There's a semantic difference between the 'skin colour' lawleypop intended and the 'skin colour' you're using. You're ignoring the social connotations of the term.
Fair enough I suppose.
But it's sad that that's even up for discussion in 2011.
The fact that we give skin colour's social connotations is part of the reason why discrimination persists. By acknowledging such things we give them power over us. Trying to hide or pretend we are all exactly the same only does us a disservice. Instead of turning a blind eye to our physical differnces, why not embrace and love them?
Why shouldn't someone by able to say that they love their skin colour?
The fact that some may choose to view that as a superiority complex is a poison in our society stemming from eras of thought that should be long gone. You have a choice to see skin colour as purely that..a colour, same as a hair or eye colour...or you can chose to see the outdated 'social connotations'.
No one is better than another...but at the same time, does that mean we can't be happy with who we are?
Fair enough I suppose.
But it's sad that that's even up for discussion in 2011.
The fact that we give skin colour's social connotations is part of the reason why discrimination persists. By acknowledging such things we give them power over us. Trying to hide or pretend we are all exactly the same only does us a disservice. Instead of turning a blind eye to our physical differnces, why not embrace and love them?
Why shouldn't someone by able to say that they love their skin colour?
The fact that some may choose to view that as a superiority complex is a poison in our society stemming from eras of thought that should be long gone. You have a choice to see skin colour as purely that..a colour, same as a hair or eye colour...or you can chose to see the outdated 'social connotations'.
No one is better than another...but at the same time, does that mean we can't be happy with who we are?
You seem to be doing a lot of damage controlling, trying to rationalize that there isn't something wrong with the fact that nearly ALL of your friends are of your race. There's a reason McMaster is so segregated and cliquey when it comes to race, and it's because of people like you.
Last edited by Souldier : 02-23-2011 at 05:31 PM.
02-23-2011 at 05:55 PM
#49
Twelve Chars
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 330
Thanked:
17 Times
Liked:
318 Times
Quote:
Originally Posted by Souldier
You seem to be doing a lot of damage controlling, trying to rationalize that there isn't something wrong with the fact that nearly ALL of your friends are of your race. There's a reason McMaster is so segregated and cliquey when it comes to race, and it's because of people like you.
crazy-"I'm not ___ but"-free
02-23-2011 at 06:15 PM
#50
jo87
Elite Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 539
Thanked:
40 Times
Liked:
152 Times
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tailsnake
McMaster is in no way a "Brown/Asian School" I came from an Asian elementary school and a Brown/Black highschool and McMaster is closer to a "White School" than anything else (Basically anyone from Markham, Brampton, areas of Scarborough, and parts of North York experiences at least some level of culture shock when coming here because of the relative number of white people).
Calling McMaster a "Brown/Asian School" because you come from an area that >90% white and McMaster is closer to 50% white is just factually inarticulate, Mac has a rather even mix of races.
The areas you listed are mostly populated with minorities, so obviously when they stepped out of their comfort zone and came to a place where white people exist some shock was bound to happen. I don't know what your point is, Markham, Brampton is like 95% Asian/Brown just like my neighbourhood is 95% white. So its okay for Bramptom/Markham students to experience culture shock because they see so many white people but its not okay for me to say mac is brown/asian because i have never seen so many Asians/Brown people in one place? Your argument fails to prove anything.
__________________
02-23-2011 at 06:27 PM
#51
crazyfree
Elite Member
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 721
Thanked:
38 Times
Liked:
284 Times
Quote:
Originally Posted by Souldier
You seem to be doing a lot of damage controlling, trying to rationalize that there isn't something wrong with the fact that nearly ALL of your friends are of your race. There's a reason McMaster is so segregated and cliquey when it comes to race, and it's because of people like you.
What damage control? I haven't done any damage...all I've said is that we're all awesome and should love the skin we're in 0_o
Dear god, it's like misunderstand Crazyfree week or something...
