Nicholas Mah
You want opinions? Is that what you really want? I got your opinions right here. Let’s go.
Are Taliban prisoners being treated fairly? One side says the U.S. is breaking war conventions. The other says we aren’t.
My opinion is the public will never know enough about what is really going on in Guantanamo Bay to have an opinion, but we should still sit around and talk about it. We’ll feel better.
San Francisco politicians want to make homelessness a crime. My opinion? That’s just messed up and I’m not going to even waste my breath addressing this topic. It doesn’t deserve to be spoken of.
You want people to respect Convo? You are mad because people are talking, reading the newspaper, or doing last night’s homework. I tell you, when I sit in a room and try to concentrate when people are reading the newspaper and doing homework, I just can’t get anything done. Right.
Listen, if you have a problem with people at Convo, you have two personal problems: 1. You can’t focus and 2. You have bad taste.
More opinions? What you want? Parking sucks. Pepperdine sucks. Everything sucks. That’s what we want in opinions articles, right? No, maybe we want to hear that stealing is bad, people should be nicer. Is that it?
I have been criticized for not being opinionated enough over the past two weeks, but man, I’ve been tired. It’s quite hard to come up with 700-odd words about something you really care about only to have some people read it, but to no avail.
When I first started writing Mah World, I had this ridiculous idea that I could maybe actually help change some things around here for the better. I’ve since had a few conversations and realizations that forced me to recognize what a stupid young journalist I was.
Someone pointed out to me that to get anything done, it takes people, not words. That means if someone is getting kicked off campus, and students are angry, then a bunch of students need to get together and do something about it. Protests are an obvious step above writing, and while they might not be 100 percent effective, they are a start.
If students on this campus were actually to start taking some time to think about what it would take to promote change, the administration might actually have to suck it up and take notice. As it is, it’s not too difficult for them to ignore my words and sweep any other problems under the rug.
So what do you say? A friend of mine recently got kicked out of school for getting in an argument with a teacher. No, it wasn’t his first offense, but his biggest transgression was arguing with and offending a teacher.
It was pointed out to me that if this happened at any real school with real students, it would not have happened without a 30-person protest in front of the teacher’s room and in the administration building as well.
How does that make you feel? Are you upset about the way students get treated, or the way you get treated? Then do something about it.
I personally would love to see some change around here, but more people need to get involved, excited, dedicated to actually doing something. What we really need is action, not opinion.
February 07, 2002