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Fundraiser For "White Male" Illness Dropped

gubachwa writes "The student association at Carleton University in Canada recently voted that Cystic Fibrosis was a charity unworthy of receiving money raised during orientation week fund-raising activities. The reason behind the decision, as given in the motion on which the student association voted, is that Cystic Fibrosis 'has been recently revealed to only affect white people, and primarily men.'" I'm speechless.

34 of 241 comments (clear)

  1. Update by thox_rendar · · Score: 5, Informative

    This was a decision reached several days ago, and it has since been brought to the attention of the students that they were misinformed. They have already made a public apology for the negative press to the school and will repeal their decision at the next council meeting of the student association.

    1. Re:Update by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Did they repeal their racist and sexist attitude or is that still okay?

    2. Re:Update by girlintraining · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Which is the least they can do. Seriously though -- they were "misinformed" that the disease that only affects white males but that doesn't excuse the fact that a disease is still a disease and they were being racist douchebags by locking it out in the first place.

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    3. Re:Update by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Perhaps the charity money should be used to send the people responsible for this decision to racial and sexual discrimination therapy. It would go a long way towards improving the world's situation.

    4. Re:Update by MindlessAutomata · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Maybe they were misinformed, but so what? The fact that they would vote based on that criteria, affecting only "white men", is just as disgusting as voting against a fundraiser for sickle-cell anemia because a great proportion of those suffering from it are black.

      Some of the politics universities are associated with is downright disgusting. University students, I've seen, are often anti-freedom of speech (for political correctness) in the LEFT-WING direction because "people just shouldn't say that" and yes, rightly or wrongly there is a huge stigma against being conservative in any sense--I don't mean against gays or whatever, I mean small-government, fiscal conservatives, not the Republican "conservative". Throw in some of the weirdo racial ideas where "race is just a social construct it doesn't really exist we shouldn't judge based on race!" along with the "affirmative action is necessary to protect racial groups that I just said didn't really exist!" in the next breath and it's hard not to roll your eyes or become disgusted.

      Then there was my black studies class I took to see if it was everything I thought it would be. Oh was it ever! The text book was written by ex-felon Maulana Karenga, Black Panther and inventor of Kwanzaa; the book was full of Afrocentrism, anti-capitalist bullshit, had whooping factual errors (even claimed that blacks were the first to the Americas leaving behind the Olmec statues!) and went so far as to capitalize "Black" and kept "white" lowercase. The premise of the class was really attacking everything that was "European-American" and exalting everything "African", of course everything "bad" like capitalism, competition, the patriarchy, empirical science was associated with the "European-American worldview" and everything "good" like "holism, caring and sharing, matrilineal descent, and intuition" were part of the "African worldview". Do note that the same type of distinction is made by loony feminists as well.

      University racial politics are really disgusting and I think a lot of it stems from stupid, naive kids entering college without the ability to think critically; they mean well but are easily led.

      Those are my observations, YMMV.

    5. Re:Update by Ed+Avis · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Cystic fibrosis only affects people who have cystic fibrosis, which is a tiny minority of the population (a much smaller minority than white men). So if they must choose a charity that represents the entire student body, it's clearly not suitable, since most of the students do not have CF and never will.

      If that is their criterion, the only choice open to them is just to give the money back to the students. Any other use would be favouring one minority or another.

      --
      -- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
    6. Re:Update by xZgf6xHx2uhoAj9D · · Score: 3, Informative

      I don't see the logic at all. Regardless of whether CF only effects white men or not, CF only effects people with CF. I.e., they're alienating the entire student population which doesn't have CF (which I'm guessing would be quite a lot).

      If they were truly looking for "diversity", they would only fund research into disease which every student has. But they're not interested in "diversity". They're interesting in "diversity" only with respect to race and sex. I.e., they're racists and sexists.

    7. Re:Update by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Cystic Fibrosis affects women, it's just that women tend to die faster than men who have it. Thus, more men appear to have it.

      Someone must have looked up a bunch of statistics, and drew their own conclusions without actually putting them into context.

      Yay for critical thinking.

    8. Re:Update by delong · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm sorry, but do the students not belong to the community called "Canada", to which CF sufferers also belong?

      But this isn't about "communities" is it? No, it is "race" and "sex" counting. It is the most obscene consequence of multi-culti racism and sexism. Dividing the citizenry into camps defined by their race and sex, whose merit is contingent upon race and sex. It is racism and sexism, by definition.

    9. Re:Update by OeLeWaPpErKe · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The point isn't to benefit either the students OR their communities. Otherwise it would be called "investment", not "charity". "Charity" means helping people AGAINST your own intrest.

