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Penn State alum sends letter to football player
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<blockquote data-quote="ChiefGritty" data-source="post: 1486393" data-attributes="member: 746137"><p>Oh it's human psychology. Put Joe Paterno in Champaign in 1966 and everything would have unfolded exactly the same. But that's not the point. The point is that Penn State's nostalgia and fetishization of its own past represents a whitewashing of an unspeakable, monstrous human tragedy. And as we all know, the aesthetics of the program are tightly bound up with that. Joe and Joe-ism live on through those plain uniforms, and it's crazy to me that Nike are willing to be complicit in that.</p><p></p><p>Penn State fans don't have to apologize for the fact that they won football games under Joe Paterno and became a powerhouse. But having seen the awful cost of that era, they ought to be willing to make a break from it and look toward the future rather than the past, and while it's not surprising or unique to them that a lot of their fans are unwilling to do that, it is contemptible and worthy of criticism, IMO.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I agree that there is concept creep when we put really virulent Jim Crow-style animus and well-meaning but clumsy faux pa's under the same word.</p><p></p><p>Having said that, what I think you express really directly and clearly here is how much of this is grounded in how jarring and how hurtful it is for someone to be accused of racism. People very understandably don't like that, it makes them feel rejected and unwelcome.</p><p></p><p>And yet I go back to reading this letter through Jonathan Sutherland's eyes. It raises the question: who gets to feel welcome? Who gets to dictate the terms on which the culture exists? Who gets to be themselves, and who has to change and adapt themselves in order to fit in?</p><p></p><p>I'm not sure there are really answers to those questions. But I think it helps to see that that tension is there.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ChiefGritty, post: 1486393, member: 746137"] Oh it's human psychology. Put Joe Paterno in Champaign in 1966 and everything would have unfolded exactly the same. But that's not the point. The point is that Penn State's nostalgia and fetishization of its own past represents a whitewashing of an unspeakable, monstrous human tragedy. And as we all know, the aesthetics of the program are tightly bound up with that. Joe and Joe-ism live on through those plain uniforms, and it's crazy to me that Nike are willing to be complicit in that. Penn State fans don't have to apologize for the fact that they won football games under Joe Paterno and became a powerhouse. But having seen the awful cost of that era, they ought to be willing to make a break from it and look toward the future rather than the past, and while it's not surprising or unique to them that a lot of their fans are unwilling to do that, it is contemptible and worthy of criticism, IMO. I agree that there is concept creep when we put really virulent Jim Crow-style animus and well-meaning but clumsy faux pa's under the same word. Having said that, what I think you express really directly and clearly here is how much of this is grounded in how jarring and how hurtful it is for someone to be accused of racism. People very understandably don't like that, it makes them feel rejected and unwelcome. And yet I go back to reading this letter through Jonathan Sutherland's eyes. It raises the question: who gets to feel welcome? Who gets to dictate the terms on which the culture exists? Who gets to be themselves, and who has to change and adapt themselves in order to fit in? I'm not sure there are really answers to those questions. But I think it helps to see that that tension is there. [/QUOTE]
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Penn State alum sends letter to football player
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