"Okay, now it's true, the majority of students these days are so cravenly PC they wouldn't know a good time if it was sitting on their face. But... there is one thing that will always unite us and them. They are young. They may not realize it yet, but they have the same raging hormones, the same self-destructive desire to get boldly trashed. Look out that window. That's not a protest...That is a cry for help!" (Jeremy Piven -- PCU)
So when did this campus lose its ability to take a joke, to laugh at itself and to just relax? When did we become so overtly oppressed and discontented that a questionable party e-mail would warrant a candlelight vigil? Recently, a certain fraternity extended a warm, if questionable, party invitation to the majority of campus. While the invitation satirized certain uncouth male behavior towards women within the confines of Greek basements, the author's intent was neither to offend nor to incite mass protest.
Despite these intentions, however, the e-mail did just that. Within hours of it being sent, several disgusted students moved to protest the ensuing festivities, ultimately pushing the fraternity to cancel its event.
And over what? While I neither advocate the objectification of women nor promote the use of offensive speech, I find it troubling that this campus has lost its ability to make light of certain situations.
Has Hanover really become so narrow-minded a place? Despite the fact that there are people dying in Sudan, that our atmosphere is warming at an unprecedented rate, and that Mind of Mencia continues to air on Comedy Central, many students find themselves more intent on protesting the use of a questionable e-mail than on curbing real tragedy across the world. Rather than working to deport Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock for starring in "The Lake House" (2006), our campus moves to oust the Student Assembly president over a petty squabble gloriously depicted in The Dartmouth.
Now before you begin to light your candles outside of my room, please hear me through. I do not contend that Dartmouth is bereft of intolerance or inequality. Nor am I minimizing the severity of past controversies. Certainly there are instances when humor crosses the line, as we witnessed this fall with regard to the front page of The Dartmouth Review. But has this line grown too strict as of late? Are we no longer granted the opportunity to make fun of ourselves -- and to poke fun at other people within reason?
Despite what some may have us believe, the Dartmouth campus is an extremely tolerant environment. With the exception of a few, the students here are generally open-minded and accepting of others -- a fact I take pride in as an undergraduate here. And that is why we cannot allow our political correctness to overshadow this tolerance, as has recently been the case.
While there are always causes worth fighting for or against, we must learn to pick our battles. Why is it that no one protests the off-campus "Pimps and Hoes" parties that litter our campus annually? Do these raucous events not venerate the role of the American pimp? Do they not objectify women as well? The fight against injustice remains a cornerstone of our great nation -- but so too does free speech.
As Winter Carnival approaches (with the healthy debauchery that typically follows), I propose that we take the weekend off from our roles as social monitors. Since 1910, Dartmouth students have celebrated Winter Carnival despite fantastic worldwide discord, insurmountable national social conflict and even the tragic prevalence of the turtleneck and white-washed jeans in 1992.
Each year, undergraduates enjoy an absurd weekend marked by beach volleyball, the warm sand and all the sun one could hope for. Oh wait, that's the University of Miami -- sorry. Students of old learned to have a good time, despite the fact that the world is not perfect.
So for the time being, let us remind one another that there is far more that unites than divides us. Let us save our energies for the real threats to civilization and, in the meantime, try to enjoy ourselves. This weekend, let us live by the words of Mr. Piven and put down our arms: "We can finally say that when people are having a good time, drinking some beer, throwing some meat... we're not gonna protest?"