      If they're mere investment bankers, a sort of insurance salesmen, then they should call themselves such.

    10. Re:Update by OeLeWaPpErKe · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That would make things like headscarves for women racist. Actually since they're meant as a mark of separation, a mark that they want nothing to do with infidel men, they kinda are, aren't they ?

    11. Re:Update by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Translation: They were being unintentional racists.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    12. Re:Update by sjames · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So if I claim it's wrong to fund sickle cell research because it only affects black people that's OK? Somehow it sounds like I could get tarred and feathered if I actually said that!

    13. Re:Update by Lulfas · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Didn't you know? Racist and sexist opinions against white males are encouraged. Feeling different is considered racist and sexist.

    14. Re:Update by gubachwa · · Score: 4, Informative

      Such an ignorantly worded motion should have never passed in the first place. It also took quite sometime for a real apology to be forthcoming, and it was not until after the Carleton president got involved. The initial reaction by CUSA to the backlash was that students and the rest of the country just "didn't get it". Brittany Smyth, the CUSA president, kept trying to explain away the decision as having nothing to do with the clause that said CF was a white male illness. You can hear her here, on CFRA (Ottawa) radio. After a couple of days of public outrage, and a petition to have her impeached, Brittany did finally issue a somewhat mediocre apology.

      The real star of this debacle is Donnie Northrup, the 4th year science student who authored the original motion. He made some interesting comments to a reporter of the Ottawa Citizen. Essentially, he regrets that we misunderstood the intent of his motion, and that he should have worded the motion more carefully. He claimed that he slipped up because he had a lot of homework due at the time. And to make himself look like a bigger ass than he's already made himself out to be, he adds that "writing is not something he's focusing his degree on."

      So yeah, the decision is being revisited, but the idiots who made it are still idiots, and bringing attention to this stupidity is still worthwhile.

    15. Re:Update by cvd6262 · · Score: 5, Informative

      As a faculty member, I must say that... ... I totally agree.

      Some members of our faculty recently read a book on "white privilege" which cited documented falsehoods to justify the author's position.

      What's worse is the rise (far more in the social sciences) of "critical" research methodologies. With these, the "researcher" doesn't control for their own bias, but admits to researching in support of their stated biases (usually the empowerment of the disenfranchised).

      I told one colleague that when you begin research knowing the answers (rather than the questions), you're a lobbyist, not a researcher. That wasn't well received.

      --

      I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.

    16. Re:Update by tyler_larson · · Score: 4, Funny

      Translation: They were being unintentional racists.

      Almost. Actually they intended to be racist, but due to some unfortunate misinformation, they were simply buffoons.

      --
      "With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However, this is not necessarily a good idea...."
      RFC 1925
  2. what's sadder here? by v1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That they did it, or that anyone cares?

    Shouldn't we stop fund raising for prostate cancer because it only affects men!
    Discrimination? Someone needs their head adjusted. Maybe raising funds for condition xxx isn't a good idea, but that's a ridiculous reason to stop.

    --
    I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    1. Re:what's sadder here? by qbzzt · · Score: 4, Interesting

      What's sad is male-oriented products, e.g. razor blades, with packaging touting their contribution to womyn's diseases like breast cancer.

      My wife handles most of our shopping. They need to convince her which brand to buy, even if I'm the ultimate user.

      --
      -- Support a free market in the field of government
    2. Re:what's sadder here? by nick_davison · · Score: 4, Funny

      "

      Shouldn't we stop fund raising for prostate cancer because it only affects men!

      "

      No. We should stop fund raising for it because it kills people. Let's, instead, start fundraising for its cure.

      Never could figure out why people keep trying to raise money for cancer.

    3. Re:what's sadder here? by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 3, Funny

      What's sad is male-oriented products, e.g. razor blades, with packaging touting their contribution to womyn's diseases like breast cancer.

      My wife handles most of our shopping. They need to convince her which brand to buy, even if I'm the ultimate user.

      Ever wondered why she buys the brand that supports research that will let her live much longer than you? It's a subtle message: buy your own damn razor blades or die.

      --
      Blank until /. makes another boneheaded UI decision.
  3. Awwwwww... by Syrente · · Score: 5, Funny

    When I first saw the news topic I thought that some smarmy prankster had started a fundraiser to cure the disease of 'being a white male.' I was going to laugh.
    Now it's all serious, you jerks.

    And thanks to the severity of my condition (whitus maleus) I'm going to die, soon. Way to ruin a dying man's fun.

