buckeyemike Posted May 20, 2006 Share Posted May 20, 2006 At least the students at Liberty University have manners. I disagree with the NY Times headline saying McCain was "cantankerous" at the commencement ceremonies for the New School. I thought that the senator was about as cool and collected as he could be, after I saw the way the students treated him on CNN. These students, in their safe little cocoons, have no idea what the real world is like. Liberal or conservative, that is always the case. I wonder if this Jean Sara Rohe will still have the same beliefs in 10 years. And I think that these students (and even faculty members) who booed McCain and turned their backs on him are simply rude people who can't fathom that anyone would have a different opinion than their own. Say what you want about Jerry Falwell and his little duchy in Lynchburg, VA; but at least the students there give respect and credit to where it is due. And the nasty belittlers at the New School would call the Liberty students robots, programmed only in the way Falwell wants them to think. Do we honestly think it's no different at a liberal school? I give credit to Bob Kerrey for inviting McCain to speak, that took some guts. I wonder if these narrow-minded people at Kerrey's school would call him a warmonger, considering that, like McCain, Kerrey served with distinction in Vietnam? Honestly, whatever happened to dissent without demonization in this country? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted May 20, 2006 Share Posted May 20, 2006 Honestly, whatever happened to dissent without demonization in this country? 695115[/snapback] television Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wacka Posted May 20, 2006 Share Posted May 20, 2006 Notice how it ALWAYS is the left trying to silence the free speech of the right. I don't know of a single incident where conservative students shouted down a liberal speaker. I can name many times where the liberals did it: Pat Buchanan, Anne Coulter, David Horowitz, to name a few. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckeyemike Posted May 20, 2006 Author Share Posted May 20, 2006 Notice how it ALWAYS is the left trying to silence the free speech of the right. I don't know of a single incident where conservative students shouted down a liberal speaker. I can name many times where the liberals did it: Pat Buchanan, Anne Coulter, David Horowitz, to name a few. 695145[/snapback] Actually, it happened to Ronald Reagan in 1980. He simply said "Oh, shut up!" to the protester. The crowd loved him for it. Otherwise, you're right. I don't understand the liberal mindset about having to shout and be rude in order to be heard. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crap Throwing Monkey Posted May 20, 2006 Share Posted May 20, 2006 Otherwise, you're right. I don't understand the liberal mindset about having to shout and be rude in order to be heard. Mike 695148[/snapback] It's called "protesting". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted May 20, 2006 Share Posted May 20, 2006 Actually, it happened to Ronald Reagan in 1980. He simply said "Oh, shut up!" to the protester. The crowd loved him for it. 695148[/snapback] wouldn't really say that was someone on the right trying to silence free speech. Ronnie was just doing something most public speakers don't have the balls to do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverNRed Posted May 20, 2006 Share Posted May 20, 2006 It's called "protesting". 695159[/snapback] They must have some real faith in their beliefs if they refuse to allow someone from the center-right to even speak to them. Good luck succeeding in the world if you're planning on acting like a toddler around everyone who isn't like you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanker Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 Did Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty" end yet? Every year tens of millions of Americans die from starvation and there just is no end in sight. Meanwhile Bush refuses to rebuild Richmond and Atlanta after the FEDERAL troops virtually burned/shelled those fair cities to the ground. Tax gas to make it $6.00/gal - then nobody can afford it. Screw 'em if they can't take the subway. Free the whistleblowers Ethel and Julius Rosenberg! Alger Hiss was a hero! rantrantrantrantrantrantrantrantrantrantrantrantrantrantrant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMadCap Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 AHHHHHH!!!! I DON'T WANT TO LISTEN TO THEM NO MORE!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 AHHHHHH!!!! I DON'T WANT TO LISTEN TO THEM NO MORE!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! 