What’s a clever, creative way to celebrate “Hump Day”? Yeah, I thought of that too but this is a “G” rated site.
At St. Thomas College in Minnesota, one student hit upon the brilliant idea to bring a camel on campus so that students could have a little fun before finals next week. They’d call the event “Hump Day” and make the event something of a petting zoo where students could relax, take pictures with the camel and generally let off a little steam.
A local vendor was contacted and everything was ready. Then, trouble.
But last week the plan was abruptly scrapped after opponents mounted a protest on Facebook, saying it was not only a waste of money, but insensitive and possibly racist as well.
The event — called “Hump Day” — was organized by the Residence Hall Association, a student social committee, “to have a little fun, bring students together,” said Aaron Macke, the group’s adviser.
Their intention, he said, was to come up with an idea for a gathering that was creative and drew interest.
“And obviously, this one did, both ways.”
The original plan was to bring the camel to the St. Paul campus May 14 and turn the quad into “a petting zoo type of atmosphere,” Macke said. The camel, he noted, is trained for events like these and owned by a local vendor.
In fact, last December St. Thomas brought a reindeer to campus (also hired locally) for the same purpose. No protests ensued.
Macke said he’s not sure who started the Facebook page, but last week it was bristling with indignant comments. Some suggested the event was disparaging to Middle Eastern cultures, an example of animal cruelty and even environmentally unfriendly. “I think they thought the camel was coming from another part of the world,” he said, “[and] it would be bad for our carbon footprint.” Others simply objected to the cost. (Macke said the fee, about $500, was coming from a social event fund.)
Within 24 hours, the organizers decided to cancel the event. “It kind of comes back to the purpose of the organization,” said Macke, who is director of residence life at St. Thomas. “If this is going to be something that’s divisive, then it’s not worth doing.”
Is it any wonder that college campus’s have become bastions of political correctness? With an attitude that nothing divisive should occur — except when being divisive scores political points, like BDS protests and “white privilege” demonstrations — the opposition to tyranny cowers in the corner.
Were there protests against this GEICO commercial?
Are there 21,000,000 racists out there? That’s how many hits the video has gotten on YouTube.
Actually, one school actually banned the phrase “Hump Day” because middle school kids were saying it so much — no doubt, with the double entendre fully in mind:
The Geico “Hump Day” commercial has received over 15 million hits on YouTube, and has it be one of the most memorable commercials to date.
But the “Hump Day” catch phrase is causing problems at a middle school in Connecticut. So many kids were saying it all day, every day. They said it so much that it was disrupting class.
The principal took drastic steps and banned the phrase from school.
As is obvious from this statement on the cancellation offered up by RHA, the organization assumed that students actually have a sense of humor and want to have fun, rather than demonstrate a humorlessness and an overripe notion of “sensitivity” to a particular culture:
“RHA’s goal in programming is to bring residents together in a fun and safe environment where all people can enjoy themselves,” RHA president Lindsay Goodwin said in a statement on RHA’s Facebook page. “It appears however, this program is dividing people and would make for an uncomfortable and possibly unsafe environment for everyone attending or providing the program. As a result, RHA has decided to cancel the event.”
Unsafe environment? Students are going to riot over a camel? Sheesh.
Ed Whelan, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, had the tweet of the day: “Reindeer, yes, camel, no? … Are college students ‘racially insensitive’ to Laplanders? Or are they just idiots?”
It’s been said by many that we are becoming a country where our only freedom left is freedom from being offended. I’d add that we’re also becoming a country where people take fake offense to innocuous gestures simply because they know that the powers that be — especially on college campuses — wish to avoid “divisiveness” at all costs and will bow to their will. It’s an irresistible power trip that the gimlet eyed revolutionaries on campus can’t let go.
Not only is it injurious to free speech, it makes America a very boring place to live. And that’s the bottom line with the students who protested this event. They have the sense of humor of marmosets and a killjoy attitude that makes watching grass grow exciting by comparison.
Lighten up, kids. Kick off your shoes, feel the grass between your toes, and pet the damn camel.
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