  4. It's CUSA - business as usual by CestusGW · · Score: 4, Informative

    DUHN-DUHN In the Carleton university academic system, there are three groups: the faculty, who try their best to better the school's reputation, the students, who are some kind of horrible hybrid of communist and stupid, and CUSA, whose mandate is to get Carleton into the mainstream press for being stupid at least once every two years. To be clear here - the staff (including the President) of the school don't like CUSA, the students don't like CUSA (the Marxists can't figure out that strikes might hurt the student body), and I'm pretty certain CUSA members must harbour some level of self-loathing over themselves and their bad decisions. So please, don't confound Carleton the school with CUSA the body of idiocy.

    --
    Too much repetition my too much repetition!
    1. Re:It's CUSA - business as usual by Straif · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's amazing how much money CUSA cost the university in Alumni giving every year. Every Carleton grad I know refuses to give based solely on CUSA; and the fact I can see the main campus from my office window I can tell you I know quite a few grads.

      --
      Of course that's just my opinion...... you could be wrong!
  5. Re:Already reversing that decision by multisync · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The fact that the negative publicity has motivated them to back-peddle in no way excuses the original decision.

    But thanks for the update.

    --
    I don't care why you're posting AC
  6. As bad a decision as it gets by Drakkenmensch · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Anyone who decides to cut off funding to a specific disease's research based on political correctness should have to explain to a 7 year old boy dying from that disease why it's okay for him to die because of his group demographic. Preferably in the presence of his parents, so they can be devastated for a second time.

    1. Re:As bad a decision as it gets by Kjella · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Preferably in the presence of his parents, so they can be devastated for a second time.

      And beat the living shit out of that bastard too. Just claim he fell town a flight of stairs. Twice.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  7. Re:Idle, annoying and out of date by QuasiEvil · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But hey lets bash for a while anyways as though we don't know that this is already out of date.

    Who cares if it has been changed? The mere fact that this sort of assinine stupidity happened in the first place is news enough. Stupidity is defeated on a daily basis - that doesn't make it less stupid or less worthy of discussion.

  8. Re:Niggers by MaskedSlacker · · Score: 4, Informative

    Cystic Fibrosis doesn't affect white men. It kills small children, usually before the age of 5.

  9. Sad and Stupid by jjohnson · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Diseases that affect minorities tend to receive, not just less, but disproportionately less funding than better known, "white" diseases, just because they get crowded out of the awareness space that correlates directly to fundraising dollars. CUSA could have accomplished the same intent of switching to an under-fundraised disease without the absurd act of saying "we don't want to help white males". They could have said "we want to help fight this disease that's been overlooked until now because it's mainly minorities that suffer from it." Their heart was in the right place, from all the stories I've read. They were just shockingly tone-deaf in their do-goodism.

    --
    Anyone who loves or hates any language, platform, or manufacturer, doesn't know what they're talking about.
  10. Re:Reverse psychology ??? by Straif · · Score: 4, Informative

    If only. This is just par for the course in the CUSA's attempt to PCifiy the campus.

    Their last major controversy was a ban they put in place to prevent any pro-life groups (religous or otherwise) from receiving any of the standard student club funds or access to any meeting facilities on campus, regardless of the number of members or how long they existed on campus. And these weren't militant "storm abortion clinic" type groups, just simply groups that did not share the pro-abortion policies of the CUSA.

    Some people just shouldn't be put in positions of power.

    --
    Of course that's just my opinion...... you could be wrong!
  11. Human rights complaint. by Hamster+Lover · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If I was a student at Carleton I would file a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, if for nothing but the delicious irony.

    As much as I hate human rights commissions, this is a perfect opportunity to throw some of the same destructive invective back at those so eager to label any and all things as racist and sexist.

  12. Definition of Racism by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...but it wasn't racist. They weren't discriminating against white men, they were being extremist everything-must-be-inclusive-of-everybody PC.

    This is racism. They are making their decision based on race. What they were trying to do, who they were discriminating for or against matters not. Their decision was based on no other criteria than race and that is the textbook definition of racism.

  13. CF Patients by Physician · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've had non-White and non-male patients with cystic fibrosis. Regardless, since when does charity goto the majority of any population? I gave money to a food bank yesterday even though I have no friends or acquaintances who are unable to provide their own food. And should we quit giving money for HIV research? I've never had a friend with HIV and it affects only an extremely small minority of people in the United States. Cystic fibrosis is a devastating disease that keeps kids in the hospital for inordinate amounts of time before they succumb to it in their 20s or 30s. Imagine living your whole life as a kid and teen knowing your life would be cut so short. CF is worthy of our research.

    --
    Does God treat us as servants or friends? Check my homepage.