In both Star Trek II and ST Into Darkness, the folks ponder whether the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one. For Kirk and Spock, the needs of the one are the most important (which might make them crappy military officers).
Well, I am thoroughly depressed that the impulses of the few have screwed the many. In this case, it is the news that Oberlin's racism stuff of last year was a hoax apparently (I can only find it on right wing websites so it could be a hoax hoax, I suppose). That students of the far left decided to plaster the campus with racist stuff to perhaps spawn a reaction, a learning moment. Indeed, the college shut down for a day to do exactly that.
Should I be happy that there were apparently no real racists running around my alma mater? Or upset that folks are so ideologically committed to their cause that they will upset everyone to trigger a response (kind of sounds like terrorism without the physical violence, eh?)? And, of course, now that it comes out, the initial cause is most thoroughly undermined. Well done, doofus-es, well done.
I was embarrassed last year and I am embarrassed now. If it turns out that the news is accurate, then the folks should be tossed out with just as much alacrity as if they were genuinely racist. This is not what Oberlin is about. Yes, it can be chock full of knee-jerk reactions to perceived oppression, but deliberately causing fear and pain to mobilize people? That ain't the Oberlin that I experienced, and it ain't the Oberlin that exists today.
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