Public Figures Behaving Badly
A Right to Shadiness?
Yesterday in the ASUCD Internal Affairs Commission, a member of the public tried to videotape the proceedings. Several various ASUCD officers got extremely upset, with Paul Harms even threatening to call the police and/or sue the individual. The commission's chairman ended up adjourning the meeting without addressing any business, rather than submit to videorecording.
The reason given was that all people in the room had not given consent to be vidoed. However, the people who "didn't give consent" had absolutely no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in a public meeting in which public minutes are taken, and therefore have no right to, well, expect privacy. But another issue, which is more important to me, is that as a public meeting of a public governing board the public have an absolute right to government transparency which includes recording the proceedings.
The video of yesterday's IAC incident is already on youtube. The outspoken lad is Paul "I Love the Status Quo" Harms, sitting next to him is Andrew "ACLU" Peake. You would think Mr ACLU would be more sensitive to people's rights for government transparency.
I've always seen ASUCD as a sort of crucible, which shows people's true character. Its easy to criticize the American government when you can't be faulted for anything similar yourself. We all know college students love to criticize the government, but what happens when you give them a government of their own? Now don't get me wrong, there's good people in ASUCD, but I think ASUCD also shows us how many people who walk among us would make absolutely terrible leaders.
People say they believe in people's rights versus the government, and they'll certainly maintain that they feel that way not because they aren't in government but because they are rightious like that. But you give these same people a government-like position and they do not hesitate to squash the rights of others to government transparency (and many other topics).
And that is why I find it so interesting to follow ASUCD politics, and why I was so interested when the leaders of ASUC Berkeley were trying to make off with student money. Its self-rightious people showing us how badly your average person can behave if given a little bit of power.
I do not believe that power corrupts, I believe that power enables those who are already corrupt to show themselves.
Thomas Lloyd's Legacy
If one ever makes an edit to any page pertaining to Thomas Lloyd, one will find his all-seeing eye will immediately notice and jump into an edit-war with you. This is because Lloyd believes he has left an amazing legacy behind in ASUCD which vile detracters wish to taint. Also, he apparently believes that potential employers will look him up on Daviswiki, and presumably follow all the links to everything he ever touched, and be impressed (or not, which is his argument for eliminating anything negative about things pertainign to him). Finally, this is really creepy: it took him only an hour and a half to discover someone had created the ASUCD Legislative Clerk page despite the fact that he graduated over a year ago, and THREE MINUTES last time someone made an edit to his own page. To the right is an artist's impression of Thomas Lloyd.
Anyway, creation of the Legislative Clerk position is one of many things that Thomas Lloyd did and still champions as another shining example of him benefitting society. Others alleged that the position is useless and Lloyd was just using it to boost his accomplishments (ie, that it was just pork). Lloyd of course immediately jumped in defending the position as highly useful, and urged detractors to take it up with the current clerk and/or their supervisor the Vice President if they thought it wasn't fulfilling its potential. ...but then the current Clerk weighed in saying he himself thought the position was just pork! Zing!!