Tuesday, September 17, 2013

This is your college on drugs


assume - to suppose to be the case, without proof: you're afraid of what people are going to assume about me | [ with clause ] : it is reasonable to assume that such changes have significant social effects | [ with obj. and infinitive ] : they were assumed to be foreign.*
1. Today's visit by students (?) of the California Corporate College caused the predictable parking snafu. One could see students (et al.) anxiously prowling the lots. A colleague explained that she was a half hour late for her class, owing to the fubar. Wonderful, isn't it?

2. At about 11:40 this morning, I wandered over to the IVC PAC and entered. The "California Corporate College" event was in full swing, and the hall was pretty full. Somebody was yammerin' about something ridiculous. I dunno.
     I've got nothin'.

3. I assume that the sun will rise in the morning. Does that make me an "ass"? Don't think so. 
     Note: someone who does not make that assumption is mentally ill. No?
     And suppose that someone really said that "it is reasonable to assume that such changes have significant social effects"? (See def. above.) Only an ass would insist that it is unreasonable to make that assumption. 

4. Insisting that one does not "assume" any such thing would make one an ass. If not an ass, at least a liar. 
     "I am aware that it is at least possible that the sun will not rise. And so I don't really assume it." —Here we have someone who is used to changing words' meanings to save a foolish idea. —A liar or self-deceiver.

5. It's pretty clear, I think, that the truth about assuming is as follows: the phenomenon of assuming comprises a range of cases from the reasonable (and, in truth, more than reasonable) to the unreasonable (foolish or even mad). Hence, some assumptions are foolish (i.e., ass-making) and some are not (far from it). It depends on the case.
     Why overstate the point, declaring all assumptions to be foolish? Just what is the matter with you?


6. It's like the familiar blatherage that "you can be anything you want to be." Well, no. Obviously not. Sure, there are some who need to be encouraged to try to do or achieve things. Yes, there are some who falsely or foolishly underestimate what is achievable as a goal. Be that as it may, it does not justify such idiotic blatherage as "you can be anything you want to be."

7. In this country, when we plan an event, we tend to turn it into a circus. Fighting cancer, for us, is no sober enterprise; it's pink ribbons and "races" for cures. And when we seek to correct an error, we overcorrect and create a new error:
Your vote counts. (Sure, they count it. But it doesn't "count" in the sense of having a bearing on the outcome.)
You can be anything you want to be. (Well, no. Yes, quite possibly, you have underestimated the opportunities available to you. But it takes strength to aim high and miss. The miss could send you spiraling downward. Do these idiots have a slogan for spiraling depressives too?)
There are no limits to what you can achieve! (Ditto.)
This is your brain on drugs. (C'mon. Kinda depends on the drug, doesn't it? And what about that martini in your hand, asshole?)
Celebrate yourself! (I should celebrate myself? What if I'm a lout? A lazy ass? A Tea Partier?)

     *My Mac's dictionary

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you suppose the administration's occasional assaults on instruction at IVC will continue? What a place.

Anonymous said...

Telling people that there will be fewer parking spaces available does not decrease the number of people who need parking spaces nor does it increase the numbers of available spaces. ARGGGGGGGGGGH.

ReplyDelete

Anonymous said...

WHEN do we ever have 300 empty parking spaces early in the semester on a weekday morning? WHEN? Not on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Geez. Who runs this place? (rhetorical question). Days like these make me feel so valued as an employee.

Anonymous said...

The assaults will continue until morale improves. Buck up.

Anonymous said...

They should schedule events like yesterday's on those non-instructional contractual days. We do not have 300 parking spaces to spare. They know that. People's schedules are such that they cannot rearrange their transportation needs to accommodate the 300 (!) extra people on campus. What are we supposed to do? What are our students supposed to do?

Anonymous said...

And at 5 pm today, the IVC campus fell into darkness.

Anonymous said...

They've pulled the plug on IVC, so to speak. And thank goodness for Vince letting us all know. He definately gets my vote!

Anonymous said...

Vote? Is he running for something?

Anonymous said...

Informant, he is the only one who seems to know what is going on and is responsible enough to inform the rest of the college.

Anonymous said...

I disagree 7:07AM, the Administration knows what is going on. After all Edison didn't notify Vince, they would have notified someone in Administration. The problem is that our leaders don't know how to communicate what is happening. It probably took 2 hours to get a committee together to draft a notice to the college. Heaven help us if we ever have something more serious.

Anonymous said...

I can't understand why if the Administration was informed at 3:45 about a significant power outage it took them nearly an hour to send a message out via email. While they have no control over SCE's action, they have control over their ability to communicate - think (once again wontcha?) of the part-timer arriving on campus moments before a 5:00 class...Jeez. And you know I'd feel differently about this if the Administration at IVC had a good track record of communication, but they do not. This is just the latest example.

Anonymous said...

That's why I go to Dissent the blog for all my official update about the college. Their speedy and humorous team coverage of events little and big make a real difference in my workday.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

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