Penn Kid Offended By Mad Mex Menu

It’s been a pathetically long-sounding time since I graduated college (4 years). A year before even that, I edited 34th Street. Fortunately, I was the managing editor, and was therefore only responsible for the content in the magazine; the editor-in-chief dealt with all the people offended by the content I had allowed to run. Technically, he was responsible for it, too, but it was kind of a nice scam for me in some ways. Still, I think the situation was useful, in that it left one editor being overly cautious and one not being cautious enough.

Even though I think we struck a pretty good balance eventually, we still got frequent complaints from Penn students offended at a joke we had made or some photo we had taken without permission or some lead singer of AFI we had told to get a new PR person. (I actually answered the phone when that PR person called back. Also, ha ha: AFI? Really?)

All of this was really good preparation for running a blog, obviously.

It seems like things haven’t changed much since I left. For some evidence, let’s turn to a recent offering from The Spin, the DP’s blog:

Of all the restaurants on Penn’s campus, Mad 4 Mex is the by far the nicest. Craig Laban gave it, like, five bells. The restaurant is famous among local drunks for its Big-Azz Margarita, which is not only absolutely big ass but also contains roughly 99 percent alcohol, so no one remembers how it tastes.

Apparently our friendly DP opinion blogger here is a little upset at the menu, which stereotypes several groups:

Okay, I understand that Mad 4 isn’t the most family-orientated establishment, and that humor probably plays a role in catering to a predominantly college crowd. So I can look over the stereotypes they play up about hippies while describing their vegetarian “Angry Hippie Burrito”

Have your Birken stocks dropped? Your hacky been sacked? … Smell?

… and I can ignore the fact that they poke fun and exploit the celebrity culture while pitching something like their “Winehouse Fajita”…

Eat it quick - this crazy dish is set to self-destruct.

Yes, how dare they stereotype hippies and Amy Winehouse. Who ever would have expected it from a restaurant called Mad Mex???

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