Epic fail
So there's this email list I'm on that is for non-/light drinkers at my school, and I get this email...
>Date: 31 Jan 2009 16:35:08 -0500
>From: [sorority sister]
>Subject: Re: TONIGHT!
>To: [email list]
Hi Everyone!
Tonight there's a party at [sorority]!
Kind of a weird theme but it'll be fun to dance and hang out! I will be there and then I'm going to try to go to [dorm party] after.
I'd love to see you there!
***************************
[sorority]
Cougar Club Party
Tonight, 10 pm - 1 am
Kegs and introducing DJ [moniker]
Cauz Age Aint Nothin but a Number, Baby.
*****************************
I'm staring at the word "kegs" and doing a double-take, so I say, to the entire list:
"I would have thought that this list would be the last one ever used to advertise Greek parties with alcohol. I thought the entire point of this list was to promote sober activities and the sober counterculture (dunno about you guys, but being sober in a room full of drunk people doesn't count for me), and if I'm mistaken, then please take me off, thank you."
(My S.O. convinced me to tone down the original confrontational tone of the email.) So then in response, I see...
>Date: 31 Jan 2009 17:12:04 -0500
>From: [sorority sister]
>Subject: Re: TONIGHT!
>To: [email list]
I apologize if I offended anyone by sending out a blitz about a party at [sorority] where there will be alcohol present.
That being said, this list was created to provide support to non / light drinkers. In my opinion, we should promote events where we feel comfortable.
I consider myself a light drinker and I feel very comfortable at [sorority]. The dance parties are upstairs and the alcohol is served downstairs. I also just enjoy dancing with friends and I don't mind if there are other people who are drinking because i dont feel pressured at all to drink there.
I blitzed out in case any one else would share the same feeling and would feel more comfortable attending an event like this if they had a personal invite from a [sorority] sister who is also a light drinker.
I believe that there are a LOT of flaws with the Greek system but it is a very pertinent part of campus and [sorority] is really trying to be a space where students can feel comfortable.
Please let me know if you have any questions - I'm happy to discuss! and again im so sorry if I offended anyone.
I'm not offended, I just want this small area of my life to be free of spam from the Greek system, thank you very much. Don't worry, I get all the notices that go out to all of campus anyway. Also, a personal invite? Don't make me laugh. She just copied and pasted the standard blitz ad for this particular party, without taking into consideration who she was addressing the message to. That's the worst sort of impersonal and opportunistic self-aggrandizing. I am a member of a non-Greek organization on campus, and I would not dream of using this list to pimp alcoholic events that my social org was having. Most of the people on this list are strangers to each other. You can't just presume upon people's patience like we were all friends.
So there was one guy who blitzed out to the list backing me up, and then the sorority sister immediately covered ass. Apparently some people also blitzed her saying that they didn't mind, which is fine; it doesn't make me mind any more or less, although I wish they had blitzed out to the entire list so that we could have had a productive discussion publicly about it like the community that we're maybe supposed to be. I just feel kind of alone and outraged right now. Maybe the solution isn't any sort of institution like an official list that isn't built out of and reliant upon personal connections already linking the people concerned together.
~Razareil
>Date: 31 Jan 2009 16:35:08 -0500
>From: [sorority sister]
>Subject: Re: TONIGHT!
>To: [email list]
Hi Everyone!
Tonight there's a party at [sorority]!
Kind of a weird theme but it'll be fun to dance and hang out! I will be there and then I'm going to try to go to [dorm party] after.
I'd love to see you there!
***************************
[sorority]
Cougar Club Party
Tonight, 10 pm - 1 am
Kegs and introducing DJ [moniker]
Cauz Age Aint Nothin but a Number, Baby.
*****************************
I'm staring at the word "kegs" and doing a double-take, so I say, to the entire list:
"I would have thought that this list would be the last one ever used to advertise Greek parties with alcohol. I thought the entire point of this list was to promote sober activities and the sober counterculture (dunno about you guys, but being sober in a room full of drunk people doesn't count for me), and if I'm mistaken, then please take me off, thank you."
(My S.O. convinced me to tone down the original confrontational tone of the email.) So then in response, I see...
>Date: 31 Jan 2009 17:12:04 -0500
>From: [sorority sister]
>Subject: Re: TONIGHT!
>To: [email list]
I apologize if I offended anyone by sending out a blitz about a party at [sorority] where there will be alcohol present.
That being said, this list was created to provide support to non / light drinkers. In my opinion, we should promote events where we feel comfortable.
I consider myself a light drinker and I feel very comfortable at [sorority]. The dance parties are upstairs and the alcohol is served downstairs. I also just enjoy dancing with friends and I don't mind if there are other people who are drinking because i dont feel pressured at all to drink there.
I blitzed out in case any one else would share the same feeling and would feel more comfortable attending an event like this if they had a personal invite from a [sorority] sister who is also a light drinker.
I believe that there are a LOT of flaws with the Greek system but it is a very pertinent part of campus and [sorority] is really trying to be a space where students can feel comfortable.
Please let me know if you have any questions - I'm happy to discuss! and again im so sorry if I offended anyone.
I'm not offended, I just want this small area of my life to be free of spam from the Greek system, thank you very much. Don't worry, I get all the notices that go out to all of campus anyway. Also, a personal invite? Don't make me laugh. She just copied and pasted the standard blitz ad for this particular party, without taking into consideration who she was addressing the message to. That's the worst sort of impersonal and opportunistic self-aggrandizing. I am a member of a non-Greek organization on campus, and I would not dream of using this list to pimp alcoholic events that my social org was having. Most of the people on this list are strangers to each other. You can't just presume upon people's patience like we were all friends.
So there was one guy who blitzed out to the list backing me up, and then the sorority sister immediately covered ass. Apparently some people also blitzed her saying that they didn't mind, which is fine; it doesn't make me mind any more or less, although I wish they had blitzed out to the entire list so that we could have had a productive discussion publicly about it like the community that we're maybe supposed to be. I just feel kind of alone and outraged right now. Maybe the solution isn't any sort of institution like an official list that isn't built out of and reliant upon personal connections already linking the people concerned together.
~Razareil