I almost feel guilty, doing so little during study days.

Oh, study days.

You make me so fucking lazy.

Yesterday I went to Bob Evans with T until 12, then slept from 12 to 2.

Then I literally sat around doing nothing until about 5.

At 5 I called the cops. Some people across the street had a megaphone and were saying dumb stuff into it. Fine, whatever.

Then a girl walked by and they said--as I recall--"You have a nice heiny. I want to touch it."

Whoops. Time for the UDPD.

Unfortunately, the cops would be about 20 minutes. Fine. I would wait. But 15 minutes later, when the guys hadn't said anything else with the megaphone, I realized the cops wouldn't be able to do anything. Especially since Jonny G, Justin and Jason, who were all on our porch at the time, hadn't noticed the comment. So I called the cops back and told them to forget it.

Then Justin, G, Jason and I went to the Circle of Friends end of the year party at Carillon Park. Kathy is the president, and she told us to come. Free pizza.

Circle of Friends is the group on campus that works with local adults who are mentally handicapped. We played kickball. Justin, G, Jason and I were the outfield, meaning we laid in the grass and threw a frisbee to each other.

As mentally handicapped people do, these people wore their hearts on their sleeves. As always, this was a hilarious, exciting and painful experience.

Then I went to The Fever, a one-man play. Nick Bays, a graduating senior in theater, performed it. It was awesome.

Nick was an American in a "poor country" who wakes up feeling violently ill. He stumbles to the tiolet to vomit and overhears a crowd outside, where an execution is planned. From there, the character just takes off, describing his privileged childhood, the simplicity of his life, and the unfairness of global capitalism.

In the end, he rejects the life of his family and friends, and he faces the idea that his actions rarely match his ideals.

Maybe this will sum it up. After the show, I saw Nick and congratulated him, because he really did a great job. And he said, "I thought you would like that one."

It was really cool and if it wasn't over I'd recommend you go see it.

I only have one exam, and a couple papers. Then I'm 3/4 done...with undergrad.

Conversation with Alyssa only reminds me that I'm not ready for Chile. But I'm going soon anyway.

Second session of the summer I'll be in Dayton. Let me know if you'll be around.

Love,

Steve

At the request of Tom Hanlon, I get back to the blog.

Okay it's been a long long time.

1. Vonnegut class: currently two sections. OH MAN. It's getting somewhat exciting. I think right now there are 22 people total in it. I should probably prepare in some way.

2. Chile: iré a Santiago en cuatro semanas. Estoy muy nervioso, pero yo estado practicando con Alyssa y me mejoré mucho. I'm still sure that I'm going to be way over my head, but I'll understand a little bit.

3. Flyer News: only one more issue left this year, and I didn't submit anything. So my current standing is:
4 opinion articles (A, B, C, D) - D is my newest, Thomas "HAL" Hanlon.
4 responses (A, B, C, D)
about 7 or 8 personal e-mails ("I SUPPORT OUR TROOPS WHO ARE FIGHTING THE ISLAMOFASCISTS...")
and about 300 personal responses ("I saw your article! But I didn't read it.")

And there you have it. That's the update on my life.

Oh, I just read Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. It's a book for my sociology class, and it's pretty awesome. It's about how TV ruins everything.

Okay so now I need to take a shower.

Hey I'll be in Dayton for the second summer session, starting June 24. Anyone need a roommate? I think I'd rather not live in Founders.

Okay go time.

Love,

Steve

Flyer News is getting interesting.

Remember that "Support Our Troops" article I wrote?

It didn't go over so well.

Witness:

http://www.flyernews.com/article.php?section=Opinions&volume=53&issue=38&artnum=05

and

http://www.flyernews.com/article.php?section=Opinions&volume=53&issue=38&artnum=06

My response will be coming soon. It will rock.

Here's a preview. I should warn you, it's currently over the 600-word limit recommended by Flyer News. So I might have to find some things to cut out by Sunday, when I submit it. We'll see. Enjoy.

Also: this article may not make sense without reading the two letters above.



I guess it’s good to know people are reading Flyer News.

First, let me acknowledge the dumb stuff in my previous article about “Support Our Troops” bumper magnets.

I shouldn’t have said “there is nothing you can do to support our troops.” That is a false exaggeration. As Melinda Warthman demonstrated in her letter to the editor, there are many things you can do, if you wish, to support American troops. This contrasts perfectly with the “bland statement” of “vague patriotic beliefs” that I think bumper magnets exemplify.

I was happy to read Warthman’s letter because it demonstrated that people do take action on issues like this. Whether it is supporting the military or any other issue, it is good to know some people take action for a cause if they believe in it.

I also regret not being very clear in certain areas, which probably led to Erik Elam’s letter.

I think he misunderstood the point of the article. My goal was to question one particular expression of patriotism. He seemed to believe the purpose was to disparage the military, which it was not. But, in order not to disappoint Elam, I can give him the article he was expecting.

He asked if I would step forward if the military were not in place. Answer: no.

