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Texas athletes petitioning University to replace "The Eyes of Texas" and to no longer require athletes to sing it


Goo Punch

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Drum major doesn't even conduct the eyes until the end of the game in the stands from what I recall during my time.

If you have a music scholarship it's too the school of music. I believe there is a requirement that you have to take at least two semesters of some type of ensemble of which LHB qualifies. So a lot of music majors do two years of LHB.
LHB is a class so the director has the power to fail you if he so chooses (I assume).

Plus the band is a spirit group so I suppose expectations will be set before the season on what is appropriate. It's the equivalent of someone on Texas Cheer taking a knee or something. You could do it but there will probably be repercussions.

You're not going to lose sleep over the DM not conducting the eyes. The DM is largely a figurehead position anyway in LHB.

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3 hours ago, BrazilHorn said:

In terms of playing/not playing "The Eyes" I really don't care. I support people's right to protest. I also support businesses rights to dismiss people who protest. I then support consumers/voters etc right to punish businesses who dismiss protestors etc etc

It is the great circle of life.

Aggy-Circle-of-Life.jpg

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1 hour ago, Poolflood said:

We in here talking' about band geeks.  I mean we in here talking' about band geeks?  Not a game, not a game, we talkin' about band geeks...not the game we live and die for.. band geeks....

More fun than talkin' about the 'Rona some more.

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I’ve seriously wondered how band would work this season anyway.  Are we gonna pack 200 band dorks together to blow on instruments while capacity is limited to 25% and we should be keeping distance and wearing masks.  I figure they let the godzillatron play the music for a year.  

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2 hours ago, Skipper said:

Seriously, just ban them for a year.  The pandemic is the perfect excuse and may have happened regardless.   It's absolutely ridiculous (yet the most predictable thing ever) that the fucking band is inserting themselves into this argument after it was settled with the players.    The band has always thought game day was about them.  Let them sit out for a year and make it clear to drive that point home.

...no it hasn't

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If they could just rip down that terrible building instead of renaming it, that would be great.

Seriously though, I wonder how many top physics or math students came to visit UT and took one look at that shitty building and decided to go someplace else instead.

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1 hour ago, Valmy77 said:

If they could just rip down that terrible building instead of renaming it, that would be great.

Seriously though, I wonder how many top physics or math students came to visit UT and took one look at that shitty building and decided to go someplace else instead.

Send 'em to the new locker room in Belmont. That'll impress 'em. We could even hang slide rules in each locker, just as a final touch. That'll seal the deal for sure.

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2 hours ago, Jack Wilson said:

Send 'em to the new locker room in Belmont. That'll impress 'em. We could even hang slide rules in each locker, just as a final touch. That'll seal the deal for sure.

I mean if they move math and physics to Belmont that certainly wouldn't hurt :P

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On 8/19/2020 at 10:33 AM, Skipper said:

Seriously, just ban them for a year.  The pandemic is the perfect excuse and may have happened regardless.   It's absolutely ridiculous (yet the most predictable thing ever) that the fucking band is inserting themselves into this argument after it was settled with the players.    The band has always thought game day was about them.  Let them sit out for a year and make it clear to drive that point home.

You're full of shit.

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7 minutes ago, Tex Pete said:

Particularly when

a. the Eyes of Texas is in no way racist. 

b. the drum major is not even a black student. 

Like you said, know your role. 

But is was written by racists about a racist who venerated a racist and it was first performed by racists for racists.

So there's a whole lot of racism associated with it.

 

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45 minutes ago, Skipper said:

Well, I personally witnessed (early 2000's) our punters warming up pregame and a band director throwing a tantrum because they were kicking too close to where the band was performing and demanding that the punters stop warming up until the band was done with their performance.  Student manager responds with "we're here to win a football game, not a sweepstakes".  Everyone laughs.  Band director cries to Deloss and student manager has to "meet" with Deloss the next week.  He throws on a suit and heads to the big guy's office and Deloss basically tells him something to the effect of 'we both know this is bullshit but try not to piss the band off so I don't have to deal with this nonsense".   

Look, I like and appreciate the band as much as the next guy, but know your fucking role.  And your role is absolutely not calling up the press and inserting yourself into this fucking controversy after a successful negotiation with the parties that matter, i.e., the student athletes playing the damn game.

So, a single anecdote gets you to "The band has always thought the game was about them"?  That's quite a long walk there, skippy.

And I'm not here to debate the racism in The Eyes, or lack thereof, but it seems to me that the people playing the song - who are also UT students - have every bit as much a right to have a say on the subject as the athletes do.  In fact, I don't see why their perspective is any less relevant than the athletes.

