"Siouxper Drunk" Tshirts Cause Outrage At Springfest In Grand Forks

Because a lot of college kids aren’t very mature, and buy into the marketing that pitches college as a booze-soaked life experience rather than education, a bunch of UND students got together and wore these dumb “Siouxper Drunk” shirts to the controversial Springfest Event in Grand Forks.

I don’t know much about Springfest, but according to some of my friends in Grand Forks the vent has become irksome to the community (because obnoxious drunk college kids), and with these shirts throwing a log onto the always-simmering fires of the “Fighting Sioux” controversy, you can bet the event is going to come under more fire.

To be clear, the shirts are pretty dumb. But I’m having trouble getting too outraged. Because of shirts like this:

We actually have a holiday on the calendar – St. Patrick’s Day, duh – which has turned into a de facto celebration of Irish drunkness.

I’m not sure that celebrating drunkness in general is all that cool, but if one is cool is not not a double standard to call the other offensive?

There is no question that America has a long and ugly history of racism and oppression toward Native Americans. But then, we have the same history with the Irish. Ever used the term “paddy wagon” to describe a vehicle used to transport prisoners?

“Paddy” is a derisive term aimed at the Irish. They were calling prison transports “paddy wagons” because the Irish were stereotyped as lazy, stupid, drunken hooligans.

I don’t think stereotyping anyone is ok, but I also don’t think we should have double standards.