695408[/snapback] /StickFingersInEars lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala I can't hear you lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala I can't hear you lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala I can't hear you lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala I can't hear you lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala I can't hear you lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala I can't hear you lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala I can't hear you lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala I can't hear you lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crap Throwing Monkey Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 They must have some real faith in their beliefs if they refuse to allow someone from the center-right to even speak to them. Good luck succeeding in the world if you're planning on acting like a toddler around everyone who isn't like you. 695214[/snapback] My point being: it's a natural application of the "If we get together and make enough noise, we can effect change" protest mentality on an individual level. An incorrect application - one hundred thousand noisy people is a consensus, one noisy person is an idiot. But a natural one, nonetheless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverNRed Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 My point being: it's a natural application of the "If we get together and make enough noise, we can effect change" protest mentality on an individual level. An incorrect application - one hundred thousand noisy people is a consensus, one noisy person is an idiot. But a natural one, nonetheless. 695446[/snapback] Change what? Their commencement speaker? Who cares? I don't even remember who mine was and it was less than three years ago. I spent the entire time daydreaming and waiting to get rid of the stupid robe with the square hat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crap Throwing Monkey Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 Change what? Their commencement speaker? Who cares? 695516[/snapback] My point being: IT'S THE MENTALITY OF THE THING. Christ. What, are you channelling BF today? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 I don't even remember who mine was and it was less than three years ago. I spent the entire time daydreaming and waiting to get rid of the stupid robe with the square hat. 695516[/snapback] We had our outdoors and we jumped out of line to go back to where our friends and family and a keg were hanging out. It was like a tailgate in black robes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverNRed Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 My point being: IT'S THE MENTALITY OF THE THING. Christ. What, are you channelling BF today? 695525[/snapback] Yeah, and my point is THEIR MENTALITY SUCKS! Sweet Jesus, what is confusing about that? I don't even think I'm disagreeing with you. They're acting like the whiny kids at the supermarket who are crying because mommy won't buy them a candy bar at the checkout line. I'd be embarassed to act like that in public, especially on what is supposed to be a day about academic accomplishments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckeyemike Posted May 22, 2006 Author Share Posted May 22, 2006 They're acting like the whiny kids at the supermarket who are crying because mommy won't buy them a candy bar at the checkout line. I'd be embarassed to act like that in public, especially on what is supposed to be a day about academic accomplishments. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> SNR, that's the best quote I've heard yet. Much of this country is "red", if you will, at least in area. Many of the people who live in the cities have the mentality that the rednecks out in Podunk need the guidance of the learned "blue" people. Otherwise, heaven forbid, the rural residents focus on things like God, country music, and NASCAR. And those who are urbane think that these people marry their sister and have kids that look like the banjo player from "Deliverance". My point is, don't have an air of arrogance and superiority regarding another group of people whose beliefs differ from yours. And if you do, it's simply good manners and common sense to keep quiet when no one wants to hear your opinion. But if someone wants to hear mine, I'll resume my blogging soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuntheDamnBall Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 Hello from someone at the New School. I'm not one of the political people there, though most here know I lean left with some libertarian-isms. I can't believe that people here give McCain a pass for taking two obviously charged opportunities on each side of the college political spectrum to raise his profile as a 2008 presidential candidate. It was to be expected. I would not have booed, if there, but I sense a serious double-standard here when McCain's right to free speech from the stage is embraced but the right to free speech from paying students is not. McCain's speech was available on the internet as it was the same canned speech he delivered at Liberty and Columbia. McCain spoke of his young cockiness, while addressing a diverse student body that included grad students in their 40s and 50s. Condescending to say the least. Here is how student speaker Jean Rohe (eloquently, in my opinion) addressed it, and addressed her student body, which I think McCain failed to do: If all the world were peaceful now and forever more,Peaceful at the surface and peaceful at the core, All the joy within my heart would be so free to soar, And we're living on a living planet, circling a living star. Don't know where we're going but I know we're going far. We can change the universe by being who we are, And we're living on a living planet, circling a living star. Welcome everyone on this beautiful afternoon to the commencement ceremony for the New School class of 2006. That was an excerpt of a song I learned as a child called "Living Planet" by Jay Mankita. I chose to begin my address this way because, as always, but especially now, we are living in a time of violence, of war, of injustice. I am thinking