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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY WANSAM
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2011
opinion
Breaking up with your significant other, especially this close to the holidays, is very cost effective.
To the guy who just did the sign of the cross before eating your Chick-fil-A sandwich, good idea.
Oregon trail app on my phone? The only work that's getting done in the next few weeks is on the frontier!
My boyfriend and pastor's name shouldn't start with the same two letters; sexing your pastor is probably frowned upon.
Ms. Pacman is the biggest ho in history. For a quarter she swallowed balls until she was eaten.
"I'm sorry you feel that way" means you're not sorry and you want that person to shut up.
I have bigger testicles than Jay Cutler, and I'm a woman.
I really hope you have Bluetooth and aren't just crazy.
The best thing about being taught by TAs is they have the same 'my brain wants break too' mentality.
If your underwear feels awkward, it probably means it's on backwards.
You rock dude. You can swing your glowsticks in my direction anytime.
Girls have periods because God didn't think guys could handle the pain.
Dan the bus driver might be my favorite person on the planet.
I wish I were a honey badger so I wouldn't have to give a shit.
The next person who doesn't say thanks while I hold the door open is getting punched.
I challenge the FFA to go one day without posting stupid sexist shit. Editor's note: I think you need to lighten up. These are funny, anonymous one-line texts, not role model editorials.
No, I'm pretty sure crack is the equivalent of crack on college campuses.
Monday and Tuesday class, HA what a joke.
Coach K may have the most career NCAA Division I wins, but he doesn't have near as much swag as Bill Self.
Doughnut holes make you fat? No, because there are zero calories in the center of a doughnut.
I'm sorry that I'm not stick thin. I personally like my chocolate and beer.
Maybe it's not Turner Gill; maybe it's our players.
I start my days with an invigorating hokey-pokey dance. Because I'm all about it.
Fox News, fried chicken and watermelon
I would like to respond to some of the comments in Chance Carmichael's column, "Fox News' perception of racism concerning" published yesterday. Some of the commentary in the ending anecdote is hypocritical and biased.
Carmichael writes about "a school in the south that decided to serve fried chicken and watermelon on Martin Luther King Day." While Carmichael
complains that "this kind of racism does de-humanize these people," it seems that he is the only one inferring that there was a particular reason fried chicken and watermelon were served. He claims that it was a racist gesture because of the particular holiday for which the meal was served. This rules out the possibility that the food was chosen because it is popular in the south. Being originally from the south, I can clarify that watermelon and fried chicken are indeed well-liked in the region.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
This is just one of the examples of how Carmichael infers racially charged meaning from words or actions that are irrelevant. While some of his points earlier in the article may have their merits, I would like to point out that adding the story at the end is an example
of being racist in a slightly different way. Discussing irrelevant points when arguing for or against a cause only weakens the main argument. Plus, would you call an international student racist if they served you (an American) cheeseburgers and fries?
Mary Felton is a senior from Rocky Mount, N.C.
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SOCIAL MEDIA
Some things are better left unsaid; Apparently no one told Rush Limbaugh or (insert loudmouth celebrity name here). I believe that to be quite true although sometimes I don't realize that until it's too late. I'm sure many of us tend to put our feet in our mouths on a regular basis, but there is a new arena in which this occurs more and more often. I know what you're thinking, and no, I'm not talking about the GOP debates. I'm talking about Twitter.
I've never heard the following phrase before, so I'm going to assume that I am responsible for its existence. Some things are better left un-tweeted. It may sound pretty simple, but somebody should have said it sooner.
Before I get into the meat and potatoes of tweets that I find senseless, I have a couple bones to pick with the citizens inhabiting the world of Twitter. First of all, stop saying hashtag in verbal conversation and quit putting those annoying little number signs all over Facebook. It makes you look foolish because a hashtag serves no purpose on Facebook. Secondly, begging for retweets suggests desperation, which is unbecoming for anyone. The worst case is when the beggar tries to butter up their favorite tweeter with compliments directly before asking for a retweet. Please refrain with continuing on with this senseless banter. It depresses me, and what good does a retwitter really do you anyway? This last bit should really go without saying, but evidently the message hasn't gotten across. Your bathroom is not a modeling studio, and you should avoid taking your own pictures. You know who you are.
It felt good to get that out there. Now I'm sure we have all read a tweet and couldn't figure out why a person thought he or she just HAD to share that with all 36 followers. They can come in many forms: pointless, cheap, and some that just take things a little too far.
