UK university bans sombreros after they are branded "racist cultural appropriation" by officials

[gobears10]

A Mexican restaurant has been banned from handing out free sombreros to students because the publicity stunt was branded 'racist' by university officials.

Pedro's Tex-Mex Cantina, a Norwich restaurant, gave the hats to University of East Anglia students at a freshers' fair in the city in a bid to drum up business from the student population.

But officials at the students' union, where the fair was held last week, took the sombreros from students and ordered the restaurant to stop giving them out because they thought it was offensive for non-Mexicans to wear them...

The union said the sombreros were seen as racist and a form of 'cultural appropriation...'

He added: 'At the SU we want all members feel safe and accepted, so at all events we try to ensure that there is no behaviour, language or imagery which could be considered racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic or ableist.'

But Britain's premier Mexican group dedicated to promoting the Latin American country's cultural heritage praised Pedros for giving out the free sombreros.

The British Mexican Society backed the Tex-Mex eatery for giving away the free hats.

Chairman Richard Maudslay said today: 'I would applaud any business of any nationality for doing anything to try to drum up business in a legitimate way, which this seems.

'I applaud them - it's not a Mexican issue. It's a much broader issue than that.

'We are delighted to learn that there is a Mexican restaurant in Norwich and hope that they would like to join us to become members of the British Mexican Society.'

Full article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3251316/University-BANS-sombreros-branded-racist-officials.html

In my view, "border security" themed frat parties in America can definitely cause latino american students to feel alienated because something very real and horrific is being trivialized. If people were wearing the sombrero and pretended to act Mexican to deliberately mock, belittle, and perpetuate harmful stereotypes about Mexicans, then of course their actions would be racist, and should be condemned.

But this...this is beyond ridiculous. Britain's premier Mexican group, which is dedicated to promoting Mexico's cultural heritage in the UK, praised the restaurant for giving out the free sombreros. The socially authoritarian, PC police strikes out again, trying to protect and coddle a minority group that doesn't desire said protection and is perfectly happy and fine with the sombreros.

Can we please stop this trend of censoring and banning everything on college campuses that's deemed mildly offensive by the PC police? What a world we live in...when people wearing sombreros casually counts as a "microaggression" that can "trigger" certain people -_-

[hobbit709]

1. sometimes the PC crowd gets a little ridiculous.

[T_i_B]

2. Classic Daily Mail "PC gone mad" clickbait

[gobears10]

3. lol...

doesn't take away from the fact that this is true.

I can't see why anyone would support what that student union did. That is genuine PC culture gone amok. The people who do that, and banned the sombrero aren't real progressives or liberals in my eyes. They are conservative, far-right authoritarians who pretend to be "progressive."

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. It does cast doubt on the truth, or the spin, of the article

The Daily Mail is slightly less reliable than Fox News when it comes to accurate reporting of a story about 'political correctness'. As well as occasionally making things up to print, they will also make things up to get quotes from people, or leave out important parts.

A wise person does not use a Daily Mail story as a source for anything that might involve criticism of anyone to the left of the British Conservative party (or of anyone not British, for that matter). This might be real, but you have to check with someone with a better reputation than the Mail.

[T_i_B]

6. The only thing I learned from the article

is that the wooden building in Chapelfield Gardens in Norwich is a Mexican restaurant. I always thought it was a run of the mill cafe that I've walked past on previous visits to Norwich en route to the Fat Cat pub.

[gobears10]

23. ok fair enoough

here's the same story covered on telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11895590/University-student-union-bans-free-Tex-Mex-sombreros-for-being-racist.html

[1939]

12. There is also an authoritarian component on the left

They just have different battles to fight than the authoritarian component on the right.

There are two dimensions which are right-left and authoritarian-libertarian. Each person has both x and y coordinates on that graph.

[Nye Bevan]

4. Please don't say "PC gone mad". Say "PC gone mentally challenged" (nt)

[cannabis_flower]

9. Actually..

mentally challenged would be what used to be called mentally retard, mad would be mentally I'll or emotionally disturbed or maybe they have a mood disorder.

