My Commencement

[grandma]

True they didn't pay Mr. Jackson to speak but for God's sake I wish they had paid him to STOP!

[Elok]

Originally posted by Grandpa Troll


Elok, just curious, what did you Major in (and do you have a minor)

Thanks

GT

(also, this has little to do with the guest speaker, more so to do with what people are getting certified in)

GT

English, Philosophy minor.

[Provost Harrison]

Re: My WTF Commencement

Originally posted by Elok
I graduated from Washington College this past sunday (yay, now I get to hunt desperately for a job!). We had one of the lamest keynote speeches ever. It was given by pioneering ecologist Wes Jackson, who apparently popularized the word "sustainability." I wouldn't know, I'm not an environmentalist. But Dr. Jackson spent forty-five minutes or so telling us we were doomed. At our graduation.

"We're running out of fuel, ethanol is not a practical solution, we have to cut back on consumption drastically, and anyone who tries to sound optimistic or skeptical about the coming shortages is a lying traitor to humanity." That was the gist of it, though he went on a number of tangents. He supported it with lots of statistics about gas consumption through the years and told us we were facing the biggest crisis in human history. He tacked on a few mentions of global warming for good measure, but mostly he gave a dissertation on the history of energy use and the coming collapse of our way of life.

I'm not contesting the truth of his claims here; what made it so terrible was the length of the speech and the fact that it was supposed to be a CHEERFUL occasion, dagnabit. He could at least have emphasized our potential to change the world for the better, etc. Has anyone here encountered a less appropriate speech, at a commencement or otherwise?

Every generation has its doom mongers - since there has been no MAD to get their knickers in a twist about, eco issues have been the new issue to get their teeth into. I acknowledge and understand there is a problem. Hysteria really isn't going to help...

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Ming


True enough... and that's why i edited it

So now we're sensoring out dodgy acronyms that may allude to a naughty word?