THIS IS OKLAHOMA, BITCHES
I told a few people about this, but I'd like to put it up here, too, because I love excellent arguments and verbal smackdowns, and as a result of my college's being willing to facilitate one publicly, I also love my college.
The Oklahoma Daily is our student newspaper. I read it over breakfast every morning. It's not a bad paper; pretty comprehensive for one published daily, the writing's good, the music news is always fun, and we get a weekly 'Stache Fact that I can hang on my wall. Anyway. over the past year or so there's been a debate going on on-campus about optional co-ed housing, in the interests of gay and transgender students who feel uncomfortable or threatened in exclusively same-sex housing. President Boren's now-famous explanation for why it probably wasn't going to happen: "This is Oklahoma."
Well, the process of integration has begun; there's apparently one dorm with co-ed suites, though not co-ed rooms. GLBTF is not satisfied, but others say they've already gone too far. The debate rages on.
The Daily Smackdown started on August 30th with Gender-Blind Housing Must Be an Option. Summary: Co-ed housing needs to happen. It's more like the real world, it's better for kids who don't fit traditional gender roles, it's progressive, people who choose it are not necessarily going to get pregnant. "Safe, reasonably affordable on-campus housing should be available to every student. That means every student, not just the ones the system was built to accommodate."
Yesterday, an opinion column responded to this: There Is No Room for Co-Ed Housing Arrangements. Summary: Co-ed housing leads to promiscuity and heavy drinking. Gay kids will have to deal with marginalization in the Real World, so they should just suck it up now, because the rest of Oklahoma isn't going to pander to their needs. Poor freshmen who can't afford single rooms are just SOL.
I was going to respond to this, but was thankfully beaten to it by somebody far more eloquent than I am: Co-Ed Housing Column Response Lacks Logic. Summary: "In short: accept the fact that you are wrong and unimportant and just pretend to blend in. Life isn’t fair, so the university you pay to attend shouldn’t be either. That, as I understand it, is [Kaiser's] solution to the housing debate."
All three of them made use of the phrase "This is Oklahoma," which is kind of cool because that stupid statement is now completely devoid of meaning. The first switched the definition, the second defended the original definition, and the third use it derisively. Now nobody can use it, because it has been used to defend three points of the same argument, and is therefore now blatant bullshit rather than just bullshit. Right on.
The comments on Kaiser's article (the second) are the most entertaining part about this, though. My favorite: "Please look up the definition of homosexual before you say putting a gay man in a room with a straight woman will result in pregnancy."
The Oklahoma Daily is our student newspaper. I read it over breakfast every morning. It's not a bad paper; pretty comprehensive for one published daily, the writing's good, the music news is always fun, and we get a weekly 'Stache Fact that I can hang on my wall. Anyway. over the past year or so there's been a debate going on on-campus about optional co-ed housing, in the interests of gay and transgender students who feel uncomfortable or threatened in exclusively same-sex housing. President Boren's now-famous explanation for why it probably wasn't going to happen: "This is Oklahoma."
Well, the process of integration has begun; there's apparently one dorm with co-ed suites, though not co-ed rooms. GLBTF is not satisfied, but others say they've already gone too far. The debate rages on.
The Daily Smackdown started on August 30th with Gender-Blind Housing Must Be an Option. Summary: Co-ed housing needs to happen. It's more like the real world, it's better for kids who don't fit traditional gender roles, it's progressive, people who choose it are not necessarily going to get pregnant. "Safe, reasonably affordable on-campus housing should be available to every student. That means every student, not just the ones the system was built to accommodate."
Yesterday, an opinion column responded to this: There Is No Room for Co-Ed Housing Arrangements. Summary: Co-ed housing leads to promiscuity and heavy drinking. Gay kids will have to deal with marginalization in the Real World, so they should just suck it up now, because the rest of Oklahoma isn't going to pander to their needs. Poor freshmen who can't afford single rooms are just SOL.
I was going to respond to this, but was thankfully beaten to it by somebody far more eloquent than I am: Co-Ed Housing Column Response Lacks Logic. Summary: "In short: accept the fact that you are wrong and unimportant and just pretend to blend in. Life isn’t fair, so the university you pay to attend shouldn’t be either. That, as I understand it, is [Kaiser's] solution to the housing debate."
All three of them made use of the phrase "This is Oklahoma," which is kind of cool because that stupid statement is now completely devoid of meaning. The first switched the definition, the second defended the original definition, and the third use it derisively. Now nobody can use it, because it has been used to defend three points of the same argument, and is therefore now blatant bullshit rather than just bullshit. Right on.
The comments on Kaiser's article (the second) are the most entertaining part about this, though. My favorite: "Please look up the definition of homosexual before you say putting a gay man in a room with a straight woman will result in pregnancy."