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Topic Review (Newest First)
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| May 25th, 2004 01:47 PM | |||
| Perndog |
At my commencement I'll get a message of Christian love, service to the local and global community, and the importance of vocation. I've already heard those things. Can I graduate now? |
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| May 25th, 2004 10:34 AM | |||
| mburbank | You'll almost certainly get the standard "Ships in harbor ready to sail" speech everybody else gets or some variation therof. You should be head over heels with joy if anything happens that isn't deadly dull. | ||
| May 24th, 2004 10:48 PM | |||
| ScruU2wice |
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| May 24th, 2004 10:09 PM | |||
| ranxer |
DESPERATE LIBERALS BOOED AT COLLEGE GRADUATION ? Quote:
ahh, the downward spiral of loss of respect for everything. sign of the times ya might say. Quote:
one of the cornerstones of fascism is the silencing of people. we see it too often. but i wasnt there so it could be a misunderstunderstood/misrepresented/mistaken story oh and i don't enjoy cheering/clapping while someone is speaking either. |
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| May 24th, 2004 06:46 PM | |||
| Drew Katsikas | At my school's graduation, last Saturday, some ex-general badmouthed Operation Iraqi Freedom during his speech. | ||
| May 24th, 2004 12:54 PM | |||
| AChimp | Or, as in the fine tradition of Canadian Parliament, banging on your desk so loudly that no one can hear the speaker. | ||
| May 24th, 2004 10:32 AM | |||
| mburbank |
While political speech at commencement may indeed be wrong, it's also a time honored tradition. You'll find all sorts of offcials have announced mjor policy initiatives during commencement speeches. My commencement speaker was Weezy Jeferson, so I don't think anyone should be booing or complaining about anything. Personally, I think political speech at commencement is ideed bad behavior, although what Nalds considers about it desperate I'm not sure. That being said, I think booing a commencement speaker is also very bad behavior. I don't think booing, catcalling or hissing has ever been concidered polite bahvior anywhere at any time, regardless of the situation. The appropriatte, polite, accepted acts of protest in such situations are either leaving or turning your back. |
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| May 23rd, 2004 11:42 PM | |||
| Jeanette X |
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| May 23rd, 2004 11:09 PM | |||
| punkgrrrlie10 | Political speeches are just wrong during commencements. One of our honorary doctoral candidates started to talk about how shitty the AG was and how Bush sucked and everyone was just kind of quiet and didn't give him any applause. It wasn't b/c some people didn't agree (b/c I do) but it was just inappropriate. There are conservative students graduating too and you're basically telling them their ideals stink. They hear that on a daily basis anyway, it was supposed to be a happy day. Law students are a tad political so we go at it everyday with this crap. No one really wanted to hear a "side" at that time. I'm sure E.L. could have taken the time to go to some other college function if he wanted to speak and no one woulda stopped him. | ||
| May 23rd, 2004 10:40 PM | |||
| Emu |
I wonder if they have church brownies. 
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| May 23rd, 2004 10:36 PM | |||
| Brandon | It seems like both Bush-hating and Bush-loving have become religions. It's absurd. | ||
| May 23rd, 2004 10:18 PM | |||
| Ronnie Raygun | So the common theme between these last two posts is...."If you disagree with me you're an asshole!". | ||
| May 23rd, 2004 09:24 PM | |||
| Perndog | I agree that making a political speech at a college commencement was a shitty thing to do. Of course, the people who were outraged sound like assholes anyway. | ||
| May 23rd, 2004 09:15 PM | |||
| Sethomas | So... conservatives are assholes. Is that what you were trying to convey? | ||
| May 23rd, 2004 08:51 PM | |||
| Ronnie Raygun |
DESPERATE LIBERALS BOOED AT COLLEGE GRADUATION http://www.newsday.com/news/local/lo...ries-headlines Hofstra Graduation Speaker stopped speaking BY BART JONES STAFF WRITER May 23, 2004, 7:17 PM EDT E.L. Doctorow, one of the most celebrated writers in America, was nearly booed off the stage at Hofstra University Sunday when he gave a commencement address lambasting President George W. Bush and effectively calling him a liar. Booing that came mainly from the crowd in the stands became so intense that Doctorow stopped speaking at one point, showing no emotion as he stood silently and listened to the jeers. Hofstra President Stuart Rabinowitz intervened, and called on the audience to allow him to finish. He did, although some booing persisted. Doctorow, who spent virtually all of his 20-minute address in Hempstead criticizing Bush, told the crowd that like himself the president is a storyteller. But "sadly they are not good stories this president tells," he said. "They are not good stories because they are not true." That line provoked the first boos, along with scattered cheers. "One story he told was that the country of Iraq had nuclear and biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction and was intending shortly to use them on us," he said. "That was an exciting story all right, it was designed to send shivers up our spines. But it was not true. "Another story was that the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, was in league with the terrorists of al-Qaida," he said. "And that turned out to be not true. But anyway we went off to war on the basis of these stories." Those lines provoked an outburst of boos so loud the "Ragtime" author stopped the speech. Rabinowitz approached the podium and called for calm. "We value open discussion and debate," he said. "For the sake of your graduates, please let him finish." Some students and most of the faculty responded with a standing ovation, and Doctorow resumed speaking. He attacked Bush for giving the rich tax breaks, doing "a very poor job of combating terrorism" and allowing the government to subpoena libraries "to see what books you've been taking out." Many parents and relatives were livid over the address, saying afterward that a college graduation was not the place for a political speech. "If this would have happened in Florida, we would have taken him out" of the stadium, said Frank Mallafre, who traveled from Miami for his granddaughter's graduation. Bill Schmidt, 51, of North Bellmore, shared the outrage. "To ruin my daughter's graduation with politics is pathetic," the retired New York Police Department captain said. "I think the president is doing the best he can" in the war against terrorism. Many students also called Doctorow's speech inappropriate. Peter Hulse, 24, of Manchester, England, said, "He's a bit like Michael Moore," the documentary director who provoked booing at last year's Oscars' ceremony by criticizing the war in Iraq. But some defended Doctorow's speech. "I think he's entitled to his opinion and he's as American as anyone else," said a Hempstead resident who identified himself only as Frank and whose daughter was graduating. One Hofstra official said Sunday that while Doctorow had the right to say what he did, he violated the unwritten code that college commencement speeches should inspire and unite a student body. Provost Dr. Herman Berliner said he has been to numerous graduation ceremonies during the past 30 years and "I cannot remember a commencement speech that was as divisive as this commencement speech was." Berliner said it was relatively common during the Vietnam War, but "extraordinarily uncommon" in recent times for a speaker to have to stop speaking. Still, it has happened recently. Last year, for instance, New York Times reporter Chris Hedges was booed off the stage when he tried to deliver an anti-war speech at Rockford College in Illinois. Some Hofstra professors said Doctorow was on target in discussing the war. "I thought this was a totally appropriate place to talk about politics because that's the world our students are entering," said sociology professor Cythnia Bogard. "I only wish their parents had provided them a better role model." Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc. |
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