Nov. 12, 2004
www.guilfordian.com
In search of election-spawned hate and zeal
Charlie McAlpin
Staff Writer
On a gloomy
Wednesday afternoon,
the hopes of thousands
crashed like the persistent
rain. Kerry had lost, and the
passions around campus
were palpable.
Student, staff and faculty
emoted rage, sorrow, bewil
derment - and confusion. And
on that night the Democratic
Guilford community gathered
in King 126 at 10 p.m. to fig
ure out what to do next.
I went to the meeting seek
ing the raw emotions - hatred
and frustration -1 saw on Nov
3. I asked the 70 people who
gathered in that fashion mis
take of a room (mixing tones
of vomit and blood), to tell me
what they would do with
themselves now that Kerry
had lost.
I encouraged sarcasm,
cynicism, dark humor, and
rejected objectivity. I wanted
to unearth that zealous fren
zy, not mask it in a practical
press release.
Guys, I hate to be the one to break it to you,
but John Kerry didn't win the election. No,
Nader didn't win either. Sorry everyone, but the
evil one is going to be our commander-in-chief
for awhile longer.
So: how are we going to survive until 2009 with
George W. ? Well, with a little help from the
Guilfordian, you can make the next term go by
as painlessly as the last one.
The Guilfordian
Editor-in-Chief Cartoonist Staff Writers: Deidre Rhim
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News Editor Visual Arts Editor Karim Ali Kaitlin Ugolik
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World & Nation Editor Layout Editor Carlos D'Agostino Meredith Veto
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Matt Haselton Michael Cole Christopher Lett meet at 7:30 p.m. on
Columnist Faculty Advisor Charlie McAlpin Mondays in the Commons
Kathy Oliver JeffJeske Emily Place of Founders hall.
Instead I found the para
digm had shifted. At first I'd
seen rage, but now only sad
ness; sorrow became melan
choly; bewilderment eroded
into a dangerous sensation of
hope waning for liberal
ideals. Confusion remained.
The room fragmented into
small pockets of conversa
tion, but then regrouped to
discuss individual conclu
sions. The conversation
flowed into a pool of lucid
consensus.
One person after another
deduced that Democrats.
needed to connect with
Republicans.
I was shocked that so
many people had become
wholly constructive in their
disappointment. Having lost
the war, the group realized
that liberals had forgotten
Sun Tsu's dictum: "Know
thine enemy as thyself."
Each person agreed that
we must take a more micro
cosmic approach and attempt
to understand the mentality of
the individual Republicans
around us. We need to talk to
CABAJDAi
FORUM
our opponents and try to
understand their per
spective. The time for
war has ended; the time
for conversation has
begun.
If liberals can con
verse with conserva
tives, aiming to attain an
understanding instead
of a victory, then maybe
a middle road can be
reached.
The purposive mental
ity offers the heartening
perspective that Kerry's
defeat is not the end. To
a group of lost and disil
lusioned people, the
idea of sincere political
dialogue suddenly
seems encouraging.
And so I realized that
my dark-humor expose
was no longer relevant.
I still asked my ques
tion: "What will you do
with yourself now that Kerry
has lost?" And some people
joked and others didn't, but
nobody felt the fervor I was
looking for. And I realized that
this is a good thing, for the
How to Handle another Four Years
1. Turn RIGHT onto W FRIENDLY AVE.
2. Turn RIGHT onto W MARKET ST.
3. Merge onto NC-68 S toward HIGH POINT
4. Merge onto I-40 W.
5. Merge onto US-52 N via EXIT 1938 toward MOUNT AIRY.
6. Take the I-74 W exit on the LEFT toward I-77/WYTHEVILLE
7. Merge onto I-77 N via EXIT 5 toward WYTHEVILLE
8. Merge onto I-65 N via the exit on the LEFT toward INDIANAPO
LIS
9. Merge onto I-680 W via EXIT 27 toward NORTH OMAHA/SIOUX
CITY.
10. Merge onto I-29 N via EXIT 138 toward SIOUX CITY.
11. Merge onto I-90 W via EXIT 848.
12. Merge onto I-90 E via the exit on the LEFT toward BILLINGS.
13. Take the I-405 S exit- EXIT 10- toward RENTON/BELLEVUE
14. Merge onto I-405 N toward BELLEVUE/EVERETT
15. Merge onto I-5 N toward VANCOUVER B.C.
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CHARLIE MCALPIN/GUILFORDIAN
of Guilford's Democrats gather on Nov. 3 to discuss how to
deal with the election results
Some
sake of our sanity.
In the spirit of this conclu
sion, I invite a Republican
who would like to engage in
sincere discussion on the
issues that divide the two
Greensboro. N.C.
parties to contact me through
The Guilfordian at
cmcalpin@guilford.edu. Join
me in helping the divided
sides comprehend each
other. K
If you've been following along, you should be
approaching British Columbia. It's a two day
trip, so you have about 3 years and 363 days to
kill.
It shouldn't be too hard: Canadians are famous
for their fun-loving ways and decriminalized
marijuana. And in 2008, when Bush appoints
himself Dictator-for-Life, you'll be way ahead of
the other expatriates.
This PSA brought to you by Ben Kelly
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