Sunday, February 16, 2014

Global & Gender Issues; Frosty’s Donuts; and Peace and Reconciliation

Looking at this title, you’re probably wondering whether we’ve gone off the deep end.  Don’t worry; we went off the deep end many years ago, and we keep coming back up for air, just long enough to offer an observation or two on the passing folly.

                             

In this case, we’re harking back to a post of not much more than two years ago…..December, 2011.  It’s this one: http://othersideofbrunswick.blogspot.com/2011/12/friday-frivolities.html

Can you believe it?  At that point in time, Frosty’s had not yet reopened under new ownership, and here they are, just two years later, successful as all get out, and as best we can tell, making sure that their delectable offerings are available every day, even if they frequently run out earlier than we might like.  They have outlets in Bath, Freeport, and elsewhere.  Their wares are available at Hannafords, Bow Street Market, and other ‘fine establishments.’

Back to that post.  It talked about a Coastal Journal article discussing the ‘occupiers’ of that time.  It included these passages:

Brunswick resident Joe (redacted) said that while Americans are typically greedy, he thinks people deserve a lot in life they can't get.

As we said then, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over.  That’s either one of the most inscrutable comments we’ve read in a long time, or an example of incompetent reporting and editing.  Or, more likely, a combination of both, considering those involved.’

We added these words from the article:

Dan (redacted) is Mike's son, and is a graduate student at the University of Maine studying peace and reconciliation.

“All of these issues are connected,” he said, referencing Mahatma Ghandi, who spoke of economic violence and of his studies. “The one percent on top of the hierarchy exploits everyone else.”

                      

We moved on to the next highlighted ‘victim’ in the CJ article:

Here’s another example of a total lack of common sense, or if you prefer, cluelessness amidst our current generation of college students:

For Betsy (redacted,) who is from Brunswick and is studying global and gender issues at New York City's New School, the Occupy movement goes beyond economic frustration. Like a lot of college students and graduates, she and her mother are deep in debt to financial institutions that funded her education. She (sic) believes, however, the Occupy movement also involves human rights issues, class warfare, and racism. She has participated in Occupy protests in New York.

We had these comments at that time:

Good luck, Betsy, on finding a job as a global gender specialist, or analyst, or whatever (hamburger flipper?) once you graduate.  That’s a fine choice of major, right up there with pursuing government dependency studies.  Perhaps you’re minoring in the latter, since we have a hunch you believe that other people (id est, taxpayers) should be funding your education, even though there were a lot less expensive options open to you, and majors that might actually prepare you to make your own way after graduation.

Call us unjust and insensitive, but we don’t have a bit of sympathy to spare on those who have allowed themselves to be sent down the primrose path of aimlessness, often with the encouragement of their parents.

So here we are.  Which leads us to ask whether anyone can tell us how we got here.

No matter; we have some updated information on Betsy.  Since she’s become a very public figure since our original post, we no longer feel obligated to redact her name.  She is, in fact, Betsy Catlin of Brunswick. 

    

You can read about how she’s turned that ‘global and gender issues’ credential from New York City’s New School into a major return on her’s and her mother’s investment in her education.

The first place you can do that is here:

http://www.pressherald.com/news/Portland_tar_sands_protesters_chain_themselves_to_downtown_bank_doors_.html

And then you can read about her other exploits here:

http://wagingnonviolence.org/author/crysbelandbetsy/

Remember what they say: the children are our future.  And we have little doubt that Betsy and her mother have either already found, or are working hard to find, a way for the rest of us to pay for the debt they incurred in funding her ‘education.’

To which we say fuggedddabouddit.  You made the choice, you pay for it. 

And don’t come looking to us for one fracking cent of what you spent on those four years of self-absorbed and irrelevant ‘higher education.’

              

No comments:

Post a Comment