There are plenty of things that I think I would die for. None of them is a nation, but things like equality, mercy and peace are so important to me that I would die for them.

But I can’t think of a single thing that I would kill for. I happen to think ending lives is wrong, and it’s not something that I take lightly.

I cannot grasp the logic that certain lives, American lives, are worth protecting, while other lives, foreign ones, are not. They are worth destroying, apparently.

And this is true of past wars along with current ones: I would not have killed foreign men and boys in World War II, Elam’s example, nor in any war since. Let me explain.

Elam was correct in recognizing that I am a Marxist, and as such, I know troops are not to be ridiculed. After all, they are too often men and women – barely beyond childhood – from lower social classes without many options. In every nation, they are used as tools to protect the interests of the upper classes, which includes most students at UD. So the ridicule and shame, the “looking down on” that Elam refers to, should be placed on us, not them.

This is why I compared the military to social welfare and public education: all three are ways for the ruling class to deal with the youth of the underclass. In a response to my article via e-mail, sophomore Michael Langlais unwittingly supported this: “I feel the military straightens out many youths that ‘social welfare’ and ‘public education’ leave behind.” The difference, of course, is that social welfare and public education don’t involve any killing at all. That’s why I think they are good alternatives to the military.

That’s also why I don’t hate the troops, and why I will not spit on them as people did during and after the Vietnam War. I know they are just doing what they’re told. Now, if I could spit on the decision-makers, the capitalists who direct them, I’m not sure I wouldn’t.

Through John Stuart Mill’s quotation, Elam criticized me for a “decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling.” I have thought deeply about this issue on moral grounds, and my verdict is that I will not kill people, and I will not suggest that killing can ever lead to peace. If peace is your goal, peace must be your instrument.

As for patriotic feeling: I never claimed to have it. As I said, I would not die or kill for this country, or any other in history. My state of patriotic feeling is about as decayed and degraded as possible.

Criticize me for that, if you wish. But I know I will never kill for this country, or for anything else. At least I cannot be criticized for that.


Let me know what you think.

My second opinion article.

Okay, apparently the Flyer News website still hasn't changed.

So here's my latest opinion article. It came out not too long ago, Thursday I think, and I've heard good things from some people already.

Always makes me feel special to know other people hold crazy opinions.

Enjoy.



“Support Our Troops” bumper magnets are meaningless feel-good gestures

Every time I get out and drive somewhere – which is not very often – I am always surprised by the number of yellow ribbon-shaped “Support Our Troops” bumper magnets I see.

Old beat-up trucks, new European cars, American minivans: all of them remind me to support our troops. They are often accompanied by their flag-colored cousins which say, I don’t know, “God Bless America” or something.

I have a few questions about that little command, “Support Our Troops,” but I’ve never been able to ask someone. I’m not bold enough to roll my window down at Stewart and Edwin C. Moses, I guess.

How, for example, should I support our troops? I pay taxes, and a healthy portion – or an unhealthy portion – of those go to the armed forces. Does that count?

Or should I volunteer? Is that what they want? Is it possible that every bearer of a “SOT” bumper sticker is a member of the Army Reserves or an armed forces recruiter?

No, that is not possible. If they were, those people would be guarding checkpoints in Iraq, not cruising down 75 North with their left turn signals terminally blinking.

So, please, what does “Support Our Troops” mean? How are they supporting our troops more than I am? What’s their secret?

Is it possible that the magnets don’t mean anything? Is it possible that, in a rush of post-9/11 patriotism, those people bought and applied a bumper magnet without considering that doing so does not, in fact, support our troops?

Of course, the magnets aren’t the real problem. I understand that all bumper stickers are essentially pointless self-serving phrases.

The difference between “Support Our Troops” and, say, “Meat Is Murder” is that one recommends a specific course of action – stop eating meat – and the other suggests a sort of bland thumbs-up nationalism with no actual action required.

I recognize that I have a bias here. I won’t tread lightly around it: I don’t care to support our troops at all. I just don’t think they’re as useful as social welfare programs or good public education.

Maybe that’s why I’m bewildered about the “SOT” magnets. I’ve never heard my conservative or patriotic friends complain that these magnets express an empty sentiment without requiring any real commitment.

In the “9/11 Never Forget” world, where flag-flying is the new national pastime, it seems blatantly obvious that these magnets just don’t do anything. I could convey a similar message with a bumper sticker that says something like “Hooray Peanut Butter!” or “I like socks.”

The people who display these magnets aren’t supporting our troops any more than I am. They’re just supporting a faceless corporation that manufactures bumper magnets.

And worse than the owners of other bumper stickers, they aren’t supporting a cause, either. They haven’t convinced me or anyone else to support our troops because there is nothing you can do to support our troops.

Please, if you want to make a political statement, go ahead. If you’re proud we invaded Iraq, or you hope we win the war, or you want us to invade North Korea and Iran, just say so. I’d like to see that.

But don’t send me the message that you don’t have a message. Don’t make a bland statement that just demonstrates that you hold vague patriotic beliefs.