Quote:
Originally posted by VirtuousErudite
Do you all honestly believe that these guys had no idea what they were doing was wrong???? I'm sorry but UT is not in the middle of some one horse town. There are black people at the University and in the city of Knoxville. Unless they live in a bubble then they have come into contact with African Americans at some point. Many of the members of the Kappa Sig chapter on UT's campus are from Memphis, a city with a very large African American population.
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I think that much, if not most, of what you said is absolutely true.
I do, however, think it's entirely possible that these guys walked into this situation in blissfull ignorance that they were doing anything to offend anyone.
To put it bluntly, sometimes people are just remarkably unaware of how something they do affects other people. A lot of people would call it being stupid. Don't you know anyone like that? Someone that you look at and just can't help but shake your head in wonder?
I do. In all ages and all walks of life. (I've probably done a few stupid things myself over the course of the years) I had an employee once -- a television director and college graduate -- who offended people daily, and had absolutely no idea he was doing it. He was simply oblivious.
I don't know any of the people involved, but by nature I'm inclined to usually give the benefit of the doubt until I know for sure that an action was pre-meditated.
Having said that, I will repeat what I've said earlier in a number of threads -- there has been enough negative reaction to other blackface incidents that you would expect this to be nipped in the bud by others, even if the participants didn't understand the ramifications.
If this was purposeful, these guys should be punished accordingly. If they were just walking around unaware, hopefully this situation, including whatever punishment is applicable, will give them a wakeup call.