Must Be The Music

Music is an issue that is close to many hearts at Rhodes University and I’m sure to students all around the South Africa as well. I will take an even bolder step and say that music feeds many souls all around the world. The problem lies in how that music links you with the people around you. Does everyone in your group of friends have the same music taste as you do? And if not how do you decide where to party and hang-out to accommodate all in the group? This has been a problem encountered by many students at Rhodes. But the worst part about this situation is when you get labelled as a particular type of person when you attend the venues that cater for your particular choice of music. Being stereotyped according to your choice in music is something I am totally against and something that I feel is unnecessary.

Music is an escape; a release from what we know is reality into what we feel reality should be. It allows us to get lost in worlds that are beyond life experiences and to be self indulgent for those splendid three minutes. Music is much like our dreams in the way that we cannot control what those melodies do to us at that time and we just let loose in whichever way our body reacts. My views here are shared by Just Another Soul Thinking Aloud in a poem written on the blog about how music can transform the body through the rhythm of the soul. Because music has such a big impact on a person, it would be unfair to judge on a person on what moves them. One can have a liking to many different kinds of music and to acquire a label when enjoying a certain type is just wrong.

The classic stereotypes you get when listening to a certain genre of music or enjoying a certain type of club scene are: Hippies that listen to ‘chilled rock’ and indie music; emo’s that listen to death metal ; jock’s and poppies that listen to rave and dance and gangsters that listen to Hip-Hop. Alistair King, a first year at Rhodes University, has agreed that the “stereotyping is just a way to make everyone have a place in society”. This was a confirmation of my theory: the only reason we have stereotypes is because humans are afraid of uncertainty and when one is not labelled and in a group of his own it becomes problematic.

One should have the liberty to do what they want and be left alone in their space. They should be able to say that they love a certain type of music and not be thrown into a social category within that music genre. The societies of today are changing and merging so no stereotypes should exist in practicality. One should be able to rage on about their favourite artist - like Briget does about James Blunt – and should be acknowledged for their taste without being ridiculed and labelled.

Lastly, one should have the pleasure of having random tastes in music and everything else for that matter. Just because you listen to one type of music cannot mean you don’t enjoy another. If I was labelled for the music I listen to, then I would be a jock, emo, hippie, and gangster – or more simply, JOEMHIGA!

weekend madness

"OMG! Exams start in two weeks time". . . My very first reaction to that statement would be oh darn it I'm going to have to study during Halloween :(. A sad and very true fact, which is why these last few days of freedom before the extremely feared exams is a week Rhodents often take to do their last little bit of partying. Even though exams are peering their gastly head around the corner the ever so fearless Rhodent walks towards them head first with his party shoes on. Think I'm lying? Well let me give you some proof of this last weekend where there were more then 5 functions occuring on the same night.

The Friday night was a bubbling happy evening with many gracing us with their presense at the usual spots (Union,Rat, Friars), whilst others had simply made a trip down to the coast. Now don't get me wrong I really enjoy the chilled Saturday night vibes which G-Town often experiences. Many Rhodents don't come out of their dingy, little, dark rooms for many reasons but one being the fact that they are probably hung over, a symptom often experienced every Thursday and Saturady morning which tends to be followed by sleeping the whole day one of the nicer side effects of the reckless evenings. However this weekends Saturday was on of absorbing sunlight at the pool with friends and party crashing many of the functions which seemed to be happening unanomously in one evening.

What started out as a movie evening soon turned into a "lets go out we only have two weeks left before exams" night. Now my initial reaction was "no ways I'm already in my Pjs" however after giving it a second thought I decided to get dressed and mission out. And mission out we did. We went to at least 5 parties in one night.

We began our evening with a visit to union, where there was a fines evening happening, so you saw many drunk boys wodering around union and not making it further then that. Then we proceded to go to the monument where we went to the law awards evening and after a little bit of dancing we proceded to go check out the trans party which was happening outside. It is called Burning of the man where could watch things being burned in a raging, roaring and yet tamed fire. After the monument escapade we managed to catch a lift down back to campus and so we returned back to Union and when Union closed we finally made our way into Town. On New Street we ventured into The Rat and Parrot, here we met up with a few friends and then we all missioned down to Friars. Even though Friars wasn't full (mainly because everyone was so split up tonight),it was still a very fun and cool vibe wich made for a good party becausefor once u didn'thave drunk people stepping on you and bumping you but you non the less had enough people to make a party. The party however ended when our stomachs called for food and the cry was so overwhelming that only a pirates pizza could suffice.

With our party shoes warn out and our stomachs satisfied we bagan the long walk up the hill to return to our ever so lovely beds. And even though the night was over and we were brought so abruptly into Sunday, it was without a doubt, one of the most eventful weekends , not to mention Saturays I have experienced so far at Rhodes. If only exams weren't around the corner. . .

