Expensive show a foolish waste of money in time of financial crisis
In response to the announcement of the million dollar concert, I feel that ASUA is making an extremely financially-irresponsible move. (“”UA to host $1 million show,”” March 25, 2009) In the midst of substantial budget cuts to our school, this is probably the worst idea I have ever heard.
Next year’s tuition will skyrocket, but at least we get to hear “”Since U Been Gone.”” Faculty will be laid off, but “”Semi-Charmed Life”” is worth a few hundred professors’ jobs, right? Entire departments may be cut, but at least we get to see Jay-Z rap. That’s absolutely worth our education and futures.
We elect ASUA to further our education and responsibly govern our school, not to idiotically pour out tuition money to hear “”Dirt Off Yo’ Shoulders.”” I understand that ASUA wants to make the UA fun for all. So they had Katy Perry come perform. But now Jay-Z, with Spring Fling just around the corner? Great move, ASUA. Way to blow my hard-earned tuition on a concert that will probably cost you more than it earns you.
But it’s okay because I’m feeling like a pimp, so I guess I’ll go brush my shoulders off.
Stephen Hall
undeclared sophomore
Social justice advocates should advocate for real causes, not political correctness
I am surprised to see that none of the social justice fascists on campus took a stance in regards to Monday’s Police Beat, in which a student’s failed attempt to break into the McKale Center was referred to as an attempt to “”ninja “” his way in.
According to the philosophy of social justice extremism, the author should, without a doubt, publicly apologize to those ninjas on campus who could have in the most minimal way been offended by this comment. Not all ninjas spend their time sneaking and breaking into buildings. Therefore, making this comment could potentially be hurtful to their feelings.
Let us not forget the students from Japan and of Japanese descent that could be losing sleep over this negative ninja stereotype of their culture. Although I do agree with the basic tenants of social justice, and I think it would be hard to find anyone on campus that does not, there are those who take it to an extreme which threatens to dangerously curtail our right to free speech.
If these extremists are successful, then we will no longer be able to refer to their ideology as ridiculous, because we could offend the people out there who actually are ridiculous. We will no longer be able to say, for example, “”the UA is a sick place to get an education,”” because there are indeed many sick people out there who could feel their condition is being belittled by our use of the word “”sick”” as a reference to something that is “”cool.””
It is truly sad that in spite of there being more dire problems in the world, like the 25,000 or so children who die each and every day due to hunger and malnutrition, an obscene amount of energy is spent on protecting the feelings of over-sensitive individuals, which could be spent on saving lives. Although I do recognize the fact that much inequality can still be found on a daily basis in this country, I do not believe these people’s approach is the proper way to address it. It is obvious that some words are extremely offensive by the mere nature of the word itself, but social justice proponents have warped this concept to potentially apply to every adjective in the English language that could in any way be falsely misconstrued as harboring offensive undertones.
I apologize, in advance, to the fascists who may have been offended by being compared to the social justice advocates on campus who have not learned to appreciate the amazing privileges they enjoy by living in a country as free and prosperous as ours. I hope that some day, those who disagree with me have the chance to see poverty, disease, and death up-close in the developing world, so that they can understand how offensive their incessant complaining is to those for whom these afflictions are a fact of life.
Daniel Rothstein
public management and policy junior
