Thursday, July 26, 2007

Lorelei has a Brouhaha!

Lorelei over at Musings has a brouhaha going with her professor from school and she awakened a lot of feelings in a lot of people including me!
Lorelei's posting is well worth reading and will probably excite some emotions in yourself as well. In her posting Lorelei made some very strong points on racism and gender bias.
She stated that people should be judged by their worth not by their color.
That Obama was using his race as a means to win an election and that women have been socialized to accept their role as family first and career second!
Apparently her professor did not take kindly to this and reprimanded her for her remarks on a student website. But did Lorelei take that sitting down?...no she came right back at her and didn't back down. Good for you Lorelei! You can read what she had to say here at www.blogsdon.com as well as some of the responses she has gotten so far. The following is my response to her post.
Here in Canada the color thing is not really an issue. Not that we do not have our share of prejudiced and racist history. Our treatment of Native Indians in the past is a prime example. We didn't give them the vote till 1952, we made them live on reserves and we took their children and put them in Catholic run boarding schools forbidding them to speak their own language or learn anything about their culture. When I think of it I am ashamed to say I am Canadian and I have a great deal of empathy for the Native fight for rights and recognition in this country.
As a Canadian I also rebel every time I am asked what nationality I am. I was born in Canada, raised in Canada - duh! I'm Canadian. Inevitably when I tell someone I am Canadian they will say "well ya but what is your nationality?" GRRRRRRRRR I'M CANADIAN EH!
As for voting. I'm with you on that one. I think that we should vote for the person we feel is the best candidate and race or gender should not enter into it. In this country we also have this policy of giving priority to female candidates and minority candidates. I feel this gives me little choice as a voter and rarely gives us the best person for the job. As a woman I find the whole thing demoralizing. I don't want to be judged because I am a woman, but for who I am and what I can do!
I also agree, Lorelei,that women are socialized to put family first and choose that over a career. Despite the fact that I have a strong belief that raising children is one of the hardest task that anyone can take on in life and that to raise children right and with your family values you need to spend enormous amounts of time cultivating that relationship and that leaves little time for much of anything else I also believe that this role need not be a woman's alone. For too long we have let men believe that they are the only ones who can be the hunter and the little woman should stay in the cave fanning the camp fire and breeding. So long as women do not demand quality child care alternatives and equal pay and treatment in the workplace this attitude will continue to prevail and women will constantly be forced to make decisions with few real choices.
Thanks Lorelei for posting your opinions and having the courage to stand up for what you believe in.



1 comment:

  1. Thank you so much for your comments! I was beginning to feel a little outnumbered. lol I suppose a better question regarding our "ancestral roots" (so to speak) maybe would be to ask about the person's "heritage." No one comes from just one heritage anymore, so either give lots and lots of choices when filling out forms, or just leave it at where you were born. Born in Canada? You're Canadian. Born in America? You're American. Simple and to the point. What else matters? Thanks again for your thoughts on this! It was great reading.

    ReplyDelete