Reaction To The Utah Man Reaction
Sep 7, 2013 Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Utes cheerleaders warm up prior to a game against the Weber State Wildcats at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
So yesterday afternoon ASUU voted to change the lyrics to Utah Man because they are sexist and non-inclusive.
I wrote about it yesterday, including a great point of view from a 17 year old female Ute fan, Taylor Cella (@taylor_mckell97) on Twitter, who again I thank for allowing me to mention her name in all of this.
As I mentioned, I’m probably not for changing the name, I’d like to see the Coed line if for nothing more than selfish reasons, that I think the line is silly and lame, it wasn’t the original line and I think we can do better. But I have to say, all of you who have taken to Twitter and the airwaves and everywhere else to defend Utah Man, I have to say one thing.
YOU ARE LOSING THE ARGUMENT, BADLY!!!!
The argument that this is what the majority wants is a failure as it always is when discussing the rights of minorities. The entirety of the argument from the ASUU people is that this song discriminates against a small group of people who have no voice to say anything about it. You’re literally giving them the ammunition that their going to shoot down Utah Man with.
Frankly I don’t believe the motives of Sam Ortiz and the people in ASUU who voted for this to be pure. This all could and should have been handled much better. But all of you who are screaming and radio idiots who are running to broadcast from the U to show how angry you are, guess what, YOU’RE NOT HELPING. To those of you who have become internet tough guys, threatening people, the ugliness of calling anyone who might want a change names, you are a terrible human being, just the worst.
If you want to keep Utah Man, then deal with it like a rational person who considers other people opinions. Then even if you disagree you don’t sound like a crazy person who is showing that just maybe there is something to what those ASUU folks were claiming.
In fact, I’ll give you your argument.
Utah doesn’t have many traditions, in fact the only long term tradition we may have is, UTAH MAN. In order to continue to feel connected to this place and these teams that you’ve felt so connected to, you’d like to continue to sing the same song your Grandparents and Parents did.
Honestly, the following compromise in my opinion makes a lot of sense.
Change the Coed line. I’ve said it repeatedly. The term Coed truly is sexist and that whole line is the worst kind of condescending from when men thought it was cute that the gals wanted to be at the college to find their husbands before they had babies. Not to mention it’s a crap line that always seems out of place. That’s probably because the original line was, “We drink our stein of lager and smoke our big cigar.”
In fact a great replacement was offered to me on twitter by Howard Sprague (@hsprague)
"...our scholars are the brightest and each one’s a shining star…"
Next, have the University make a statement that says something like, “We recognize that the song may have sexist overtones. Like so many documents written in the past our choice is to either rewrite them or acknowledge that man extends to everyone associated with the University. We are making changes to the coed line to acknowledge the concerns of sexism, but are retaining the word Man as a nod to our longest tradition. While not a perfect solution we feel this addresses the concerns of all parties.”
I realize asking some of you to climb down off your high horses of moral outrage, that are just as bad as the one you accuse Sam Ortiz and the ASUU people of being on, is essentially shouting into the wind. But this is a chance for everyone to be better than what the lowest among us wish. Take it and try to talk to each other about this.