Defrocking the Myth
Many potential Abercrombie & Fitch customers were rightly disgusted with the company's release of a T-shirt line that featured derogatory stereotypes of Asian-American characters. The shirts are gone from shelves, but the stain on the company's reputation remains.
Should this incident have been a surprise? A&F has built a successful marketing image on the decades-old myth of a blond-haired, blue-eyed America. The notion is so outmoded that by aggressively rehabilitating it, A&F has made itself distinctive and hip -- a paradox, but a lucrative one.
The problem now is that the company reproduces the myth too accurately, extending the idea to its logical conclusion -- the marginalization of differences. The T-shirts should raise eyebrows not because they are an aberration but rather because they fit the A&F aesthetic so well.
In reaction to the A&F blunder, the activist community mobilized swiftly and got results. Asian-American student groups and their allies staged powerful protests that quickly had A&F backing down from assertions that the T-shirts were "cheeky."
The coherent, united voice of so many college students forced the distasteful imagery out of stores, but more importantly, A&F's target demographic demonstrated that the company's vision of white-bread America is nothing more than fantasy.
Individual Liberties
The New Hampshire Senate recently passed a bill that would require all public schools to set aside time each day for the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. The bill also proposes changes to include a provision that allows for prayer in public schools, a practice that the Supreme Court has deemed unconstitutional.
Reciting the Pledge is not solely a patriotic act, in that it also enforces an ideological standard based on the Christian conception of "one nation under God." This phrase excludes children of other denominations and conflicts with the American ideal of a diverse community in which all citizens are treated equally.
More obviously, the second point of the bill -- that the Lord's Prayer may be recited during the same time that is set aside for the Pledge -- is problematic. Non-Christian children who follow the lead of their classmates may be ignorant of what they're actually saying and as such may go against their families' beliefs. Despite its voluntary nature, by normalizing Puritan values, the bill imposes upon students a single world view.
Praise for Scholars
Winning a national scholarship for postgraduate work is no easy feat. The competition is intense, the application procedure long.
Yet Dartmouth students have recently won several prestigious national scholarships. So far this year, Megan Stevens '02 has won a Rhodes Scholarship; Deirdre Lum '02 and Allen Fromherz '02 were granted Fulbright Scholarships; and Heidi Williams '03 a Truman Scholarship.
We commend these exemplary members of the Dartmouth community. They have demonstrated not only their intellectual ability but also true passion for their academic fields.
National scholarships such as the Fulbright and Truman offer students unique opportunities for exploring academic pursuits after graduation. More Dartmouth students should consider the possibilities opened up by these scholarships. All students who have contemplated studying abroad or pursuing graduate work owe it to themselves to take a chance and apply.