Firts Years Alcoholics. . . I Protest. . .

Even though the common assumption is that most first year Rhode’s students are alcoholics or on the verge of being alcoholics I beg to differ. I am not an alcoholic or even on the verge of being one for I don’t even touch alcohol. My best friend at Rhodes Bianca also does not drink and neither do a whole other bunch of people that I know.
So by assuming that, you are in fact stereotyping and labeling a minority group as the majority. And the fact of the matter is that just because the Rhodes first year student may on occasion enjoy a drink here and there they are not necessarily alcoholics or even close to it, but simply fun party goers looking for a drink to boost their confidence or increase their level of fun. For it is true that alcohol does indeed add that extra something to the party. Of course there will always be a few people who will over drink but that still doesn’t make them alcoholics.
An alcoholic is a person affected with alcoholism, this means that he has an addiction to the substance and can not go a day without it and I do not believe that any of my friends who do indeed consume alcohol have an addiction to it and need it for their daily survival. And even though I’ll admit that sometimes when alcohol is indeed consumed by my friends it may be over done but it doesn’t happen all the time and therefore cannot be classified as an addiction, a problem or anything close to either. Of course I am not denying that there are a few first year Rhodes’ students out there who may in fact be alcoholics or on the verge of alcoholism however that is simply the minority and not the majority which is why I believe that the statement is stereotyping and enforcing an opinion which is incorrect.
The reason why the statement that ‘most first years at Rhodes verge on being alcoholics’ caught my attention is because it is something I can relate to even though I do not drink. And the fact that I do not consume any type of alcohol is what in fact helps me relate to this topic because I find the stereotype present in my everyday life and even back home away from Rhodes. The shock which is expressed by people when they find out that I am a Rhodes student who doesn’t drink and a first year at that, is overwhelming at times. It annoys me that people automatically link Rhodes students with alcohol rather then all the other amazing things which us 'alcoholics' do on a daily bases, in between our drinking and sober moments. It is true that Rhodes’ students are in fact infamous for their parties but I think I am one example that shows that a Rhodent can have fun without alcohol. And I am not the only one for I have a whole group of friends who do not drink alcohol or do not drink a lot and still have the most amazing fun evenings out. It is more the people you party with rather then the amount of alcohol you consume which makes Rhodes the best place to party.

The joys of being politically fucking correct

There is a condition in warfare -most people know about it- it’s when a soldier’s nervous system has been stressed to it’s peak and the nervous system has (or is about to) snapped. In the First World War, this condition was known as “shellshock“. Two syllables, simple and honest. Twenty one years later we had the Second World War and the very same condition was known as “battle fatigue,” a little longer and it seems a little less harsh. If that wasn’t enough, after the Korean war that very same condition was known as “Operational Exhaustion,” and finally, after the Vietnam war that same condition was now known as “post traumatic stress disorder.”

People may wonder what this has to do with first year students, and the answer is that the effects of being obligated to being Politically Correct or using euphemisms has far reaching consequences. In my opinion, euphemisms are a travesty. In this new day and age, we as first year students are pretty much obligated to being politically correct for the sake of preserving the feelings of others. For example, we are now made to refer to old people as “senior citizens.” Is that not grotesque enough? Of course no one wants to get old but it’s a natural part of life, and by not calling someone old and instead referring to them as “senior citizens” is not going to make them any younger, it’s not going to make your life any longer, you are not prolonging your death, you are eventually going to die! Oops! Did I say die? I meant “pass away.” And we don’t have any cripples or handicapped people in the world anymore. We shipped them all away and brought back “the physically challenged.” Do people actually think that by changing the name of the condition you are actually going to somehow change the condition? To put it in comedian George Carlin’s words, “euphemisms are getting so bad that any day now we are going to be asked to refer to rape victims as unwilling sperm recipients!”

It is time for people to let go of this ideology that being politically correct is the way to go, it is just away for some people to avoid a harsh inevitable reality or for others to feel smug that they are “educated” and “liberal” for using such correct terminology. It is time to use the original words, so that war veterans’ pain will not get buried under jargon, they can get the sympathy they deserve, because really, “shellshock” has a bigger impact on people and it promotes sympathy, whilst “post traumatic stress disorder” makes them seem like retards, Oops! Did I say retard? I meant “mentally challenged.” And they are not “Home Executives” they are “house wives,” and they are not “Glass Maintenance Engineers” they are “Window Cleaners,” and please, for the love of God let’s get rid of these “canine control officers” and bring back our beloved dog catchers!

Euphemisms are a travesty, and by reverting back to original phrasing we are reverting back to the words that best describe the condition or act, not this crappy jargon that people use now to feel better about themselves.