Hey Josh, it does my heart good to hear that from young Man who obviously was raised right by his parents and wasn’t brainwashed & programed by the extreme liberal culture machine. I’m a 55 year old conservative Vietnam vet, and I have seen how “political correctness” is ruing our culture & country. Stand up for yourself and your race and be proud, and lets take our culture & language back. Thanks for speaking the truth.

I think Josh’s main point is not about race at all. It is more about how political correctness has served more to seperate us than to unite is. It is not about fighting for one’s race or any other idealism such as that. It is more about the fact that we are all humans, whether Native Americans, Hispanics, or White. It in the end shouldn’t matter, and when we are bound by policatical correctness we enter this realm of fear of saying anything.

Thanks Josh for you insightfull column. We do have a Ethnics Studies department on campus and they are very good at explaining things like Political Correctness and White Privilege. Both of which you currently benefit from. Political Correctness is actually about respect for the other persons experience, eventhough it doesn’t mirror yours. Why would someone else taking offense at “cowboys and indians” cause you such outrage? Instead of complaining about the issue, why don’t you ask a Native American student why they feel the way they do about this? You might learn something, and that is why we go to school, ain’t it?

Stan, isn’t eliminating stereotypes one of the goals of political correctness? So why are you automatically assuming that Josh Phillips is “benefitting from White Privelige”? Do you know him? Do you have classes with him and spend time at his residence? I doubt it, you’re making an assumption based on his skin color, funny how it’s okay to do it to a white person but if a white person says something about anyone with different skin color everyone gets offended and it’s politically incorrect.

I’m white, and NO ONE has ever given me a hand for anything. My dad is white, he came from the ghetto. He had to do this amazing thing called WORK to get himself out of it. No one helped him except himself. So stop assuming that all white people benfit from this “White Privelige” that honestly usually translates to “Hard Worker”.

Stan, this here is America… ain’t it? Apparently Josh has the right to be deeply offended about whatever he wants. Despite his apparent whiteness, and your brilliant powers of observation, Josh gets the same rights that you get, and the same opportunities. I didn’t detect “outrage” in Josh’s column but maybe you have some special insight or nuanced look into his psyche that I don’t have. Don’t count that as privilege though, someone might attack you for it. Josh, and the rest of us, have heard plenty from supposed Native Americans (how can we know in online posts) about their “feelings” on this issue. What we have learned, in spite of being at an institutional of higher education, is that some people will play the victim card any chance they get. No ill-will was meant, no evil was done, no laws were broken, no hate groups formed mobs. No. Nothing was done except the idea floated that students dress like Native Americans as a fun way to show school spirit during a game against a team who’s students dress like cowboys. Now, I’m not a cowboy, but I’ll bet there is one somewhere who wishes those students would stop mocking him with their evil roll playing dress-up. My guess is, there is an ancestor of a viking somewhere who would like to pillage and plunder Bret Favre’s home. Maybe Johnny Depp should stop dressing like a pirate. And yes, I get that native Americans were mistreated, but how is dressing like them a poke in the wound? It is thin skinned and disgraceful to witness college students, of any skin color, afforded an education somehow, acting as though someone has just been lynched. And on a personal note, Stan, you don’t know Josh’s history, his family’s, or his ancestors’, but your comments show your complete ignorance, intolerance, and disgusting lack of integrity as you, yourself, attack someone you most likely know nothing about. It doesn’t take school to learn some lessons, Stan. There’s my white privileged point of view. It’s a great day to be an American, ain’t it?

Josh, this is one of the most insightful and thoughtful articles in a college newspaper that I have ever read. You have hit the nail directly on the head! Political correctness is an enemy of liberty and freedom, and you have so eloquently pointed that out. The left in this country is so overcome with sensitivity and fairness, that it has lost sight of common sense, fairness, and history. It gives this old man hope to see young men like you being able to overcome the politically correct environs you have been subjected to the last 15 years of schooling. You have not allowed yourself to be brain washed by the nonsense which pervades our education system in America. Your parents raised you well and taught you to think for yourself. That is a skill lacking in most of today’s youth. But what should we expect when high level administrators at our universities have been swallowed up by the cancer that is political correctness. Keep your chin up and hang in there. You are already better than your CSU high level administrators.

Montana Mike

Josh, thank you for your article. I have regained my faith in the Collegian which was temporarily lost after reading about this “issue.” How sad is it that the two most memorable things Colorado State has is Falcon and a Facebook “racism” issue??? If that facebook event had been tailored to a “white trash” theme, I guarantee there would not be such a fuss about it! Granted, I’m not sure why one would do a white trash theme for a bball game but just using it as a comparison.
I was born and raised in Chicago-I have more minority friends than I do white friends. I have discussed with several of them their opinions of this (because of course, white people just don’t get it, right?) not one of them felt it was offensive.
One thing Josh’s article brought to my mind was the issue with many college teams using Native American tribes as mascots. Naturally, I know the most about University of Illinois. We can no longer wear any U of I apparel that has the Cheif logo on it-halftime shows usually consisted of a performance by the mascot, wearing regalia purchased from a Cheif. U of I used it to honor Native Americans, most notably the Illiniwek. But now that’s racist.
Look at what’s going on in Haiti. In Darfur. In the ghettos in Denver. This is a freaking facebook event that, despite the consequences, did not seem to intentionally hurt anyone. People need to stop whining about the petty things in life. All the facebook group leader needed was someone to send him a message and let him know he was possibly offending someone and then it was up to him to continue or remove his facebook thing. The beauty (or downfall) to free speech, is that everyone is granted it. Not just the politically correct minorities still griping about what happened to their ancestors.

