Not when so many people lose their minds for a fortnight and act as though campus has turned into the White House and we're all cast in a version of The West Wing. The Henry Kissinger quote
"University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small"
has been bandied about a lot recently. The first I heard of this quote was from a petty and angry man whose face is, unfortunately, 40% forehead and who used to hold the position of Media and Communications, making him technically my boss on the paper. The fact that he was called Boss by other writers/ editors was the sort of thing which powered him. But he was right in quoting Kissinger. And everyone else who has used this quote is right too, on whatever campus, and whatever election they are dissillusioned with.
People don't vote, really, because they couldn't care less. It doesn't matter to them. Attached to that and the low stakes is the realisation that whatever position you hold doesn't make much difference, and there's the rub- the insecurity that no one gives a shit makes you defensive and brazen and bitchy. There's no place for that in real politics, it's a much slimier, adult, more back-stabbing affair, and in reality these people need to grow up. The people who set so much stall by bitterly defeating other candidates and then defending themselves with snide comments just need a bit of perspective. They are not running to be elected into the most important office in the world.
It isn't, I should say here, every single student officer I'm having a dig at. It's just the ones who spoil it all with such pettiness, as with so many rants I have about people. Most people go unnoticed by me because they are nice enough, but the one's who aren't just get my goat. No one cares whether you win, really, compared to things like the Japanese tsunami and, I don't know, proper politics that matters.
The worst kind of person who let's themselves get dragged into the furore around cardboard signs and keeping six seats warm for a year are the has beens. The people who've been part of the union and are now, purportedly, in the adult world doing grown-up jobs and living mature lives. Except that, you know, they're not grown-up, much rather they're petty hanger ons. The aforementioned 40% angry forhead man, for example, and last year's students' union president. The use of such medium we have available such as Twitter and Facebook supplies them the perfect platform to spout their meaningless guff about support and pioneering people and revolutionary officers. Frankly, it outstayed its welcome when they were officers themselves. And it's definitely not welcome now. Move on.
That said, not to do an injustice to the people who have won in the elections tonight. It's a tough thing to do. The only trouble I have with it is people making more of it than it is and getting nasty about it because of their own insecurities, pouring their opinions into your ears like sewage into a silo. Their opinions on this don't count, really, don't factor into any of it, and the fact they feel the need to express anything, to make it a "monumentous occasion", is pathetic. What's the difference between them expressing an opinion when they have no real reason or call to and me, here and now, expressing an opinion on it all? Absolutely nothing.
And I can say that safely. I know it matters not, and that this opinion piece factors into about zero people's range. Which is fine, it's just for me, seeing as it's my opinion. I joined the ranks of internet ranters a while back, and every once in a while I don't expect anyone to listen to me.
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