Monday, November 12, 2007
Hunger strike update: no dead hippies yet
Last week I scribed a nice, satisfying polemic about the annoying undergrads who were going to go on a "hunger strike" in order to force Columbia's administration into acquiescing to their vague and open-ended demands. I've since been deleting e-mail after e-mail updating me as to the "success" of this protest, "success" being defined as a whopping FIVE students decided to starve themselves for their poorly elucidated principles. Yesterday I received yet another action update, and almost deleted it until I realized that it was a trove of between-the-lines information all supporting the sole, inescapable conclusion that I AM RIGHT THAT THESE TYPES OF PROTESTS ARE A FUCKING WASTE OF EVERYONE'S TIME:
1. Include more Alice Walker and Rita Mae Brown books in freshman English classes at Columbia, because bitches are tired of Beowulf and its patriarchal, misogynistic, white supremacist themes.
2. More money for Ethnic Studies, since it's underfunded. I mean, never mind that academic disciplines are underfunded ACROSS THE BOARD in the current climate, because Bush isn't the world's biggest fan of funding any kind of research that's got to do with evolution, or stem cells, or any type of artfaggotry. Aretha, Bryan, Emilie, Sam, and Victoria want a bigger library to sit around and organize pointless hunger strikes in, and if you don't have the money, Columbia, then you're RACIST!
3. Okay, it was pretty fucked up that Columbia didn't cooperate with the police investigating the Teacher's College noose incident, but I think they learned their lesson the hard way. The Post was all over that, and Columbia looked like sneaky assholes because of it. Chances are, the next time they'll be better about it.
4. Given the tone of the rhetoric, I'm thinking they are AGAINST the Manhattanville expansion, but in fairness, all they say for their fourth demand is that this is being voted on in December.
With four points of light like those, I can't understand why every self-involved asshole walking past their campus tent doesn't drop his or her iPod and jump on the hunger train too. I mean, those are some galvanizing meandering and confused points these people are making!
From: Christina Chen (satori.at.sunrise@gmail.com)Wait, one of the hunger strikers ended up in the fucking hospital? Good riddance! One down, four to go! I love how they make it sound like this bitch was rushed to the ICU, when really she probably was given an IV and a PowerBar, told that if she didn't want to be hypoglycemic, she should fucking eat something, and shooed out of the St. Luke's ER. Somehow, I am sure she'll be okay, too, since it takes more than a low blood sugar-induced dizzy spell two days after giving up food to keep an overprivileged bitch at an Ivy League school from succumbing to her mortal fragility. What she won't recover from so quickly is the fact that there seem to be a lot of people who agree with me that these hunger strikers are a bunch of despicable, self-righteous morons.
To: Razzy (razzy@razzy.org)
Subject:[sceg-body] Would your club like to take a support shift, sponsor a vigil, or sponsor a dormstorming session
Hello beautiful peoples,
Sorry for spamming you guys, I'll try to keep the flow of emails minimal! First of all, thank you for all your well wishes for Aretha's speedy recovery- we are very encouraged by the amount of progress that she has made since leaving St Luke's, and we are sure that she will be okay! And thank you for keeping Bryan, Emilie, Sam, and Victoria in your hearts - they are resilient, strong brother and sisters in the struggle, and your prayers and attendance at events are spiritually enriching to the souls of the hungry...your presence means more than words can convey!
That said...those who stand against us think that they can dampen our spirits by beating us down. We are getting attacked by bad press (and lacking press as well), drunk passerbys knocking stuff over at our tent sites, hecklers shouting egregious things like "mmm I want a nice juicy burger right now", Columbia administration officials giving negotiators blank stares at a meeting when we reported Aretha's rushing to St. Luke's Hospital because of low blood sugar, and perhaps the biggest blow to our our faith in our peers, and a terrible thing to see from our fellow students; anti-strikers websites that have propped up and counter-rallies with racist, homophobic, and xenophobic rhetoric being held right by our tents in public.Oh, boo hoo! You guys are so PERSECUTED! Drunk people are knocking over your bongo drums as they're staggering back to their dorms from the local bars, hecklers are making fun of you for thinking you're Gandhi, and the administration doesn't care that one of your number came down with a self-imposed and completely NON-LIFE THREATENING condition. Also, I wonder if my blog is one of the websites that has "propped up" to spew "racist, homophobic, and xenophobic rhetoric." I don't think I'm racist or xenophobic (although these people are the types who regard opinions contrary to theirs as "racist" regardless of whether or not they actually are), and any homophobic rhetoric I've used is allowable on account of the fact that I'm a Smith College graduate who licks snatch and can therefore say "fag" and "dyke" to my heart's content. I am not against the hunger strikers because I'm pro-racism or whatever else; I'm against the hunger strikers because they're morons, and I don't support stupidity even when it's cloaked in the trappings of patronizing social consciousness. Hey, maybe you'd have more supporters if you assholes could clearly articulate your demands...?
