If I think of the last two protests of any sort at a school that come to my mind, I can think of Baylor and Missouri. The candlelight rape vigil had a couple/few hundred people. It was very classy. And not particularly noisy or effective....sure it was reported in Texas, but it didn't outshine the story for even a moment. All the vigil did was create the excuse to re-report the story...which is just fine. This is a protest at Baylor. Coffee and tea will be served, and everyone will be in bed by a 9pm curfew.
Missouri is very different. Presidents were ousted, protestors made absurd demands (safe spaces and weird departments created), and a journalism professor was caught on camera calling for "muscle" so that the news wouldn't film part of the protest. This protest was a humiliation for the school, the state and the students, and the school is paying the price right now (google the enrollment drop stories). In this one, it really was the students that embarrassed themselves, although they had plenty of help.
At UT, we had a protest of campus carry that made the national news. Thousands showed up. Nobody got hurt. I see from the other threads that a few of us are upset by it, although even some of those who were upset have noted that protests have been happening on the West Mall for dozens of years...
So, what was this protest? It was satire.
Obviously a satire is the use of humor or exaggeration or irony or some other method to criticise something. So, instead of carrying guns (which students can now do), they picked a dildo (which is the ultimate phallic symbol), which is a totally silly metaphor for a gun (or testosterone run amok). It is supposed to be ridiculous, or humorous. And yes, it's actually supposed to be scandalous. It's not supposed to be entirely fair.
The irony is that you can now carry a gun without getting a ticket, but you could get one for carrying a dildo. Nobody is ACTUALLY worried about carrying dildoes in the open, as its not a particularly useful right. Its to call attention to their view that being able to carry a gun at school is not a good rule.
What the UT students did is totally put this discussion on the table. With school starting, they HAD to do it immediately, and they had to make a huge splash on something that really has not gotten all that much attention. They had to create a spectacle. Otherwise, it would be ignored, and then UT would have to wait for a tragedy for the conversation to really get started.
Of course is bad taste to carry a dildo around school. That was the point. It was supposed to be scandalous. And they were not stupid; they knew what they were doing and they achieved their objective.
Missouri is very different. Presidents were ousted, protestors made absurd demands (safe spaces and weird departments created), and a journalism professor was caught on camera calling for "muscle" so that the news wouldn't film part of the protest. This protest was a humiliation for the school, the state and the students, and the school is paying the price right now (google the enrollment drop stories). In this one, it really was the students that embarrassed themselves, although they had plenty of help.
At UT, we had a protest of campus carry that made the national news. Thousands showed up. Nobody got hurt. I see from the other threads that a few of us are upset by it, although even some of those who were upset have noted that protests have been happening on the West Mall for dozens of years...
So, what was this protest? It was satire.
Obviously a satire is the use of humor or exaggeration or irony or some other method to criticise something. So, instead of carrying guns (which students can now do), they picked a dildo (which is the ultimate phallic symbol), which is a totally silly metaphor for a gun (or testosterone run amok). It is supposed to be ridiculous, or humorous. And yes, it's actually supposed to be scandalous. It's not supposed to be entirely fair.
The irony is that you can now carry a gun without getting a ticket, but you could get one for carrying a dildo. Nobody is ACTUALLY worried about carrying dildoes in the open, as its not a particularly useful right. Its to call attention to their view that being able to carry a gun at school is not a good rule.
What the UT students did is totally put this discussion on the table. With school starting, they HAD to do it immediately, and they had to make a huge splash on something that really has not gotten all that much attention. They had to create a spectacle. Otherwise, it would be ignored, and then UT would have to wait for a tragedy for the conversation to really get started.
Of course is bad taste to carry a dildo around school. That was the point. It was supposed to be scandalous. And they were not stupid; they knew what they were doing and they achieved their objective.
