UT Cancels "Torch Light" Portion of Tonight's TX-OU Pep Rally

UT has canceled the "Torch Light" portion of tonight's TX-OU pep rally because Tiki torches may offend certain people. You can't make this sh*t up! UT says the pep rally is too close to Charlottesville. God help us.

UT admits that the use of torches has never been racist. They were simply used for light during a night pep rally. Why would this offend anyone?

The Torch Light pep rally is a 30-40 year old tradition. I know that I enjoyed it the early 80's.

 

UT is fighting for the title of most easily offended.

 

I guess you could blame neo-nazis for making tiki torches symbolic of hate groups.
Sons a *******.

 

I wonder what the statues think about it, oh wait they're gone too

 

I'm getting dangerously close to channeling that judge from USF....

 

What do you expect from an educrat from Berzerkley? ******* cretin who would be afraid of having his balls cut off if he had any.

I'm going to recommend he boycott all football because our coaching staff discriminates against several minority groups. We have no Samoans, no Eskimos, no Vietnamese, Thai or Cambodians on our team. Somebody alert Fenves so he can tear down all the statues at Memorial Stadium, remove the Doughboy & WWI memorial. I'm sure if he looks hard enough he can find someone offended by the sculpture of Bevo as well.

 

The Eyes of Texas is next.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eyes_of_Texas

"The song was written in 1903 by John Sinclair, editor of the Cactus yearbook and a UT band member, per the request of band member Lewis Johnson. Johnson was also the program director of the Varsity Minstrel Show that raised funds for the university track team. He debuted the song at the minstrel show, also known as a blackface performance. [1]

The lyrics are said to be intended to poke fun at University President Colonel Prather. Prather had attended Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, whose president, Robert E. Lee, would frequently tell his students, "the eyes of the South are upon you." Prather was known for including in his speeches a similar admonition, "The Eyes of Texas are Upon You," meaning that the state of Texas was watching and expecting the students to go out and do great things. Prather enjoyed the song and promoted its usage. He died not long thereafter, and the song was played at his funeral."

Uh, am I allowed to post this?

P.S., Isn't the ending phrase: "....till Gabriel blows his horn." a Judeo-Christian biblical reference?

 

I’m pretty sure it’s referencing Peter Gabriel.

 

That's pathetic....

 

What else is new....

 

Stop, stop, stop....gotta just plain stop with this crap!! This is NOT the institution I attended 30+ years ago, is it?? now you are going to tell me that even grackles have their place?? too much political correctness...this from the school that taught me that ou sucks and make 'em eat s**t!

 

what a bunch of politically correct puss---Texas (not The State Of Texas, just the University of Texas) keeps turning into.

Hopefully what happens here, DOESNT change the world.

 

I called the Texas Exes today regarding this idiocy as they made the decision.

The first person I talked to said "Oh, I will put you through to people answering this issue".

The next person answered the phone and started to talk about people possibly misunderstanding the torches and be offended.

I explained that I am a Life Member of the Exes and idiotic decisions like this make us Alums out in the real world a laughing stock. I then explained that any student on campus that would confuse the Texas/OU pep rally torches with KKK march torches in Virginia does not possess the critical thinking skills to be a student at UT.

After a few seconds of silence, the person said I shouldn't call people names.

Since I had not called anybody a name, I decided to do so and I asked for the name of the idiot at the Texas Exes that made the decision.

The person would not give the name of who made the decision.

I have a problem as a Life Member not getting information that should be available.

I am not done with this issue.

 

Have we ever had a black Bevo? Why not?

Black Bevos matter.

 

I can not believe the lack of support and excitement at the pep rally tonight. There were no more than 200 students and maybe 200 adults/parents. Zero excitement at all with maybe half participating in cheers. Herman spoke for less than a minute mostly about needing more student support with only about 15 players showing up. Just terrible if you askme.

 

phone number so we can flood them with this idiocy!!

 

Maybe they can make it a flashlight on your phone parade. It's a little wordy but it won't offend anyone and millennials can use their phones. This is a win-win folks.

 

I really hope that neo-nazis do not start eating breakfast tacos. I really like breakfast tacos and do not want them to be banned if 3 neo nazis decide they also like breakfast tacos.

 

What about grits?

 

1) Find the name of the nitwit who made the decision.
2) Withhold all donations and membership fees until said nitwit(s) are removed or ousted.
3) Light torches at your pleasure.

 

Those are enjoyed in the south and Charlottesville is in the South so grits should certainly already be banned.

 

this PC bullshite has gone way too far!

 

We did at usc

 

ok now I am really offended. Is there a safe thread I can go to? We need a safe thread on Hornfans, we could call it the Safe Thread

 

I'm all for being open to taking a critical eye at long traditions and whether they are acceptable in today's age.

Some of the fraternity parties I attended were very racist in flavor and I had no problem doing away with that flavor everywhere.

But there has to be some semblance of reason.

In my opinion, the negative view of torches comes more from fiction about Frankenstein than it does from southern America. They remind me of monster movies.

Torches are just old fashioned flashlights. Now I think phone flashlights are much safer, and I could see cities having ordinances about open/uncontained fires, but that's about it.

 

Hopefully this is not a permanent thing, and when white nationalist losers don't have their man in the white house they will slink back to their holes in the ground and people can enjoy tiki torches for luaus and hex rally again.

 

In San Antonio, during Fiesta, one of the parades is the "Fiesta Flabeau" parade, a night parade originally fully lit by torch bearers.

