If ya know what I mean.
I’ve subscribed to the Boston University College Democrats e-mail list for some years now. I was never involved in any political groups when I was a student there, but I knew a few who were. It’s good to stay abreast of what the other folks are doing - not out of stool-pigeon-y creepiness, just for information’s sake. As I wrote in the comments over at NYC Educator, everyone should go to as many events on the other side as possible.
And everyone graduate should subscribe to his alma mater’s political lists because, well… occasionally there’s some top-notch entertainment. From the BUCD:
“Hey! Hope everyone is as excited as we are to start a new year of college democrats fun!”
Well, I know I’m ready. Are you?
Our first meeting will be on this Thursday (That’s tomorrow!!) at 7PM in CAS 316.
Subliminal nanny-statism. These College Democrats don’t even trust that I know that since today is Wednesday, tomorrow is Thursday.
“We will be meeting each other…”
Were you planning to get together to meet… other people?
“… for some mixers and a bit of discussion on what events we have on the radar this semester as well as what we want our goals for the year to be.”
31 words to say “set the semester’s and year’s agenda.” Very college democrat. But here’s where it gets laughable:
“Freshmen get excited!”
You bet they do! Does the University still offer WR 150? If so, do they cover the comma?
“Freshman representative elections are coming up! Freshman representatives are in charge of getting new members, keeping regular members active, and have the opportunity to see how the BU college democrats is run first hand!”
… and there’s the comedy. Freshmen are enslaved’n'indentured, not unlike a really cruddy frat, to do all the grunt work - with the lure that they’re “seeing it all first hand [sic].” If that doesn’t describe the elitist wing of the Democrat party, nothing does.
“It’s an excellent experience and a great way to get involved.”
Just in case you might’ve thought it was a raw deal, there ya go.
“Finally, this Friday we will be holding signs for John Kerry visibility.”
Really? John Kerry needs “visibility” in Boston, Massachusetts? Is the BUCD afraid that Kerry might slip below an 80% favorability rating in MA? Good Lord, what a waste of time. The BUCD could be out campaigning in small, contested local races, or even just doing some community awareness/public service, but no - they’re making sure that John Kerry’s visible.
I pasted their paragraph to a friend who thought it was a joke statement written by the College Republicans. Seriously.
“You can meet up with the group in Marsh Plaza at 8:00 AM. Look for a cute blond girl with a sign.”
Despite my noted objections, I’m sold.
I try not to criticize without providing a little value to the target, so I’ve got a treat for the BUCD. Feel free to right-click and ‘save as’ the jpeg logo in this post. I optimized it for the web - for you, for free! It went from 46kb to 5kb.
Reducing bandwidth by 90% without any loss of quality? That’s how Reagan would’ve rolled it if he’d had Photoshop.
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Stephen Downes 09.04.08 at 7:18 pm
Yeah, well, I get the RedState national Republican activism mailouts.
Last week I got one urging members to start writing letters because there weren’t enough American flags in view at the Democrat convention.
Yup, that’s the only thing they could find wrong with it.
We could probably keep up exchanging barbs about Democrat and Republican activist mailing lists.
But that’s a place I really don’t think you want to go… right?
Matthew K. Tabor 09.04.08 at 7:26 pm
Stephen,
I don’t subscribe to many of those lists because they simply don’t offer information that I don’t already know - and, yes, they’re lesser for it.
I like flags, too. I make calls and write letters occasionally.
That they didn’t criticize the Dem. policy at the DNC may not be because they were too dumb to think about it critically. Personally, I tend to leave people and groups alone when they’re making their case on stage or at an event - or I’ll help them, like when I carried union signs at an Al Gore event in 2000. I like healthy debate.
I don’t mind going to that “place,” but you’d do well to avoid it. My arguments are more compelling than yours and I come off as only half as grating and smug as you do. In short, I’ll win.
Anyway, please don’t think that I’m unfairly criticizing the College Dems here. I’m not subscribed to the College Republicans list. Why? Because they haven’t updated their site in 2 years and, as far as I know, aren’t capable of maintaining an e-mail list. To the College Dems’ credit, they’ve had a blog [that they need to update] and maintain outreach/communications efforts, imperfect as they might be.
Then again, pre- and post-Romney, pumping the Republican platform on Boston’s campuses is a pretty unappealing task.
Matthew K. Tabor 09.04.08 at 7:28 pm
One more thing - the Republicans as a party are nearly useless at networking and communication. My spam box in Gmail catches most of their mailings, while the Dems/Obama stuff rarely ends up there. Really, that’s not a tough problem to fix, yet they still don’t.