Thoughts On the SAE Comments at OU

So before I share my opinion on my blog I'd like to clarify a few things:

1. I am not some sort of ridiculous white supremacist 
2. I do not condone racism by any means, everyone should be kind to each other
3. It's okay to be stupid; isn't that part of what college is about
4. Yada yada yada don't complain about my opinion. :) 

So I'm not a Social Fraternity kind of guy. I've never been too excited about the idea of spending that much money to be in a group. I could also talk about the stereotypical Fraternity complaints of "I don't want to buy my friends", "I don't want to join a group just to party", things along those lines. So I'm gonna tear clear of those things. 

However, I do want to give you my opinion about the racial SAE chant that was captured on someone's iPhone after either A) a party or B) a formal ; I would assume at least. Who knows. I'm too busy to pay too much attention to things of that nature. 

But here's the issue: 

"There will never be a ni**** SAE. There will never be a ni**** SAE. You can hang him from a tree, but he can never sign with me. There will never be a ni**** SAE." - CNN

This isn't okay by any means. It's not cool to use these kind of slanderous words towards people whether it be concerning a fraternity, being a restaurant, a public office, anything. These kinds of words shouldn't be spoken (even if they are thought) whether the target audience  of these words deserves it or not based on actions, ideals, etc.  I feel like the "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" rule wasn't thought of. 

The "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all ESPECIALLY on video" rule was also forgotten. 

Along with: 

"If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all ESPECIALLY on video OR with your organization". 

These fraternity brothers were stupid. 

Their actions warranted the severed ties between OU and the SAE chapter/Fraternity. 

Here's where it gets a bit sketchy for me: 

According to the New York Times, two members of the SAE Chapter were identified and expelled for their racial chants with their fraternity. 

That's wrong in my book. 

Again, I feel like removing the fraternity from the university was extremely appropriate. I feel like being expelled because you were racist with your fraternity brothers is far too much. 

I also feel like their expulsion was influenced too strongly by the national media attention this incident received. At the end of the day, using racial slander is protected by the 1st Amendment, Right? Someone back me up? Someone gonna read this? Anyone going to read this? (Meh.) 

Also, if I can't say ni***** on camera because I'll be expelled does that apply to all racially slanderous terms? There's another question I'm interested to find the answer to. 

It's just like how Westboro Baptist Church has the right to protest all the things they protest, just like how the family of Michael Brown was able to yell "Burn this bitch down" after the officer was not charged, and the same way that I can give my opinion on this issue. 

I think Oklahoma University should have been happy enough with removing the fraternity from the campus. I think the expulsion of the brothers was a bit extreme for saying something racial. I think if you're going to be stupid in college it's imperative that you be stupid off camera. 

Just some thoughts. Take them or leave them. 

Merit Badge University is Done!!!

YES!!!!! MBU is done!

So if you didn't know, didn't ask me, didn't look at my Facebook page, anything. I will fill you in, I suppose.

So I was the Merit Badge University Director for my fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, at Auburn. Planning began somewhere in early August 2014, if not earlier. MBU was planned little by little. Bit by bit. Instructor after instructor confirmed. Details fell into place. Days, weeks, months. All of them passed. Hours were spent working on MBU planning; it was all worth it, too.

MBU went so so smoothly! I wasn't expecting things to fall into place nearly as well as they did.

 I was worried about not having enough volunteers? Volunteers came through.

I was worried about rain messing up the day somehow. Prettiest Auburn day i've seen in a long time.

I was worried that instructors would back up. They did. My leadership team was able to work around each and every setback through the week before the event. There were four or five instructors that backed out the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday before MBU.

Everything works itself out at the end of the day. It always seems to. Someway. Somehow.

Here are some of the things that happened at MBU:

690 Scouts participated
Abbie The Tiger attended!
Two Red-Tailed Hawks visited lunch
The National President of Alpha Phi Omega was in attendance.
Multiple people on Section and Region Staff with Alpha Phi Omega
44 Merit Badges were taught
We had someone with a Quad-Copter take video from the sky!

It was just a really great event. I've got photos and video from the weekend that I will be putting together in to a video to be posted once everything settles down.

Mom, Jesse, and company stayed at my apartment with me. The weekend concludes with a huge bonfire at Chewacla State Park. After the bonfire I was ready for bed. I got three hours of sleep the night before; it finally caught up with me. Oddly, mother's Xterra refused to crank.

This caused great distress and confusion. See, the vehicle would crank and would turn on the vehicle's electronics; however, the engine would not turn over nor start and it would not release the car key. The steering wheel was not "locked" and these issues puzzled each and every person at that camp. Collectively we diagnosed the car from almost everything from starter issues to a bad alternator and probably more.

A very small flashlight was inhibiting the gearshift's ability to be fully in park. Everything appeared to be in park when it was actually between park and reverse.

So many men. SO. MANY. MEN. Were incapable of figuring out what was going on with the car. Something as simple as checking the gearshift could have saved my hour of sleep that I lost due to the springing forward of all our clocks. Big thanks to you, Ben Franklin, for messing up all our sleep schedules (if that's correct with Big Ben).

MBU was so much fun. It turned out so well. It went so smoothly. The shirts and patches were big hits! AND I got this Selfie with Aubie and like 7 other pictures with America's best mascot! 

A First Post

Wow,

I find it semi hard to believe that I have decided to take blogging as a hobby. Many moons ago I considered blogging but I decided it was lame and way too much work. I have recently found myself bored and utterly distracted from and by Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. I feel like blogging may be a better way for me to post about what is going on in my life. I doubt too many people will be overly interested; I assume it will be a similar number to those who visit my social media profiles.


Congratulations, folks, you've got another way to read me complain about the things that excite me, irk me, and sadden me. I know that's just what you all wanted to be able to read.


I am hoping to make more posts, but I don't want to "bog my blog" (ehehehehe...sigh..) with purposeless nonsense with no meaning, value, or interest.


As I type this, I have asked my lovely cat, Bandit, about what else I should add . Her response included an ugly stare sourced from disgust and annoyance in that I woke her up to ask what I should type and she went back to sleep.


So there's my first post. Semi short, semi sweet, and just enough to give you all (or lack there of) something to read when you visit.


Cheers!