Sat 28 May 2005
This blog is a great read for anyone interested in anthropology and economics, so I was sad to see a bit of Williams bashing.
Do you remember Eddie Murphy’s “White Like Me” routine on Saturday Night Life, the one in which he revealed that white people don’t have to pay for the bus or sign for a loan?
I always thought this was comedy…until I received this disturbing email.
The Orvis Company Store Private Shopping Night
Save the date! Thanks to the generosity of The Orvis Company Inc President/CEO Perk Perkins (Williams ‘75), All-Ivy Club Members are invited to a private, after-hours opportunity at their Manhattan store located just blocks away from the club to get outfitted for summer.
…
Privilege, it’s a terrible thing. (Among other things, it encourages you to dress badly.)
Orvis is very Eph.
May 28th, 2005 at 7:41 pm
Considering the author has a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Chicago, he’s not very observant.
First, he invokes “White Like Me” as the reason for bashing Williams, and yet Williams now enrolls about a quarter minority students. If he thinks Williams is the WASP heaven it was in the 30s, he needs his eyes checked.
Second, he cites Orvis as a catalyst of dressing badly. Could have fooled me. Today’s Williams students look good in casual dress no matter which brand they’re fixated on — Orvis, L.L. Bean, J. Crew, Eddie Bauer, etc. Where they fall down is in dressing up. When I go back to Williamstown and see student groups perform it amazes me how poorly they dress. True, they follow the letter of the law, but don’t get the form right. The women wear black dresses, but often they fit poorly. The men wear blazers but the sleeves aren’t the right length and the collars gape. So the blog writer has the causality wrong: a clothing brand doesn’t make them dress badly; wearing casual clothes their entire life causes this.
Finally, he’s not indignant about the right thing. In this world of frequent flyer miles, BJs Wholesale Club, Marriott Reward Points, etc., getting a discount due to affiliation is a fact of American life. However, paying $160,000 over four years to get a 10 or 20% discount on clothing for one night strikes me as not one of life’s better deals. A family of four that forks out for a BJ’s card gets a much better return.
Come to think of it, maybe he’s right. After all, he does say, “Privilege, it’s a terrible thing.”
May 28th, 2005 at 8:14 pm
Guy: Your failure to mention a Chuckee Cheese card is major!