I'm saying we should all be proud of our colour, and accept and love it. One of my favourite things about Canada is how multicultural we are. I've grown up going to Muslim camp, attending bar mitzvahs, going to Indian Weddings, participating in African festivals, going to Chinese events. Generally, I was one of a tiny portion of white people there, but my mother's friends always invited her to their celebrations etc, so I always got to go along. These aren't isolated events...this was my entire life, as soon as I was old enough to go places with her until I left for university.
I'm actually very lucky in that respect, because my mother (as a middle eastern immigrant herself) is incredibly involved in the "ethnic" community, so I basically grew up in a world village. I grew up seeing the wonderful things offered by every culture, and appreciating the beauty each person, colour, eye shape etc held.
Because of that, I don't think I could ever explain exactly how sad and frustrating it is to see those cliques form. It's like we deny ourselves the chance to really get to know how awesome we are by SHARING our differencers instead of hiding them and keeping them only to those who share them with us. Its like you don't understand WHY those cliques form-because we all chose to ignore, instead of embrace and love our differences. By ignoring the things that make us unique you destroy one if the most wonderful things about living in Canada...our multiculturalism. People in other countries can go their whole lives without meeting a person that has a different skin colour or different culture. We are so lucky here to have that-It's something to celebrate and LOVE about ourselves.
My friends are Indian, Chinese, Iranian, Pakistani, British, Egyptian, Polish, and Guyanese. And obviously much more. I myself couldn't even be in a clique if I wanted to...I'm white on the outside, but am completely middle eastern in terms in my blood, my language, my upbringing, my everything. As a result I've never even felt the need to "fit" into a clique because I had no where to fit..which is why I've always hung out with whoever the **** I wanted without being held back by their colour. And as a result I've noticed how a lot of visible minorities tend to put themselves down for their colour. Why the **** should that happen? They, and WE should all love the body we are in. Instead of ignoring our colour, I should be able to say "I love you dark skin tone" without it coming across as anything other than the compliment that it is. Just like if I tell a friend she looks pretty.
I'm really not sure what issue you guys are having with this. You honestly think it's better if we all just ignore how beautiful we all are?
__________________ Health Sciences Rep 2010, 2011
Last edited by crazyfree : 02-23-2011 at 06:39 PM.
The areas you listed are mostly populated with minorities, so obviously when they stepped out of their comfort zone and came to a place where white people exist some shock was bound to happen. I don't know what your point is, Markham, Brampton is like 95% Asian/Brown just like my neighbourhood is 95% white. So its okay for Bramptom/Markham students to experience culture shock because they see so many white people but its not okay for me to say mac is brown/asian because i have never seen so many Asians/Brown people in one place? Your argument fails to prove anything.
I see you missed the point of my post.
I mentioned minorities from minority communities experiencing culture shock because he used his and his friends' culture shock as his evidence for McMaster being a Brown/Asian School, I was basically showing a flaw in his logic. I followed that up by mentioning that McMaster still seems to be around 40%-50% caucasian which would make it more of a white school than anything else (and then I followed that up by saying that even that logic was flawed since McMaster doesn't seem to have any single race dominating the population and was a rather multi-cultural school).
__________________ Masters Biochemistry
Honours Biology and Psychology
02-23-2011 at 06:52 PM
#54
Kendoon
Sometimes helpful
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,281
Thanked:
30 Times
Liked:
645 Times
If McMaster is "pretty much equal in race", where are all the black people?
In my years at Mac, I've seen maybe... 30 black people.
THIRTY.
__________________
02-23-2011 at 07:16 PM
#55
Twelve Chars
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 330
Thanked:
17 Times
Liked:
318 Times
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tailsnake
I see you missed the point of my post.
I mentioned minorities from minority communities experiencing culture shock because he used his and his friends' culture shock as his evidence for McMaster being a Brown/Asian School, I was basically showing a flaw in his logic. I followed that up by mentioning that McMaster still seems to be around 40%-50% caucasian which would make it more of a white school than anything else (and then I followed that up by saying that even that logic was flawed since McMaster doesn't seem to have any single race dominating the population and was a rather multi-cultural school).