of our brothers and sisters in Iraq, in Darfur, in Sri Lanka, in Mogadishu, in Israel/Palestine, right here in the U.S., and many, many other places around the world. And my deepest wish on this day--on all days--is for peace, justice, and true freedom for all people. The song says, "We can change the universe by being who we are," and I believe that it really is just that simple. Right now, I'm going to be who I am and digress from my previously prepared remarks. I am disappointed that I have to abandon the things I had wanted to speak about, but I feel that it is absolutely necessary to acknowledge the fact that this ceremony has become something other than the celebratory gathering that it was intended to be due to all the media attention surrounding John Mc Cain's presence here today, and the student and faculty outrage generated by his invitation to speak here. The senator does not reflect the ideals upon which this university was founded. Not only this, but his invitation was a top-down decision that did not take into account the desires and interests of the student body on an occasion that is supposed to honor us above all, and to commemorate our achievements. What is interesting and bizarre about this whole situation is that Senator Mc Cain has stated that he will be giving the same speech at all three universities where he has been invited to speak recently, of which ours is the last; those being Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, Columbia University, and finally here at the New School. For this reason I have unusual foresight concerning the themes of his address today. Based on the speech he gave at the other institutions, Senator Mc Cain will tell us today that dissent and disagreement are our "civic and moral obligation" in times of crisis. I consider this a time of crisis and I feel obligated to speak. Senator Mc Cain will also tell us about his cocky self-assuredness in his youth, which prevented him from hearing the ideas of others. In so doing, he will imply that those of us who are young are too naïve to have valid opinions and open ears. I am young, and although I don't profess to possess the wisdom that time affords us, I do know that preemptive war is dangerous and wrong, that George Bush's agenda in Iraq is not worth the many lives lost. And I know that despite all the havoc that my country has wrought overseas in my name, Osama bin Laden still has not been found, nor have those weapons of mass destruction. Finally, Senator Mc Cain will tell us that we, those of us who are Americans, "have nothing to fear from each other." I agree strongly with this, but I take it one step further. We have nothing to fear from anyone on this living planet. Fear is the greatest impediment to the achievement of peace. We have nothing to fear from people who are different from us, from people who live in other countries, even from the people who run our government--and this we should have learned from our educations here. We can speak truth to power, we can allow our humanity always to come before our nationality, we can refuse to let fear invade our lives and to goad us on to destroy the lives of others. These words I speak do not reflect the arrogance of a young strong-headed woman, but belong to a line of great progressive thought, a history in which the founders of this institution play an important part. I speak today, even through my nervousness, out of a need to honor those voices that came before me, and I hope that we graduates can all strive to do the same. McCain had to know he was possibly walking into a firestorm here. At the same time, I feel he had a right to be there, exercised it, and he fell in the face of an opportunity to be the "straight-talker" divergent from mainstream politics that he proclaims/proclaimed to be. He's just as canned and prepared as the rest. Mark it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverNRed Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 Here is how student speaker Jean Rohe (eloquently, in my opinion) addressed it, and addressed her student body, which I think McCain failed to do: Finally, Senator Mc Cain will tell us that we, those of us who are Americans, "have nothing to fear from each other." I agree strongly with this, but I take it one step further. We have nothing to fear from anyone on this living planet. 695693[/snapback] Also, starting your speech with a folk song is always a bad sign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuntheDamnBall Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 695693[/snapback] Also, starting your speech with a folk song is always a bad sign. 695709[/snapback] She's a music major. As for the fear statement, definitely reductivist, but all the same, how many bad decisions are made out of fear? We've got living proof right now. We should make our decisions out of confidence that those decisions will make things better for all. Not fear of difference. And that goes equally for all sides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuntheDamnBall Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 695693[/snapback] Also, starting your speech with a folk song is always a bad sign. 695709[/snapback] also, come on and be original. I read that one too. Never mind the fact that Jean Sara Rohe began her speech with a short folk song--which isn't a good sign of things to come in our book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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