P.S. Thank you Zach. My great grandparents came to the U.S. with just the clothes on their back. They were discriminated for being Irish or Italian. Guess what? I’m not whining about the horrid conditions they lived in and the prejudiced life they suffered so that I could have a much better one. I’m not holding a grudge that some ignorant American changed my last name cause they didn’t like it or couldn’t pronounce it. I celebrate my nationalities with my family and take no offense when someone makes a stereotypical Irish drinking joke. There’s an infinite amount of problems in this world that far surpass Facebook events.

Wow what an articulate and well thought pout piece. I say we stop feeding the PC God’s of the liberal secular progressives and offend some one..lol

I am so sick of all this PC garbage. It is used to marginalize any opposing views. You say anything against their agenda and you are a hater or your accused of discrimination.

Ignoring racist comments is not mature; it takes a strong and brave person to speak up against racism.

I agree that it is a student’s First Amendment right to “dress like an Indian” at a sporting event, however ignorant. But let me exercise my First Amendment right and educate you on why it is wrong and has been an acceptable practice for way too long. And don’t tell me that I am being politically correct. I am being true to myself. I am sure that every Native person has his/her own reasons for why “wearing the garb of another culture is demeaning.” Here is mine:

“I challenge President Frank to explain exactly how wearing the garb of another culture is demeaning.”
Josh, and all of you other angry posters, let me provide you an answer:
Is it okay to wear blackface? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, take a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C45g3YP7JOk

By dressing up like an Indian to celebrate your basketball team, all you’re doing is dehumanizing another culture, making them into cartoon characthers. Dressing up like an Indian, headfeathers and all, wouldn’t be any different then slapping on that blackface and perpetuating all of the stereotypes associated with blacks.

Clearly Suheet and Madeline are completely oblivious to what racism “really” is.

We are not talking about racism in the context of the KKK or Brown v. Board of Education or The Civil Rights Act… What you are talking about is nitpicking to the point that merely wearing the clothes of another culture constitutes racism. Your assertions are insulting to those who “really” had to bear the burden of racism in America. Your little peeve is infinitesimal in comparison to the overall struggle people such as Frederick Douglas, Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King, Jr, etc… experienced. To suggest that it is racist to dress up for a specific event in the clothing which is representative of the team icon is illusory. Not being able to vote because you are black is racism.

Suheet, the fact that you posted something made by Spike Lee shows how much you love the racism argument. Spike Lee has to be one of the most racist and dumbest people in Hollywood. Like when he started the fight with Clint Eastwood over no black people being in his movie “Flags of our Fathers” when, if the idiot would have looked into history, he would’ve seen that black people were used in reserve positions during the Iwo Jima battle. He’s notoriously one-sided.

As for it being racist to dress up as a culture, I guess we need to have schools stop using “Culture Day” during Spirit Week, since it’s SO racist. If I see anyone greasing their hair for “50s Day” when I’m teaching I suppose I should be offended, because they would be “cartoonizing” what used to be in my culture. Since I’m from a small town I’m going to protest every time a non-cowboy wears a cowboy hat, since they really don’t know what being a cowboy is all about. I’m going to get really mad during St. Patricks Day since they are making fun of my ancestors. When people wear kilts during parades and aren’t of Scottish descent that is completely demeaning to my Scottish side. I’m also waiting for reprimands from the Russian people for stealing my land in Poland during WWII since I’m part Polish as well.

And so we have the case of Josh Phillips.

Unable to empathize with the situation of Native American culture being stereotyped, belittled, and reduced in every way by American media culture, he has decided to demonize the issue by labeling it one of political correctness.

Not only racial, but an elitist too…

“And so we have the case of Josh Phillips.

“…unable to understand why wearing the garb of another culture is demeaning,”

So is Barrack Obama demeaning other cultures when he puts on the traditional clothes to “respect” other cultures? e.g. Kenya

You are correct. They were not wearing it in a demeaning manner. Here is the primary distinction:

Were Obama, Bush, and Putin donning the clothing to participate in mock warfare, recreating the obliteration of a people? Or were they wearing it to honor the culture and show their respect for it?

““Cowboys vs Indians” is not serious”

Thank why the outrage?

Hyper liberals worshipping hyper PC gods…..Appealing to uber idiots…..

We had a guy in race relations in the army we called SKI… He was polish and we all had nick names so no disrespect was meant. Any way we were talking about black white and Latino racism and the problems with it in the army. SKI pipes up that he wants to be considered a minority.