Govangirl wrote:I found an American article this week:
BERKELEY, CA - The Berkeley Board of Education voted last night to ban the game of Chess from all of its elementary, junior high and high schools. The board claims that Chess has a negative influence on students because of the backwards and outdated thinking that was responsible for creating the game.
One board member, Claudia Starsniffer, compiled a list of seven grievances against Chess. Starsniffer's list claims,
1. Chess is irrelevant to our society because it was created by dead white guys.
2. Chess encourages racism by having a 'war' between a white army and a black army.
3. Chess reinforces current racist tendencies in our society by always having the white army move first.
4. Chess glorifies war.
5. Chess oppressively reinforces heterosexual stereotypes. It does this by forcing each army to have a king and a
queen and by not allowing the game to be played with either two kings or two queens.
6. Chess is guilty of breaking the separation of church and state by allowing a bishop to be a belligerent in war.
7. Chess destroys self-esteem. When children play the game, one always loses. Losing causes a child to feel dumb
and inadequate.
Said Starsniffer, "There is no place in our society for a monstrous game like Chess. Chess is dangerous. Chess is destructive. Chess teaches racial and sexual oppression. Chess has got to go!
Now, I know it's not really a joke, but you've got to laugh........
1. Maybe we could eliminate everything that was created by “dead white guys” from our society and see what stage of development we would be at.
2. In chess, there needs to be a way of differentiating between the participants’ pieces. Black and white are opposites. One reflects the whole spectrum of light and the other reflects no light. It is logical that they be chosen to differentiate. Black and white do exist outwith the narrow parameters of those who can only see them as the colours of the skin of different ethnic groups.
3. This is a convention. Outside of competitive chess tournaments, which are governed by rules, who plays which side is a matter of mutual agreement. Nobody is forced to be the “underdog”.
4. Chess is a game, like football, which also, as we have seen elsewhere, glorifies war in some cases.
5. The idea of the game of chess with a homosexual monarchy makes the mind boggle. I'm sure there's a "Queens" joke somewhere here, but I don't want to be called homophobic!
Quite apart from that, this woman obviously knows nothing about the rules of chess if she thinks it could be played using two kings or two queens. 6. Historically, religion has been responsible for the majority of war throughout the world.
7. Why bother? This is the whole point! The object of any game or competition is to destroy your opponent’s self-esteem and boost your own.
Who is Ms Starsniffer anyway? What is her background?
I think she’s been sniffing more than just stars to come out with that drivel.
The Berkeley Board of Education are even worse for taking it seriously.
