The election has been one of many emotions. It has been one of excitement and then of heartbreak and hopelessness for many. There have already been a lot of articles about students’ reactions to the results and I am with them in their disappointment. So, to deal with that feeling of disappointment and anger, I decided to go to the Ignite Your Right: Humanity Against Trump rally on Friday afternoon. The rally was similar to ones all over the country as college student protest Donald Trump being our next president.
Fox News blasted college students for their reactions to the election. They showed pictures of college students crying, talking about how we have been babied because of our reactions to the election results. We as a group have been called entitled, whiny crybabies time and time again. Rudy Guiliani called us “spoiled crybabies.” I am told that I do not know what life is like in the real world, that I, as a college student, am not capable of understanding life outside of my campus and the “safe spaces” that it apparently has.
I experienced similar reactions from adults around this same time last year. I was volunteering for the Bernie Sanders campaign and was active in the UMass for Bernie Sanders group on campus. When I would tell people about my views, I was told that I thought I was entitled to “free stuff” and that once I got a real job, I would understand why Bernie was wrong for the United States. And frankly, I know that if I did have a real job at the time of the Democratic primary, I would have still voted for Senator Bernie Sanders.
I would have because I as a college student know how to formulate my own opinions and do my own research. I do not think I am entitled to free stuff; I believe that people in this country need healthcare. I do not think that Bernie would ruin the economy; I believe he would have helped the middle class.
But, that is beside the point. The point is we as college students are generalized as sheltered liberals who want everything done our way and that is why we protest. That is simply not true. I cannot speak for every person who has protested, but I will tell you why I have protested.
I protested because I am uncertain of the rights that my peers will have in the future. I am uncertain of the economic and social ramifications of a Trump presidency. I do not protest the results of the election, but I protest because of the results. I am not a whiny college student who just wants free stuff. I am not a whiny college student who does not understand the country and the world. I am not an uneducated person nor do I believe I am entitled to anything just because I am a college student.
I protest because I want my voice heard. My peers protest because they want their voices heard. We do not expect the results to change because of us. We know that.
But, maybe older generations should listen. We as college students and as part of the millennial generation, we are part of one of the largest generations. We do have a voice and we have an informed voice. The students that I have on my weekly podcast are far from entitled. They are well-researched, well-thought, and well-informed students who blow me away with their knowledge of the world and its issues.
We aren’t whining. We’re just telling you how we feel and you should listen because we’ll be running the world someday, and I can promise you it will be a successful one at that.
Emilia Beuger is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at [email protected].
Whiny College Student • Jan 1, 2017 at 11:57 am
YOu AL SOUND LIKE WHINY PEOPLE WRITING ON A COLLEGE STUDENT’S ARTICLE. HOW ABOUT YOU ALL GROW UP
Anonymous • Dec 31, 2016 at 1:43 pm
Great piece Emmi! Very well written, bravo!
Zac Bears • Dec 2, 2016 at 8:11 pm
Great piece, Emilia. Keep writing!
Shaw • Nov 29, 2016 at 7:34 pm
These comments make me happy
Mike • Nov 17, 2016 at 10:35 pm
and btw, the only job you’ll be qualified for after school is a whine counselor for other whiny brats like yourself-you won’t be running a damn thing and you know it.
Mike • Nov 17, 2016 at 10:32 pm
Nobody cares about your feelings Emilia, go back to your dorm room to cry and write in your diary or whatever it is you spoiled little brats do… Saying you aren’t whiny….makes you sound more whiny-GET A GRIP ON REALITY KID
Mauer • Nov 16, 2016 at 3:24 pm
I feel you need to write an article to say you’re not a whiny, petulant child… I have some bad news for you
Confidential • Nov 16, 2016 at 1:40 pm
Great article Emmi. People who whine about “whiny college students”, fail to acknowledge that college students are educated and have a voice. No we do know everything, but no one does. We do have lived experiences and there are definitely more experiences which will shape our views. Age does not determine maturity or knowledge. We care about the direction this country is going in that is why we speak up. It is time that people start listening to what millennials have to say instead of complaining about the way we choose to make our voice heard. Continue protesting millennials and other supporters!
Dr. Venckman • Nov 16, 2016 at 11:35 am
Correction. You have an UN-informed voice. Reading the NYT and Boston Globe and taking classes at UMass is no substitute for life experience.
But I do empathize with how you are feeling. It is exactly as many people felt when Barack Obama won. We realized that it would be the final dismantling of so many great things American. And true to his promises, the dismantling was swift and brutal. Why do you think there has been such a stunning reversal and vitriolic reaction resulting in the election of Trump?
Social issues have been at the forefront of Democrat politics, or mainstream politics in general, for a generation now. Believe me, many inroads have been made. And some of course for the better. What your generation is missing, however, due to a lack of experience, is that the issues that matter much more are the economy, national security, innovation, job creation, infrastructure, crime and many other things that are barely secondary issues in an Obama-centric world. Mountains of regulation, redistribution of wealth in the form of subsidies and misguided tax policy, not to mention preferential treatment in hiring, massive expansion of government and reckless government borrowing (not even for worthwhile capital projects), increasing attacks on law enforcement, lack of respect for the military, etc. demonstrates clearly that forcing social change by the government is NOT the right way to enact change.
