Hi–I forgot who posted that hilarious clip the other day, but I linked to it on facebook and got a predictable
Hi–I forgot who posted that hilarious clip the other day, but I linked to it on facebook and got a predictable response from a boomer cousin. This is what he posted on my wall in response to that clip:
“You know, Nick, I rarely post on Facebook. But I have been moved to do so by the situation at NYU, where consensus building around the issue of who should facilitate the consensus discussions, within a group of individuals seeking a conversation and facilitation in order to reach consensus on issues neither defined nor sensible, but where a lack of… consensus can be seen as part of the effort on behalf of the power structure to strip all consensus-making ability from students desperate to facilitate, through democratic forms, a facilitated decision in the midst of so many macbooks, macbook pros and other electronic devices is especially difficult in a barricaded, cafeteria university environment. Accordingly, it is my very strong feeling, that you have given too little thought and consideration to the democratic aspirations of apartheid-hating, consensus and democracy-loving students, consensus building university students. Please try to do better”
If I didn’t think I was going to die from cringing so hard after watching the video, I did after reading his response.
So I just wanted to share with you guys what I said back, even though you probably couldn’t care less:
“Thanks for writing, Jerry. Given space constraints, wall posts aren’t the best outlet for this discussion, but this is what I’m thinking.
“I think there are two separable issues here, which you seem to be conflating. One is the legitimacy of their individual demands, or rather the larger issues behind their demands. The other is the form that their protest for these demands takes. Can one think scholarships for Palestinian students is worthwhile (if that’s even at issue here)? Can one protest the scandalous rate of tuition and demand greater transparency in university budgets, especially in the time of a recession? Sure. Does a protest that throws all of these distinct issues along with the kitchen sink (or I guess the “corporate water” [ha] out of which it flows, but not somehow the flood of macbooks) into the debate further these ends? I don’t see how. It instead makes it confusing and disorganized. Scholarships cost money, universities are broke, and they want a tuition decrease thrown in for good measure. Might these complex complaints be better served separately?
“Now, you rightly acknowledge how poorly defined and insensible these debates can be. All the more reason to clarify your position and aims. It’s not the university’s fault if they can’t get their message straight. That unity and clarity of message is basic to effective protests is just Saul Alinsky. Nothing new there. And that many protests have had the effect of alienating people who might otherwise be sympathetic to them, because of the incoherent, outlandish, and unjust forms that these protests have taken is also old hat. The murderous violence and destruction of the Weather Underground is just one well-known example in the extreme.
“I also have to wonder: consensus-building for whom? I can’t see how it could possibly include anybody beyond the cameraman and his cohorts, which is no “built” consensus at all. What about the endless number of pet causes, issues, demands (or sloppy combination of them) that proliferate among students? What about the countless students, faculty, and university workers who want no part in their consensus, but are still equally entitled to the same resources that the protesters forcibly exclude them from? Should they all take to the cafeteria? And what place do dissenting voices have when consensus is the aim of the conversation? If instead of compelling agreement—“consensus”—you take mutual understanding as a proximate goal of conversation, you expand the discourse to people who don’t antecedently side with your meaning and method. All of that surely is a step toward a democratic end.
“I don’t deny that there are legitimate questions and forms of protest here. But their puerile display ain’t it. It’s alternately laughable and pitiable. So I can’t see the noble, “democracy-loving,” “apartheid-hating” souls that you do. My suggestion for you, then, would just be to make distinctions, identify context, avoid tunnel vision, and look at the larger implications of this kind of confused squawking.”
So thanks for the laugh.
- Nick
Dear Nick,
They gave the whole game away when they said “scholarships for Palestinian students.” There’s plenty of oppressed twenty-somethings around the world (the majority, actually) but they chose Palestine because they love the idea of having a friend that can wear an unfuckwithable keffiyeh. What they really meant to say was, “We want cool ethnic friends.” It’s surprising they didn’t include Jamaican musicians in their scholarship demands.
Also, NYU is a private school. You can’t “take it back,” dummies. It’s just as much everybody’s right to go there as it is everybody’s right to go to Madison Square Garden. If you want ethnic friends go to a community college. It’s the same education for a 20th of the price (no joke) and you’d be the only white guy for miles.
Sincerely,
-SBTVC
Isn’t the U.S. already spending billions of dollars a year in Israel?
YOUR RESPONSE TO YOUR COUSIN SHOULD HAVE BEEN: “ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS WITH THAT SHIT? DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU’RE SAYING? THAT BARELY QUALIFIES AS ENGLISH.”
ALSO ALL THOSE NYU KIDS SHOULD BE AIR-DROPPED INTO MEXICO CITY.
dear streetcarnage,
your answers make me feel good.
sincerely,
sacha.
