Thursday, August 23, 2007
Fighting for your right to be an ineffective voice
Fee increases are going ahead as planned. We've got UCSA president Oiyan Poon to fight for us:
"Getting it communicated that fee increases are not good for the state, for California families, not good for future students ... we just need more voices mobilized," said Oiyan Poon, University of California Student's Association president. Yes, the problem is getting that communicated. I imagine the Regents made their fee increase decision under the impression that fee increases were actually good for future students, because not enough folks complained.
If the UCSA is to be effective, there are many things it has to do. One of them is to stop talking in this diplomatic, conciliatory beggar voice. In fee increases, they actually do have an issue that students generally agree on, but any decent student can see bullshit. "Communication" is the problem? Ha. That won't move anyone, because they know it's bullshit. I don't know if these pleasant buzzwords poll well in the echo chamber that they work in, but maybe then maybe the problem lies in the fact that the UCSA is an echo chamber. They can sit around with a bunch of like-minded folks and convince each other until the cows come home, but no one else gives a fuck. Instead of chasing out folks who don't march in lockstep, like UC Davis, maybe they should consider the possibility that there might be actual differing views out there, and that they might have more success getting student support if they paid attention to those views.
Let me spell it out for you losers out there:
YOU CAN NOT WIN A CLASH OF INTERESTS WITH THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE
I hope this isn't too complicated for our UCSA representatives. If you aren't in charge and someone else is in charge, when those interests conflict, it's the person who makes the decisions that gets her interests satisfied. So you can "communicate" how decisions are bad for you all you want, it doesn't make an inch of difference if you aren't in charge. You're arguing from the position of a beggar.
If you want decisions to go your way, you have to actually wield power. Beggars don't. The young adult block of the population doesn't wield power in elections, either, because everyone hates them. That doesn't mean we can't have power, it only means that we have to recognize our limits (e.g. everyone finds us annoying and thus hates us) and strengths (e.g. people will take action to avoid being annoyed). The current plan of trying to take advantage of the conscience of the folks in charge is a legitimate exercise of power, but only if it can be done successfully, and a quick survey demonstrates that the UCSA is incapable of properly manipulating the consciences of state officials.
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