Bio

I'm a college student from Illinois. I like writing, playing video games, committing illegal acts, and other stuff too.


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Neal Pierson
Name:
Neal Pierson
Hometown:
La Salle, Illinois
Joined:
May 24, 2010

Recent Comments

Stone Douglas

5/10

Stone Douglas

Drug Fueled Mice sounds like the name of an Indie Rock band.

Stone Douglas

I knew there was trouble when they flew in Christina Aguilera to sing Egypt's National Anthem.

Stone Douglas

Well Kenneth, you definitely don't want to watch this hilarious World War II Donald Duck cartoon.

Stone Douglas

Stuart Creque

You said (#45 above), "in this one case, I do think that somebody was being racist towards black people."  Whom did you mean?  And do you draw a distinction between saying someone "is being racist" and saying that person "is racist"? · Jan 31 at 3:15pm

I'm not sure if there's a difference between doing something racist and being a racist, and I don't intend to argue that point otherwise.

But I'm more than happy to admit the error on my part  when I said that somebody was being racist in this case. I didn't know that for a fact, and it's probably not true. I shouldn't have said that. I should have said that whoever suggested the chicken and waffle idea to the chef did so in bad taste, and that the chef acted in bad taste by putting it on the menu.

I hope I've sufficiently satisfied the language police.

Stone Douglas

Kenneth

Just to reiterate, this poor chef is being railroaded.  He asked two or three of his black employees what might be a suitable menu for the day, and they suggested chicken and waffles. 

His only sin was being insufficiently cognizant of the fact that some people are looking to take some offense at something all of the time.

Let's hope he has the good sense not to offer up Fruit Loops on gay pride day.  · Jan 31 at 3:11pm

Again, I think it's stupid that they needed to find "black food" to serve on the day to begin with. Schools are not places where racial divisions should be emphasized. That said, it's still in bad taste to serve chicken and waffles on MLK Day, and that's primarily because of two reasons: 1)There's nothing to suggest that MLK ever ate a meal of chicken and waffles, and 2)It's NOT A TRADITIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN DISH!!!!!!

Stone Douglas

Stuart Creque

"Wednesday night, a UC Irvine representative said: 'The chef's goal was to do something nice for the students and he did ask for input from several African American student employees in the dining hall. It misfired.'"

Who was the racist, Stone?  The cafeteria chef whose stated intention was to honor the holiday, or the Black student employees who advised the chef about possible menu items?

I'm not calling anybody a racist, because that would just be self-defeating and inane. But I think it was certainly in bad taste, no matter who suggested it be done. However, I would point out that in the quote, "'The chef's goal was to do something nice for the students and he did ask for input from several African American student employees in the dining hall," that it doesn't actually say that any African American student employees actually said that chicken and waffles should actually be served, it merely says that the Chef asked for input from them. Now, maybe the student employees did suggest that, but it was still in bad taste.

Stone Douglas

StickerShock: .

When my son's jazz program has celebrations and fund raisers, the food served is b-b-q and "soul food" because we tip our hat to the black culture from which jazz grew.  It's a festive atmosphere, so we celebrate appropriately.   Do I assume all the black musicians and students eat soul food every day?  Geez..........that would be tough on their arteries.

At least "soul food" is traditional African American cuisine and not some stereotypical thing that people just assume black people eat.

Stone Douglas

StickerShock: .

When my son's jazz program has celebrations and fund raisers, the food served is b-b-q and "soul food" because we tip our hat to the black culture from which jazz grew.  It's a festive atmosphere, so we celebrate appropriately.   Do I assume all the black musicians and students eat soul food every day?  Geez..........that would be tough on their arteries.

At least "soul food" is traditional African American cuisine and not some stereotypical thing that people just assume black people eat.

Stone Douglas

Ottoman Umpire

Stone Douglas

MLK Day does not exist for the sole enjoyment of African Americans. It's supposed to be a day that all Americans, regardless of race, gender, or ethnicity, can celebrate because we all should support the message that King tried to convey--a message that was apparently lost on whoever decided to serve chicken and waffles on MLK Day. · Jan 31 at 1:28pm

Fair enough, although his message was clearly focused on the civil rights of African Americans, so it doesn't seem crazy to associate MLK Day with African Americana.  I'm sure schools all over the country are teaching MLK Day lessons along those lines. 

