Sometimes I wonder why I even bother.....

[poltr1]

I'm on my college fraternity's unofficial email list, maintained by a volunteer alumnus. This past week, there was some discussion about Hurricane Katrina. One alumnus forwarded a comment from someone he once taught, blaming the state and local officials for not doing enough to help.

Some were in strong agreement. And some were in strong disagreement. Someone made an incredibly callous and classist remark, and I posted a reply which said so. (Classism is the condition/attitude/mindset whereby people are judged by their socio-economic status.) There were replies like "Maybe we are all kind of callous and classist", and "There are no disadvantaged people in America today with all the programs available" and "This search for the 'truth' should not come in a Delta Chi discussion group." And the list admin made a comment that any further discussion on Katrina is off-topic and will be deleted.


Am I the only one there to see a classist shadow? The attitude I perceive from many of my brothers on the list -- but not all of them -- is that they are all white, middle-class to upper-class people, with moderate to conservative political views. And a few brothers appeared to take exception to my observation that the members are classist.

Perhaps I made them uncomfortable by pointing out the group's classist shadow, and thus, their own shadows. Or that they don't care to think out of their "box" that they've grown accustomed to. Or that the brothers on ths list are only interested in a narrow scope of fraternity news, events, and relevant topics, and not establishing any bonds with other active brothers or alumni. Or the people there simply aren't interested in advancing social justice, gaining enlightenment, or owning their own classist shadows.

Sometimes I wonder why I'm still on that list. Since my chapter has closed, and that I have little to no contact with any of the brothers in my chapter, the list is my only connection to Delta Chi (other than the quarterly national magazine).

Comments

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

There has been a huge amount of discussion with regard to Katrina, and the exposure following it, of classism and racism still remaining in the US.

My personal opinion is that there is a great deal of each; that some biased individuals' bias results more from economics than from skin tone, and vice versa; and that although IIRC there are a greater absolute number of white folks living in poverty, there is a greater proportion of nonwhite folks who do. And, as a result, there's a strong connection in many people's minds between race and class.

Also, there's a strong and nasty connection between race and violence that Katrina has exposed. Author Will Shetterly has been discussing this topic at his blog; likewise, there's been discussion of it over at Making Light, the Nielsen Haydens' blog.

To the commenter who said "maybe we are all kind of callous and classist" I'd ask whom he means by "we ... all" and ask that he not speak for me. Because, dammit, while I can be as callous, cruel, and biased as the next guy, in this case it's not so. And if he tries to subsume me into his prejudiced gang, I'd kick him in the cojones.

I also wonder at a list admin who'd declare the entire largest and most provocative topic of conversation off-topic on a general-interest (with bias toward things of interest to the frat's members) list. Sounds pretty draconian and narrow to me, unless there was lots of personal sniping and gratuitous flamage happening.

Did you see the Spider Robinson post I referred to recently? If not, I suggest you read it. If The bit I quoted would make a fine exit if you choose to leave that group (whose members don't impress me, from your description). Maybe one or two of them will even get it. One can only hope.

[poltr1]

The person who responded "maybe are all kind of callous and classist" was the same person who made the comments I took exception to. IMJ, he should have phrased his reply as an "I" statement. (He also mentioned that he's in the Army. And his spelling or typipng is atrocious.)

There was already a few days' worth of back-and-forth exchange of opinions before the list admin stepped in. He once told me he doesn't want to censor people, but he'll do so if necessary. I called the topic restrictions "narrowing" but stopped short of calling it "narrow-minded". But that's part of the rules of the list, that items of discussion remain on-topic. Hurm.

Other than the political divide issue, I've also seen and experienced first-hand what a true brotherhood of men is. I've been trying to communicate this vision to the rest of the fraternity (nope, I don't call it a frat), but they either can't grok it or aren't interested in what I propose.