The Oppressive Politics of Spelling Bees, Exclusion and Fish
Spelling is just a bunch of memorization.
Which, of course, is true. But, come now! When was the last time a winner of an international intellectual competition from India said anything like that? Is he trying to make them feel bad about themselves or something?
It should then come as no surprise that by winning this competition, which he himself denigrates, the New York Times reports that he leveraged his white male privilege against an unfortunate family from India seeking a better life in the US:
“The words that shaped Kunal Sah’s path to the Scripps National Spelling Bee — “determination,” “hope,” “anguish” — were not enough to spell victory.”
“Kunal, a 13-year-old boy from Utah who was profiled last month in an article in The New York Times, dreamed that a triumph in the bee, which began in Washington on Wednesday, would cast a spotlight on the plight of his parents. They were sent back to India last year after years of immigration processing and appeals and a rejection of their application for political asylum.”
“But Kunal was eliminated along with 178 other teenage spellers in the second round of the competition.”
I hope that home-schooled white kid who won the spelling bee feels guilty about all the trouble he’s caused.
Maybe the public school authorities need to force him to go to public schools where minority boys who have more testosterone earlier in life can beat the living hell out of him to protect themselves from his wimpy and oppressive white male privilege.
PS: To add insult to injury, we find in the initially-linked article, that this kid actively promotes the consumption of that diet of oppressors: fish!
“Fish is good for the brain,” he said. He had to skip his fish protein meal to attend a luncheon in honor of the spelling bee competitors.
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What??!! A white kid outcompeted a South Asian? This is obviously a case of unfair, unAmerican, wimpy competition. There is some sort of WN, nuclear war, separatist conspiracy here.
Now, now… the kid did admit that docile rote memorization is inferior to more creative intellectual activities, implicitly admitting that his win was insignificant.
OK, so you won’t find any of the 747-loads full of science and engineering graduates admitting that the degrees awarded from today’s academies amount to the same thing, as described by the article “The Academy: Reform or Secession?” by F. Roger Devlin appearing in the Vol. 6 No. 4 - Winter 2006-2007 issue of The Occidental Quarterly:
A diploma today is thus a sign not of learning but of the student’s ability to remain in a seated posture through the most vigorous years of early manhood. At the same time, college degrees, more than ever before, are required for access to desirable employment. We have instituted a selection process for social leadership that favors passivity and tractability; it is geared toward producing administrators and employees, not leaders, discoverers, or thinkers.
But then, this is, of course, merely sour grapes from some guy who doesn’t like the fact that white boys are no longer going to colleges and universities, while white girls and student visa immigrant boys from India populate the colleges and universities, with the Indian boys openly proclaiming, as I witnessed under Hewlett-Packard’s H-1b visa program, that their goal in coming to the US is to “fuck white girls”.
Those “non hateful” genes are the kind of genes we need more of around places like Silicon Valley, huh guys?
Posted by James Bowery on Saturday, June 2, 2007 at 05:57 PM | #
Beofre Carping, How About Some Joy for Evan M. O’Dorney?
This is the quintessential white American teenager who represents the best of our people. Let’s hear a little celebration for his parents and his victory!
Maybe it’s his Irish name that isn’t appreciated here? I notice the poster and first two commenters didn’t even name the champion.
Here are links with his pictures showing the best of 13-year-old European Americans, and on the Left Coast, too, in the heart of North California.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/31/national/main2873184.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_2873184
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,276912,00.html
http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_6019078
http://origin.denverpost.com/technology/ci_6029347
Posted by Stanley Womack on Saturday, June 2, 2007 at 06:56 PM | #
Thanks for the additional links, Stanley.
Try to be realistic though. Is this really the kind of competition we want to hang our hats on? The thing I find most laudable about this champion is his intellectual honesty and self-effacement, not his spelling skill.
This kid has depth of character.
PS: Your imputation of negative attitudes toward his Irish heritage is itself defamatory. Justify your imputation or retract it.
Posted by James Bowery on Saturday, June 2, 2007 at 07:34 PM | #
With respect to James’ experiences with South Asian immigrant IT “workers”, the following may be of relevance:
On the “Sepia Mutiny” blog Razib unburdens himself thus:
“i would hold for example that americans of south asian ancestry should be concerned about white racism”
http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/001567.html
while justifying his interests in blonde women, which he further described at the Dienekes blog:
“i speak as a lover (currently in fact) of blonde nordic women-is my love one that shall dare not be spoken?”
And we can consider this exchange:
“how did you know about the jawline part????? did i mention that? you are correct, but i’m wondering if i blogged it when i was drunk or something?
here is a picture of one of my ex’s (87.5% prussian by extraction):
http://www.gnxp.com/julie.jpg
Posted by: razib at April 19, 2003 08:01 PM
>> here is a picture of one of my ex’s (87.5% prussian by extraction):
She’s cute. What is the 12.5% ?
Posted by: Dienekes at April 19, 2003 09:38 PM
kentucky scotch-irish or something. her family moved from silesia/prussia border region to indiana in the mid 1850s to farm (both sides). the area of indiana her family comes from is almost all german american, especially from that region of prussia. her grandmother from kentucky was kind of an interloper.
she taught me how to appreciate beer 
Posted by: razib at April 19, 2003 09:50 PM”
Posted by Jean Depression on Saturday, June 2, 2007 at 07:39 PM | #
I don’t quite see how this boy represents “the best of our people”, as said above by Stanley Womack. As the boy himself admits, he is just playing a memory game. If winning a spelling bee makes him ‘the best of us’ then what does it mean for us when an Asian wins?
Posted by Englander on Saturday, June 2, 2007 at 07:46 PM | #
I believe, as James suggests, the kid should be praised for his honesty and character, not for winning the contest. Can one imagine a South Asian making similar statements?
By the way, in the news:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070602/ap_on_re_us/terrorism_plot;_ylt=AqSVINHtd.aLrtBu2oc08bdH2ocA
Of course, we must have an illegal alien amnesty, and a “guest worker” program to bring more such specimens into the USA.
At the same time, 90 year old Irish nuns need to be searched at airports, presumably by immigrants as those arrested.
Posted by Jean Depression on Saturday, June 2, 2007 at 07:58 PM | #
very true…
the woman that checked my i.d. and boarding pass on my last domestic flight could hardly speak english…
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Posted by Jean Depression on Saturday, June 2, 2007 at 05:31 PM | #