To jhimmi's point, what foods would you select to honor African Americans?   · Jan 31 at 2:41pm

I have no idea what food I'd select. I'm not an expert on African American cuisine or anything. But if I was in charge at the school, I'd probably question the need for race-based lunches in general. I don't think that schools are a place to honor any specific race, creed, religion, gender, sexual preference, or whatever.

Stone Douglas

Lucy Pevensie

 

Your argument is just silly.  Everyone knows that people of Irish descent eat more than just corned beef and cabbage, but that's what we serve on St. Patrick's Day. If you google "Columbus Day food," you'll find Italian recipes. This is what we do in this country: we make and eat various kinds of food to honor people's ethnic origins. 

So, you really think that chicken and waffles are some kind of "traditional black people food" along the lines of corned beef and cabbage? Are you joking? I mean, while corned beef and cabbage isn't a traditional Irish meal, it's a pretty big part of St. Patrick's Day (as well as Irish-American culture) going back a hundred years or so, and it's actually comparatively similar to some Irish dishes. Chicken and waffles is a dish that came from specialty restaurants in the U.S, and I'm pretty sure that no black family waits all year to sit around the table and enjoy a nice big chicken and waffle dinner.

Stone Douglas
Stuart Creque: Stone, do you spend a lot of time and effort trying to steer Black people away from ordering anything in restaurants that might reinforce stereotypes? Does it sadden you when the Food Network shows footage of famous soul food restaurants in places like Harlem and Atlanta and New Orleans - and there are Black people eating in them?

What? I really don't understand your point. For one thing, I don't spend any amount of time at all telling people what they can/can't eat. For another, I resent the implication that I'm some politically correct tofu-eater just because, in this one case, I do think that somebody was being racist towards black people. I agree that most of the time, when people go around calling each other "racists," that it is a big nothingburger cooked up by somebody that is desperate to be offended and call other people "racists." But sometimes, you have to call a spade a spade.

Stone Douglas

Diane Ellis, Ed.

I spent a college term studying in Russia, and living with a Russian family.  I discovered that Russians think Americans eat ketchup with everything, and my homestay mother bought ketchup especially for me so that I could eat it on everything.  I guess I could've found this stereotype of Americans offensive, but I didn't.  It actually seemed thoughtful.

What makes something offensive is malicious intent, but intent isn't always an easy thing to measure.

There is a difference in the two cases. In one case, you have people in a foreign country that legitimately thought that Americans actually eat ketchup with everything. There are lots of cultural barriers between America and Russia, so that makes the mistake a lot more forgivable. But in the case we're discussing, our fellow Americans are being stereotyped by their fellow Americans. And it's happening along racial lines. And it's not some innocent mistake either, because I'm pretty sure that everybody in this country knows that black people don't only eat chicken and waffles, whereas it sounds like the Russians in your example did think that Americans eat ketchup with everything.

Stone Douglas

Diane Ellis, Ed.

 

I believe it was intentional (despite the manager's explanation of just wanting to serve generic comfort food).  But granting that it was intentional, I don't quite see how it's offensive.  As StickerShock said, Americans are known to incorporate culturally specific food into their holiday celebrations.  And this not to be offensive, but rather to be festive. · Jan 31 at 12:46pm

It's offensive because this is a prevalent stereotype of African Americans--that all they eat is fried chicken and waffles (and watermelon and kool aid too), and obviously whoever decided to serve that meal on that specific day was either trying to offend black people or was making a really bad, really racist joke out of MLK Day.

MLK Day does not exist for the sole enjoyment of African Americans. It's supposed to be a day that all Americans, regardless of race, gender, or ethnicity, can celebrate because we all should support the message that King tried to convey--a message that was apparently lost on whoever decided to serve chicken and waffles on MLK Day.

Stone Douglas

Come on. I'm the first guy to call bullcrap when someone is falsely accused of racism or if somebody is playing the race card, but in this case it is obvious that somebody at the school was being racially biased against black students.

I love chicken. I love waffles. But does anybody really think that the cafeteria just happened to be serving chicken and waffles as the "MLK Holiday Special" without any idea of what they were doing? Come on.

Neal Pierson
Joshua Riddle, Intern:   In the casual conversation we had after he said he didn't think driving while stoned was very dangerous.  That's a questionable statement at best. 

I dunno. From my experience, I'm extra cautious when driving while stoned.

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