A response to the 100 email chain

Picture this: It’s November 9th. The school has a weird feeling. Tensions pervade each and every class.

What could cut through the tangible awkwardness?

Ah, yes, a 93 item email chain! (Scratch that, even as I type, the count has gone up to 94). Filled with rather irrelevant opinions, memes, samples of a mix-tape, and an odd anime photo, the “conversation” was out of control.

It all started with an email from “Junior” at 6:42AM on November 9th. She wrote a 742 word email that was weird, to say the least.

Beginning with “I would like to address the results of this presidential election, and propose a constructive response to the uncertainty it entails”, a red flag immediately pops up. Donald Trump is the President-Elect; he is not president until January. There is no uncertainty currently, but, hey, proactivity.

Then Junior jumps into what, despite her intention, seems like a rather sarcastic congratulations. She quotes Val Jones, who is well-known for criticism of Republicans. He even goes as far as to call the entire party “a**holes” (if you’re curious: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/02/fox-news-shocked-van-jone_n_275566.html). I wouldn’t exactly use him as a quote, but that’s just me.

Stating her goal in her final paragraph; that she wants to create a club to “...work towards defeating issues which divide our school, our community, and our country.” I don’t mean to be so critical, because, good for her for trying to do something, but this was not the way.

Miss. Junior, in her social justice warrior fight, completely forgot the clubs that already face these issues. Aurora High School has the Gay Straight Alliance for instance, which would directly address some of Junior’s complaints.

One response read, “Unfortunately, I think your failure to recognize the efforts and success of already existing groups is wrong and offensive… Rather than talking about change, you should join in with the successful groups already in place which u have obviously failed to do prior to writing this "innovative" message.”

And another, “Of course your idea to support equality is a good one, but u fail to recognize that people are already doing this and you have failed to join in. Your new founded support highlights your failure to recognize the successful initiatives already in place.”

I applaud Junior for wanting to take action, but did the mentos emails teach students nothing? Junior sent her email at 6:42AM and I received the latest email at 8:12PM. My phone vibrated all day. There were very few intelligent messages sent, but the humor was strong. And though I appreciated some of the jokes, and even the memes, some Seniors give colleges their school email addresses. I heard one student voice her concern that she was waiting for an acceptance email, and she was worried it would get lost in the stream.

As other Gambit writers have written, the ability for any student to email the entire school needs to be restricted. Normally, I wouldn’t worry myself with something so silly, but now people are using it in such a way that needs to cease.

So there’s that issue. Please for the sake of every student, please stop using school wide emails, because they can and will be turned into a joke. And as much as I would love to listen to some random kid’s mixtape and click the random youtube links sent to me, please, not like this.

Then, I believe there is the larger issue that needs to be addressed, and I’m fine with being the one to do it.

Donald Trump will be the President of the United States in January. There is absolutely nothing you can do about it. America has voted and chosen its president; welcome to the democratic process, everyone. To those who are scared: have you read any of Trump’s policies? Lessening restrictions on small businesses to spur the economy, taking education to a state level, fixing Obamacare? People hear “wall” and put on horse blinders. Take them off and look around.

Have you listened to a speech of his? His acceptance speech? Because the civilized man I’ve had the pleasure to hear in person is VERY different from the one the media portrays.

If you’re one of the people who are moving to Canada, see you later. Because if you don’t understand that our government has a system of checks and balances and has made President a less powerful job than assumed, maybe you need a break from our democratic process.

I’m really tired of this election. Unfortunately, everyone is going to continue to complain. There’s nothing to change, so hanging onto the what-ifs is futile.

Take a seat. Take a breath. Read some policies. Watch a speech. Wait till the inauguration. Delete some emails. And overall, stop sending me your mixtape.