If you're a college student, would you be
- Thread starter EERs 3:16
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I don't even remember who spoke at my commencement address. I probs would remember had it been someone of importance. It wouldn't have bothered me for a split second.
It's the downside of graduating in an election year. I'll never forget mine--Kerry Kennedy Cuomo. She was awful. And also completely tone deaf to her audience. In 2000, a Democrat could still get lots of applause in Morgantown, WV if the topic was the economy, inequality, loss of manufacturing jobs, unions, etc. Instead she chose to shill for the Million Mom March and got rightfully booed. How could anyone be so oblivious to the makeup of an audience? Of all the liberal tropes that would have potentially gone over well with an audience of WV grads and their parents, she chose to disparage guns in a state with probably the most hunters and carriers per capita outside of Alaska and Wyoming. David Hardesty'ed. Got awareness?
Mine was the President of MIT, he was a WVU grad. Don't remember his name or a single word he said though.
I've met Jay a few times and I like the dude. Fun guy to be around and he comes from an absolute fascinating family. I mean they built America.
I would be happy to have Obama speak at my commencement. Of course it's an honor to have the sitting President. However, he seems intent on being as divisive as possible on his way out. I would have been disappointed with his speech as a graduate.
It strikes me as strange that WVU would have Kerry Kennedy Cuomo (no longer Cuomo because they're now divorced) as commencement speaker in the first place. Why would someone think this is a good idea? Maybe since all the graduations are about the same time the choices aren't as many as I think.
He could make an uplifting speech and be positive about the future. He doesn't seem to want to do that. He probably doesn't want to lie about the future he has help create so far.:sunglasses:
I don't think that's the case. Notice how many speakers are are chosen not because of what they have accomplished but because of what political positions they hard. That's true of left and right leaning schools. The chief goal seems to be bring in someone whose sound bytes will get the more airtime. Publicity is what they're looking for.
There are so many right leaning schools that it's hard for a conservative to make a choice.[laughing]
If a politician had the dais, that's what I'd expect from him (or her). Of course, if that politician (or President) happened to be aligned with your personal beliefs, I suspect you'd find it a completely enriching and memorable experience.
I don't think it's a problem at all for a politician to express their political positions on such occasions. I do think it's a problem to denigrate others on such occasions.
Could you imagine the uproar if a conservative politician would get up and talk about how disingenuous BLM was?
I have no idea who spoke at commencement in 1993. It obviously didn't have a huge impact on me. If it had been a former or sitting president, it probably would have wowed me a lot more.
Speaking of Jay Rockefeller, I met him during one of his campaign events in 1980. He struck me as a nice enough guy, but I was a kid, and he was running for office. I was sort of awe struck by meeting someone that important.
Speaking of Jay Rockefeller, I met him during one of his campaign events in 1980. He struck me as a nice enough guy, but I was a kid, and he was running for office. I was sort of awe struck by meeting someone that important.
What did he say? Only snippet I saw was him trashing the school for protesting Condi speaking a few years ago
To his credit he did say, at the end, you need to listen to people you don't agree with. Referencing Ms rice.
The first 1/3 of his speech was a smug review of his 8 years compared to conditions left him. Any changes to what he's tried to do is born out of ignorance and fear. The next 1/3 was about Trump--more ignorance and fear talk. Building walls is ignorant and doesn't work.
"We traditionally have valued those things. But if you were listening to today’s political debate, you might wonder where this strain of anti-intellectualism came from. So, Class of 2016, let me be as clear as I can be. In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue. It's not cool to not know what you're talking about. That's not keeping it real, or telling it like it is. That's not challenging political correctness. That's just not knowing what you're talking about. And yet, we've become confused about this."