(Untitled)

[notgoblin]

This has got me fuming. I also object to the timing: o hai terrified freshers!

Would writing to the editor be a good idea, or just give the damn article more publicity than it deserves? Plenty of people have already commented and said lots of what I want to say, after all, and I fear anything I could write would just end up being too bitchy to be

Comments

[notgoblin]

I agree with you...and I think part of the reason the article made me so angry was because a lot of what she said was actually recognisable! I love Oxford but it isn't perfect and it can be really hard to stay emotionally afloat. I don't think it's coincidental at all that you and I and others have had such feelings. Except when I'm feeling really negative and cynical, I can look at this as the natural flip-side of being in a pressurised environment surrounded by intense, intelligent and high-powered people.

I don't doubt that she had a shit time here, and that other people do too, but what pisses me off is a) her total inability to take responsibility for her actions ("It fed me drugs and got me a low 2.2") and b) the fact that in writing an article that's so unnecessarily vitriolic and toxic she's perpetuating the problem by putting off people who might actually want to go to Oxford, make the best of it and make the place better by their presence. To me, it smacks of "I didn't get a great degree so I think I'll shift the focus away from that by blaming the institution for the fact that I did no work and was a total waster, and I couldn't immediately find a group of friends who would pander to me and indulge me in my self-destruction so I'll just insult the entire population of the university by appealing to cheap and obvious stereotypes".

[andy_godfrey]

Yes ... I think that exactly captures my problems with the article without denying what was true in it. I think I will join that Facebook group after all!

Good to hear from you btw! x