Rant follows: if you have particularly strong feelings about SweatFree protests, don’t troll me please, love, mary

Read this first.

I’ve been getting those emails too, and they, not unlike the hunger strike in White Plaza this fall, drive me absolutely up the wall.

So, why do I think this is moronic? (Because, oh BOY, do I.)

Well, we can start with the excessive punctuation (always an excellent indicator of intelligence), and end up with the fact that no one trying to recruit people to their protests and causes has been presenting any sort of factual support for their claims about Stanford’s (apparently) barbaric practices. If we accept their word that there is a wrong to protest against without demanding proof of this wrong, then are we simply protesting to protest? I’m on a lot of Stanford lists and haven’t gotten a single email asking me to join a protest that presents any sort of facts. They’re all solidly founded in emotional appeals, and emotional appeals only. While the SweatFree Stanford website offers that Stanford has “historically been opposed to participating in either organization [the WRC or the DSP],” it offers no statistics, no testimonies, nothing to indicate that Stanford is doing anything unconscionable in its policies. This is not, of course, proof positive that it’s not, but given the hysteria of the SweatFree organization, I find it highly unlikely that they’d fail to provide actual examples of Stanford’s transgressions if any actually existed.

Where is the proof? Why are we, as students of a highly demanding university, failing to demand a high standard of proof from our peers?

The issue is carefully skirted in vague language in every sort of documentation I can find, from the SweatFree website to the articles they cite in support of their recent sit-in efforts. They speak of using sit-ins as a last resort, of being driven to these extremes, but  what evidence do they provide of their oppression? That after agreeing with them in a meeting in January, President Henessy has done little? What do they expect from the president? He is not in control of the printing and branding of Stanford gear. In fact, most of that is controlled by the Stanford Bookstore, a franchise of efollet.com, or by the Stanford Student Store, an independent organization. Protest, by all means, but for the love of god, do it to someone who has the option of changing that against which you protest!

For that matter, by staging a sit-in, protesters link their efforts irreconcilably with those of civil rights and Vietnam War protesters of the 1960’s. Is it right to compare those incredibly vital issues to your own personal 11 person stand against a man who already agrees with you?

For some reason, this irks me. Like, a lot.