THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2011
PAGE 7A
THE UNIVERSITY DAIRY KANSAN
Cool earring bro. I didn't realize Tools R Us was open this early.
Campus is a lot prettier without dead babies.
Women say they want a man who knows a woman's worth. That's a pimp.
What is a fratter's favorite element? BROmine
When someone asks me about the Big 12, I answer "Sorry, I'm not big into Pokemon." just to watch their reaction.
To the girls who aren't model skinny, you are still beautiful.
To the guy who hates Harry Potter FFAs, Avada Kedavra bitch!
Whoever says money doesn't buy happiness has never ridden a jet ski.
Growing a glove for your face is your prerogative, but I don't ask you to kiss my mittens.
The campus bus brakes speak to each other in beluga whale.
I spent all of Thanksgiving making "he blows a lot" jokes with my Granny. My family is perfect
We need a new water fountain system that spits loogeys back at the people.
I just don't care what Mariah Carey wants for Christmas anymore.
It makes me happy that the FFA editor is a smart-ass.
I fought the law and we came to a mutual agreement.
Dear girls, the sooner one of you bites the bullet and becomes my girlfriend, the sooner I leave the rest of you alone. Take one for the team.
I think you need tighter leg-gings. I can't really see every crease you ass makes.
No-sex November? Puh-lease.
You weren't having sex with me before the beard anyway.
Hearing foreigners talk about the United States' obsession with Black Friday made me realize how messed up our society is.
The wind is such a slut, she won't stop blowing everyone on campus.
Editor's note: Thanks to all of you for your FFAs this semester. Your texts brightened my day everyday. Please continue to send your FFAs through winter break as we will post FFAs online at Kansan.com every Friday through the break
Make your break an enjoyable time of relaxation
The holiday season is the best time of year and soon enough, we will all be able to participate in the holidays most enjoyable festivities. To enjoy break like a true jayhawk, here are four ways to successfully represent the crimson and blue while on vacation.
1. As a true Jayhawk sports fan, supporting the basketball team should be second nature. Students who live in the area should attend the home games in Lawrence, as well as the Kansas City game against Davidson College. The first game of the New Year starts off with archrival, K-State. It is important to start off the year
right and cheer on the jayhawks for a victory. Here are the home games that will be played during break.
EDITORIAL
— KU vs. Davidson 12/19 at Sprint Center
- KU vs. Howard 12/29/2011
- KU vs. North Dakota
12/31/2011
— KU vs. Kansas State 1/04/2012
— KU vs. Iowa State 1/14/2012
2. Take time to ring in the New Year. Whether you spend the holiday partaking in popular traditions like watching the ball drop live at Times Square in New York City or celebrating in the city with friends, ring in the New
3. If time allows, students should try and rake in money during break. Get a job in your town to help pay for next semester's expenses. Start applying now, ask around for opportunities or inquire with a previous employer who may be looking for winter help. This is also a good time to apply for summer internship positions.
Year right. Look for various celebrations in your hometown,
and for those who are 21 or older, throw your own bash.
Either way, make it count.
4. Gather your friends, pick your bases and have an epic snowball fight. If you're that
lucky student going tropical, or just to the warm parts of the United States during winter break, get some supersoakers and have a water gun fight. You worked hard to come out of fall semester finals alive, so enjoy your break with a strategic and adventurous water war. Email pictures of your victory or defeat to vshanker@kansan.com so we can feature them in a slideshow on Kansan.com
Even though winter weather can be chillingly miserable, take advantage of your break by doing something constructive, fun and memorable.
Stefanie Penn for the Kansan Editorial Board
Interested in writing editorials?
Contact
Vikaas Shanker at
vshanker@kansan.com
ACTIVISM
The freedom to tweet
What do a high school senior from Johnson County and a pro-democracy activist from Azerbaijan have in common?
In the words of 18-year-old Emma Sullivan, both think their respected political leaders "suck." Neither is afraid to say it — or in their cases, tweet it — as Sullivan did two weeks ago.
But the事该followed her disparages remarks about Gov. Sam Brownback point to where the similarities she shares with the Azerbajani activist, 28-year-old Arzu Geybullayeva, abruptly end.
Inspired by Sullivan's refusal to apologize for her tweet aimed at the conservative governor, the liberal blogosphere began spreading her story two weeks ago.
She quickly gained national media attention as civil rights advocates — and thousands of new Twitter followers — rallied behind her.
By last Monday, Brownback was the one apologizing. He said his staff "over-reacted" to the tweet when it reported it to Sullivan's high school principal.
The school district wrote off the incident on the same day. In a statement it said the controversy had "resulted in many teachable moments concerning the use of social media."
Sullivan was off the hook. Her
tweet amounted to little more than 15 minutes of fame, 15,000 new Twitter followers and a crash course in the First Amendment.
If only Geybullayeva had it so easy. Unfortunately, the consequences she faces for what she publishes online about Azerbaijan's political leaders are much more real.
"There's no way a government official would ever apologize for his staff." Geybullayeva told a group of KU students and professors last week. She was on campus to discuss her experience as one of her country's most vocal — and closely monitored — pro-democracy activists.
In Azerbaijan, an ex-Soviet country on the Caspian Sea, the government is much more likely to frame political dissidents for hojoliganism or drug possession than admit to infringing upon their civil liberties.
