Athletics has begun using the camel-case word 'cULture,' but it's not clearly defined. It's supposedly who we are. For some of the more regrettable people here, our culture should be to simply out-LSU LSU; in which case maybe we should call it 'cLSUter'?
Pronounced 'cluster,' of course.
Cajuns' athletics culture should be— and largely is— a subset of UL culture. Which, in turn, is a reflection of our wonderful local Cajun & Creole culture.
It's an important distinction between us, and others. Our university culture is not huge, obnoxious crowds. It's not Walmartians wearing stained and frayed hats and shirts with our logos on them. It's not paying athletes several times what our faculty make.
Our cULture is a culture of community.
I previously mentioned that one of our athletes told me that he regularly talks with athletes from across the SBC who envy us, some of whom wish they were playing for us.
But why? It's not our winning; we hold our own, but we hardly dominate. It's not our budget, we're in the bottom half of the conference. It's not our crowds, other schools regularly out-draw us in almost all sports.
As near as he and I could figure out, what those other athletes envy is our sense of community. Our friendliness, our generosity, our welcoming nature, and the way we support our athletes. And the way our athletes support us. Even with our smaller crowds, visiting teams can sense the strong, family-like bond between our teams, and our fans.
There's your cULture for you.
Unfortunately, there are people here who constantly damage that culture. They come on RP, say ugly things to the rest of us, make nasty comments about our coaches, administrators, faculty, and athletes. They disrupt and derail important conversations. They share their failings in their personal lives, they share their private misery, with everyone else.
They do as they please.
And why shouldn't they? No one stops them. There is no downside to their nastiness whatsoever.
A central idea of this country is personal responsibility, which means accountability. There is none of that for the misfits who spew garbage here. Some of them are anonymous; but even if they are known, there is absolutely no accountability for any of them.
They contribute little; some contribute nothing. But they destroy much.
They destroy the true cULture of, as Dr. Gaines so eloquently put it, "Our little postage stamp of place." They destroy our community, they destroy our home.
Jon, I mentioned that,It is admirable that you protect freedom of expression here, but it shouldn't all be one way. Freedom of expression shouldn't exist in a vacuum; it should require accountability, and feedback. That's the real secret of America: feedback. In fact, we could make the argument that the real reason that free markets, and free elections, succeed, is that they provide healthy feedback.Quote:
Originally Posted by CajunFun
Ironically, so does freedom of expression. But for all three of these, there have to be some guardrails. There are always malicious actors who will abuse our freedoms, in order to destroy them for their own purposes.
Please reconsider my proposal for ostracizing these people.
Because although we have a Constitutional right to freedom of expression, as Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. put it, we do not have the right to yell "Fire!" in a crowded theatre.
And these sad little jacklegs are doing everything they can to burn this place down.
