I knew about the whole booing McCain deal in that sad excuse of a student body called The New School, and I got upset that kids that can't even begin to fathom what sacrifice, honor, courage, or committment mean, booed one of our nation's war heros. I let it slide believing that this was just an insignificant event in a life full of this crap. I did some further research into the events and I can't believe what I'm reading now. They're calling this Jan Rohe ***** a "fearless" individual.

I read her actual speech (available here:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jean-rohe/...21358.html). Not incredibly insulting, but the cocky attitude of a college graduate even remotely trying to compare herself to a distinguished war vet and former POW gets my ears burning. WHO THE HELL DOES SHE THINK SHE IS?!

Next I read this review from some person I've never heard of named Arianna Huffington. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/2006052...ost/021402) In her op piece, she praises her actions as being fearless. Ok, now I'm about to explode.

Finally, some well deserved "balanced" views on the subject, from everyone's favorite conservative "truth-finder". (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucac/20060525/cm...ealcourage)

Sorry, I just had to vent. I can't stand people like this Rohe and Huffington person. THESE are the people that are ruining our nation. Its one thing to disagree with a person and voice your opinion (in the appropriate setting). Its another to lead an organized, hatefilled assault on a war veteran on national television.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/russell-sh...21441.html

HOLY ****! WHAT THE **** IS WRONG WITH KIDS THESE DAYS?!?!? Condi Rice got booed at BC?!

i don't know i don't believe in the idea of a government but hey thats me i'm not gonna boo anyone over it.

Edit: Father is 100% disabled Nam Vet.

I agree that it is totally disrespectful. You may not agree with the person who is speaking, but that person was chosen by the school, which you chose to attend. Pay some respect whether you agree with their beliefs or not.

There is nothing courageous about booing and yelling things at a speaker. They can't even defend themsleves. This doesn't surprise me though.

T-Monay820 Wrote:Next I read this review from some person I've never heard of named Arianna Huffington.

Her claim to fame is that her husband spent some obscene amount of his own money (just looked it up -- $28 million) running as a Republican for the Senate against Dianne Feinstein in California, then lost and announced he was gay and left her.

Now she runs some leftist blog that Yahoo news articles love to link to.

Sorry, you don't have to like it, but people have the right to express their opinions. And using all the retoric about being a war hero is cheap. I don't care what you did, if you deserve to get booed for something else, you should get booed. Just because you are a war hero, doesn't mean you are exempted from criticism ever again.

I don't agree with everything that was said, but don't expect me to bash anyone because they dissented.

Bourgeois_Rage Wrote:Sorry, you don't have to like it, but people have the right to express their opinions. And using all the retoric about being a war hero is cheap. I don't care what you did, if you deserve to get booed for something else, you should get booed. Just because you are a war hero, doesn't mean you are exempted from criticism ever again.

I don't agree with everything that was said, but don't expect me to bash anyone because they dissented.

anyperson giving a speech doesnt deserve to get booed. just dont clap for them.

faet Wrote:

Bourgeois_Rage Wrote:Sorry, you don't have to like it, but people have the right to express their opinions. And using all the retoric about being a war hero is cheap. I don't care what you did, if you deserve to get booed for something else, you should get booed. Just because you are a war hero, doesn't mean you are exempted from criticism ever again.

I don't agree with everything that was said, but don't expect me to bash anyone because they dissented.

anyperson giving a speech doesnt deserve to get booed. just dont clap for them.

I guess I would disagree.

And I'd be happy to boo even if the speaker was invited by the administration. That's MY right, small as it may be.

College adminstrators are about as bad as you can get, pretentious, stupid and political. They often invite people who don't deserve time and attention.

DrTorch Wrote:

faet Wrote:

Bourgeois_Rage Wrote:Sorry, you don't have to like it, but people have the right to express their opinions. And using all the retoric about being a war hero is cheap. I don't care what you did, if you deserve to get booed for something else, you should get booed. Just because you are a war hero, doesn't mean you are exempted from criticism ever again.

I don't agree with everything that was said, but don't expect me to bash anyone because they dissented.

anyperson giving a speech doesnt deserve to get booed. just dont clap for them.

I guess I would disagree.

And I'd be happy to boo even if the speaker was invited by the administration. That's MY right, small as it may be.

College adminstrators are about as bad as you can get, pretentious, stupid and political. They often invite people who don't deserve time and attention.

That might be, but you decided to go there. In my opinion that means that you should respect whoever the administration picks to speak at your commencement. I'm not saying you need to agree with the speaker or that you couldn't voice your opinion to the administration or the newspaper, but while the speaker is speaking he/she deserves some level of respect.

If I was the administrator at one of these schools, I would forcibly remove these students.

blah Wrote:

DrTorch Wrote:

faet Wrote:

Bourgeois_Rage Wrote:Sorry, you don't have to like it, but people have the right to express their opinions. And using all the retoric about being a war hero is cheap. I don't care what you did, if you deserve to get booed for something else, you should get booed. Just because you are a war hero, doesn't mean you are exempted from criticism ever again.

I don't agree with everything that was said, but don't expect me to bash anyone because they dissented.

anyperson giving a speech doesnt deserve to get booed. just dont clap for them.

I guess I would disagree.

And I'd be happy to boo even if the speaker was invited by the administration. That's MY right, small as it may be.

College adminstrators are about as bad as you can get, pretentious, stupid and political. They often invite people who don't deserve time and attention.