That's because the country's authoritarian leadership considers free speech a political liability
Despite the risks, Geybullayeva continues to defy the Azerbaijani government through tweets and posts on her blog. "Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines," from her home in Istanbul, Turkey. There she can write without fear of retribution, so long as she stays out of Azerbaian.
rather than a universal right. Prison terms take the place of apology letters when it comes to punishing opposition activists.
Though Geybullayeva admits that living in exile is not always easy, she can't imagine doing anything else.
It's a situation we as Americans never have to face. Freedom of expression is so ingrained in our society that it's easily taken for granted. Few people were alarmed by the content of Sullivan's tweet; it was Brownback's knee-jerk reaction that was so widely condemned.
It's obvious that Sullivan didn't consider the consequences of her message before posting it. She simply said what was on her mind, as Americans are almost always allowed to do.
It's a freedom Geybullayeva can only dream of.
Michael Holtz is a fifth-year senior in journalism and political science from Topeka.
Commenting on comments
HUMOR
I am going on hiatus — which is a fancy way of saying that I'm taking a semester off, so I can get some financial stuff figured out. I hope to return to the Kansan next summer or fall, but sometimes hiatuses take a little longer (like "Arrested Development"). For my last column for a while, I wanted to do something special. I could be complaining about a wide variety of things but I choose to dedicate my last column to Internet commenters.
Why are most people who take the time to make accounts on websites often so incredibly uninformed and belligerent? Sure, you get your smart person every once in awhile who makes a valid point, but then the Great Council of the Internet decided there should be upvote/downvote system.
Well, I am always up for an experiment. So, instead of waiting on the comments this column will get on Kansan.com, the last half of this column will be written in Internet comments (I'm so meta). Here it goes ...
When I was in the MILITARY — that's right the MILITARY — we weren't allowed to comment on anything. If I so much as offered my opinion on anything my commanding officer would say,
commenting on the innernet is gay.
28 likes, 2 dislikes
Xx hotbunny xx wrote:
Kelvin wrote:
"Kelvin, that comment was pretty uninformed, confusing, unrelated to what I was saying, but it was pretty entertaining." So, internet commenters should shut up or put up and join the military. Weird, unrelated historical fact here.
2 likes, 13 dislikes
this is the only forum were any1 listens to me anymore no 1 believes me that obama is the antichrist soive decided to give up punkuation altogether if u want in lemme know by liking this and if you think sarah palin is a good women and shuld be prez also like this
iluvamerica_8678976 wrote:
334 likes, 9 dislikes
@Kelvin - Interesting comment.
I love the military. That's why I buy all of my airline tickets at Quick-Ticket.net. They're so speedy and cheap, it's so whacky. If you want to travel they're the only place you should look at, because they'll also enter you to win a free iPad. I won one! It's so awesome. QuickTicket. Net.
EZBake420 wrote:
Mikefakeface002 wrote:
2 likes, 19 dislikes
197 likes, 13 dislikes
LMAOsotruesofunny wrote:
Comments, are they an epic win or epic fail! I can't decide. I think they are winning, because it's so epic tiger blood bullshit nonsense, but Failbook posted them under falsies. They do make me lol though, so I might categorize them as FTW, but they're also sora WTF2 so I can't really decide.
Comment sections were made to promote discussions on topics. However, no one ever said they had to be reasonable discussions.
So, I urge you — if you are an intelligent human being — to comment on more shit on the internet. Then again you could just do something way more productive — like watch, insult, and rant about Disney Channel's "A.N.T. Farn" for no reason (it's such a roiph of Nickelodeon's "Victorious"). Either way, those commenters are just gonna spawn with each other like rabbits and your comment will probably just get lost among the stupid ones.
144 likes, 1 dislike
ChanceIsAwesomewrote:
1 like, 389 dislikes
E2Bake420 wrote:
@InC4clusion - Tl.dr.
420 likes, 2 dislikes.
Carmichael is a junior in creative writing from Mulvane.
CAMPUS CHIRPS BACK
Top 7 Tweets of the semester
Follow us on twitter @UDK_Opinion. Tweet us your opinions, and we just might publish them.
1.
UDK_Opinion asked: What are some tips for avoiding Kansas natural disasters?
BoomCityAdam TM
@UDK_Opinion#HowToSurviveAKansasEarthquake blink your eyes because I'm still convinced it was a hoax. The #hipsters made it up to be cool.
KG steez
2. UDK_Opinion asked: Who should be our next football coach?
@UDK_opinion Danny DeVito, he is like a smaller, fun sized mangino **tellmeimwrong**
1. UDK_Opinion asked: who is participating in "No shave no member"? What is your opinion about this many tradition?
emilyruth9
@UDK. opinion as long as my boyfriend is participating, I am too. He shouldn't last long.
4. Can girls ask guys out on dates?
sAmgoinHAm
@UDK_Opinion dates are awkward. Stick to the romantic stuff, like getting drunk at a bar
5. What do you think about homecoming at KU?
plrappel
@UDK_Opinion I enjoy it because it's just another tradition, not like high School where they treat it like the second coming of christ.
6. What are some awkward words to play in Scrabble?
bafast
@LDK_opinion uh..rimjob? You know,
when someone fixes the basketball
goal. For some reason people always
giggle when I talk about it.
7. Now that mizzou is out of the big 12, who should be our new rival?
fakeKuParking
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Kelly Strigta,
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