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Wednesday, February 26, 2014

HEY MICHIGAN: WHAT WAS THAT BIG "DIFFERENCE" AGAIN?

The main purpose of our work on this web site is to balance the media playing field when it comes to coverage of Michigan State and Michigan, particularly, though not exclusively, regarding sports. Most of our stories are about men's sports, but hey, when Suzy Merchant's teams out-perform their counterparts down south on such a regular basis, we'd like to help more people hear about their success.

The central problem with the University of Michigan is that they systematically brain-wash young people into thinking (and then actually believing) that they are superior to others. The main tool used by UM to do this is embodied in a marketing slogan designed to make money; "The Michigan Difference".

Those of us who didn't go there are constantly offended by the arrogant attitudes of those who did, and worse, those who didn't. The infection permeates our local cultures here in the State of Michigan. We fight the disease here on a regular basis, providing information that is overlooked and/or underreported, pointing out how "average" the U-of-M and its students actually are (in real life, not on Madison Avenue and Walmart clothing racks).

So the Brendan Gibbons rape scandal is a great case in point. (Not a great case in general, as it is sad, lurid, and so very disappointing.) According to an official process run by the University of Michigan, Gibbons committed sexual misconduct that may be legally proven to be "rape", if there is ever any legal process that plays out in this case. We're not saying that makes UM "bad", we're saying it makes them "normal", i.e., NOT DIFFERENT.

To those who have been pointing out that the Department of Education is also investigating Michigan State regarding Title IX processes related to sexual misconduct, we say, fine, that's more evidence that UM is NOT SO DIFFERENT. They're mostly the same as a lot of big universities.

Michigan is just another school to us, one of fifteen state-supported institutions, and they are increasingly known for their arrogance and hubris, not their educational programs. If the mainstream media ever adapts to this reality, and starts reporting on it accordingly, we may have no further reason to operate this communications platform.

Until then, however, we have some more information for you. It's about that so-called "Michigan Difference" claim. Here's an excerpt from a web site run by actual students at the University of Michigan:

"All these cases come down to one thing: this university does not care about you. The claims of diversity in the pamphlets it hands out to potential students is just that: empty words in a brochure that is quickly thrown into the trash and forgotten. The speeches with hollow phrases such as “Leaders and the Best” and “the Michigan Difference” are just that: self-congratulatory pomp that inflates our ego to perpetuate the illusion that we are significant, that we matter, and to cover up the reality that the university does not care about us."

Some of these same students marched in protest this week, complaining about the soft treatment given to confirmed rapist Brendan Gibbons:

"We are fed up with the violence that is being committed at the University of Michigan by those with power. Fed up with our bodies being used for the benefit of those at the top.
"Fed up with a university administration and athletic department that has violently acted for 4 years to cover up and suppress the details surrounding football player Brendan Gibbons’s rape of an 18-year old UM female student in November 2009.
"Fed up with the top administrators’ silence on Brendan Gibbons’s violent use of this woman’s body for his pleasure in order that they could continue using the body of one of UM’s athletes to bring in large profits that feed into their exorbitant salaries.
"Fed up with how the university’s promotion of a culture of immunity for those high in its hierarchy of power fosters the perpetuation of rape across campus."

You can follow the "Student Union of Michigan" on Facebook.




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1 comment:

  1. There really is a "Michigan Difference."

    Michigan chUMps, skunkbears, trolls, Walverines, and the like think that Michigan reached the top a long time ago and there is nothing more to do; that what was achieved 50 or 100 years ago is the be all and end all and, now, just keeping the name clean is all that is needed to prove greatness.

    How Michigan State University and many, many other schools approach things highlights the "Michigan Difference."

    We are NOT trying to be better than Michigan or even the equals of Michigan. We let that school down the road follow its own path. The Michigan standard is NOT what we Spartans are striving to achieve.

    Our goal is not to close the "gap" between MSU and any other school. Instead, we are trying to be the best WE can be and then striving to be even better. We are reaching for the ever higher SPARTAN goals by setting ever higher SPARTAN standards of excellence in academics, social awareness, and athletics.

    We Spartans do not view the job as done - then, now, or ever. We do not perceive ourselves as immune from error or flawless or superior. We do not claim to be better than everyone else or even better than most or many or even a few. Let others make those claims - we don't care about such things.

    What we care about is constantly striving for excellence and constantly raising the bar, setting new standards for excellence and striving to reach those ever loftier goals. We recognize this as a journey, as a job that will never be finished. We will ever be satisfied with the status quo. Our only claim is that we are better today than we were yesterday and we will again strive to improve today and tomorrow.

    Nothing less will do. Not for we Spartans.

    Spartans Will!

    ReplyDelete

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