It has been a full semester since I last wrote a Wespeak in this noble paper as a representative of the Wesleyan College Republicans, and while that one was intended as a guarded welcome to the freshman class, this one is something a bit more triumphant. Apparently a few students took the words of warning issued by our august organization, because since our first meeting, the number of active members in the Wesleyan College Republicans has swelled drastically thanks to the participation of enthusiastic freshmen. And, because of this enthusiastic participation, we are pleased to announce that, for the first time, Wesleyan’s conservative community will have an established voice outside of a certain column (which shall remain nameless) in the Argus, and more reliable than the occasional publication of a Wespeak by one of our officials.
This Monday, the Wesleyan College Republicans, in partnership with Wesleyan’s larger conservative community, will release the first issue of a new campus publication, The Wesleyan Witness. This noble journal will feature pieces of an (aggressively) opinionated style, and will aim to exemplify high standards of conservative discourse. We agree very much with Blargus Editor Andrew Dermont in his sentiments regarding the tepid moderation of Wesleyan, and to that end, we hope to throw some good, old-fashioned conservative non-licensed nonconformity into this campus’s life. We want to make the radical right’s voice heard, and to that end, we have published pieces that are by turns enraging (even to some of us!), thought provoking and sober.
If you, the reader, ever wanted to know why pro-Palestine bias is nothing but a function of anti-privilege paranoia, why Barack Obama’s stance on human life is so abstruse that it makes Jackson Pollack look concrete, why the Ledbetter “Fair Pay” Act is named about as accurately as the “Final Solution,” why George W. Bush may just be the greatest President this nation has ever had, or why our chapter of the Wesleyan College Republicans is as Wesleyan as naked parties in WestCo, then The Wesleyan Witness will satisfy your every curiosity. I urge all those interested in the dissemination of the permanent things to feel free to pick up a copy from one of our several distribution sites in the main areas of campus traffic, and hope that at the very least, our humble venture will give Wesleyan something to talk about. Or scream about, in certain sectors. At any rate, keep your eyes out, for the Right Wing is striking again.
17 Comments
Wesleyan University Student
Wesleyan COLLEGE?
Mytheos Holt
“College Republicans” is the name of a nationwide organization. “Wesleyan University” is the name of the school. We preferred not to say “Wesleyan University College Republicans,” which would have been the technically correct name, but horridly clumsy.
Anti-Extremist
As someone who recently graduated from Wesleyan, I’d have to say that two main aspects of the school prevented me from enjoying my time there: First, the whiny, stupid, liberal hippies. Secondly, the racist, gay-hating, bomb-the-world, destroy-the-environment, gun-toting, Rush Limbaugh-loving, Republican scumbags. In retrospect I’d have to say that the second category ended up pissing me off even more than the first. I see I got out of here at just the right time. In fact, I wonder why I even still bother reading this newspaper from a school full of idiotic extremists from both sides whose brains are so small that the only thing they know how to do is pick a side and support it beyond all logic. Fuck you, hippies. And fuck you even more, Republican assholes. The power of moderation is the power of the majority, so you losers will never effect the change you desire. Well I suppose this will be my last reading of this newspaper. Anti-Extremist, signing off.
Nora
I always thought that the best thing about conservatives was that they understood the value of moderation and precision. It is not clear to me whether the writer is actually seeeking to persuade his audience, or simply wants to offend them. In any case, comparing a piece of legislation you don’t like to the Holocaust is needlessly antagonistic, offensive and intellectually lazy. If this is to be the content of Wesleyan’s new magazine it is a shame. The conservative movement needs reflective intellectuals more than it needs the hyperbole that has become associated with the radical right.
JDK
I graduated from Wesleyan not that long ago, but it seems to have been another era. When I was at Wesleyan, the shrill, thoughtless, attention-seeking behavior that distracted from thoughtful discourse came only from the left. Now, it appears, it is coming from both sides. It is dizzying.
DN, Wes-alum
I think the beauty of a modern liberal arts education — and Wesleyan in particular — is that it’s a place to test out new ideas, new identities, new everything. So, while I can’t agree with any of Mr. Holts sentiments (and let’s be clear — they’re feelings, not arguments or ideas, in this example at least), I see no harm in him and his cohorts trying them on for size. I would suggest, however, that actually grappling with the ideas of conservative thinkers would be more interesting — thrillingly educational, even — than parroting the talking points of opiate-addicted gasbags. But then, it seems Holt et al. are more interested in playing in a political sandbox not of their own making (hence the affiliation with a political party) rather than really striking out on their own (another example of rugged individualism?), so I expect there’s only a small chance for anything more than silly rhetoric — though do please prove me wrong.
JDK
DN is indeed right that one of the most special things about Wesleyan and other institutions like it is the opportunity to explore, to, as DN puts it, try things on for size. Yet, those of us lucky enough to go to Wesleyan only get one shot at it. Once you toss your cap towards the sky above Andrus field, that’s it. I just think it’s a shame that Holt — if he keeps on the trajectory he’s set out for himself — will have devoted that opportunity to being, for lack of a better phrase, a fucking idiot.