Was I posting in syllogisms? What are you talking about.
02-24-2011 at 02:02 AM
#56
MSaleh
Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 24
Thanked:
0 Times
Liked:
8 Times
Quote:
Originally Posted by crazyfree
What damage control? I haven't done any damage...all I've said is that we're all awesome and should love the skin we're in 0_o
Dear god, it's like misunderstand Crazyfree week or something...
I'm saying we should all be proud of our colour, and accept and love it. One of my favourite things about Canada is how multicultural we are. I've grown up going to Muslim camp, attending bar mitzvahs, going to Indian Weddings, participating in African festivals, going to Chinese events. Generally, I was one of a tiny portion of white people there, but my mother's friends always invited her to their celebrations etc, so I always got to go along. These aren't isolated events...this was my entire life, as soon as I was old enough to go places with her until I left for university.
I'm actually very lucky in that respect, because my mother (as a middle eastern immigrant herself) is incredibly involved in the "ethnic" community, so I basically grew up in a world village. I grew up seeing the wonderful things offered by every culture, and appreciating the beauty each person, colour, eye shape etc held.
Because of that, I don't think I could ever explain exactly how sad and frustrating it is to see those cliques form. It's like we deny ourselves the chance to really get to know how awesome we are by SHARING our differencers instead of hiding them and keeping them only to those who share them with us. Its like you don't understand WHY those cliques form-because we all chose to ignore, instead of embrace and love our differences. By ignoring the things that make us unique you destroy one if the most wonderful things about living in Canada...our multiculturalism. People in other countries can go their whole lives without meeting a person that has a different skin colour or different culture. We are so lucky here to have that-It's something to celebrate and LOVE about ourselves.
My friends are Indian, Chinese, Iranian, Pakistani, British, Egyptian, Polish, and Guyanese. And obviously much more. I myself couldn't even be in a clique if I wanted to...I'm white on the outside, but am completely middle eastern in terms in my blood, my language, my upbringing, my everything. As a result I've never even felt the need to "fit" into a clique because I had no where to fit..which is why I've always hung out with whoever the **** I wanted without being held back by their colour. And as a result I've noticed how a lot of visible minorities tend to put themselves down for their colour. Why the **** should that happen? They, and WE should all love the body we are in. Instead of ignoring our colour, I should be able to say "I love you dark skin tone" without it coming across as anything other than the compliment that it is. Just like if I tell a friend she looks pretty.
I'm really not sure what issue you guys are having with this. You honestly think it's better if we all just ignore how beautiful we all are?
Reading your remarkably optimistic posts reminds me of two things:
1) That family in Family Guy where Stewie gets adopted, with the multicultural family.
2) Motivational Speakers, or Self-Help books, with all your "LOVE YOURSELF AND CELEBRATE YOUR DIFFERENCES!" sayings.
Be happy you are of a race, but I still go with the saying you shouldn't be proud of it, when you had no control over it. You are proud of an achievement you did, you didn't achieve being Egyptian, you were born and raised as one. If your parents were German, and you somehow grew up to be an Egyptian, then be proud of being Egyptian.
__________________
"Do you think I'm stupid?"
"I think if you didn't flap open your mouth so much, you wouldn't know where to put your food in. Yes I think you're stupid." - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Last edited by MSaleh : 02-24-2011 at 02:06 AM.
Reason: Goddamn youtube link.
McMaster University News and Information, Student-run Community, with topics ranging from Student Life, Advice, News, Events, and General Help.
Notice: The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the student(s) who authored the content. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by McMaster University or the MSU (McMaster Students Union). Being a student-run community, all articles and discussion posts on MacInsiders are unofficial and it is therefore always recommended that you visit the official McMaster website for the most accurate up-to-date information.
@ the number of brown people on MI so far. I like it 
