Pretentious bollocksPossibly the worst event I ever went to was an evening of turntablists in London. The lights went down, the first guy put a cymbal onto a turntable, dropped the needle on it and left it making screeching noises for ten minutes.
When the lights came up, half the audience had snuck out.
What's the most pretentious rubbish you've ever been to see in the name of art?
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chthonic, Wed 28 Sep 2005, 14:19)
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Student Union PoliticsOr in fact, any kind of student politics.
Yes I was involved. Yes I thought it was important. Once I left I realised it was of importance to no-one except those involved, probably including 99% of students.
I have a particularly cringe making memory relating to a debate held in a General meeting of the very left wing students union, about banning French products from the Students Union shops and bars in the wake of the French unilateral nuclear testing programme in the South Pacific, sometime in the mid 1990's. Pure gesture politics.
Inevitably the huffing and puffing lefties carried the motion in a fit of anti-French hysteria (which ironically they would have called xenophobia if a right-wing person have voiced it). Strangely, although it became union policy, it was conveniently forgotten after the Union Bar management pointed out that they were contractually obliged to sell Kronenbourg, it was their most popular draught lager and that there would be a mutiny if the Sports Science department got wind of what the lefties were trying to do. Draught Kronenbourg is probably brewed in Wales or something, but as I was constantly reminded "its the principle thats important".
On another occaison, a motion was put forward by a HIGHLY pretentious student to rename the union office building. At the time the building was named after a former ANC activist, now a senior member of the Government of the RSA. It was suggested that the building should be named after a more up to date freedom fighter. The motion proposer was in favour of naming it after a Chechen Terrorist (remember this was the mid 1990s). Any change was hotly opposed by the Anarcho-Green-Socialist-bedwetting coalition that ran the Union Executive.
The most popular proposal, when put to the vote in the General Meeting (I can't remember who by but I wish I'd bought him a pint of Kronenbourg) was to rename it the Luke Skywalker Building. Everyone fell about laughing. It was great to see the pretentious bubble that these people lived in burst completely by a well placed needle of wit.
No apologies for length. Lets Ban it. All those in favour? Motion Carried.
(, Fri 30 Sep 2005, 10:30, Reply)
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