Newt Gingrich phone home…

03 Feb 2012, Posted by Minshu Deng in Backpages, 1 Comments

Special to The Chronicle

With the 2012 presidential elections coming up, I think it’s pretty clear whom I want to vote for.

Newt Gingrich.

I mean, the guy wants to build a U.S. colony on the moon, and who doesn’t think that’s just the coolest thing ever?! You don’t have to have wanted to be an astronaut as a kid or dreamed of going to space camp to realize the significance of this proposal.

With a moon colony well established by the end of Gingrich’s second term, the U.S. will have realized its policy to once more return a human to the lunar surface by 2020. If we don’t succeed, we will have failed. We cannot fail to follow through with our policies! If we say we’re going to clean the whole world, well, we’ll just have to give everyone a bottle of Windex and fly them to every corner of the earth!

Like Gingrich, I myself “believe in an America of big ideas and big solutions. I believe if we unleash the American people we will rebuild the American dream.”

For those of you out there who are hindering the rebuilding of the American dream with your doubts, I have this word of advice for you: the Canadian Television Network claims, “Experts say [Gingrich’s] moon base dreams [are] not lunacy”!!!

Forget about unemployment or poverty or education, this is a matter of national security. Do we want the Chinese colonizing the moon before us? Those people are already everywhere! If they make it to space first, we can just forget that we ever had any ambitions. Actually, I’d be impressed if the Chinese decided to drop a few bucks on going to the moon when they have problems of education, poverty, corruption, and environmental crises to deal with within their borders.

Wait, what about when I said to forget about our own unemployment, poverty, and education in this country? Oh, I didn’t mean that. Surprise!

I’m not lying about how my dream job was to work for NASA as an astronaut. I am a space fanatic. Are you going to scold me for not holding fast to my dreams and for being dragged into a system that is keeping America from achieving great things? We can achieve great things.

Right now, creating a moon colony is not one of those.

Gingrich’s idea to create a U.S. moon base is not just crazy, it’s insulting to this country’s citizens who actually live on this planet, live within this country’s borders and pay federal taxes. As a U.S. voter, remember to keep a sense of proportion and priority in making your decision at the polls this year. And, unfortunately this doesn’t always go without saying, actually go vote.

Digging into Durham: Parker and Otis

28 Jan 2012, Posted by Minshu Deng in Backpages, Digging into Durham, 0 Comments

Special to The Chronicle

Southern Living describes Parker and Otis as “a gourmet grocery store, restaurant, wine store and all-round cool place to hang and be seen.” All these descriptions are true; I would also add “hipster hotspot where Durhamites bring their to-be hipster babies for brunch.”

Located in Peabody Place, your typical, historic Durham, renovated brick building, Parker and Otis is quite literally a hidden gem. The interior is a visual wonder in and of itself; if you’ve ever shopped at Forever 21, imagine being in there, but now everything is either edible, scented or just more interesting than a piece of clothing. Not unlike an Urban Outfitters, but still less clothing and more food. Simply put, from the gift shop aspect of the place, I will be coming here to explore and buy gifts for friends a lot more.

With Durham being America’s Foodiest Small Town as declared by Bon Appétit Magazine, however, the original point of my visit was to get Sunday brunch. At the coming together of some of my unconventionally favorite things—brunch, old warehouses, hipster atmospheres, and friends—I was inordinately excited to try some of the restaurant offerings.

At our table of four persons, we had pastries, coffee, sandwiches, grits and salad to go around. The large selection available, including several options for vegetarians, greatly tempted me to try everything. Something about places that are meticulously decorated for a homey, yet warehouse feel (see Urban Outfitters), often puts me at the mercy of poor financial decisions. Luckily I was feeling a bit more rational that day and settled for one of their many fantastic birthday cards for my brother-in-law.

This outing into Durham was incredibly fulfilling and all on a Sunday morning when Duke’s campus is still quiet from the partying of the night before. A perfect way to start my week, there’s no question that I’ll be back soon.

This Week in Irony: Sh*t Girls Say

28 Jan 2012, Posted by Hong Zhu in Backpages, 1 Comments

Special to The Chronicle

A month after its launch, the now-viral video “Sh*t Girls Say” has taken the Internet by storm, spawning a veritable trove of spin-offs. The meme includes videos poking fun at almost every possible category of people, with titles such as: “Sh*t New Yorkers Say,” “Sh*t Spanish Girls Say,” “Sh*t Nobody Says,” “Sh*t Asian Dads Say,” “Sh*t White Girls Say to Black Girls,” “Sh*t Gay Guys Say” and even “Sh*t Cats Say,” to name just a small sampling.

As indicated by their view counts on YouTube, these videos have struck a chord amongst viewers. It’s less clear, though, what kind of appeal has made this raging popularity possible. Although I’ve laughed at a good number of these videos, I’m not entirely sure why I find them so entertaining. Sure, stereotypes and funny outfits usually make for funny videos, but this meme seems to be humorous on a whole other level; it takes observations that are rooted in truth and distorts them in a highly ironic way.

The “Sh*t-people-say” videos are at once wildly offensive and socially sensitive.

