Mark Steyn aptly notes.
We were talking about this yesterday, and tmitsss reminded us of the "Dear Prudence" column that we were talking about a couple weeks ago. You remember, the Slate advice columnist Emily Yoffe got a question from a student who wondered whether it was ethical to accept a scholarship that was available only to Hispanic students when, in fact, he had recently learned that he had no Hispanic ancestors. (He was adopted and had a Hispanic surname.)
Yoffe told him:
There is one essential criteria people must meet in order to be considered Hispanic by the U.S. Census Bureau: That’s what they say they are.Your say-so makes it so. And there's money in it!
You were raised by a Hispanic father and have his last name. For most of your life you identified yourself as Hispanic.So family "lore" is good enough!
On your behalf the “Hispanic” box was checked on the relevant forms. If you want to shed your Hispanic identity, of course you are free to do so. But given your last name, people will still assume that's what you are, even if you are no longer checking the appropriate boxes. This Pew Hispanic Center report shows just how squishy and variable the term “Hispanic” is. I’m confident your college is thrilled to include you in their count of Hispanic students and doesn’t really want to know you may be thinking of yourself as Armenian.Your college is thrilled. You and the college, benefiting together... and who is harmed by this thrilling fantasy... this mutual stimulation to self-pleasure....? Let the frottage continue!
Given the price of tuition, a substantial scholarship is a blessing and you should claim it with equanimity.Claim your blessings! Everybody wins! Not a loser in sight. Ah! Beautiful!
UPDATE: Yoffe links to this post and makes an offensive, inaccurate statement about it.
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