All kinds of change must come organically. For example, Obama’s environmentalist agenda, while well-intentioned perhaps, is an utter failure. Trying to force the marketplace, at the cost of hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars, to adopt alternative energy, has been problematic to say the least. Finally, a breakthrough with a company like Tesla to give the marketplace what it wants on a scale that allows for normal adoption of new technology/ideas. THIS is but one example analogous to this forced social change being foisted on us by the globalist agenda.
I’m glad that I will be nearly dead when the millenial generation eventually comes to full power. By then we will probably have eroded our national sovereignty to the point where it won’t matter anyway. I can only hope that life experience and the brewing actions of other nations will teach this generation to fight back like our forefathers did. There are challengers knocking on the door for American supremacy. The Chinese will eat our millenials for lunch. Think your lives will be better when everyone in this country is “equal” (as if such a thing could exist) when China is running the show and Russia threatens was as a means to stay relevant with us? Good luck with that.
NormB • Nov 16, 2016 at 10:56 am
Thus whineth a – leftist, demanding, entitled, arrogant – college kid who “wants her voice heard.”
Get a degree, get a job, make something of yourself, THEN make your voice heard, once you have some experience, knowledge and wisdom of the world at large outside of your protective bubble of academia.
Ernie Schwartz • Nov 16, 2016 at 10:44 am
Um… Yes, you are a whiny college kid. You have aptly demonstrated it with this opinion piece.
Vikon99 • Nov 16, 2016 at 10:39 am
So, let me get this straight.
You just wrote an article whining about the fact that people protesting against a percieved potential that has not occurred are being called whiners because they lost an election and are apparently incapable of processing it in an adult fashion.
You know, step back and see if any of the stuff in your existential worry box is true or if it was an artifact of Democratic Media sources whipping you into a frenzy.
You were not worried about Hillary sending classified mails to all her non-cleared friends. Not worried about her egging on a conflict with Russia. Not worried about her hiring thugs to intimidate women who Bill predated on. Not worried about the Clinton Foundation giving only 6% to charity while paying out millions to its own staff.
You are worried about a candidate flapping his gums.
THAT is immaturity and whining. Superficial immature reaction in response to dashed expectations.
Suck it up like 50% of America did when we elected a President with no experience of any sort and soldier on.
Mike White • Nov 16, 2016 at 10:38 am
Maybe you’re not a whiny college student. I wasn’t, not after completing my military service and earning GI Bill. I was just starting adult life however. I had opinions, I thought informed opinions. I was even right at times.
The truth is you don’t know much. You haven’t experienced much. Wait until you get into the real workforce and realized college has(if you’re lucky) just prepared you to learn. Twenty years from now you’ll have a good feel for how naive you’re younger self was. In forty years(if you continue to grow emotionally and intellectually) you’ll know you were a baby barely out of diapers.
Please continue to learn, but don’t expect adults to take you serious. Protest, but mostly learn.
Jared Nelson • Nov 16, 2016 at 10:37 am
Um … wow. In these intellectually challenging studies you are undergoing, did you every learn the word, “semantics?”
You’re protesting that, no, you don’t want “free stuff,” you merely want “your voice heard!” Well, my special kitten, listen to what your “voice” is advocating. For FREE health care and FREE college!
You’re protesting that you’re actually in a better position than non-college students, because are doing your “own research.” What you almost certainly are NOT telling us is that this “research” is likely reading a lot of left wing blogs, and not researching basic economics!
Color me unimpressed, missy!
Pat • Nov 16, 2016 at 10:36 am
This rant really brings back memories!
I graduated in 1972. I was smack dab in the middle of the hippie generation. We were confident that we were DIFFERENT! I believed all that stuff too when I was young and stupid.
And that is a compliment. Life will teach you the things a university can’t.
Make love, not war! Peace, baby.
Excuse my while I leave and put on my DVD of Woodstock and smoke a joint.
mac • Nov 16, 2016 at 10:34 am
“…we have an informed voice. ” Obviously not. Of course people need health care. Trump beleivers so as well. Te question is how you it’s paid for and how do gouge the taxpayer as little as possible. The problem is that Bernie believes that far too muc is a “right”. If you suppeorted Bernie then you mus as well. Why do you believe someone should pay for your university education? Your generation will absolutely be in charge. If you continue to insist government deciding, even more than today, who gets what you’re in a for a rude awakeining when that time comes.
stylin19 • Nov 16, 2016 at 10:29 am
you probably should re-read your own article “Accepting the inevitability of change”
oaka • Nov 16, 2016 at 10:29 am
“I am not a whiny college student who does not understand the country and the world.”
(Cough) Yes you are. Anyone who believes in the Free Lunch platform of Bernie Sanders does not understand economics, much less how the world works.
Your first error was in believing the Media lies. Had they been honest, Clinton’s defeat would not have been so catastrophic to you.
Lived Across The World • Nov 16, 2016 at 10:22 am
When you know what to make a preemptive disclaimer about, you are at least self aware enough to realize what you really are.
David Hunt 1990 • Nov 16, 2016 at 8:19 am
I suspect a year in the “Peoples’ Paradise of Venezuela” might abuse you of some of your romanticism of Bernie’s stances.
Letha Deck • Nov 16, 2016 at 1:06 am
You sound very proud of your educational status.