How to be an SC at a university!

[fireheart17]

Well 150 people rocked up for the rally (bearing in mind it is still mid-sem break) thankfully.

The faeces weren't human, but the president of the union at the uni pointed out that while it was unclear, the students still felt disenfranchised and they did have every right to do the rally.

[Mr Hero]

Real mature attitude to have there.

I read this as "manure attitude"

No matter what lifestyles you agree or disagree with, no one deserves to have their places vandalized.

[telecom_goddess]

Well 150 people rocked up for the rally (bearing in mind it is still mid-sem break) thankfully.

The faeces weren't human, but the president of the union at the uni pointed out that while it was unclear, the students still felt disenfranchised and they did have every right to do the rally.

Ok well if they weren't human that throws out the drunk theory and proves it was vandalism for one reason or another. Besides the fact that it's gross it's a health hazard to the extreme.

[Greenday]

Ok well if they weren't human that throws out the drunk theory and proves it was vandalism for one reason or another. Besides the fact that it's gross it's a health hazard to the extreme.

Ok, it's obvious vandalism. That doesn't provide any other motives or clues as to who did it or why.

[smileyeagle1021]

Ok, it's obvious vandalism. That doesn't provide any other motives or clues as to who did it or why.

Thank you for being a voice of reason in this.
Could easily be a personal grudge, could have been some jackass who just went into a room at random, could be a homophobic attack, could be all of the above or none of the above. Always assuming something is motivated by homophobia is only going to make it sound like we are crying wolf when real incidents of homophobia occur.

[wolfie]

What I don't understand is how the vandal (regardless of his motive) was able to function after leaving his brain in the microwave.

[smileyeagle1021]

What I don't understand is how the vandal (regardless of his motive) was able to function after leaving his brain in the microwave.

fratching needs to steel the like button from facebook just for this post

[Rageaholic]

What I don't understand is how the vandal (regardless of his motive) was able to function after leaving his brain in the microwave.

Or function in the first place.

[Greenday]

Thank you for being a voice of reason in this.
Could easily be a personal grudge, could have been some jackass who just went into a room at random, could be a homophobic attack, could be all of the above or none of the above. Always assuming something is motivated by homophobia is only going to make it sound like we are crying wolf when real incidents of homophobia occur.

If they figured out who did it and the reason had nothing to do with homophobia, it'd make the group look bad from blaming it on straight people for being homophobes.

[HYHYBT]

One thing that seems to be lacking in this discussion is a recognition of the difference between believing one of the possible explanations is the most likely and assuming it absolutely and definitely to be what really happened.

Unfortunately, "why" is apparently now an unfair question, so I won't ask it here at this time.

[Nekojin]

I think it's worth pointing out that alcohol, even in excess quantities, doesn't radically change a person's personality. If a person's an asshole while drunk, odds are pretty good that they're an asshole while sober (just with more discretion on when to restrain their assholish impulses). You don't really get a pass on, "I was drunk when I did it, so it doesn't count. That wasn't really me."

[crashhelmet]

I think it's worth pointing out that alcohol, even in excess quantities, doesn't radically change a person's personality. If a person's an asshole while drunk, odds are pretty good that they're an asshole while sober (just with more discretion on when to restrain their assholish impulses). You don't really get a pass on, "I was drunk when I did it, so it doesn't count. That wasn't really me."

There's an old saying "You never do anything you don't want to do when you're drunk." The same can be applied to what you say.

Alcohol lowers your inhibitions. Sure, you might be able to talk yourself out of doing something when you're sober. But the things you do when you're drunk are because you want to do them. Don't blame the influence of it or others. Blame yourself.

[HYHYBT]

One of the reasons I don't drink, aside from not even enjoying it in the first place, is that keeping my internal censor on the job is hard enough without it.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

If they figured out who did it and the reason had nothing to do with homophobia, it'd make the group look bad from blaming it on straight people for being homophobes.

Up until this point I agreed with you on many of your points. However there is nothing in the article that says that this is a homosexuals-only witch hunt going after straights and homophobic behavior.

If it's anything like the anti-homophobic rallies that I've been to, they're simply saying that like 'em or lump 'em, homophobic hate crimes, bullying, and the like are no longer going to be tolerated.

From their Facebook page...

The Adelaide University Student Representative Council and queer students at the university of Adelaide call on you to join us at 12pm Friday at the cloisters to say we won’t accept homophobia at this university. We call on you to gather in support of diverse and safe campuses. We call on queer people and allies to come together because we will not let these behaviours that are designed to make students feel unwelcome, scared, or disgusted, make anyone feel unwelcome, scared, or disgusted - instead they will unite us in anger, solidarity and support.

Thanks to my friends who are gay I've been to my fair share of them and I've never felt unwelcome there nor have I felt like I was the target at the rally simply because I was straight. And most of them started off with the same message...

A call to homosexuals as well as those who are "Straight but not narrow".

You could be right and this was the act of a jackass who wanted to throw rocks at the hornet's nest to see if anyone got stung. I can't remember the name but another poster could be correct in that this is the act of a homosexual in order to have an excuse to hold the rally to further the cause. It could be just as it says on the tin and it's some homophobe who did it because the thought of two men getting their freak on weirds him/her out.

We may never know. But regardless of the reasons behind this, them holding a peaceful rally is well within their rights and if done like so many of these I've seen have been...is a positive thing.

Let me put this to you. Say the turd in the microwave didn't happen, but the group decided to host an anti-homophobic bullying rally for the sake of promoting awareness against such behaviors. Would you have even given it a second thought?

Or what if this was some local nerd activity? Say a Robotics Club or other traditional geek hobby group that ended up with a shit filled microwave? It's still a thoughtless act and potentially one of bullying against a group of people who are different than the mainstream. Would you be so quick to say that a rally makes them look like they're witch-hunting jocks?

That's what the LGBT's there are doing. They're not passing out pitchforks and torches to go out and destroy heterosexuals, they're simply stating that they welcome anyone (gay, straight or other) to attend and show support at this rally who is not willing to stand for any bullying behavior at their school.

The rally or the message it contains does not offend me. The shit in the nuker does.

[TheHuckster]

I get what you're saying, Mongo. Demonstrating to remove homophobia, regardless of its context, is a good thing. Demonstrations like this, in and of themselves, are perfectly fine.

However, specific cases like these are examples of how some people of a certain ethnicity, orientation, or creed automatically assume any harm that comes their way had to be due to racism, sexism, homophobia, or whatever else. It's the automatic reaction that this had to be because we were gay that offends me, because it encourages more of this kind of mindset.

I'm sure you've read the many stories on CS where customers who are refused returns or discounts retort that it had to be because they were [Black|Asian|Male|Female|Gay...], and for me this is just another instance of that sort of thing. There is more than one reason one may leave a shit in the microwave here: There's homophobia for sure, but there is also personal vendettas or it's possible the perpetrator is a bona-fide diagnosed mental case. It seems they already concluded that the reason had to be, without a doubt, because they were gay, and I think that's the wrong way to think, because it leads to further conclusions in other aspects where any kind of injustice begets them.