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Follow up.
I talked to Dr. KGB today. She said I gotten caught in a small bit of inter-department rivalry and differences in regional idiom.
First, many people in the South use "WASP" as a common noun, not as an acronym, meaning roughly "upper class white person". I said I'm not upper class, and she told me that wouldn't have mattered either because thats how a lot of people are going to see me regardless of the truth.
Most also use "anglo" or "Anglo-Saxon" as a synonym for "white," either not knowing or not caring that not all white people are Anglo-Saxons. "Protestant", likewise seems to mean "not Catholic". Essentially, if you're white and don't have an obviously Italian or Irish name, you're a WASP, regardless of what your actual ancestry or religion might be.
This, however, wasn't what the man was saying. The "WASP brigade" is his nickname for the English department, which he seems to think is promoting the values of white, upper-class, intellectual elites.
She said he's been pulling this routine for years and gets bent out of shape every time someone calls him on on one of his Humpty-Dumpty definitions. The confrontation and name calling is his way of testing people and trying to establish territorial dominance. She said that he's not really a bad guy, he just has an abrasive style that takes a while to get used to.
She said not to worry about it; I'm probably the only one who'll remember by next Monday.
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I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that.
~Steven Colbert
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