Empathize before you critize

Letter to the Editor of the UCSD Guardian
Dated February 26, 2010

Dear Editor,

In light of recent incidents at UCSD, I am writing to make sure we understand the greater picture before we criticize what is happening right before us. Despite the fact that the bigots behind these despicable actions are ultimately but a part of UCSD, the only reason this is still a story is because of our attitudes towards it. To say the least, there is an honest and significant misunderstanding of what’s going. This is the time to allow our criticism, particularly of the BSU’s list of demands, to take a back seat to empathy in order to allow greater objectivity through understanding.

Though I don’t claim to feel the same pain that students speak of, I understand why they say the majorities just don’t get it. A friend of mine emphasized that the Civil Rights Movement is over, but unfortunately this about so much more. This is about dignity and equal treatment on the personal level in addition to the institutional level. For many, their entire lives they’ve been looked down upon because of their heritage, something that on one level they didn’t choose but on a greater level they deserve to defend, protect, promulgate, and be proud of.

And that’s why the Compton Cookout was (and should rightly be) more offensive than any White Trash Party. The fact is that their heritage is secondary to that of white America, their speech secondary to that of white America, and even their skin color secondary to white America. The fact of the matter is that when your whole life has been something not proper and not mainstream, you get upset when more gets chipped off the old (and unfortunately) shrinking block.

If we lived in a society where we were acceptant of others and not just tolerant, such an event as the Compton Cookout would not mean nearly as much as it does today. Such a statement hitting on engrained emotions would not have had so much weight. Such a symbol as powerful as a noose would not have been so tyrannical.

So with that in mind, try to feel the real pain that they speak of. Instead of denying their emotions and the racial incidents they reference, why not realize that racism (and other forms of prejudice) still exists. I have seen it first-hand on Library Walk and heard it in too many conversations. If you haven’t witnessed it, you haven’t been paying attention. If you feel our society is too PC, think about why we’re so PC in the first place. The only reason why racism can exist is because the concept is so taboo to talk about.

Now think about BSU’s list of demands. Is their request for a safe-zone any different from our LGBT and Women’s centers? Are their demands for separate institutions different from what’s happening now de facto? All that they want is security and peace of mind, and there’s no reason for them not to deserve it, nor reason for them not to want it.

And to the Koala, if you want to keep saying what you’re saying, you are entitled to do it—just not with my money and not at the expense of our other media organizations.

—James Jee, Student, Eleanor Roosevelt College

One and a half months later

If it’s any indication of how long it took me to reacquaint and reaccustom myself with life back in California, let this hiatus of 13% of the year be duly noted. Getting back was a bumpy road, just not the one I was expecting, and I’m glad to say that I’m finally getting on with my life.

Coming back I’m now convinced was the right thing to do. Rather than staying through May in Hong Kong, my predetermined motion to come back after one semester has paid off in ways that I could not have imagined. I do miss Hong Kong, but what I miss isn’t really there any more anyways. Just a few of my old friends are still there, many having returned to their home institutions. My exciting travels are no more as I concentrate on classes that I actually have to study for—not to mention all the money I’m saving my not going anywhere.

I miss the uncertainty of living abroad, the feeling that everything is still new, even if you’ve seen it a hundred times. Here is where I left half a year ago. Here is where everything is every day and nothing exciting happens—or so I thought.

I needed a jolt to get out of my stupor, a reason to remove myself for my lethargy, a motivation to start writing again, a feeling of urgency to acquire my stark anti-procrastination again. And I guess I got that jolt in the incident that just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

I’m glad I came back because I had to, and now I’m motivated to begin again. So I declare that the next post will be something of substance.

The Tenth Hour (on the Tenth Day)

I've now been back at UCSD for just over a week. In the hectic quarter system, my work has already been piling up for me. I've got around thirty pages to read for tomorrow about Hinduism and sixty for Tuesday in a Chinese Philosophy book. I just got back from the commuter lounge (though I live on campus), having finished notes on a presentation in political philosophy for Making of the Modern World for Wednesday based on twenty-five pages of dense primary sources for Tuesday.

It's been three weeks since I returned from Hong Kong and I've still got conflicting feelings about being back. Though I have not experienced the reverse culture shock that I so expected, I'm conflicted about if it was really the right thing for me to have stayed for one semester rather than a full year. I left behind some great friends there, but then again may of them left too, and I do have some great friends here. Classes there were simplistic and straightforward, and now I'm finding myself challenged by what I have to read, which I think is a good thing.

Still in the middle of all this madness I've been working on editing my blog for studying abroad, entitled In the Quest of the Fragrant Harbour, since I went to Hong Kong, famous in part for its Victoria Harbour. I'm also preparing documents for the courts. I plan to modify my name officially and keep my birth name as my pen name.

So in the middle of this, why am I writing a new blog when I should probably be sleeping? See, I just got to the point where my conclusion for my other blog is in an acceptable condition for publication. I actually meant to get that blog squared off before Christmas. Instead, the bulk of it was completed by New Year's Eve.

I know that to make something interesting, you have to have a subject in the matter. For my first blog, that subject was clear and defined: my study abroad. Now I guess is the time for everything after, though I will definitely be drawing parallels to my life before my study abroad. In short, I guess I'll focus on commentary--commentary on what interests me.

We'll see how it shapes up.