Dear Take Back NYU...
Dear Take Back NYU,
You have actually done more to hurt the cause of transparency at NYU than any action yet taken.
I am an NYU student and a socialist who now finds herself cut off from the rest of socialists (at least the ones in NYC and New England) because she happens to think that, though Israel overreacted in response to Hamas, two wrongs do not make a right, and Hamas certainly is wrong in this situation: actively trying to give none of the money it gets in humanitarian aid to its people is not the way to run a democratically-elected government. Not taking the "we will drive Israel into the sea" out of the Hamas manifesto is also actively going against all human rights definitions and too many definitions of Progress to count. Israel's wrongs in this matter can be regarded as self-defense, whereas Hamas is actively trying to commit genocide... of both Israel and of its own people (Hamas police robbed a UN human aid building, not to mention a lot of evidence that says it has no interest in pulling itself out of slum category by adding adequate sewers, education, hospitals... you know, things like that, even if it has had the money to do at least some significant reconstruction of these systems)! And need I remind people: it is possible to democratically elect a tyrant! Or even to have rigged elections!
I also seem to find myself cut off from other NYU radicals in thinking that this sit-in was one of the worst run, worst organized and by far pettiest thing these self-centered, unprincipled, little-minded, narcissists could have done in their strivings for their own precious moments of glory. Fucktards! Do you not realize that we are fighting a larger struggle here? That our struggle is for principles, for transparency, for human rights, for giving everyone the ability to stand in the morning and say "I can provide for myself, for my children and for my society. I have reason to be proud," for the magnificent day when all humanity has enough to satisfy its needs, when humanity will see the frivolity of its keeping up with the Jones' affluenza, when its wants will no longer be corrupted by the desire to own fancier cars to prove its worth but care instead to engage in relationships - be they family, friendships or romantic - where no one is dominated by anyone else, and where there is equal opportunity for everyone to do as he or she will?
Do you not understand that the purpose is to gain mass support for these ideas rather than to go about alienating people every further from the cause of progress? Yes, this means either negotiating or asking one demand that a majority of the population can agree on. If you had stuck to transparency, you would have gotten more than half the students, you would have even gotten a lot of the teachers. You would have gotten support. And you would have achieved this demand. But do both, and you will unite the students, the teachers and the administration against you. Also, connecting it to real things would be helpful as well. Connect it to things that would improve lives. For example, and I know this sounds funny but bear with me, you can garner support from teachers by saying, "Wouldn't you like the administration to provide chalk and working technology to facilitate learning rather than spend it on themselves?" You can garner support by the students by saying, "Look how they're trying to cut costs by cutting off transportation? Wouldn't you like to see what the money is going to instead? We think they are just lining their pockets. Wouldn't you like to prove that they're not?" Things like that.
*Sigh.* But, of course, no. You don't know that. After all, our current system is trying to take away our knowledge of how to protest, a knowledge which people throughout the 18th and 19th century believed was necessary to protect against tyranny. Still, one thing the system of capitalism cannot have taken from us is our dignity. Know how to cut your losses with grace to come back with a better plan. Know when you've lost the battle, if for no other reason than so that you do not lose the war.
Fucktards.
You and you alone are responsible for this. Know how to take your own punishment. It was badly organized, so there will be punishment. NYU is being easy on you. Perhaps it is in fact so they can bribe you with it. But use it to go back to the drawing boards. Use it to give you time to organize a real mass movement, something the majority will support. There are ways of finding this out. Sitting in class with open ears and an open mind is good for starters. Using that pretty little MacBook is another. Polls, fellow radicals, polls.
But, for the time being, you have done something that I never previously thought possible: you have made ashamed to consider myself a radical. But I care too much about human rights to be anything else.
Fuck
You.
You have actually done more to hurt the cause of transparency at NYU than any action yet taken.
I am an NYU student and a socialist who now finds herself cut off from the rest of socialists (at least the ones in NYC and New England) because she happens to think that, though Israel overreacted in response to Hamas, two wrongs do not make a right, and Hamas certainly is wrong in this situation: actively trying to give none of the money it gets in humanitarian aid to its people is not the way to run a democratically-elected government. Not taking the "we will drive Israel into the sea" out of the Hamas manifesto is also actively going against all human rights definitions and too many definitions of Progress to count. Israel's wrongs in this matter can be regarded as self-defense, whereas Hamas is actively trying to commit genocide... of both Israel and of its own people (Hamas police robbed a UN human aid building, not to mention a lot of evidence that says it has no interest in pulling itself out of slum category by adding adequate sewers, education, hospitals... you know, things like that, even if it has had the money to do at least some significant reconstruction of these systems)! And need I remind people: it is possible to democratically elect a tyrant! Or even to have rigged elections!
I also seem to find myself cut off from other NYU radicals in thinking that this sit-in was one of the worst run, worst organized and by far pettiest thing these self-centered, unprincipled, little-minded, narcissists could have done in their strivings for their own precious moments of glory. Fucktards! Do you not realize that we are fighting a larger struggle here? That our struggle is for principles, for transparency, for human rights, for giving everyone the ability to stand in the morning and say "I can provide for myself, for my children and for my society. I have reason to be proud," for the magnificent day when all humanity has enough to satisfy its needs, when humanity will see the frivolity of its keeping up with the Jones' affluenza, when its wants will no longer be corrupted by the desire to own fancier cars to prove its worth but care instead to engage in relationships - be they family, friendships or romantic - where no one is dominated by anyone else, and where there is equal opportunity for everyone to do as he or she will?
Do you not understand that the purpose is to gain mass support for these ideas rather than to go about alienating people every further from the cause of progress? Yes, this means either negotiating or asking one demand that a majority of the population can agree on. If you had stuck to transparency, you would have gotten more than half the students, you would have even gotten a lot of the teachers. You would have gotten support. And you would have achieved this demand. But do both, and you will unite the students, the teachers and the administration against you. Also, connecting it to real things would be helpful as well. Connect it to things that would improve lives. For example, and I know this sounds funny but bear with me, you can garner support from teachers by saying, "Wouldn't you like the administration to provide chalk and working technology to facilitate learning rather than spend it on themselves?" You can garner support by the students by saying, "Look how they're trying to cut costs by cutting off transportation? Wouldn't you like to see what the money is going to instead? We think they are just lining their pockets. Wouldn't you like to prove that they're not?" Things like that.
*Sigh.* But, of course, no. You don't know that. After all, our current system is trying to take away our knowledge of how to protest, a knowledge which people throughout the 18th and 19th century believed was necessary to protect against tyranny. Still, one thing the system of capitalism cannot have taken from us is our dignity. Know how to cut your losses with grace to come back with a better plan. Know when you've lost the battle, if for no other reason than so that you do not lose the war.
Fucktards.
You and you alone are responsible for this. Know how to take your own punishment. It was badly organized, so there will be punishment. NYU is being easy on you. Perhaps it is in fact so they can bribe you with it. But use it to go back to the drawing boards. Use it to give you time to organize a real mass movement, something the majority will support. There are ways of finding this out. Sitting in class with open ears and an open mind is good for starters. Using that pretty little MacBook is another. Polls, fellow radicals, polls.
But, for the time being, you have done something that I never previously thought possible: you have made ashamed to consider myself a radical. But I care too much about human rights to be anything else.
Fuck
You.