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Snowflakes Triggered by “Racist” Banana
A threadline that only makes sense in the Idiocratic America of 2017.
A Greek Life leader accidentally sparked mass hysteria after he placed a banana peel on a tree in the woods — because he could not find a trash can.
The Daily Mississippian reports that three black students found the banana peel — and were apparently triggered by what they saw.
“To be clear, many members of our community were hurt, frightened, and upset,” the interim director of fraternity and sorority life wrote in a letter obtained by the newspaper.
The president of one sorority told the newspaper that “bananas have historically been used to demean black people.”
“The massive discussion session wrapped up as more and more students stood and left the room – some in tears, some in frustration. NPHC members began texting friends to come and pick them up from the camp since no one had been allowed to drive his or her car up to the retreat. The remainder of the retreat was canceled later that night,” the newspaper reported.
Do these people breakdown in tears when they walk into the produce section of a supermarket and see watermelons?
And the university asylum is treating their hysteria as though it is legitimate.
“We are aware of the situation and are working to address it through appropriate channels,” the spokesman told me. “Since we became aware of what occurred at the fraternity and sorority community’s retreat, UM staff acted quickly in an effort to engage in discussion with students.”
What a stupid, stupid, stupid time to be alive.
Published in Culture
You really couldn’t make this “C of C violation” up. Seriously???? I give up. These people are beyond help.
You didn’t include the money quote:
“No excuse”? Dear lord but these people are mental!
It’s a tough call, but I’m thinking that this is the most “out there” triggering incident yet. And, of course, I’m white. Still, it’s hard not to think that, somewhere along the line, we have gone very wrong
The Onion may as well close up shop.
I’ve always wondered why they call it “going bananas.”
Now, I know.
These people might actually respond to the gag e-mail I received today. Copy inserted below.
How can I become part of this disposal of the tainted US currency? I am completely willing to assist with this important community service.
These people are out of their [redacted] minds.
Even if someone had purposely put the banana peel in the tree in order to antagonize the African-American students that were there, wouldn’t a better, more empowering response have been to either ignore it or maybe even laughed at it? (You think something like that’s going to bother me? Hahahahahahahaha!!!)
Just proves, some people go out of their way to find something they can choose to be offended by.
Looking back over the past 25 years, this was inevitable.
I had umpteen conversations with parents/teachers/relatives when my kids were growing up that involved how my kids “felt” about something. Whenever queried, I would answer I had no idea as I hadn’t asked. And I wasn’t going to ask, as asking the question implied I cared about the response.
Offense is the new coin of the realm. Everyone is trying to grab their piece of victim pie while there’s some left.
Every time I see a piece like this, I say “this has to be a joke.” This can’t really be happening. I’m amazed at the huge commitment people have to finding excuses to call themselves victims. It must be awful living that way.
Since my previous post on the subject, I’ve done a bit more investigating. Not surprisingly, the situation makes a bit more sense than reported. I still my suggestion would have been a better response, but I don’t think the students were quite as crazy as they were made to sound. For those interested, here I found some more details about the situation from the Daily Mississippian.
As they were leaving the large discussion and heading towards a group session across campus:
Why were they paranoid? McNeil explains why.
Word of the banana-peel-in-the-tree incident spread throughout the camp and “dominated chatter”, so the afternoon session became a discussion about it.
One of McNeil’s sorority sisters asked who had put the banana in the tree. A young man admitted to have done it and apologized. From there:
Actually it’s easy to be a victim. Nothing need ever be your fault. You are always sainted and blameless.
Another school that I can cross of the list of possibilities for my daughter…….
I am old enough to remember when the banana was the funniest fruit.
Now its the most offensive fruit.
And I fear I have lived too long…
Someone tell poor Harry Belafonte he is a racist now
We are touched by your kind and generous spirit, CG.
The banana discarder deserves whatever he gets for writing such an obsequious apology.
I see how the circumstances give a little more sense to the situation, well the first part, anyway. But it still sounds like once the afternoon session started, people fixated on trying to turn themselves into victims and wouldn’t just let what by then was clearly an innocent act go unpunished.
I also note that the reason the situation makes more sense is that everyone was there had been a discussion of race relations. Does not this suggest that an effect of such “discussions” might be to put people into a mindset of “find the grievance” that may make matters worse?
I appreciate the follow-up, but reading that last anecdote doesn’t change my opinion a whole lot. The AU incident three months ago is sad and noteworthy for such a liberal school. It bears next to no comparison to this one.
I’ve long thought the constant “conversation about race” is having a harmful effect. I have a good friend and occasional business partner who is a very successful businessman. I’ve known him for 25 years and race was never an issue. He was more conservative than me in the 80s. But thanks to the “conversation” and constant drumbeat of racism talk during the Obama years, he’s now convinced his Cornell-attending son is taking his life in his hands every time he leaves campus.
Which to me is HIlarious – I’ve got four white kids and I’ve got a lot more stories about negative interactions with the police than he does. Seems driving a beater and having a mohawk guarantees more scrutiny from Law Enforcement than having an afro.
If a banana peel’s in the forest, does it make us clowns?
How does this make more sense? It’s still a puerile, fatuous response to a non-insult.
I totally agree.Someone mentioned in another thread (my apologies to whoever mentioned it; I can’t remember your name at the moment) that the actor Morgan Freeman is on record as saying that the way to deal with racial strife is to stop talking about it. I think that makes a lot of sense, and I wish people would start taking it. Because until that happens, there will be no healing and moving on.
To me, it makes more sense because race and racial tensions and racial situations were apparently the focus of the day. In other words, the pump had been primed to view everything through a racial lens.
Now that doesn’t mean I agree with their perception or reaction. I still think my earlier suggestion would have been a better way to handle the situation. But it does mean that knowing where their heads were at at the time helped me realize that they didn’t look at the banana and freak out over it out of the blue. Their earlier conversations had helped put them in a freaking out frame of mind.
I agree. I don’t think there’s any comparison between a lone banana peel in a tree and several strung up in nooses. But if your entire day has primed you to see everything in racial terms, you’re going to tend to react first and analyze things later. As I’ve said elsewhere, I still think they overreacted, but I see now that their reaction wasn’t completely out of the blue.
It’s moments like this that reaffirm my belief in Providence. Clearly, the whole ruckus was just setting the stage for this comment.
Throw in some raisins, currants, and dried cherries and you have a racist liberal fruitcake.
It was just a peel. Imagine if it had been an actual banana.