I’ve lived my entire life seeing and hearing about the ‘first woman to do…’ or the ‘first african american…’ or the ‘first openly gay person to do…’
Excuse me, but I’m kinda tired of it. I just don’t think its news. Perpetuating the idea that I should be amazed about this just smacks of sexism, racism or whaterver ism.
These are people, they have people abilities, they can do whatever they want. Here’s the latest i see from CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/21/us/texas-am-openly-gay-student-body-president/index.html
I’m no longer either amazed or heartened to hear of such accomplishments…they are as mundane and boring to me as hearing that someone from Belton Texas is A&M’s student body president.
So, how long or what will it take for you all to go; ‘meh’ not a big deal. I don’t care.
It’s news because society is changing. Twenty years ago, the idea that Texas A&M would vote for a gay student body president would have been absurd. Now, it’s just not a big deal–and the fact that it’s not a big deal is what’s news.
It’s not news in the sense of “suddenly breaking story.” It’s news in the sense of “this is a bellwether of social change.”
You may not care, but I’m sure quite a few people who belong to said minorities do. Obviously, first gay student body president is not really a “big deal” in the same way, say, “first female astronaut” is, but did you know that for quite some time, women weren’t even considered for the job due to sexist concerns? It’s easy to forget that the glass ceiling being broken tells everyone else who belonged to that minority, “Hey, you can do it too!” Minority representation helps encourage other members of said minority to seek out that career path. Or why do you think so many African-American kids want to be rappers or pro basketball players, and so few want to be astrophysicists or pro hockey players? And this paradigm is reinforced in many subtle ways in society - just ask Neil DeGrasse Tyson. So I hope we don’t stop caring. Sally Ride told the rest of the world that women could be astronauts. Neil DeGrasse Tyson shows us there’s no reason a black man can’t be an internationally famous astrophysicist. Bobby Brooks shows us that Texas A&M is no longer so homophobic that a gay man can’t be elected student president. It’s not a huge deal, but it’s something.
Well that is the crux of my point. When will you stop caring? Do you intend to really think its a very big deal that a woman is an astronaut every time? or do you think its going to be a big deal every time someone becomes the first black mayor of some non-descript town?
Or will you ever reach the point where you think. 'Not really a big deal anymore."
The fact that it’s the first is what makes it noteworthy. By the time it’s the 15th female astronaut people will mostly stop caring. There are still a lot of firsts that need to happen, and that should to be celebrated. If you choose not to celebrate these firsts that’s okay too.
I would caution, however, that choosing not to celebrate is a wee bit different that overtly calling for stopping the reporting. One is passive, the other is active.
It calls into question motives. Why go to the trouble to start the thread at all? It runs dangerously close to the folks who decry “I wish all those gay people would stop waving it in my face!” (and the favorite - shoving it down my throat). Really, the OPs discomfort from a place of privilege is not a reason for others to “hush up”.
It’s not about minorities, it is just a subset of Trivia. Like, Flame Delhi was the first major league baseball player born in Arizona. OK, people born in Arizona are “a minority” – they’re just not “a protected class”, so nobody gets touchy about it.
So, the operative word here is protected class, not minority.
Let’s keep in mind, too, that the reason “protected class” is even a term that we know is that previously the same people were often prohibited by policy or law from even attempting to do the thing that has now been achieved.
Every time I hear of some politician (or political appointee) being the first ___, I have to wonder if they were the best, most qualified or if their being ____ was part of the reason that they got the position.
Virtually every “first” I have seen, is because that person was an exceptional individual, that accomplished and was accepted into that position in spite of them being _____. So, yes, I would say most, if not all of those firsts were done by an individual who was among the best and most qualified individuals to hold that position.
So true.
Representation matters b/c these people have historically gone unrepresented and that (among other things) had a chilling effect on their ambitions.
OP, I suspect you don’t like hearing about these firsts more so than you’re tired or bored of them, or it wouldn’t have spurred you to post.
This is not just a feel-good story for a slow news day. This is a change in attitude that was long fought and slow in coming. It is real, significant news. It made me smile, but more importantly, there are gay kids in Texas who are struggling with their identities who heard that they can beat the odds and be accepted. There are parents in Texas who heard that maybe it’s not so bad if their child is gay; he can be a successful leader.
When there is no need for a ranking of schools unfriendly to LGBT students, and when no one is using homophobic slurs, then I will stop caring if someone is the first gay anything. And the same goes for race, religion, gender identity, or any other group that struggles to be treated equally and with dignity.
Sigene, I don’t know if you have kids, but I have three daughters and they ask questions like “Has a woman ever been President?” or “Has a woman ever walked on the Moon?” all the time. And each time I have to say “no”, and then explain to them that it’s not because “boys are better than girls” but because of a long history of discrimination against women and girls. So this sort of thing will continue to be a big deal to me, at least for as long as it takes until I can routinely answer “yes” to this sort of question, and the parents whose kids are Black, gay, etc. can routinely answer “yes” to the analogous questions.
I’m not sure if anyone is actually saying that you should “be amazed”. The reporting I’ve seen tends to focus on (1) the fact that the person is the first X to Y, and (2) the fact that for those particular values of X and Y, this is a big deal to a lot of people.
