"I don't care." (by anon)

"I don't care."  What a load of bull shit.  This phrase is tossed around so casually and so often but nobody knows what they really mean when they say it.  When someone says "I don't care" what they really mean is "I do care, I just don't want it to seem like I do".  For example,  imagine that two people are having an argument about some random topic.  One of them is losing the argument so eventually they just say "Ya know what, I don't even care".  Obviously they do care but this way they can give off the appearance that they are ending the argument because it does not interest them.  In fact, the moment the person even entered the conversation they implicitly showed they care.  If they truly did not care, then why even enter the conversation?  By entering the conversation, they show that they are interested in at least some small amount.  The only way to show that one does not care is to avoid the subject in every way.  If someone brings the subject up, and the other person truly does not care, they should ignore that person then.  Thus, the only way to confirm that someone does not care is if they ignore the subject altogether.  Also, why is it considered cool to not care? 

It seems that most often people think it's cool not to care about certain things such as grades or politics.  There has even been a phrase invented that accompanies these activities.  This phrase is known as "YOLO".  It stands for "You Only Live Once".  Instead of this phrase being used for activities like sky-diving, whitewater rafting, or other extreme activities, it instead goes with getting schwasted and shitfaced.  Don't get me wrong, I love to get drunk once and a while too, but not that often, and not if it effects my grades.  But those same people saying YOLO are the ones who say they don't care about their grades.  Perhaps those people are afraid to give it their all in classes, or have tried but failed.  Or perhaps some of them really don't care and I'm completely wrong.  I would say I don't care, but obviously I do.  

Many Christians are arrogant! (by anon)

Recently, a Christian friend of mine who is a college graduate made comments undermining evolutionists and subsequently the vast majority of the scientific community. Now, I'm not against religion and I have no intentions of attacking the institution or its followers. However, I am an advocate of critical thinking. In the case of my friend, I could care less if he wants to believe in a certain religion because it doesn't really have a bearing on how I live my life and carry out my own beliefs. Still, it frustrates me deeply to see someone who has acquired enough education to graduate from a four year college and yet is so entrenched with religious dogma that he feels the need to make public comments claiming that it is a mistake for humankind to believe in so-called nonsense that is transmitted in science classes around the globe regarding the origins of human existence. This kind of thinking hinders the positive progression of society and it prevents the healthy cultivation of new ideological stances concerning the meaning of life, what it is to be human, and what the universe is all about.

One thing that really annoys me is when a religious zealot has the audacity to call atheists "arrogant", as though it is out of pure arrogance that atheists choose to be atheists (because we just can't handle the idea of submitting to a higher power, you know, even though we must do it every day of our lives since we are stuck being human). I find that it makes more sense to claim arrogance on the one who thinks that us humans are somehow more than human and have been specially put here on this earth by some almighty, all knowing, perfectly moral being to fulfill some purpose which has been dictated by that being, which will lead us to a beautiful supernatural afterlife, during which we will exist happily for eternity. Why should we think we are so important that we must continue to exist when we die, or that we must fulfill the will of something we call God? Why should we think our existence means anything at all? Isn't it less arrogant to believe we are nothing but a speck of star dust, a speck that happened to thrive long enough as a species to develop a brain that allows it to be conscious of its own existence, a speck that will soon die and forever be nothing to the universe? Isn't it less arrogant to believe that we're nothing rather than something that must live on and serve any purpose at all? Christians have it backwards, so, so backwards.

When I saw an educated man give a lecture a couple of years ago on campus about why Darwin was wrong, a lecture in which a completely [complicated] scientific approach was taken to demonstrate the view that evolution is a bad theory, a question was raised which went something like, "Why should we trust your science and the conclusions you have drawn, as opposed to everything that 99% of the scientific community has brought forward which supports the theory of evolution?". The man did not have an answer, and the question had to be asked again, and again. Finally, he went for the only thing he could and started saying that the issue really came down to the atheistic community conspiring against Christianity. Hogwash. How can he believe, or expect anyone else to believe, that the main reason the vast majority of scientists around the world support the theory of evolution is that they are all somehow working together to bring down Christianity? This is so monstrously insulting to the scientific community it is sickening. A main facet of science is to be as objective as possible, and my guess is that many scientists who now believe in evolution were actually religious at some time (and maybe still are in some way), and did not go into the field with a pre-existing drive to dismantle Christianity. It just so happened that as time went on, observations and experimental data did not match up with what was held to be true according to the Bible and such. I didn't really realize it at the time of the lecture, but I realize it now that there is no reason to trust the science brought forward by creation scientists, and that it seems much more likely that it is they who uphold scientific theories founded on internal religious bias, whether they know it or not.