On one hand, these videos perpetuate stereotypes in the worst kind of way: they are overly-simplistic, exaggerated and dehumanizing. They lump people into groups and blatantly caricature them, implying that all people in that category have the same ridiculous mannerisms. They slap labels on entire segments of people (often minorities) with a sort of unabashed glee that reeks of playground bullies.

Yet, if this were all that these videos did, they certainly would not have garnered such a large following. After all, most people are uncomfortable laughing at videos that heartlessly mock their subjects. This meme, however, has managed to imbue its parodies with powerful meta-mockery. These videos don’t simply make fun of Spanish girls or Asian Dads—they also poke fun at the people who mock these groups.

In a way, these videos can also be seen as empowering to the subjects they portray. The main character from “Sh*t Girls Say” is so obviously male that it’s clear the video is not designed to be taken seriously. The videos also cut from scene to scene with a characteristic rapidity that makes it obvious that the quotes have been taken out of context. These videos don’t pretend to be accurate portrayals—if anything, the goofy outfits make the featured stereotypes seem utterly shallow and false. They make us question the validity of grouping people into such clichéd labels.

Although overanalyzing humor is usually the best way to kill a joke, thinking about the irony of this meme has made me appreciate it all the more. These videos are funny because people see in them truthful reminders of real people. Yet what allows them to be truly entertaining, in my opinion, is the way they are both parodies and parodies-of-parodies.

The real victims

09 Dec 2011, Posted by Walker Schiff in Backpages, 1 Comments

Special to The Chronicle

This satirical post is meant to express the opinion of a single individual, not The Chronicle as a publication. An opinion piece, this piece should be taken as the voice of the author and not a reflection on any larger group or subset of the campus population.

I am writing this article to inform the Duke student body of who the real victims are in the recent Pi Kappa Phi Pilgrims and Indians party scandal: Pilgrims.

While I am not a Pilgrim myself, I know countless peers who consider themselves Pilgrims and are members of Pilgrims United to Stop Segregation (PUSS). For years, PUSS has tried to dispel offensive stereotypes of pilgrims within the Duke community, but as the recent discourse on campus, these attempts have been futile.

It is impossible for any member of PUSS to walk down the main quad in his buckle shoes and pilgrim hat without getting judgmental looks (for traditional pilgrim garb, click here). This needs to change. This must change.

Duke pilgrims were offended by Pi Kapp before the party even started. In an email invitation sent out by the fraternity, it clearly states, “In 1621 some crazy pilgrims had a pretty brutal harvest. Word on the street was they didn’t have enough food for half the bros in Plymouth.  Then some hot natives came along with some extra food.… On Saturday, the brothers of Pi Kappa Phi will be honoring that party spirit. There will be a cornucopia of treats in our modern-day teepee. Tap into your inner pocahotness, wear a few feathers and party like you don’t care if you survive the winter.”

This quote is offensive to pilgrims on so many levels that I don’t even know where to start. First, pilgrims are neither “crazy” nor “bros.” Second and perhaps most egregious is Pi Kapp’s claim that the harvest of 1621 was “brutal.” As PUSS will proudly tell you, the harvest of 1621 was spectacular—in fact, Thanksgiving was a celebration of a successful harvest.

It is also very offensive how the email invitation seems to suggest that all pilgrims are male. While female pilgrims may not have the “pocahotness” of the “hot natives,” they still look good in their sexy bonnets.

It strikes me how nonchalantly a group of Duke students could be so anti-pilgrim. This anti-pilgrim sentiment around Duke needs to stop. I stand behind PUSS because no one understands PUSS as well as I do.

DukeEthicist: sorry for partying.

09 Dec 2011, Posted by Duke Ethicist in Backpages, DukeEthicist, 1 Comments

In light of the recent focus on a certain frat party at Duke, what are the ethical responsibilities of partying?

Simply put, we have a right to party. We have a responsibility to work hard, and a right to unwind. Partying inevitably is one way we do that. Still, that right is accompanied by a responsibility to abide by the same standards to which we are held in class, when we’re working hard to earn our right to party. To “unwind” should not be synonymous with doing away with a regard for basic ethics. Partying should not be a proxy for disrespect. To mock and simulate historical conflicts in such a degrading context is nothing short of offensive, to multiple groups and people. And, in many ways, it is exclusive: “Indians” don’t want to attend a party that belittles them. But don’t they have a right to party too?

In effect, I’m not defending any particular group, or any particular demographic. Rather, I’m defending the right to party, held by all individuals equally. And I’m arguing that when your right to party hurts another’s, you create a problem worth discussing—either in The Chronicle, or on Jezebel. Give our parties the national reputation they deserve—we have fun. But we’re also good people, with good intentions, great ambitions, and a sincere respect for people, places, and cultures of all varieties. We can celebrate these people, places, and cultures without making a mockery of them. More importantly, we can party hard without making a mockery of ourselves.

Happy Holidays, Duke. Stay good.

The Duke Ethicist is a project of the Honor Council which responds to ethical questions posed by the Duke community. Our purpose is to provide a medium through which students may anonymously seek advice or spark dialogue. Got a question? Send it to dukeethicist@gmail.com, and look out for a response on our blog.