Mytheos Holt
I take no responsibility for the writing of my Republican peers. I edit it for grammar and spelling, and that’s basically it. I summed up their pieces as best I could, but I suggest reading the journal’s actual physical form before you make any sort of judgment. Speaking for myself, I am more than familiar with Russell Kirk, William F. Buckley, Edmund Burke, Milton Friedman and other conservative thinkers, but it is possible to write convincing conservative arguments without the awareness of said figures. That is all.
LRH
I graduated from Wesleyan a few years ago. When I arrived at Wesleyan I was a liberal. I had just finished working at the DNC in 2000. By the time I left Wesleyan I was a conservative.
My years at Wesleyan were the worst of my life. I did not fit in with the liberal extremists. I also did not fit in with my fraternity brothers. There was no middle ground. You either were a liberal hippy or a de-facto rapist.
I commend Mytheos for working to inject some balance into the discourse at Wesleyan. Conservatives need an intelligent voice.
Mytheos Holt
LRH,
Be assured, our group has been doing our best to reach out to people like you, especially when they are frosh. Times have changed – for the better, in my opinion.
M.
I am thinking about becoming a part of Class ’13, and I have to say, I am somewhat disturbed by LRH’s comment on the absence of a middle ground.
On a somewhat unrelated note, I really like the way the Argus is online. Some other university publications’ websites are way too complicated.
Mytheos Holt
M,
LRH’s comment was well-taken a few years ago. The middle ground is thriving now – you will find it very easy to find other moderates on this campus. In fact, I would venture a guess that a large percentage of the campus are centrists or center-leftists.
PiterKokoniz
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BT, Wes-alum
The biggest problem at Wesleyan is that everyone tends to believe the worst about things despite the obvious evidence to the contrary. The right isn’t oppressed, the left doesn’t have a monopoly on political discourse. Everyone finds a niche, unless you’re a fascist or a vocal, outright bigot. In fact, even one vocal, outright bigot that graduated recently still had friends.
Anyone who has seen PCU understands that this same sort of shit has been going on for decades, yet most people are able to give up their differences when a good party is involved.
To any prospective students, particularly M., there is plenty of thoughtful, restrained, contemplative political debate on campus, it’s just not as obvious if all you read is the Argus. And no, this isn’t just a problem with “the left.” Yes, there is a lot of angry, shouted, radical political and social discourse that to an outsider might be alienating, especially if you’re someone that doesn’t attempt to look beyond the vehicle of conveyance to explore the message, opinions, and feelings behind the shouting. Yes, Wesleyan is overall left-leaning. But if you can’t handle either of that, go to a different school. If you can’t handle angry people shouting about politics, both on the left AND the right, you might want to consider a college with no student newspaper or student political groups. The vast majority of students have thoughtful and heartfelt political discussions in their everyday lives and find their niche at Wesleyan.
Also, conservatives are not the oppressed minority that they often claim to be. Typically in the past they just have not taken advantage of the methods of information dissemination that the left uses which leaves them less visible.
Mytheos Holt may grandstand but don’t believe his self-victimization. He’s one of many over the years that have taken up the same mantle. Once he graduates and his writings continue to haunt him whenever future Google searches by potential employers lay bare his self-aggrandized posturing, someone else will fill in the self-absorbed void he leaves. To all of those who think that Conservatives ARE actually an oppressed minority, ask yourself why the hell did they come to a school with a left-leaning reputation like Wes? Why do they continue to stay there if things are SO bad? Why not transfer to a MUCH cheaper state institution where they won’t have to live with the ugly stain of having a degree from that hated ultra-radical free-love hippie paradise of a school.
Oh, and LRH, everyone knows the frats on campus are not exactly known for fostering centrist or thoughtful political discussion, hence your not “fitting in.” I don’t think you’re a de-facto rapist, but everyone knows that the frats don’t have the most stellar of reputations and tend to breed a sort of siege mentality. Maybe that’s your problem in not finding this elusive middle ground. Why would you become a Conservative simply because of the lack of middle ground or anger at the loud and rowdy left? Why compromise those “liberal” views you supposedly held at the oh-so-politically and socially mature age of 18?
Once forced to listen to an entire LRH diatribe
Even as an underclassman, LRH, whose real name need not be disclosed here, was, it seemed to me, physically incapable of engaging in even the shortest conversation/debate on politics without whining about suffocating, borderline militant liberal extremism at Wesleyan. No matter how unprompted, he seemingly could not help but inform all around him that republicans at Wesleyan were the single most oppressed group in American history. These baseless, hyperbolic rants were nauseating.
While perhaps well-meaning, he is not entirely sane, and his descriptions of the intellectual/political milieu at Wesleyan are to be taken with a grain of salt. In short, he is wrong.
And LRH, perhaps in the future you should consider a self-imposed moratorium on name-dropping the late elected offical from whom you claim to be descended. It comes off as self-aggrandizing and extraordinarily pretentious.
fliet
Nice!
Cryoj
I’d recall the era of to squealer that too!