Modern American "culture," permeated with shows like "Blind Date" and "Joe Millionaire," seems to have few scruples about deriving entertainment from the exploitation of human weakness. Apparently, just so long as it is someone else's human weakness that is the object of mockery. As demonstrated by West Virginia fans and students throughout the days following the University's Dec. 28 victory over their football team, for a society made up of individuals so eager to criticize our fellow man, people can be awfully touchy.
By now, most of us have heard murmurs about a certain debacle at the Continental Tire Bowl concerning the Virginia Pep Band. Many of us, however, may be unclear as to what exactly took place. Here are the facts: the Pep Band, in a halftime skit, represented a WVU female student as a "hillbilly," dressed in overalls and with her hair in pigtails. In addition to this, the performance was complete with direct references to hillbillies, and -- you guessed it -- a square dance.
Sound like a little good-natured teasing? Well, apparently not, because within days of this performance, West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise had written a letter to President John T. Casteen III, saying that the performance was "a classless act," and "merely perpetuate[d] the unfounded stereotypes that West Virginia [is] fighting to overcome" (http://www.timesdispatch.com/sports/colleges/uva/MGBWA.html). Furthermore, bowl officials have banned the Pep Band from future performance at any Continental Tire Bowl, and there is talk of abolishing the Pep Band, replacing it with a marching band.
Given that we are (regrettably) living in the era of the politically correct, there is little doubt that this will be an unpopular statement, but I'll say it: The entire thing sounds like a conspiracy to create drama where there need not be any whatsoever. In a certain sense, it would be nicer to think that is exactly what this fiasco is. If all of the students who have expressed anger over this performance, the governor of West Virginia, those in charge of the Tire Bowl and even our own administrators really believe that this was egregious enough of an offense to merit this extreme of a reaction, we have bigger problems than an arguably inconsiderate Pep Band skit.
This world has enough problems; blatant over-sensitivity does not need to be causelessly adding to them. There are a lot of legitimate discrimination issues that we face in America today; Virginia's perception of West Virginia's level of sophistication is hardly topping the list. Though they may suffer disadvantages in other ways (West Virginia is consistently one of America's lowest-ranked states in regard to education), it is difficult to envision a scenario in which someone would be seriously discriminated against based solely on the fact that they hail from West Virginia. Take it from a New Jersey native: Your state's reputation holds no bearing on your personal potential for achievement. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either clueless or -- more likely -- lazy.
By allowing the reaction to the Pep Band's performance to escalate to such a height, we are doing nothing but perpetuating and encouraging one of the most dangerous and frighteningly prevalent modern social trends: the mentality of victimhood. Liberal economic and social policy, while it has helped some (and hurt others) in the short run, has come with an unexpected side effect: a quickly growing tendency toward self-centered thinking within the populace, and even worse, an attitude of entitlement.
This skit was a joke, and anyone who is capable of seeing a world bigger than that of his or her own perspective would recognize such a fact. The skit held no power to do any real damage to any West Virginia resident. Unfortunately, by its actions, the University has recognized this overreaction as legitimate, which it was not. Would a slap on the wrist to the Pep Band have been in order? Maybe. Would the implementation of a set of guidelines designed to avoid offending anyone in the future have been appropriate? Sure. Does possible abolition of the Pep Band seem reasonable? You must be kidding.
Wise stated that he was concerned with West Virginia's reputation. Just an idea, but the best way to improve something's reputation may be to improve the thing itself. Perhaps the state's time would be better spent on that whole "education" problem than it is on bickering with college students.
(Laura Parcells is a Cavalier Daily
associate editor. She can be reached at lparcells@cavalierdaily.com.)
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