Thursday, January 20, 2011

Diversity Thursday

Well, another Thursday is here ... sigh ... another moment for reintroducing your face and palm.

Really though - some outrages become so common and accepted, that you no longer notice them. Like a slow-boiled frog; the discomfort just seems part of the natural environment.

For example, take this innocuous occasion;
The Naval Special Warfare East Coast SEAL and Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman (SWCC) scout team attended the 17th annual Hispanic Games, Jan. 7-10, at The Armory Indoor Track and Field Stadium in the Bronx, NY.

More than 8,000 athletes attended the games from high schools throughout the state of New York. The SEAL and SWCC scout team worked with members of the Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) and mentored and encouraged athletes throughout the event.

Words again - always words with me.
His·pan·ic [hi-span-ik]
–adjective
1. Spanish.
2. Latin American: the United States and its Hispanic neighbors.
–noun
3. Also, Hispano. Also called Hispanic American , Hispano-American. an American citizen or resident of spanish or Latin-American descent.
OK.

There is the broader farce of it all. Like our own well documented tragic-comedy of Navy racial self-identification fraud - we have people in the the track meet with the very Hispanic first name "Ste'yce" and the equally Iberian last name "McNeill"
winning races.

And the name; Hispanic Games - really? Obviously they are not shooting for ethno-centric types of games - Highland Games style - no this is all ethnic-title only from the looks of it.

That is almost as insultingly funny as the winners of the
2x400 meter relay. The great Hispanic powerhouse ethno-linguistically diverse team of Ryan Allen, Jordan Coleman, Tayvon Jacobs, and Levern Jacobs.

Ok, just for a moment let's play the
Diversity Bullies' game and count, shall we? Exactly what is "Hispanic" about these games?

Hmmmm, do I detect a little Salamanderesque
cultural insurgency action going on here? Who needs Maria Fernandez when you can have Fawn Leibowitz? They all seem Hispanic to me.

Hmmm ... as I free-form this post - let me dig and ponder.

Looking at the glorious mixture of kids of all DNA origins and mix there-of at this track meet - I don't think you can call this "Hispanic Games" at all.

Follow the links and look at the names and faces (you know, the "look like America theme everyone is so interested in") - just looks like America to me. Mostly Anglo-Irish, Italian, German, and a smattering of Polish names with the normal mix for that part of the country of Iberian names. Colors from all over the place as you would expect at any track meet - especially as in America a person of sub-Saharan DNA can have a very Irish name, and a girl 100% Han-Chinese will have a very Italian name - who knows.

Why make it seem so sectarian when it sure isn't - and why would the Navy want to be part of something with such an ethnically-exclusive title? Do we sponsor the Aryan Games? Must be a generational thing where the games started as one thing but that reason has become archaic in 2011 ... or maybe something else.

Either way, it makes this statement from a good Sailor trying to do and say the right thing just, well, in a word; silly.
"The sheer number of kids participating in this event is what made this weekend successful; we were able to give them a small peek behind the curtain and expose a diverse group of young men to the SEAL and SWCC communities," said Senior Chief Navy Counselor (CRF/SW) Gio Giovanetty, a Navy special programs coordinator.

"Now there is an effort being made to introduce diverse communities to opportunities in Naval Special Warfare." said Giovanetty
.
No - you are just introducing yourself to a generic population mix. What is wrong with saying something like that? Why not make it geographical? Why does there seem to be a need to have a check-in-the-block sacrifice to the Diversity Bullies?

America, like the Navy, is diverse. That is a given - why is this news in 2011? Has the "D" word just become a verbal tic to protect yourself - like "Comrade" in the days of the Commissariat?

You might as well call it the 2011
Dinka Games - it would be just about as accurate. What a Potempkin embarrassment. The deeper I dig, the more LOL-worthy it is. This doesn't stand up to even a little bit of light and investigation. Farce, joke, or fraud? Take your pick.

Check out the PDF ironically titled, "
hispanicrecords.pdf." You can't make this stuff up - check out the first ten names;
Porter, Clarke, Ervin, McMillen, McFadden, Coleman, Drummond, Rhodes-Devey, Pannon, Morrison
That is almost as Hispanic as Mayer and Brady. Wait - according to the Navy they are.

What a self-delusional, sectarian joke.

The dangerous thing is - even a people exactly alike - like Serbs and Croats - will if you encourage sectarianism long enough, kill each other like strangers. That is an European thing to do though. Not American style in the 21st Century. I think we are trending the other way - and that is something to encourage, not discourage with retrograde ethno-centrism.

The more I ponder this Potempkin track meet the Navy seems to sponsor, the more I think they do this exists so some can put it on a PPT slide to show the CNO. Thing is - this isn't a Diversity event. There is no more outreach to Hispanics here than there is at a Blue Angles show.

In many ways, this again demonstrates the generational disconnect between the America of today and the retrograde 1970s attitude towards race and ethnicity of those in power. Sure, there are plenty of Gen X and younger who buy into this stuff, but there are many more that laugh at it - and to those men and women just coming into voting age, it is background noise.

I assume many in older generations see this - but are those in power Mau-Mau'd by the Diversity Industry to make the proper motions? Maybe I should cut Boomers some slack? Anyway, talk about the need for intellectual courage at the top ....

While looking at that great mix of young men and woman I see the America I know - the best of our nation that says, "
OK, today I'm Hispanic - tomorrow I will be black - next week white - and later mixed if needed. Whatever works for you, just get out of my way." In may family, we claim Hispanic, Amer-Indian, European, Mixed, and Other depending on the person, the need, and the mood. I don't think we are alone.

I might change my mind about the Hispanic games. Maybe next year there can be a bunch of bagpipes in the
opening ceremonies? Well - why not? Celtic is as Iberian as anything else. I won't wait for the Navy to sponsor the St. Patrick's Day Parade though.
A final note on these games. I have searched and searched for some data on who started this, organized this, and paid for this - but I can't even find an organized website to claim it.

That has my skin getting all a'twitchy. Please don't tell me this is some USN Diversity Directorate sock-puppetry/astroturfing. Please. Just tell my the organizing committee is IT-lazy and outdated as their title, and Navy is just footing the bill ... please.

If you know who or what the owning organization is for this - please let me know.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Begging your pardon, but I'd like to interject that O'Reilly is a famous Spanish name, and that the MacNeil clan was not unknown to the Iberian crown..