Sometimes...well more often now than in the past I read some stuff on "liberal" media that just gets my head shaking. Makes me wonder exactly what kind of editorial oversight went into posting pieces. I mean it appears that if you belong to certain organizations or have big name recognition in left circles you can write just about anything and get it posted to prominent blogs without so much as a "hey ummm....this is not factual, you need to change this if you want us to publish this
here."
So it is with one Rodolfo Acuna who in his piece
Love the Kids, Hate Gangs wrote the following:
This is not true only of street gangs but also other close knit groups. For instance, at the college level fraternities are gangs, and I feel much the same about fraternities as I do about street gangs. I love the kids but feel ambivalent about fraternity culture.
Really?
This fellow thinks the
same about say Alpha Phi Alpha as he does about Crips?
What. The. Fuck?
A thinking person would have stopped themselves as soon as they wrote that bullshit because they would realize that for whatever surface "close knit group" characteristics a fraternity like Alpha Phi Alpha may have with Crips (which would be male membership), they have NOTHING else in common. They don't share a identity, purpose or direction.
Lets be clear. If any "close knit group" is a gang, then the word "gang" has no meaning. Indeed we have seen references to "The Gang of Eight" in reference to immigration legislation. But in reference to this piece we know full well that "gang" is used here in order reference street gangs involved with violence and drug sales and making a direct comparison with male greek letter organizations on college campuses and we're supposed to believe this to be a valid comparison.
Of course Acuna can make such a statement because he has a bias against fraternities and in particular against straight male identified fraternities. He says so himself:
Universities spend a hefty portion of their student service budget on catering to the Greeks. The members are middle and upper class kids who are generally not progressive in regards to homophobia, sexism, and racism and drinking.
You'll note that this....person does not even
bother to say "Fraternities
and Sororities". He does not do this because well, the women can be excused I suppose since they are perpetual victims of The Patriarchy(tm). No, the problem is with straight males (White males in particular in reference to his piece) who are in his opinion holding values about drinking, gender and sexism that do not meet his standards.
And just who the fuck is he?
Oh right just another left academic of sorts who love to rail against opponents who are "not progressive" by using dubious examples of behavior and passing judgment on people. Just the kind of things that in the recent past, the same lefties complained that the conservatives were doing. I suppose now it's OK.