I don't care if Christians want to hold certain beliefs, because I believe in having the freedom to believe in what one chooses to believe in, based on his or her own personal judgments. However, I do not like being ridiculed and given a guilt trip by being told that I am arrogant, outright wrong, and misguided for rejecting the Christian worldview and believing that as a human, I am no more important than the amoebas and the worms, I'm not going to continue to exist somehow after I die, and that it need not take a great intelligent being for the universe to come into existence. I'm not saying that I know all of the answers. Obviously there are gaps in our knowledge concerning the origins of life and the origin of space and time altogether (and I'm thinking there are a lot of things we just are not capable of knowing at all), but I think the phenomenal world speaks for itself when it comes to whether or not the Christian worldview is closer to the truth than my current worldview. So to the Christian out there who belittles others by telling them that their non-Christian views are a product of arrogance and mistake, please reflect on your own beliefs and their origins before you do this; you might find that it is you who has been arrogant and mistaken all of this time.

Out-of-state tuition sucks (by anon)

Today I am critically pissed about the out-of-state tuition cost. For the past 4 years, I have been paying thousands more to attend UW- Whitewater compared to the Wisconsin residents. My parents’ home is literally 5 minutes walking distance from the border, and that is an expensive 5 minutes. Even though I live here in Whitewater to attend school and work year round, I have to pay out-of-state. I was told by the admissions office and financial aid that I would have to live in the state for two years before I could be considered a resident. I was also told that my parents would not be able to claim me on their taxes if I were to be considered for in-state residency. I was 17 when I started college at Whitewater, so my parents claimed me. Although I’m willing to bet that a large numbers of students are still being claimed by their parents. So anyways, the admissions office once told me that I could appeal the out-of-state tuition by adhering to what they told me above, and taking it to court. Great, that’s just what I want to do. Even if I won, I would still only get one year of in-state tuition assuming I graduate in 4 years. My first year wouldn’t count as residency because I was in dorms, so my “residency” wouldn’t have started till the summer before my sophomore year when I moved off campus. This means, that in order to meet the 2 year minimum, I would have to wait till the summer before my senior year—leaving one year for in-state tuition. This is ridiculous, and all colleges and universities should have the same cost regardless of where a student lives. Everyone pays taxes for education regardless of where they live. In addition, everyone would be paying tuition to attend their school of choice. Therefore I do not see a need for out-of-state tuition. If anyone disagrees, I hope that you have children one day who want to attend a college in a different state. Then we shall see how you feel about out-of-state tuition.

Drive-by avoidance (by anon)

One thing that has always bothered me is the question of friendliness. I would consider myself a friendly and outgoing person. I say “hi” to people, and for the most part they respond with a similar response. The one response that bothers me is none at all. Just this week, a woman that worked for me at a previous job blatantly ignored me. I don’t know what I did to deserve this. I was always fair and honest as her boss. I don’t even know if being her boss was the reason she ignored me in the first place! It is frustrating sometimes the rudeness people have when someone like me is ignored.

Another similar encounter happened at a local bar. My girlfriend and I are becoming more familiar with each other’s friends. A group of girls I had just recently met where at the bar too. I gave a wave from across the bar, but she looked at me as if I had booger of something coming out of my nose. I said to myself that something was wrong. Obviously I had not done any wrong to this person. I had just met them within the same week, and I should have been a recognized face. Unless I confront the individuals that I’m accusing, we will probably never know their side of the story.

I would like to call this phenomenon drive-by avoidance. There are also other forms of drive-by avoidance. When you are in the elevator with a stranger and they take out their cell phone and pretend to be doing something to avoid being social. Why is everyone so scared of being friendly? It is also important not to be naive of the dangers the world has. Being too friendly could put you in danger.

This argument is obviously biased to my viewpoint, but I guarantee you, after reading this you will encounter a drive-by avoidance if you have not already. Until then, say “hi” back please.

Cell phone use in classrooms (by anon)

In every class I am enrolled in this semester, I received a syllabus that mentioned something about the use of cell phones in class. Unsurprisingly, every one of my professors DOES NOT tolerate the use of cell phones in their classrooms and WILL penalize students who use them. “Anyone suspected of using a cell phone in my class will [insert threatening academic punishment here].” Okay Professor _____________, let me just add that to the list of things not to do in your class while nodding off.

I personally believe using a cell phone during a lecture is rude, not to mention ridiculous. I am paying a lot of money to attend lectures, to learn during them, and to be attentive to what my professors are saying (whether or not it will help me down the road). So, my cell phone (for the most part, I’m not saying I’m a saint by any means) is generally tucked away (and on silent) in my backpack during the entire class time.

So what exactly is it that even bothers me you ask? It’s the fact that while I choose to put my cell phone away and be attentive during lectures, the girl next to me has hers on vibrate, constantly checks it, and is quite possibly distracting me more than I would be if I were using mine. You see her constantly on her phone, it’s not like she has the decency to even try and hide it, so why is it that you say nothing? Do we need to review that threatening academic punishment you so generously bolded and underlined in your syllabus? Or should I just sit here and continue to listen to her phone ever-so-annoyingly-vibrate on the desk?