Ryan ChartrandI would like to write about the incident that took place on campus last week in which a person did something appalling. This person held a sign stating a disgusting personal attack that I will not repeat, and also stated that God hated certain individuals. No, I am not talking about the Christian fundamentalist, I am talking about the Cal Poly student and employee. I think there are some questionable things the fundamentalist did as well.
However, the fundamentalist was a visitor without educational credentials or academic standing. The student and employee, on the other hand, was just that, a student, of Cal Poly nonetheless. I thought this was one of the few places left in the world where arguments could be discussed, debated and critiqued in an academic manner. Instead, I saw a student who had been screened by Cal Poly’s “intellectual” professionals.
This past week showed me there is nothing special about attending Cal Poly. I am just as vulnerable here to come across people who commit the fallacy of ad hominem, who label groups as hated by God, and who ridicule instead of discuss. This student exposed Cal Poly, and the rest of the American university system, for the sham that it is.