But as Bryan has said, we cannot confuse those who are simply weak-willed and prejudiced, with those who we can potentially reach and educate about our demands. That said, we ABSOLUTELY NEED folks to help us do outreach... there's a lot of misconceptions floating out there right now about what our demands are, and we need to address them.Okay...SO ADDRESS THEM, already!
And just to reiterate, our demands are rooted in a campus in which 1) our core education reinforces the norms of a system that marginalizes people of color, people of faith, queer folks and other groups; 2) Ethnic Studies programs in which we learn about the histories of our own communities (most of which was founded after the 1996 hunger strike led by Latino, Asian American, Black, and American students for Ethnic studies) are under-resourced and swept aside by this university; 3) the administrative organization of our university right now does not allow adequate/ prompt responses to hate crimes, such as t he noose that was hung on a black professor's door at TC; 4) an official expansion / eviction plan that will displace 5000 residents of West Harlem and will be voted on early December, a plan that bulldozes entire communities in Harlem and uproots real people.In other words, your demands are as follows:
1. Include more Alice Walker and Rita Mae Brown books in freshman English classes at Columbia, because bitches are tired of Beowulf and its patriarchal, misogynistic, white supremacist themes.
2. More money for Ethnic Studies, since it's underfunded. I mean, never mind that academic disciplines are underfunded ACROSS THE BOARD in the current climate, because Bush isn't the world's biggest fan of funding any kind of research that's got to do with evolution, or stem cells, or any type of artfaggotry. Aretha, Bryan, Emilie, Sam, and Victoria want a bigger library to sit around and organize pointless hunger strikes in, and if you don't have the money, Columbia, then you're RACIST!
3. Okay, it was pretty fucked up that Columbia didn't cooperate with the police investigating the Teacher's College noose incident, but I think they learned their lesson the hard way. The Post was all over that, and Columbia looked like sneaky assholes because of it. Chances are, the next time they'll be better about it.
4. Given the tone of the rhetoric, I'm thinking they are AGAINST the Manhattanville expansion, but in fairness, all they say for their fourth demand is that this is being voted on in December.
With four points of light like those, I can't understand why every self-involved asshole walking past their campus tent doesn't drop his or her iPod and jump on the hunger train too. I mean, those are some galvanizing meandering and confused points these people are making!
People who stand against us, people who are not conscious of the history of student and community struggle, think that they can dismiss us because they see a handful of people camped outside the tents and assume there's only a few of us who feel like shit needs to change. A lot of us are overextended right now and haven't been able to go into people's dorms, circulate petitions, and do support outside and we need to show that all of us, we who number in the hundreds, maybe even thousands, want to see change happen in this university. Nevermind the haters - we got people power and it's time for us to use it...and show folks that we're able to back shit up with concrete demands in their dorms, in their classes, and outside in the cold! We've been telling individuals what they can do to help, but hey! your club can ::I hate to tell you this, Christina, but nobody thinks they can dismiss you because they assume there's only a few who feel that "shit needs to change." People dismiss you because your cause is poorly articulated, you come across as a bunch of preachy, humorless assholes, and if people don't agree with you wholeheartedly then you either call them "weak-willed and prejudiced" or imply that they are ignorant and uncouth. The fact is, most people would agree that Columbia could benefit from expanding its curriculum, providing better funding to many departments including Ethnic Studies, SHOULD cooperate with the police in investigating campus hate crimes, and should be ethical and transparent with regard to the Manhattanville expansion. However, you do such a pathetic job of explaining your action items and such an impressive job alienating and marginalizing people who might not agree but would be open to a dialogue about it that nobody WANTS to ride your loser train, Christina. Nobody gives an inverted piledriver fuck that one of your attention whore hippie friends came down with the deadly and insidious condition known as low blood sugar from her half-assed attempt at protest by starvation, and chances are 99% of the "beautiful peoples" on your e-mail list delete your lame manifesto/newsletters the second they grace their inboxes. Congratulations. You've managed to make four reasonable and sound demands seem petty, retarded, pointless, and annoying. Keep up the good work...maybe you'll do us all a favor and STARVE TO DEATH!
1) Sponsor a vigil, like the wonderful folks at LUCHA are doing tomorrow by emailing sam.rennebohm@gmail.com
2) Take a support shift, in which representatives of your club can sign up for by emailing crystalktang@gmail.com
3) Sponsor a dormstorming session by emailing me at satori.at.sunrise@gmail.com
4) Join the solidarity listserve to get running updates on the conditions of the strikers and on what the support team needs - email heiroku@gmail.com
DO IT!!!!
love,
Christina
Labels: grad school bullshit, intentional buffoonery, overcompensation, ranting, Razzification, retard rage, ridiculous absurdity, scathing indictments
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