marxism is the oppressor
a massive mormon temple is a landmark of my childhood. my racially diverse jr. high school was next to it. i lived a few blocks from it. there was never a negative interaction or incident with the temple or the people who attended it. in fact, i never saw or interacted with them.
as an adult, my racially mixed children had a mormon violin teacher. she and her family are some of the nicest individuals i have ever met. she taught to all walks of life which included african american students.
i attended countless violin recitals were held at mormon religious facilities. they were always immaculately clean. as a jew, it was always an experience sitting in the pews for the performances. occasionally, i would check out their prayer book.
after the recitals, there was a reception. we would often spend an hour interacting with all those present. many of her were present. her family was like all families; they had issues just like everyone else. having spent at least a decade knowing her family, have a very favorable opinion of mormons, overall, in my experience, are good people.
given my background, when the duke female volleyball player laid an assertion of racism at the mormon byu college, it immediately drew my suspicion. i could not conceive that mormons would allow an attendee of a sporting event to repeatedly utter a racial epithet. had it been done, i believe that others in the crowd would have confronted the individual. my sentiment has been confirmed by others.
byu did an investigation over the incident. the investigation did not find evidence to support the epithet allegation. they, in fact, apologized to the individual who was accused of saying it. without any evidence to the contrary other than the allegation, it is fair to assert that the incident didn’t happen. the investigation, however, is not enough for the likes of those who believe in “personal experience. ” a “personal experience”, even if untrue, for some, is considered as valid, as good as the truth. with that , duke university and the school’s athletic administration failed to come out and apologize for the mistake.
the consequences of not disposing of an unproven allegation to rest has now played out.
after the incident, the byu football team played in oregon. the “just do it” attitude must have come upon the oregon student fans. in the game, it is reported that fans chanted “f— mormons.” most likely, these individuals were not sensitive of the fact that mormons have a history of being discriminated within the united states. nypost.com
oregon was put in a bind. a university perhaps dedicated to tolerance is one in fact fostered religious hatred. the school came out and apologized: “the university of oregon sincerely apologizes for an offensive and disgraceful chant coming from the student section during yesterday’s game against brigham young university,” the university stated. “these types of actions go against everything the university stands for, and it goes against the spirit of competition.”
their apology does not come with an assertion that they will be doing an investigation into the matter and perhaps suspend those who were offensive. is oregon going to be accountable for this real and actual event of hate? will these fans be banned from attendance at future events?
one can see how easy that those in the oppressed mode can easily become the oppressor. duke’s poor response to this matter has made them worthy of the label of oppressor. they have stirred up religious bigotry towards mormons. likewise, oregon, who most likely thinks that their university is an “anti-hate” campus, has shown that it is fact the purveyor of hate. they are worthy of the label oppressor.
as we can see, the oppressed and oppressor game is a “child’s” game. it does not take much to play it. it does not take courage to play it. it does not take integrity to play it. it is a game that can always be played. the reason being is that nothing is ever equal. one can always find a way to make one individual the oppressor and the other the oppressed. when you add dishonesty into the game, it even makes it easier.
the game was played out by universities and their leadership. in the defense of a “so called” oppressed person, they have actually fostered oppression and bigotry. this is the perfect example as to why this ideology does not work. untruths and semantics can be used as powerful weapons of destruction. with this game, there is no room for the truth. there is no room for justice.
in sum, it is now time for duke to step up to the plate and take responsibility.
be well!!
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