That might be, but you decided to go there. In my opinion that means that you should respect whoever the administration picks to speak at your commencement. I'm not saying you need to agree with the speaker or that you couldn't voice your opinion to the administration or the newspaper, but while the speaker is speaking he/she deserves some level of respect.

If I was the administrator at one of these schools, I would forcibly remove these students.

I wouldn't call it respect, but I would call it class. Not all speakers deserve my respect, but having a little class would dictate that I shut up while the person is speaking even if I don't agree with them.

blah Wrote:That might be, but you decided to go there. In my opinion that means that you should respect whoever the administration picks to speak at your commencement.

I don't know. In a very real sense it would be MY commencement, not theirs. I paid them, and I am the one who did the work. The adminstration works for me...at least they're supposed to.

Of course you're never going to find a person to make everyone happy...but you don't have to purposely piss off the graduates either.

But then again, I never liked college administrators.

You've never heard of Arianna Huffington? Seriously, what kind of bubble have you been living in? She's a very wealthy person (or was that her husband's wealth?) in CA that used to be a strong GOPer out there. She ran for govenor of CA against Arnold (can't spell his last name), but then switched sides and has been a very vocal anti-Iraq proponent since.

Of course, CA Republican is about the same as a southern Democrat.

Oh yeah, back to the topic. I don't believe anyone should be booed when they're invited to speak at a school. I don't give 2 sh!ts if you disagree with them or their views; they should be more respectful of the situation and moment, if not the person speaking.

99Tiger Wrote:Oh yeah, back to the topic. I don't believe anyone should be booed when they're invited to speak at a school. I don't give 2 sh!ts if you disagree with them or their views; they should be more respectful of the situation and moment

As in, "Someone has invaded my commencement and made it unpleasant." The event isn't for the speaker, nor the administration. It's for the graduates.

DrTorch Wrote:

99Tiger Wrote:Oh yeah, back to the topic. I don't believe anyone should be booed when they're invited to speak at a school. I don't give 2 sh!ts if you disagree with them or their views; they should be more respectful of the situation and moment

As in, "Someone has invaded my commencement and made it unpleasant." The event isn't for the speaker, nor the administration. It's for the graduates.

Although it is for the graduates, the ceremony isn't just about one graduate. As you said, it is impossible to get a speaker that would please everyone. Who do you get? I tried to think of someone that wouldn't piss anybody off, but yet had that all important redognition factor. The closest I could get was Tom Hanks. Although he did just star in that anti-Catholic movie.

This highlights the real problem with this generation. It is the "all about me" generation. This would actually be a good lesson, showing that it might sometimes be about someone else and that you might actually have to deal with that. But someone would actually have to tell them to stop.

Does the speaker make or break your graduation? I don't even remember what was said at mine. Probably something about going into the real world...yadda yadda yadda.

DrTorch Wrote:

99Tiger Wrote:Oh yeah, back to the topic. I don't believe anyone should be booed when they're invited to speak at a school. I don't give 2 sh!ts if you disagree with them or their views; they should be more respectful of the situation and moment

As in, "Someone has invaded my commencement and made it unpleasant." The event isn't for the speaker, nor the administration. It's for the graduates.

Well, in that case, let's just skip the stupid boring ceremony and start the party.

I would just as soon have skipped every graduation I was in or any of my family or friends. I did skip the one for my master's. They are just a rite of passage, and a particularly boring one at that.

But if you decide to go, you should be a part of it, not a distraction. If booing is OK, how about mooning the speaker? That also shows disagreement and disrespect. How about attending in a gorilla suit? How about coming drunk and puking on stage? How far are you willing to go with this its-for-the-grads-let-them-do-as-they-want crap?

OptimisticOwl Wrote:I would just as soon have skipped every graduation I was in or any of my family or friends.

My undergrad insitition actually required attendance at graduation. Although I'm not quite sure what they could do to you if you skipped it.

It sucked.

At my PhD ceremony, they gave an honorary doctorate to Rose Mofford. Guess that put me in MY place, as it showed what my degree was worth.

Bourgeois_Rage Wrote:Sorry, you don't have to like it, but people have the right to express their opinions. And using all the retoric about being a war hero is cheap. I don't care what you did, if you deserve to get booed for something else, you should get booed. Just because you are a war hero, doesn't mean you are exempted from criticism ever again.

I don't agree with everything that was said, but don't expect me to bash anyone because they dissented.

I never said just because you're a war vet you get a free pass from criticism. Bush, Kerry, and McCain all have things to be criticised for, and were all war vets. But there are appropriate situations and ways to handle addressing those criticisms. This graduating class, led by Rohe, set a prime example of how not to display a disagreement by attempting to just embarrass someone where they could not defend themselves.

This year we had a speaker (granted, it wasn't a graduation ceremony) by the name of George Stephanopoulos. His advertising flyer they put up around campus said one thing, but his speech said something else that night. And his speech was basically a campaign stump for Hillary. Yet all 800 member of the Corps of Cadets sat through the speech (about 90% of which we disagreed on, mostly his points on the military) and applauded him at the end. Then we went back to the dorms and griped to one another about his blatant ignorance of the military. Yeah, it was our right to turn our backs and boo him, but we didn't. The point is, that we honored the fact that he had been invited as a guest of the University and that he deserved our respect as a visitor to our campus and that we would hear him out.