# Share Me A Clue: Cotton Is Racist??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 19, 2017, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697 "2017-09-19T06:04:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/41 "2017-09-19T18:42:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > One person complaining about something and an overwhelming majority of people disagreeing with her constitutes “taking serious heat”? Man, someone is _way_ too oversensitive if they can’t stand the existence of one single crazy person in the whole country. Well a university president did write an apology for having cotton as a decoration. So it’s definitely far more than one crazy. It’s a culture of crazy. And even worse, a culture of accommodating crazy. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/42 "2017-09-19T18:45:25Z")
There’s a lot of fear out there. Sure, we probably could have gotten away with calling this crazy. But it’s hard to tell which way the zeitgeist will blow. End up on the wrong side and you end up in big trouble. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/43 "2017-09-19T18:53:00Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Well a university president did write an apology for having cotton as a decoration. So it’s definitely far more than one crazy. It’s a culture of crazy. And even worse, a culture of accommodating crazy. And that is the REAL problem. The left won’t call out the crazy on the far left…and therefore the “right” thinks the left IS fucking crazy…and therefore Donald Trump ensues… Not to say the right doesn’t often also fall in the same trap… But seriously people of all sides…call out this crazy shit… ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/44 "2017-09-19T18:59:06Z")
The black students were right to call out the University president. Inviting black students over for a black students dinner, and specifically selecting cotton stems for the centerpiece of that dinner, is offensive and ignorant. That’s not the same at all as being offended by Hobby Lobby offering the product. The context matters. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/45 "2017-09-19T19:01:41Z")
So the whipping post in my parterre has to come down, I guess? Pity. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/46 "2017-09-19T19:10:53Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > The black students were right to call out the University president. > > Inviting black students over for a black students dinner, and specifically selecting cotton stems for the centerpiece of that dinner, is offensive and ignorant. > > That’s not the same at all as being offended by Hobby Lobby offering the product. The context matters. That makes sense. Kinda like showing your feet to an Arab. It sounds stupid, but if it’s something that most in a culture agree is offensive, we should respect it. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/47 "2017-09-19T19:18:18Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > That makes sense. Kinda like showing your feet to an Arab. It sounds stupid, but if it’s something that most in a culture agree is offensive, we should respect it. It’s not hard to understand why showing a dirty part of your body would come to be seen as offensive in Arab culture, so I don’t know what you mean by “sounds stupid.” As cultural traditions go, that one ain’t hard to understand and explain. And this is even worse. It takes some willful blindness not to see why intentionally selecting cotton as the centerpiece for a black students dinner is offensive. The student reaction was perfectly appropriate. They asked why it had been selected, and listed it among various complaints about the evening. Pretty mild. Even more mild than the conservative reaction to the story, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/48 "2017-09-19T19:30:01Z")
Especially considering that the President had a dinner with Hispanic students the night before and served tacos (no joke). ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/49 "2017-09-19T19:39:13Z")
More info here: > **[Lipscomb president to meet with black students in wake of cotton stalk...](https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/education/2017/09/18/lipscomb-university-tennessee-president-meet-black-students-cotton-stalk-centerpiece-controversy/676739001/)** > > Randy Lowry said he would make "special efforts" to talk to students who were offended by cotton stalk centerpieces that were set out last week for the dinner he hosted for black students enrolled at Lipscomb. The day before, the school president invited Latino students for dinner and served fajitas. This day, he invited black students and served cornbread and collard greens, with cotton-stalk decorations. The criticism seems pretty damn reasonable to me. Not the end of the world, but serving stereotypical food, with slavery-related imagery (even if it wasn’t intended that way) decor, is pretty frickin’ tone deaf at best. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/50 "2017-09-19T19:41:18Z")
Would a “fabric of our lives” joke be offensive now? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/51 "2017-09-19T19:48:33Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > More info here: > > [Lipscomb president to meet with black students in wake of cotton stalk controversy](http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/education/2017/09/18/lipscomb-university-tennessee-president-meet-black-students-cotton-stalk-centerpiece-controversy/676739001/) > > The day before, the school president invited Latino students for dinner and served fajitas. This day, he invited black students and served cornbread and collard greens, with cotton-stalk decorations. > > The criticism seems pretty damn reasonable to me. Not the end of the world, but serving stereotypical food, with slavery-related imagery (even if it wasn’t intended that way) decor, is pretty frickin’ tone deaf at best. He sounds about as sensitive as Fuzzy Zoeller when Tiger Woods won the 1997 Masters: “So, you know what you guys do when he gets in here? You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not to serve fried chicken next year.” ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/52 "2017-09-19T21:42:57Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > More info here: > > [Lipscomb president to meet with black students in wake of cotton stalk controversy](http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/education/2017/09/18/lipscomb-university-tennessee-president-meet-black-students-cotton-stalk-centerpiece-controversy/676739001/) > > The day before, the school president invited Latino students for dinner and served fajitas. This day, he invited black students and served cornbread and collard greens, with cotton-stalk decorations. > > The criticism seems pretty damn reasonable to me. Not the end of the world, but serving stereotypical food, with slavery-related imagery (even if it wasn’t intended that way) decor, is pretty frickin’ tone deaf at best. He should have served them baloney and mayonnaise sandwiches on white bread. “Welcome, my friends. I would be honored to share with you the cuisine of my people.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2017, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/53 "2017-09-20T00:56:04Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > It’s counterproductive for society to reward a subset’s insanity with obsequiousness. Shifting power to the professionally offended leads to more and more absurdity. People aren’t owed a damn thing when they are offended when none is meant. Their emotional state is on them. Good news. Nobody on the left gives a damn when some idiot claims cotton is racist. We just ignore idiots like that. The only people who care are conservatives. If you want to find a single outraged left winger, just look for the crowd of outraged right wingers surrounding him or her. Easily offended conservatives outnumber easily offended liberals by around twenty to one. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2017, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/54 "2017-09-20T02:10:23Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Good news. Nobody on the left gives a damn when some idiot claims cotton is racist. We just ignore idiots like that. > > The only people who care are conservatives. If you want to find a single outraged left winger, just look for the crowd of outraged right wingers surrounding him or her. Easily offended conservatives outnumber easily offended liberals by around twenty to one. These nuts are inspired by someone. And ridiculing the goofy “that cotton is racist” is not really outrage. It’s appropriate ridicule. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2017, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/55 "2017-09-20T03:06:35Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > These nuts are inspired by someone. And ridiculing the goofy “that cotton is racist” is not really outrage. It’s appropriate ridicule. I’m not seeing that. All of these responses are taking this way more seriously than it deserves: > [@adaher](#): > > It’s okay to say it NOW. 10 years from now, those tweets defending cotton might come back to haunt you. > [@ExTank](#): > > Sometimes, I just don’t know what to think anymore. > [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > That university president can certainly grovel. > [@Aspidistra](#): > > Ah, social media. How I fail to miss thee… > [@GuanoLad](#): > > We need to stop apologising to people who get offended. > [@pullin](#): > > There’s a silver lining to our “everything you do is racist” society. Since it is now impossible **not** to be racist, we are relieved of any duty to try. > [@adaher](#): > > The problem is that if you take a stand in favor of the cotton, that carries real risks. Staying silent or joining the condemnation is risk-free. So we have an insane society now where if anyone sees offense in anything, it must be removed, apologies must be issued, and probably someone should get fired and never be allowed to work anywhere else again. > [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > Not at all, they can be a foolish hysteric who gets his or her rocks off being in a state of permanent arousal by being outraged. > [@adaher](#): > > Let’s hope that we don’t start seeing people triggered by railroads. All of these came before the first example of ridicule: > [@billfish678](#): > > Apparently old times there are not forgotten… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2017, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/56 "2017-09-20T03:46:43Z")
I remember a few years back someone at the Zynga forums was whining that Farmville was racist because cotton was one of the crops you could plant. People basically told them to shut up. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2017, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/57 "2017-09-20T04:06:37Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > (The argument is that raw cotton is not decorative, and thus the cotton must’ve been put up for other reasons. Hence anything about cotton used in other situations does not apply. Not underwear or socks or anything.). But raw cotton is decorative. I see it around quite a bit, specially around Christmas. What makes the school president a moron isn’t the cotton; it’s the “I can’t think unless someone hands me a stereotype”. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2017, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/58 "2017-09-20T04:48:46Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > … but it’s a few twigs from cotton plants with raw cotton attached. How is that racist? Is my cotton underwear racist? My underwear is HELLA racist! Strict segregation of yellow in the front and brown in the back. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2017, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/59 "2017-09-20T05:01:15Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > What makes the school president a moron isn’t the cotton; it’s the “I can’t think unless someone hands me a stereotype”. Exactly. It’s about context. Frankly, I want to see this moron throw a party for the school’s Armenian population, or Tuvans, or some other ethnicity which doesn’t have a distinctive hat and food in his mind. I just want to see what inspired idiocy this moron comes up with. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2017, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697/60 "2017-09-20T07:37:09Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m not seeing that. All of these responses are taking this way more seriously than it deserves: > > All of these came before the first example of ridicule: Don’t get me wrong; I’m not angry, upset, outraged, etc… Mostly…I’m just _tired of it all_. Emotionally and spiritually weary of being on pins-and-needles that some innocent, innocuous something is going to offend someone, somewhere, somehow. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-me-a-clue-cotton-is-racist/796697.md?page=4)