"Respect for the truth comes close to being the basis for all morality."
Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this day, the university puts up a ton of flags on the lawns in front of the academic buildings, with each flag representing 500 people who died in the Holocaust. Yellow flags represent Jews, Blue flags represent Polish Catholics, Brown flags represent Roma and Sinti, and so forth. The worst feeling is viewing the small yellow flags, as each of those represents 500 Jewish children who died, and the field of small yellow flags is fairly sizable. What the hell, Nazis?
I don't have any photos, but the sheer number of flags is astounding. I can only imagine what it would look like if there was a flag for each individual who died in the Holocaust.
It's a very moving tribute, and I'm glad the university does it each year.
Now, each year Holocaust Remembrance Day falls on a different date, because the holiday is based on the Hebrew calendar. This is the first year that it has fallen in the middle of ASWOU Election Campaign Week, and most of the candidates are treating today with the respect this day deserves. There are no political lawn signs up. Teresa Lucas and Jesse Alexander are limiting their canvassing to the Werner Center, where they do not distract from the gravitas that Holocaust Remembrance Day is designed to inspire. Brandon Neish and Andre Unicume are taking the day off from campaigning completely. All four of these candidates get major props from me for not trying to overshadow today.
By contrast, James Holmes has set up a couch in the midst of a field of yellow and blue flags, where he and his campaign staff are telling passerbys about his campaign for ASWOU Senate. Let me emphasize that: James Holmes is campaigning in the middle of a memorial dedicated to the Holocaust. A few adjectives come to mind to describe this. One is "unclassy." Another is "insensitive." Yet another is "What the hell, James Holmes?"
Okay, that last one isn't an adjective, but seriously. What the hell possibly made him think that this was a good idea?
James Holmes is one of the least respectful people I have ever met. While discussing the ASWOU budget and the merits of the proposal Brandon made that saved club funding with Christian Rogers, James decided to barrel into our conversation, despite apparently not understanding a thing about the issues involved. He was belligerent and asshole-ish. When I pointed out that Men's Rugby will be getting significantly more money than the got this year (half of their budget is significantly more than nothing at all), he interrupted me and said that the team cannot possibly fundraise half of their budget next year. I then told him that the team fundraises ALL of their budget right now and he interrupted again, with the gem of an answer "We don't fundraise at all; we pay for it out-of-pocket."
So, apparently the rugby team raises the funds from their own pockets. This sounds like fundraising to me, but then again, I'm not a disrespectful jerk with little to no understanding of how the ASWOU budget works like James Holmes, so you'll have to forgive me.
This is the man who is running for Senate President. He has no sense of tact, no sense of diplomacy, and no sense of the issues that our student government faces. I was already going to vote for Andre Unicume anyways, but now I will be clicking the mouse button extra-hard. Say what you will about any of the other candidates running for office this year, but they all have demonstrated that they respect the students of this university.
I respect James Holmes about as much as he respects you, me, or the victims of the Holocaust.
That is to say, I do not respect James Holmes at all.
I don't have any photos, but the sheer number of flags is astounding. I can only imagine what it would look like if there was a flag for each individual who died in the Holocaust.
It's a very moving tribute, and I'm glad the university does it each year.
Now, each year Holocaust Remembrance Day falls on a different date, because the holiday is based on the Hebrew calendar. This is the first year that it has fallen in the middle of ASWOU Election Campaign Week, and most of the candidates are treating today with the respect this day deserves. There are no political lawn signs up. Teresa Lucas and Jesse Alexander are limiting their canvassing to the Werner Center, where they do not distract from the gravitas that Holocaust Remembrance Day is designed to inspire. Brandon Neish and Andre Unicume are taking the day off from campaigning completely. All four of these candidates get major props from me for not trying to overshadow today.
By contrast, James Holmes has set up a couch in the midst of a field of yellow and blue flags, where he and his campaign staff are telling passerbys about his campaign for ASWOU Senate. Let me emphasize that: James Holmes is campaigning in the middle of a memorial dedicated to the Holocaust. A few adjectives come to mind to describe this. One is "unclassy." Another is "insensitive." Yet another is "What the hell, James Holmes?"
Okay, that last one isn't an adjective, but seriously. What the hell possibly made him think that this was a good idea?
James Holmes is one of the least respectful people I have ever met. While discussing the ASWOU budget and the merits of the proposal Brandon made that saved club funding with Christian Rogers, James decided to barrel into our conversation, despite apparently not understanding a thing about the issues involved. He was belligerent and asshole-ish. When I pointed out that Men's Rugby will be getting significantly more money than the got this year (half of their budget is significantly more than nothing at all), he interrupted me and said that the team cannot possibly fundraise half of their budget next year. I then told him that the team fundraises ALL of their budget right now and he interrupted again, with the gem of an answer "We don't fundraise at all; we pay for it out-of-pocket."
So, apparently the rugby team raises the funds from their own pockets. This sounds like fundraising to me, but then again, I'm not a disrespectful jerk with little to no understanding of how the ASWOU budget works like James Holmes, so you'll have to forgive me.
This is the man who is running for Senate President. He has no sense of tact, no sense of diplomacy, and no sense of the issues that our student government faces. I was already going to vote for Andre Unicume anyways, but now I will be clicking the mouse button extra-hard. Say what you will about any of the other candidates running for office this year, but they all have demonstrated that they respect the students of this university.
I respect James Holmes about as much as he respects you, me, or the victims of the Holocaust.
That is to say, I do not respect James Holmes at all.