“Winners need to want to win and can do that by winning”
“Here are some clothes, – they don’t wear clothes, they wear suits…”
I can literally feel the ‘right on!’ wink n’a headshake the other guy must have given.
Ponce city.
RE: The demand that Palestinian students be given scholarships.
White people, because they don’t feel permitted to protest/acknowledge the fact that they also get hosed by the power structure, tend to try and offset this dilemma by including non-whites in their list of demands. They should just worry about themselves. More sincerity and less comedy will ensue.
i’m interested in the absurdity of the whole nyu debacle, so naturally i tried to read this. unfortunately, it was so grammatically convoluted and its ideas were so poorly structured that i gave up on it.
are you sure your cousin wasnt being sarcastic, he used the word consensus seven times in the reply.
What discouraged me from going to college was the impression that it was overwhelmingly difficult and reserved only for those that were willing to work exceptionally hard at it. It’s so disheartening to find that it actually affords you enough idle time to paint shitty banners and invent your own language.
The point about NYU being private should end any future discussions of affordability. Give me a break. If it’s too expensive, go to state school as mentioned above. Supply and demand, assholes.
Note: For every new vegan jules post, I will immediately walk to MacDonald’s purchase a Big Mac Combo, then go down the street and remove a catalytic converter from the biggest, nastiest van I can find.
what does david cross have to say about this? in a non comedic way.
I literally have no idea what I just read.
‘puerile display ain’t it’ -WTF?
nick, way to miss the utter hilarity of your cousin’s response. please never post anything again, and/or never trying to seriously engage in debate again. you’re dumb.
Boy oh boy, that was legit the worst thing i have ever read in my life. I was getting dizzy from seeing the word “facilitate” abused beyond belief. I wanna knife rape your cousin in front of all of his friends.
“are you sure your cousin wasnt being sarcastic, he used the word consensus seven times in the reply.”
I thought it was pretty obvious that your cousin’s reaction was mocking them. Unless your response was supposed to be some kind of absurdly long-winded, meta-sarcastic parody-of-a-parody you should probably just give up on life now.
ahhhhhh, how do I say this without hurting your feelings?… the jokes on you Nick.
yeah man, I think your cousin was being sarcastic. big ooopss to you
nick, you totally served your cousin. awesome. his response to your completely logical argument was to go limp and resort to sarcasm, which is a sure sign of someone who tries to come off as rational but can’t follow through in response to true logic. right on.
hilarious if the cousin is being sarcastic. good work SC.
Kid has no idea how to write. 1) Avoid the phrase “Can one…”, since it makes you sound like a pompous prick; 2) Learn to use a goddamn semi-colon (e.g. “That unity and clarity of message is basic to effective protests is just Saul Alinsky; nothing new there.); 3) Go fuck yourself
Thanks Nick and Thank you SBTVC. As an NYU graduate, I can say that the above discourse sums up the NYU experience about as accurately as anything.
I played a show last Thurs. at a place in the East Village called, “The Yippie Museum,” and all of these cunts were having a meeting there. Between every song, I screamed, “Fuck Palestine.” Oh, they hated us and a few even spit. It was glorious.
<>
Yes Gay, we give a lot of money to Israel. Then again, they give us a lot back in oil for appreciation.
Hi guys–Nick here. Just to clarify: my cousin was deadly serious. I recognize that his response could come off as a parody of itself, but he’s for real.
And in response to the grammarian “Jucifer”: dude, you just raped my mind. Really, semicolons; damn
Taeil: Yes, all those legendary Israeli oil fields! Where are they again? They aren’t any in Israel.
Nick: Your cousin was serious? Shit, how many of these consensus fuckers are there out there? Those holiday dinners must be doozys in your family.
consensus is the new “c” word
i got a better education ib middle school than you can get at a community college
Dude, you need to ask your cousin if he knows what the meaning of “democracy” and “consensus” are. Because nothing that happened in that video showed much of either. It was “confrontational” and “illegal”.
Nick I think it would be beneficial for you to practice a little more understanding of your “boomer” cousin’s background. His generation protested all over the place and they saw the power of protest bring about radical social change before them, pertaining to racial and sexual equal rights. The boomer generation sees our generation as lazy and uninterested in the betterment of society. To him the fact that there are any youth at all staging protests is encouraging. Yes the NYU protest was all over the place with the random amalgam of issues. And yes the argument could be made that they’re spoiled rich kids. But wealth is relative to a certain degree. Many would say you are a spoiled rich kid because you can even live in NYC at all. There are alot of poor individuals in this country who would love to even look at NYU.