As the parade evolved, the local military institutions were encouraged to participate; the combination of torches at night and military units marching gave a bit of pause which led to the parade officials to bring in business and charitable organizations to participate, for balance. However, note, this was because of the heavy MILITARY participation, so the torches remained (unlike Fenves' overreaction).

For safety in recent times the carrying of torches was scaled back to only Boy Scouts and Fire Fighters Association. This had nothing to do with recent neo-nazi concerns.

Long post, but history from their website is below, with kudos to our own Showband of the Southwest.

https://www.fiestaflambeauparade.org/about

“Fiesta Flambeau Night Parade”

The Fiesta Flambeau Night Parade is nationally known as “America’s Largest Illuminated Night Parade”. This spectacular nighttime parade annually attracts more than half a million street spectators and continues to grow each year. The
parade is considered the premier event of the 11days of Fiesta San Antonio.

The idea of this illuminated night parade was the brainchild of Reynolds Andricks who was long time Fiesta entrepreneur. In 1948 he recommended that a ‘new’ parade take place at night and that it be called Fiesta Flambeau. Taking the
inspiration from the night parades of Mardi Gras in New Orleans he believed, with help, he could create a unique event in San Antonio. He contacted William Petmecky from the Texas hill country of Fredericksburg. Mr. Petmecky was
widely recognized as a ‘Festival Impresario’. He became nationally known as a creator of folk festivals and was very delighted when asked to help create Fiesta’s
first illuminated night parade.

It was decided that the most effective way to light the parade route was to have torch brigades. Each brigade consisted of four men carrying five-foot poles with lighted flares attached. These flares are similar to those used by police as warning
devices at accident scenes. The torch units marched at intervals between each ten parade entries, lighting the evening for all to see. Bands attached flashlights to their
instruments and floats lit themselves up in whatever unique fashion the designer created.

Mr. Andricks noticed that the military never participated in Fiesta. So in order to garner the interest of the military, he visited the Commanding General of Fort Sam Houston and then visited each Air Force Base Commander. He made his proposal more enticing by suggesting that each base elect a Queen, and have her represent the base on their respective parade float. Mr. Andricks assured people that Fiesta had grown large enough to accommodate additional crowned royalty. He also made it clear that he was establishing a new line of nobility that would be known only as Flambeau Royalty which included Miss Fiesta. The military brass liked his idea and decided to take part. Mr. Andricks moved forward with his plans and the first Flambeau Parade boasted half a dozen military bands and a similar number of floats, each adorned by a Queen. Currently, the military nobility has changed with
each base selecting a male and a female representative now known as “Military Ambassadors”.

Mr. Andricks did not want his parade to look like troops marching to war. He wanted a variety of entries and variety of colors. He wanted fun and got it. First the Alzafar Shriners came in with their fez-topped band and a group of their famed trick cyclists. Next, he solicited commercial firms to join – they could afford fancy floats. He convinced them that the visibility of the Flambeau Parade would be good for business. Soon, civil clubs and social clubs became a part of Flambeau. These groups were intrigued by Mr. Andricks’ idea to stage “a parade of nations where Americans who have pride in their heritage, have an opportunity to build a float
(emblematic) of their country”. As an alumnus of the niversity of Texas, he saw to it that the 350-piece University of Texas Longhorn Band led his Flambeau Parade and that has now become an annual tradition.

The Fiesta Flambeau Parade changed direction when Reynolds Andricks passed away in 1984. During his illness and after his death, various groups were tasked with the responsibility of sponsoring the parade. The Shriners took on the job in 1983 and then the San Antonio Jaycees tried their hand in 1984. However, the Jaycees decided after the 1987 to give it up to concentrate on their Fiesta event, “La Semana Alegre”. In 1988 the Fiesta Commission delegated the Fiesta
Flambeau Parade to the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Council 2. In 1989 the Fiesta Flambeau Parade was staged by a city volunteer group. The following year this same group became known as the Fiesta Flambeau
Parade Association, Inc. Their 1990 parade was rated by the press (and the thousands who watched it) as one of the best yet.

This Association is very committed and dedicated in continuing to make the Flambeau Parade a unique Fiesta event. In 1996, with the help of the Boy Scouts of America, the Association introduced propane torches to replace the flare-style torches. These propane torches are seen in two other parades in the United States, the St. Paul Winter Carnival and the San Francisco Chinese New Year’s Parade.

Another tradition established was to have the Fire Fighters Association (as a group) carrying propane torches at the beginning of the parade – one for every year of Flambeau's existence. The firemen have since turned in their torches and now carry the fifty-one state flags of our nation. It was also in 1996 that the Flambeau parade broke a record of having over half a million street spectators. This record continues year after year.

Recently, on the night of April 27, 2013 as the Flambeau Night Parade streamed down the parade route, severe weather caused parade officials to terminate the remaining parade activities. However, at that time, all the participants were already on the parade route and they safely completed the parade. Numerous parade spectators and television viewers commented that after seeing more than three quarters of the parade prior to the inclement weather, this parade would have been one of the best.

Presently, the Fiesta Flambeau Parade Association, Inc. consists of approximately one hundred members. There are also at least another two hundred and fifty nonmember
volunteers.

 

I am reassured that this BBS doesn't selectively enforce the "non-political" post policy. lol

 

I really don't think this is the answer. The left is allowed to appropriate any symbol they want or word they want (example - rainbows) and that is fine and dandy but if a so-called white nationalist group uses it then it is banned for everyone else? This is lunacy. I imagine many of them were wearing blue jeans and t-shirts, are those off limits too?

 

Sadly, it sounds like the whole pep rally took a knee...

I'm a Lifetime Texas Ex so I too will be contacting the association about this stupid decision.