goedwingo:

To all my fellow students striking, I’d like for you to click above and read Ms. Tara Raffi’s article that she wrote yesterday for the Daily Cal.  I definitely support the students right now and their right to strike in all means necessary; however Tara’s article is excellently written and it provides some important arguments and questions towards those who are striking.

It seems to me that a lot of students striking are getting caught up in the mob mentality and are not thinking intelligently.  I’m afraid a lot of students are just participating in this movement only to feel like they are part of a movement that is making a difference instead of educating themselves on the argument at hand and actually making a difference.  Look through the nine pages of comments on the article, and read the comments that oppose Tara’s article.  Here is a small tidbit of my favorite one:

This editorial stems from a blinding, illogical sense of entitlement, fueled by ignorance. A life of privilege has blinded you; your fucking privilege oozes off this op. ed. I’m glad you’ve selected yourself the spokesperson for all those apathetic, rich, privileged students that are not affected in any way by these cuts. Now take your first class plane ticket, and leave Berkeley. Go back to Beverly Hills, where everyone understand exactly what you are going through. I doubt this makes you sad and angry. If it did, you wouldn’t be bitching about missing a few days of class.

This response shows exactly what I am afraid: students who don’t really understand why they are striking.  And when someone creates a well written article that attacks students for striking, the best one can respond is with a rude personal attack on the author.

Now I realize that is just one person and that he or she does not represent the consensus of the student strikers.  But how many students striking would be able to answer Tara’s questions?

And so this is what I ask again from my fellow students striking: please strike smartly. Do not get caught up in the mob mentality.  Before you decide to strike, ask yourself what is your stake in this?  How does the fee increase affect you?  How does it affect your fellow students?

Once you’ve decided why the tuition increase affects you, educate yourself on the issues so that when someone like Tara does ask you questions, you can provide an intelligent response.  Where would the money come from to compensate for the budget cuts?  What solutions would you propose?  Everybody knows there is a problem and everyone knows there are people to blame.  What people want to know, including myself, is how people intend to fix the problem?  If the students striking could suddenly answer these questions and provide solutions, could you imagine how much more powerful their movement could be?

And remember to strike for a reason.  Every action you have has a reaction on everyone surrounding you.  When you pull a fire alarm, it prevents all students who have already paid this years tuition from getting the education they paid for.  When you occupy a building and start a large protest, the university will use resources to pay for extra police force to contain the protest.  It all comesback to my previous post I wrote about the students who dumped trash in front of California Hall.  The reason why the dumped trash there was so that the current custodial staff could get overtime (they got Union’s permission.  They didn’t do it for “funzies.”  So before you pull the next fire alarm, participate in a sit in, or whatever, ask yourself this: “Am I doing this because I personally feel that this action will help lower tuition fees?  Or am I just getting caught up in the moment with a crowd of people?”