In defense of Mr. Engineering

To the Editor,

I write this letter in defense of Nicholas Tanner Cortez, also known as Utah State’s “Mr. Engineering.” Mr. Cortez has come under a lot of fire these past couple of weeks over an allegedly racist performance that he put on for the Mr. USU pageant titled, “How to Survive in Mexico.” I find these accusations to be ridiculous. Those who found it offensive seem to lack a basic understanding of American comedy. Unfortunately, many of these offended people have turned to bullying as a way to alleviate their feelings. This is completely inappropriate and unjust, and all that have spoken of Mr. Cortez in so ruthless a fashion owe him an apology.

The United States has long held on to the use of sarcasm, irony, satire and stereotypes as staples of its comedic and political culture. It is a tradition that many throughout the world do not completely understand, as can be seen through the Iranian and North Korean state media, who mistook articles by The Onion, a satirical newspaper, as legitimate stories. As Americans, however, we should be familiar with this type of comedy, which has its roots all the way back into the Enlightenment. It seems to me that Mr. Cortez’s performance was nothing more than an attempt to follow in this tradition. While his jokes, tact and overall performance might not have been as good as he hoped, he is in no way racist because he was trying to play on stereotypes.

Stereotypes are fascinating things. While most Americans would claim to be against them, many secretly enjoy hearing about them through comedy. Perhaps this is because stereotypes touch upon an element of reality that many people find to be uncomfortable. For example, I am personally acquainted with many Mexican citizens, several of whom are very good friends. They come from all walks of life, from fairly well-to-do socioeconomic backgrounds to those less so. From them, I became aware of a number of stereotypes that they had concerning Americans. For example, white Americans are rich and black Americans are often in trouble with the law. Many Mexicans have their own stereotype just for themselves, which is that Mexicans are cheap, clever and fix things as easily as possible, often using lots of duct tape. There are many other stereotypes. Asian people are really smart, or Americans are fat, loud and ignorant. I do not say that we should look at these stereotypes and say, “Yes, these are so true,” and then behave accordingly. However, I would challenge the reader to look into the truth of these stereotypes. Perhaps that is why so many people become flustered when talking about them. While inaccurate, they give us a glimpse of inconvenient truths which in our equality-driven age we would prefer to think do not exist.

Finally, I would like to address the bullying that has been used against Mr. Cortez. It is completely unacceptable. Any student of USU who has written such harsh rhetoric against him should be ashamed. I do not care how many kisses you have had on True Aggie Night, you are not really a True Aggie if you engage in such behavior. A True Aggie thinks, cares and acts. A True Aggie therefore considers the intent of a person, and if he disagrees, confronts him in an attitude of kind reproach. Unlike current popular political ideas, what we as a people most lack is not “sensitivity,” although we do lack plenty of it, but kindness. May those who are upset with Mr. Cortez treat him with the respect that any human being deserves and not engage in such mean-spirited behavior.

Many American college students are becoming overly sensitive. They cannot stand to hear anything that may offend them. The increasing use of such things as “trigger warnings” for classes are a testament to this. This needs to stop. The world is a rough place, and we should all get used to living in it. Rather than focus on making everyone hyper-sensitive, we should instead focus on developing a culture of kindness, one where the benefit of the doubt is given to all and where people do not feel that they must walk on glass should they ever try and communicate their thoughts with anyone. The ability to forgive and to not be offended is what we as a people should most emphasize, not our ability to find reasons to become upset.

— ATTRIBUTE?