Although we love to view the world in absolutes, things are seldom black and white. Heroes have skeletons in their closets and assholes secretly donate money to the ASPCA commercials with Sarah McLachlan. Okay, maybe not.
But the point is that the world is a complex place, full of moral ambiguity, double standards and mixed feelings.
So we have taken it upon ourselves to bring back the epic binary of good versus bad, right versus wrong, and virtuous versus evil.
We humbly present you Asshole and Hero of the week.
Via: Boston Globe
Asshole: University of Massachusetts at Amherst
UMass Amherst has begun to deny Iranian national students the opportunity to study certain science classes. They are said to be upholding a 2012 law put forward by the United States government that was an attempt to ensure Iran did not develop a nuclear weapon.
However, this is the first time a university has implemented the law itself because the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department generally take care of it for them. Essentially, these departments conduct investigations into the students applying for certain programs in nuclear sciences, and tell the university which students pose a “potential threat to national security.”
But the university said that compliance with the law was becoming difficult, so it would ban all Iranian nationals from being allowed to study in certain graduate programs in its College of Engineering and College of Natural Sciences.
So we’re just allowing people to blatantly discriminate against certain groups now?
I could go on for days about how this law shouldn’t exist in the first place — did anyone even know that this was a thing? — but I won’t. It’s not really about the law. You can’t just decide that something is too difficult and say, “Fuck it, we’ll just reject them all.”
That’s not how college works.
You accept the people who you believe will be the best assets to your program, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or country of origin. Does Affirmative Action mean nothing to you?
UMass Amherst, stop being an asshole. Get your act together. Be an educational institution instead of a totalitarian government.
Via: Huffington Post
Hero: New York Fashion Week
The fashion industry is often viewed as a shallow one, focusing on looks more than anything else. This year, however, it seems that New York Fashion Week is making a statement: inclusion.
The Italian designer FTL MODA included models with physical disabilities in their show. Amputee models in wheelchairs were heavily featured. This is the first time that anything like this has happened.
The models’ bodies were painted dramatically and metallically, highlighting the clothes they were wearing, as well as showing off the physical “deformations” or “disabilities” these people have. It was brilliant. A fashion show that not only includes people with disabilities but celebrates them is something I never thought I’d see.
This show is the second at NYFW that has showcased disabilities. Earlier in the week, actress Jamie Brewer became the first woman with Down’s syndrome to walk the runway at the New York show.
This celebration of diversity shows the world that there’s more to the fashion industry that meets the eye. If it can accept and include these people in its world, why can’t we do the same in ours?
Feature photo courtesy of: Us Magazine
