so a wrote an angry letter to the editor of the school news paper. here is that letter.

(I know that it now sounds a little lame and pedantic but oh well that is the way that it is)

ISMS: THE CASE AGAINST SOCIAL GROUPS

(oh and “social groups” is cornell code for the Greek system.)

Social Groups are a major part of the Cornell College campus. They have existed here for more than 100 years, and in that time have contributed innumerable benefits to the school. The good deeds that have taken place since their founding provide a rich tradition upon which current Social Groups draw and base their meaning. Current Social Group members take pride in the legacy to which they belong. For example: There is a particular Social Group on campus that began as a poetry reading guild that met secretly in the tower of King Chapel to further their artistic desires. This group faced many challenges and yet was always able to persevere because of their strong sense of character. Other groups find their roots in various other ways, but without fail each Social Group can trace it.s beginnings to noble ideals and high aspirations.

It is clear to see how traditions have come to exist around these groups and why individual Social Group members take pride and wish to associate with them. However, negative aspects of Social Group tradition exist also, alongside and in equal measure to the positive aspects of their tradition. To draw upon an earlier example, the Social Group founded as a poetry-reading group has also been accused of physical assault, sexual abuse, and destruction of property among other things. This Social Group is not unique in its deviance; however, all current Social Groups to some degree or another have a negative tradition included within their history. These negative aspects of history are just as much a part of Social Group tradition as the positive, and yet Social Groups do not take pride in or wish to associate themselves with their negative past, nor should they. It would be ridiculous for me to hold a current Social Group member responsible for a rape committed by one of his forbears simply because the current Social Group member happened to belong to the same group as the person who committed the rape. It would be ridiculous, because clearly the current Social Group member cannot be held responsible for something that he, himself, did not do. In the same way it would be ridiculous for me to give credit or associate a current Social Group member with the good deeds performed by his group in the past, because current Social Group members have no more legitimate claim on those positive actions preformed than they do with the negative actions.

However, taking credit for the actions preformed by members of the same group is the definition of the .tradition. upon which Social Groups are based and the premise upon which they function. As shown in the previous examples this premise is illegitimate because it makes the false presumption that an individual can be defined by more than the content of his/her character, and in such that it is acceptable to define people according to the group to which they belong. To say that it is acceptable to define people according to the groups to which they belong is to concede that it is right to hold the current Social Group member responsible for the rape committed by his forbearer.

The fault of the premise, that it is acceptable to define people in terms of the group they belong to as opposed to the individual human beings that are, can be seen more clearly in the cases of Racism, Sexism, and Heterosexism, where the same premise is utilized.

Being that Racism is the belief that belonging to a specific race accounts for differences in human character and ability, it is clear that Racism functions upon the premise that it is acceptable to categorize people in terms of the group they belong to, and not by the content of their characters. Racism cannot function if this premise is rejected. If a person is defined only in terms of what they have done as individuals and for the content of their character Racism ceases to exist. For example, if I were to associate and define a person based upon stereotypes and conjectures I had about his/her particular race, I would be guilty of Racism. If, on the other hand, I were to reject the premise upon which racism functions, and were to meet the same person, I would define him/her based only upon the content of his/her character and would have ceased being racist.

In a similar way Sexism functions upon the same flawed premise as Social Groups and Racism. Being that Sexism is discrimination based on gender, it is easy to see that Sexism exists because of the belief that belonging to a specific group constitutes a difference in character and ability that can be discriminated against. The rejecting of this faulty premise, upon which sexism is based, causes sexism to fail. Sexism, as with Racism and Social Groups, cannot exist if people are defined solely in terms of the content of their characters and what they have accomplished as individuals. Sexism will not end if the premise that perpetuates it is not eliminated.

In the same manner as Social Groups, Racism, and Sexism, Heterosexism exists by the same flawed premise that people can be defined in terms of the groups to which they belong and not as the individuals they are. Heterosexism is the discrimination against gay or homosexual people by heterosexual people. By now it should be abundantly clear how heterosexism exists. Heterosexism exists because heterosexual people define gay people in terms of the group to which they belong and not as the individuals they are.

The reason Social Groups must be thought of in the same category as Racism, Sexism, and Heterosexism and dealt with in the same manner is for the simple fact that their operating premises are the same. Racism, Sexism, and Heterosexism will not diminish until their premise is widely thought to be unacceptable. Their premise, however, will not be thought unacceptable if its acceptability is continually reaffirmed by the presence of Social Groups. It is foolish think that it.s possible for something to be both X and not X at the same time, however this is the situation that arises when Social Groups are accepted and Racism, Sexism, and Heterosexism are rejected. Social Groups must also be rejected if the premise that makes Racism, Sexism, and Heterosexism possible is ever to be eradicated.

This argument does not presuppose that tradition and history be rejected, only that the practice of illegitimately defining people in terms of history and tradition be rejected. To draw upon an earlier example, it would be wrong to define a current Social Group member to be held responsible for a crime committed by an earlier member of the same group, in the same way as it would be wrong for a current Social Group member to take credit for any positive action preformed by an earlier Social Group+ Member. I cannot look back to the founding of that particular Social Group in the tower of King Chapel and take credit for their actions. I can however look back at the founding of that group and be inspired, not because I am a member of that group, but rather because I am a human being, and in such I can look back to the actions of any human being and be inspired to be a better individual because of their example. In a similar sense I can look back at the lives of Malcolm X, Oscar Wilde, and Betty Ford and be inspired by their actions as great individuals, not because I am black, gay, or a woman but rather because I am a human being and as such I am capable of being inspired by any other human being regardless of group membership.

The fight against Racism, Sexism, and Heterosexism can only be won if the premise that which makes them possible is rejected. Social Groups function upon the same premise as Racism, Sexism, and Heterosexism. Therefore, the fight against Racism, Sexism and Heterosexism cannot be won if Social Groups are not rejected.

STOP ADDING TO THE PROBLEM! Be part of the solution.

Thom Parks

A concerned Cornellian