[Unknown Beatle]

7. When I read the headline,

my first thought was that UK meant the University of Kentucky and not United Kingdom. I read UK university and I thought that it was redundant.

[JackInGreen]

8. Afterwards

Sombrero taken, a student returns to their room to watch Life of Brian.

[Babel_17]

10. Are the Urban Sombrero and Detox Poncho still OK?

http://seinfeld.wikia.com/wiki/Urban_Sombrero

http://seinfeld-episodes.com/the-bookstore/

[Nye Bevan]

11. There is plenty of outrage for fervent PC-istas to seek out in old Seinfeld episodes (nt)

[Babel_17]

13. Yup

The lack of reality in urban centered shows from earlier decades is interesting. Who wouldn't want one of those NYC apartments from Friends, on the salaries they were making?

You might enjoy this. (Has adult humor)

http://www.cracked.com/video_19324_6-friends-characters-who-are-actually-terrible-people.html

[ProfessorGAC]

14. Actually Jerry Was Doing Quite Well

There's a whole episode about his friends finding out how much money he makes and they're all stunned.

[Babel_17]

15. Yeah, Elaine also had some gigs that paid pretty well (presumably)

Seinfeld could have had more diversity. Larry David acknowledges that, imo, as he had an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm that has him confronted on that.

Maybe because I don't like Friends quite as much as Seinfeld, but I find their lack of reality to be more about not wanting to kill the goose that was laying their golden eggs.

Edit: Seinfeld, as it went on, did show more diversity, and it benefited from that.

[MisterP]

16. man, that's gonna impact the language department, I'd say

here's the Gruniad on it and it's actually worse in origin than Fail or Torygraph: Spiked is a pseudo-Marxist technology cult that flogs for war (think Maryam Namazie)
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/feb/02/free-speech-universities-spiked-ban-sombreros
http://www.theguardian.com/education/abby-and-libby-blog/2013/nov/06/higher-education-students

in academese I'd add that all cultures are hybrid cultures--Britain's not even using *Arabic* numerals, they're Indian, and before that they were something else: it's like how "England" means "land of the south Danes," "France" "land of the Dutch," and "Scotland" "land of the Irish"

[Javaman]

17. First they came for my sombreros and I did nothing...

so now hat wear is a no no.



I wear one when I garden. It keeps the Texas heat off of me. So what does that make me?

[Glassunion]

18. A sombrero is fantastic for keeping the sun off of you.

[Javaman]

19. I knew I should have never posted that selfie!

LOL

[SwissTony]

20. This story stinks, pretty much as you would expect from the Daily Fail.

First, the fair is "in the city", not on university property. The university has no input into what this business can do and did.

Secondly, " officials at the students' union...took the sombreros from students"...bullshit. The students had accepted them and they were therefore the students' property.

Last, but not least, "officials at the students' union...ordered the restaurant to stop giving them out". What? A students' union? Snotty nosed 20 year olds? Telling a restaurant what to do? Give me a break.

I often get the impression that some, but by no means all, people on various sites don't truly appreciate how god awful the Daily Mail really is. It is not a source I would trust unless the information is also reported on more reliable sites - even the Torygraph.

[romanic]

21. I don't think this story measures up much

considering it's the "Daily Fail".

However this type of thing has been going on at college campuses. The PC Police (or as I like to call them "Culture Warriors&quot have been riding the cultural appropriation train for a few years now, discouraging others from participating in different cultures or donning non-sacred items (such as the sombero, or dreadlocks, or a grass skirt - I kid you not) at events for fun. This kind of crusade against the mingling of cultures will only encourage ignorance of different cultures and break down what college is supposed to be about; a melting pot of ideas and CULTURES.

Also, from my own experience, the people who cry about cultural appropriation are people who aren't even apart of said culture (aka, guilty whites and maybe a token of said culture, crying about racism when there is none).

[hifiguy]

22. The Derp and The Fail are with them.