I'm gonna give this a pre-emptive "POSSIBLY POLITICAL DISCUSSION" warning, and if it isn't supposed to be in here, feel free to move it. I wasn't sure but this seemed like the best place to put it, so long as the discussion stays clean.
This semester, I have this awesome class called "Minority Group Relations." This class consists of reading a book (one or two chapters are due per class period) and then discussing those chapters in class. There are no tests, no quizzes; once per book you write a page summary and the discussion questions for the day you present, and once per book you put together a project about some theme you liked. This class is AWESOME.
We are currently reading the autobiography of Malcolm X. Mind you, I go to a conservative Christian university, and dear Malcolm was a radical Muslim, so obviously opinions clash. Add to this the fact that I am quite liberal in comparison with my highly conservative classmates, and you can probably see how this is a potentially explosive situation.
Today, we were discussing whether or not history books have been "bleached" (i.e. only dead white guys are discussed), as Malcolm claimed.
Me: Heck yes they have been! It consists of dead white guys! What about the things women have done? Or minorities?
A FEMALE Classmate Who Shall Remain Anonymous: If women or minorities had actually done anything important, they WOULD be in the history books.
Me: *thinking* Oh, you are going DOWN.
I then proceeded to push every button I could think of, including bashing President Bush (whom most people on campus think is a saint) and the Iraq war, which I am strongly opposed to but most of my classmates see it as a holy war. I called it Bush's Crusades. That did not go over so well...
At one point, She Who Shall Not Be Named was so mad, she was turning red and SHAKING. Other classmates were yelling, the tension was so thick it was electrifying. My professor had long since facepalmed and sank into his chair, wondering why he didn't just duct-tape my mouth shut at the start, I'm sure. (He loves a good <s>fight</s> debate, though, so he didn't stop me.) One girl actually started CRYING and accusing me of bashing the troops (one of whom is my baby brother.)
Me: How is bashing President Bush bashing the troops?
She Who Shall Not Be Named: He's the commander-in-chief! You're bashing the whole system!
Me: If I said "Wendy's is a corrupt corporation," would that mean I'm bashing the cashiers? NO! I will NEVER bash the troops; my brother is in the Military Police, and I come from a LONG line of military guys. The troops are doing what they're told to do, why the heck would I hold that against them?
She Who Shall Not Be Named shut up about it after that and went after another one of my points.
Needless to say, dear friends, today I sowed CHAOS. It was BEAUTIFUL. <p><div style="text-align:center">
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