Santa Cruz's One Diversity Issue

There are a lot of things I like about UC Santa Cruz. We're getting a solid UC quality education, the faculty actually cares about undergraduates, it's a beautiful campus, etc. etc. Also, for the most part, the school boasts an extremely zealous commitment to accepting every kind of person imaginable. But in regards to this respect for diversity, UCSC falls short in one way, a way that seems to go unnoticed by a lot of people. And this is where my critisizm begins.

It's great that people of all races, creeds, genders, ages, sexual orientations, and financial backgrounds are accepted here, but unfortunately, I can't say that's true for people with certain political beliefs.

In fact, I've viewed animosity towards people with rightward leanings on a disturbing scale. Even as a moderate, I've gotten looks for not baring the same foaming-at-the-mouth-liberal view points that are so very popular here. It's disgusting. Have a personal anecdote or two.

Anecdote #1
I'm seeing this girl at the beginning of my Freshman year. To put it bluntly, she's the epitome of the idiot political extremist and the stereotypical uber-left product of Berkeley, California. We were together right around the '04 presidential election and of course the subject was brought up in conversation. To say the very least, she did not like George Bush, and anybody who did was, as she so eloquently put it, a complete moron. I think she would have murdered the man in his sleep had she the chance, I kid you not. Kerry, on the other hand, was God's gift to mankind.

All I said in response to this was that I did not appreciate some of the decisions Bush's administration had made and that I was probably going to vote for Kerry, not because I really liked the guy, but because he was a better alternative than another four years of W. I also mentioned that there were a few things I thought Bush's administration had done right.

This of course, threw her into a frenzy. She was "very dissapointed in me" for not vehemently hating a man I only knew through sound bites and not wanting to stab him while he slumbered. I'm sure her perception of my intelligence was sullied as well, because only morons don't want to kill the president.

I wasn't with her when Kerry anounced his concession, but according to her, when it happened she began crying and flailing about hysterically, knocking a lamp off her desk and breaking her laptop's keyboard. When she told me about this, she wasn't embarassed, she was proud: that just proved how much she cared about politics. WOW!!!!

You know, thinking back on it, I don't think I had much in common with this girl. In fact, I kinda hope something eliminates her from the gene pool before she manages to reproduce, which apparently, she was very keen on doing. Great!

Anecdote #2

This particular story actually involves that mysterious portal to the world of public transportaion, the bus stop. The bus stops on our campus typically have a place where people can stick up posters regarding events on campus.

So I'm waiting for the bus, and waiting with me are a guy and two fairly attractive girls. I don't know any of them. A car pulls up to the curb with four guys inside. One of them gets out with a flier and staples it to the poster board. It's an advertisement for a meeting of the college republicans. Woo-hoo!!!

The guy gets back into the car and they pull away. Once the car is safely out of view, that other guy who was waiting at the bus stop walks up to the fresh poster. "You know what? No," he says to anybody who can hear him. He rips it down, crumples it up like the true revolutionary that he is, and tosses it in the garbage. He then turns to the two girls, who look a little shocked, and announces haughtily, "Who here at this school is a republican anyway?"

You fucking douche bag. You cock-sucking toady. You malignent, festering little cold sore on the face of humanity. "Who here at this school is a republican?" How about those four guys in the car, you insipient sack of festering cat shit? You flake of badly digested tofu clinging desperately to the hair of Satan's flaming ass-crack.

Gee, maybe I'm over-reacting here, but just look at this idiot. He's obviously liberal, which means he probably believes in freedom of speech, while firmly believing that conservatives don't, which is also bullshit. Well, I don't consider my speech free when I see a poster put up in a public place only to be torn down by somebody because he doesn't agree with what it represents.

I'm almost as ashamed of myself as I am of that guy for not saying anything to him. The holocaust happened because pussies like me stood idly by while arrogant morons like that stupid twit did whatever they wanted.

Anecdote #3

This one also involves bus stop posters, though it isn't so much about a lack of political acceptance here at UC Santa Cruz. It's more of a testament to the incredible level of extreme thinking that occurs here, followed by the inevitable hypocracy that comes as a result.

Right, so I see two posters at the bus stop, both of them assuredly put up by the same crowd of self proclaimed revolutionaries, freedom fighters, and Che Gueverra Tee Shirt Wearers.

The first one says "Kick Military Recruiters Out of UCSC." Fine, whatever, I personally don't care if they come here or not, so long as their absense doesn't effect funding for the school. They're not forcing me to do anything if they show up either.

The second poster, juxtaposed directly beneath the first, reads, "Fabio Martinez, Militant Revolutionary Speaker, appearing at yadayada auditorium on campus, blah blah blah."

If Hyprocraties was still alive and earning royalties on every hypocracy that is born on this campus, he'd make Donald Trump look like a pauper. Oh, the military is certainly militant, but they're not revolutionary. I guess that's what makes it okay to be a militant revolutionary.

These people say war isn't the answer. I agree in most cases. Yet they snap their hipster fingers to these "militant" revolutionaries. What's the difference? Both groups believe busting heads will solve the world's problems.