We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
|
Censor says: I am trying to help Regular readers of this blog will know that the student newspaper at the University of St Andrews was evicted by the student union after it fell foul of the union’s “Equal Opportunities Policy”. One of the principal student union officials responsible for the ban says that he is just trying to help students:
I am so close to resigning from the Union. I don’t think that people realise that I spend all my time working there and sit up at night working to represent students better. And with Preston [a member of the Liberty Club] trying his hardest to fuck people over, it just compounds the problem. I’m not trying to run a fatwah, I am trying to help students. But no. Let’s ignore that and blame me because we all love the Saint [newspaper], don’t we?
Believe it or not, this virtuous student censor’s job title in the union is “SS Officer”.
|
Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
|
Ah Diddums – is there any way we can help him, like suggesting he fucks off home to Mummy….
Tim,
Read the comment section at the site where they are suggesting that the individuals be disciplined.
Har har, whinejournal/lievjurnel. Always a good place for drama. <3
I dread to think that these people are typical of the undergrads that populate modern day Academia. If they are, then there really is little hope for the future. So called adults with the intellect of the kindergarden, and a ‘poor little me’ attitude… they are losers before they even get started in the real world.
Knobs like this guy were all over “liberal” arts colleges when I attended them. I do see any reason why there would be fewer today. The sad/scary thing is they tend to graduate and become “civil” servants.
“mr. comedy” my ass.
emy,
If it’s any consolation I don’t think that people like the ironically named SS Officer ‘Mr Comedy’ are typical of today’s undergraduates but his classically socialist self-obsession with, as he sees it, his lone crusade to end some perceived act of oppression and stand up for the ‘common man’ is represenative of the attitude of a lot of ‘high-ranking’ Students’ Union staff across Britain.
Sadly, as Andrew Ian Dodge has already pointed out, the majority of these ‘PC’ SU staffers continue to spread misery even after they leave their Students’ Unions as soon as they become aware that they can have much greater, better-paid interfering roles working in the civil service.
Is it student union membership compulsory in the UK? It is here in Australia. The previous government in my state, Western Australia, was the first in Oz to make student union membership voluntary. This caused a number of bloated, inefficient and (often) corrupt student unions to fail spectacularly and noisily; around three quarters of the student body decided that the union didn’t represent their interests. The unions that survived were forced to slim down and exploit the monopolies granted to them on campus – they own the tavern, food outlets and various other businesses. They should be making tonnes out that stuff; I don’t know why they need to charge fees at all. Anyway, they didn’t really cut back any of the not-particularly-useful services they offer to students – mainly because they didn’t/don’t offer much. Not really
much there to cut back, you know. Oh hang on, one odious student unionist chap was decrying the fact that the union at my uni could no longer afford to run a shuttle bus around campus. Boo hoo. It’s really quite a pathetic situation.
Oh, the epilogue to this tale is that a Labor government was elected in WA, and they repealed the volutary student unionism laws. So it’s back to being forced to pay for a whingeing lefty soapbox and gravy train.
Definitely an embryonic council employee.
I’m suffering for my art,
Students’ union membership isn’t compulsory in any part of the UK, to the best of my knowledge.
Howerver, at a number of British universities membership is handled on an ‘opt out’ basis, with all new undergraduates’ personal details being passed to their students’ union and, in some cases, university administration paying a non-refundable membership fee on behalf of new undergraduates.
For students who are automatically made members of their students’ unions the ‘opt out’ option is unattractive because not only is there no money to be saved by choosing this route but non-students’ union members are often denied access to facilities owned by the students’ union (shops and bars) as well as being denied membership of societies and sporting clubs affiliated with the students’ union. In other words: I don’t know anyone with automatic membership of a students’ union who has ever opted out. On the other hand, some British universities leave the decision entirely in the hands of their students, who are also then left to pay their membership fee voluntarily.
The compulsory membership system in Australia sounds awful, particularly if students are effectively being taxed by students’ unions for going to university.
Stephen – It’s a disgrace! In Western Australia, because we had voluntary student unionism (VSU) for a while, when the government re-introduced the compulsory system, the fee was set considerably lower (AU$120 – US$90) than it was before VSU. Over east, where they’ve never had VSU, the annual fee is approximately AU$400, which must be paid, otherwise you can’t sit your exams. If you’re very poor or from some other background that the union feels is disadvantaged, you can get a discounted rate.
If you ever tell one of the collectivist types who run these unions that their fees are theft and they’re denying people the right of freedom of association, they say “But we’re representing all students, including yourself.” Tell them that the lefty drivel they espouse (free uni education, hideous wanky “inclusion” bollocks etc etc) definitely doesn’t represent me, and they say “Well join the guild and change it from within!” They just don’t seem to understand that the vast majority of students aren’t at uni to indulge in petty student politicking.
Regards,
When I ran for Hull Union president I campaigned to pull out of the NUS because it cost a great deal of money and was worth sod all. (Even worse, thanks to them beer prices were higher!) Needless to say all those nitwits who wanted union politics to lead to a place in Labour politics were a wee bit angry and decried me as a populist. (Nasty campaign tactics followed even thought I was “not a threat”.)
The 1994 Higher Education Act made student union membership “voluntary”. But universities (and hence taxpayers) are still forced to pay for the “representation” offered by universities. And unions have a priveledged position in university life, making it very difficult to not be a member.