Maybe you're just tired of the topic and want to be past it.  I get that 100%.  But those students that you are dismissing out of hand are among the most spirited, dedicated students on the 40.  I, for one, think they deserve to be heard with respect.  I don't agree with their position, but I'm not about to dismiss them. 

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21 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

But is was written by racists about a racist who venerated a racist and it was first performed by racists for racists.

So there's a whole lot of racism associated with it.

What a beating. If "not written by a racist" is the standard, no one will be reading or listening to much of anything.

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14 hours ago, David Dennison said:

But is was written by racists about a racist who venerated a racist and it was first performed by racists for racists.

So there's a whole lot of racism associated with it.

 

Keep fucking that chicken.

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14 hours ago, David Dennison said:

But is was written by racists about a racist who venerated a racist and it was first performed by racists for racists.

So there's a whole lot of racism associated with it.

 


So like hardly any of that is true. 

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15 hours ago, David Dennison said:

Get used to it. Change is hard.

This is so dumb, you'd deprive yourself of most of the great art and culture of the world that way. As long as you know and acknowledge where those pieces come from, and in terms of traditions like this try to redefine them for new generations, you can still enjoy old things.

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There's quite a difference between a song that was written by someone who happened to be racist and a song that was written to be performed in a minstrel show whose title adopts a Robert E. Lee slogan. I'm not saying the latter means the song should be banned or cannot be enjoyed or appreciated but if you're going to have an honest dialogue about it, you can't completely misrepresent the history like that.

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2 hours ago, texifornia said:

This is so dumb, you'd deprive yourself of most of the great art and culture of the world that way. As long as you know and acknowledge where those pieces come from, and in terms of traditions like this try to redefine them for new generations, you can still enjoy old things.

Its days are numbered. It's not a matter of if but when. It might not happen this year. It might not happen next year. At some point in the not too distant future, however, the University of Texas will no longer sanction the Eyes of Texas at any event.

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18 hours ago, David Dennison said:

But is was written by racists about a racist who venerated a racist and it was first performed by racists for racists.

So there's a whole lot of racism associated with it.

 

Well, UT was founded by racists and operated by racists for at least half its history.  Virulent racists, not merely insensitive ones.

So I guess we know what to do.

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35 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

Its days are numbered. It's not a matter of if but when. It might not happen this year. It might not happen next year. At some point in the not too distant future, however, the University of Texas will no longer sanction the Eyes of Texas at any event.

Please define "not too distant future" and I will call bullshit.

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28 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Well, UT was founded by racists and operated by racists for at least half its history.  Virulent racists, not merely insensitive ones.

So I guess we know what to do.

That said, I fear that you are correct. 

I think having the dialog about its ignominious origins is worthwhile.  But it has long left behind any actual racist connotations.  The dialog should have dispensed with apparently current bullshit notions like "the eyes of Texas are upon you" means "we're watching you, n*gger."

 

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39 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Well, UT was founded by racists and operated by racists for at least half its history.  Virulent racists, not merely insensitive ones.

So I guess we know what to do.

And the school is taking steps to distance itself from all of them. This is an ongoing process that will take years if not decades to play out. But cultural change is moving along apace. Think about how much has changed since Ferguson, since Charlottesville, since Minneapolis.

Traditions are not sacrosanct. It's best not to get too attached to them.

 

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Just now, TrashMaster G said:

If you are hellbent on removing any trace of history that was created by, influenced by or even favored by anyone who has ever said or done anything arguably racist, you will be forever wiping out nearly every trace of human history.

It's a fool's errand cloaked in moral purity.

That's a straw man. No one is suggesting anything of the sort. 

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1 hour ago, David Dennison said:

That's a straw man. No one is suggesting anything of the sort. 

Yeah, just like when confederate statues started coming down.  It was a straw man to suggest that the founding fathers were next.  None of you fucksticks are ever suggesting anything until you suggest it.

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Yeah, just like when confederate statues started coming down.  It was a straw man to suggest that the founding fathers were next.  None of you fucksticks are ever suggesting anything until you suggest it.

There’s a reason it’s called the slippery slope fallacy.
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3 hours ago, David Dennison said:

That's a straw man. No one is suggesting anything of the sort. 

So you are saying we should not sing a song, not because it says or expresses anything racist, but simply because of its association with some obscure person 100 years ago who was racist. I am having a hard time separating that what you are claiming you are not suggesting.

Care to make the distinction?

I mean the football program itself was created by a guy who came to UT because we hired the chaplain of Stonewall Jackson to be a theology professor. Not to mention the fact we segregated our program for almost 75 years. So why are we honoring and endorsing the racists who introduced and ran this program by continuing to have football at the University of Texas? Or is that somehow different from singing a song written by a racist? I don't know. Maybe you can explain that.

I think it might be possible, just like the football program itself, to move past that without cancelling it. Am I wrong?

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