While I may agree that I get excited during McRib season, I certainly do not agree that eating
a McRib is worth tweeting about. Not only do you lose the minute of your life that you spent typing it, but you take a little bit of everybody else's time too when, much to their dismay, have to read about your McRib experience. If you're wondering whether a tweet is pointless or not, stop wondering. If you have to ask yourself, then you should just let that one go.
My favorite tweets are the passive aggressive type that originated as angry Facebook statuses. You can pretend to sneak in a low blow, but more often than not it comes off as childish. Sniping only works if you can pull it off really well. Apparently a lot of folks think they are pretty darn good at it.
I once was told to temper my actions with wisdom. Maybe it is also wise to temper your tweets with discretion. Some tweets just go a little too far. Whether fueled by alcohol, outrage or simple tomfooilery, tweeting about your stool is never okay. The same goes for questionable pictures, outlandish comments and events that put your moral integrity into question.
While we have all been victims of our own tweets, we can all work together to put a stop to the nonsense that is running amok on the site. Think before you tweet. If you find yourself unable to hold back, then maybe it would be prudent to take a trip to Brazil and try hand-fishing in piranha infested waters.
Jordan J. Gormley is a senior in political science and social psychology. Follow him on Twitter @jgormley.
POLITICS
GOP scrambles for candidate
Amid mounting sexual harassment allegations and concerns about his ignorance of foreign policy, Herman Cain is headed in the same direction travelled by Donald Trump, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas - south.
So what are conservatives to do when they don't particularly like former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., and their latest flavor of the month is best by woman problems? Turn to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, of course.
Gingrich, currently on his third traditional marriage, presents himself as an ardent defender of "family values" and, despite a onetime six-figure debt to Tiffany's and receiving nearly $2 million from the right-wing bogeyman of tea party-style fiscal conservatism, Freddie Mac. What more could the conservative rank-and-file want?
Quite a bit more. Pundits and prognosticators are already breathlessly referring to Gingrich as the "new frontrunner," unable to distinguish fluctuations in poll numbers from the fundamentals of each candidate's campaign. When we move beyond the former and focus on the latter, it becomes clear that Gingrich poses no threat to Romney, who continues to hold steady in the polls.
Te party types loathe Romney for his history of U-turns on core principles. They'll rally behind his candidacy when he wins the nomination, but are unwilling to settle on him just yet. When the conservative impurities of candidates like Perry
and Cain emerged, their candidacies flagged. Romney looked little worse in comparison. The story will be the same with Gingrich.
Gingrich burst onto the national scene in 1994 when voters swept Republicans into strong congressional majorities and he assumed leadership of the House of Representatives. As a fierce critic of President Bill Clinton and of all things librul, he gained a reputation as a hardline conservative. What few people remembered was that in the 1970s, he made his first congressional run as a liberal Republican. Once a supporter of liberal Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, R-NY, Gingrich converted to conservatism just in time to benefit from the 1980 Reagan Revolution.
Although Gingrich has been reliably conservative on most policy issues for the past three decades, he strayed often enough that the tea party will become disillusioned before too long. In what he now describes as a mistake, he appeared in a climate change ad with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the she-devil from San Francisco. In 2009, he endorsed liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava over a
more conservative challenger in a special House election in New York. (Yes, committed partisans pav attention to these things.)
And there's that almost $2 million from Freddie Mac, which Gingrich claims he advised as an "historian." As an aspiring historian myself, I'd like to believe the profession is that lucrative, but I'm more inclined to believe Freddie Mac executives who said they cultivated Gingrich to boost their ties to congressional Republicans.
The facility with which Gingrich shamelessly lies about the Freddie payoff speaks to another flaw that will doom his candidacy - his unmitigated narcissism. Politics is a field full of people with a fair amount of self-regard, but Gingrich puts them all to shame. To take but the latest example, consider Gingrich's remarks on his proposals to rein in what he sees as a left-wing federal judiciary. He called his proposals the "boldest statement" since Abraham Lincoln condemned the pro-slavery Dred Scott decision.
But will the GOP hand the nomination to Romney, a man so many hard-liners detest? It's happened before – in 2008, in fact, with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. And Romney continues to have formidable financial and state-based advantages. To paraphrase McCain's infamous remarks on the economy in 2008, the fundamentals of Romney's campaign remain sound.
Brinker is a senior from Topeka
CARTOON
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FREEEEE ALL THE ANIMALS IN THE ZOO
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fill up on a life time supply of captain crunch
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I would make sure my mother knew that I loved her.
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