Even:
“Sober AND intelligent people might not have, but it’s certainly possible that sober and stupid ones would.”
I at least gave them the benefit of the doubt that they might have been drunk! Only a drunk or an idiot would have looked at that pile of roller bearings and think it could be stable. And we trust that school to produce engineers!
It was the comment, “I have no use for jocks and school spirit types and was heard to describe the non-jocks killed at Columbine as unfortunate collateral damage” I was referring to, Dropzone.
Got a few issues with that, do ya? Well so did Freak.
Even thought I am an Aggie, I do understand the objections that many people (including other Aggies) have with the culture that existed alongside Bonfire. However, what I do NOT understand is the complete lack of class demonstrated by the same people who think we’re so terrible.
Excuse Me? Did you know any of these people? How can you have any kind of heart to disparage the memory of twelve wonderful people you did not even know? These people were sons and daughters of loving families and their lives have been torn apart by this tragedy. It’s people like YOU who make it that much harder for them.
I’ve never once seen any human being even remotely interested in pursuing coitus with sheep, let alone any other animal besides homo-sapien. And surely if you went to A&M you would have seen that the vast majority of people there are everyday normal college students. And yes, some of us wear Wranglers, but it’s TEXAS, you moron. Besides, associating one’s character with a particular wardrobe is entirely non sequiter. As far as carelessness of the environment, I do reluctantly agree that as a majority Texans are less sensitive to environmental concerns than the nation as a whole, but we’re a lot better than the people in Dallas in that regard. Plus, all of you seem to be foregetting the fact that the land was cleared because landowners wanted to put something there. We didn’t all hop in our pickup trucks and go “Whoa bubba! Thar’s some trees, let’s kill 'em”
I helped build Bonfire that year, and yes- there were many things that I found backward and “red neck” about the traditions, but there were also many wonderful things as well. Also, if A&M is such a terrible school and B/CS is such an awful place to live, then why do almost 50,000 people go to school there?
One last thing: about traditions. They certainly aren’t for everybody, but our traditions are part of our history and culture. Take for example Silver Taps; on the first tuesday of every month if a current student died during the last month thousands of students will gather in complete silence in the center of campus. At 10:30PM, campus darkened, The Ross Volunteers will march in, present a 21 gun solute, and play taps on the roof of the administration building to honor those who died. What other school does that? Sound like a stupid tradition to you? Sounds to me like respect and loving for one’s comrades. There are many more examples. Go to TAMUs website and look for traditions (www.tamu.edu) and you may find out we’re not as stupid as we’re made out to be.
Well, I could go on defending words that I admitted were purposefully inflamatory and, thus, trollish, but I won’t bother. Although we haven’t had a good FreakFreely supernova in a while…
I cannot believe that anyone could be so insensitive to human life. Those 12 people knew what it is like to love something outside of themselves. They sacrificed sleep and often studying to be a part of something you will never understand.
I don’t think two people with alcohol in their blood out of the hundreds who worked on the Bonfire. While arguments can be made for continuing or discontinuing the Bonfire, it is going to continue ONLY if it can be done safely.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen more misinformation in one place in my life. While the Bonfire did start out as a small trash fire it grew into what it was in 1999 because of engineering. A&M has a very reputable engineering department.
The trees used for the Bonfire were all donated by people who were wanted them to be used for it. A&M was in no way deforesting the state.
I’m just going to keep reminding myself of karma and maybe I’ll be able to sleep tonight.
Thanks Demise. It just really pisses me off when people degrade human life with such arrogance and total disregard for the feelings of people. Those 12 people were special to not only their families but to all Aggies.
Ignorance is everywhere, and while there’s certainly our fair share of it in B/CS, it’s not concentrated there by any means. I know this is a flame forum, but everyone here needs to understand that we are still very emotional about this. And even amongst fellow Aggies, we heatedly debate about how to continue the tradition of Bonfire while making absolutely sure those 12 people didn’t die in vain. If you would like to take a look at what we’re really like, you should visit http://www.texags.com.
I just wanted to post here so I could say my piece.
Nonono! Great Debates and General Questions are about fighting ignorance. MPSIMS is about wallowing in your feelings and the Pit is about complaining. You want me to pat your hand and tell you how sorry I am that those people had to die then take it to MPSIMS. You want someone with both an engineer’s practiced eye AND years of experience with Legos and Lincoln Logs and little wooden toy blocks to tell you that anybody who got within 100 yards of that pile of lumber was foolish to the point of recklessness then take it to the Pit.
Okay, so the well, of course the news stations covered it. It was a horrible accident. And, of course the media is going to voice any possibilities until more information comes out.
Okay, so there was drinking involved. But I bet you that the problem was the design, not Aggies drinking. even if there was any “enviromental factor” at work, I would have to say that it would have been 24 construction of the damned thing. That’s one of the things I hope is changed, having a bunch of college students(of which Cadets are making a disportionate amount)working in the middle of the night, then getting up, going to class, etc. is begging for trouble, IMO.
But that’s just me. I’m probaly one of the Few Aggies who thinks changes like that should come to Bonfire, but I also think that in no way should Bonfire be abolished.
cykrider
I don’t know what your beef with TAMU is…maybe you got kicked out or something, but it seems to me that many of your statements are clouded by your dislike of TAMU.** Ballybay**'s question is legit. Why do you think TAMU is so bad? Did you read the brochure? How about that big-ass book they give to fish (that I still have in my bookcase)?
Did you just pick a random college and go to it, without doing any research whatsoever? You must have seem something in TAMU to begin with, otherwise you wouldn’t have gone in the first place.
So, this leads me to conclude that you must have been kicked out of TAMU or something, I’m sure your “Higher education” is really Blinn Community College.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by SpaceGhostofArrakis *
**
I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life and I went their because of a girl. Pretty dumb I know, but I’m out of there now. And I left because of that school, it had nothing to do with the girl.
dropzone, I’m not sure what the hell’s wrong with you. But, clearly, something is!
It’s sad that people think the 70 young people that were out there November 18 busting there asses for something the believed in “had to be drunk…”. It’s possible that one was. The others were not.
The 12 people that died were bright, articulate, dedicated, talented, amazing people. And most Aggies still deeply mourn the loss…and people here have called them “fucking morons” who apparently had sex with animals? And what the HELL does some stupid ass bike race have to do with any of this? Idiot.
MGibson you’re thinking logically…
And Demise, I hate your ass come T+1 but right now, just as November '99, you have my respect! Thanks. You may not believe what we believe…but we appreciate the support the 'sips have given us!
I won’t EVEN get into what Bonfire is really about. Most of you sorta get it, or don’t care. The others would NEVER understand.
DropZone: You must be the most disrespectful person I have ever encountered. To make such a comment as you did (Darwin’s award) is blatant disrespect for twelve people you did not know and their families.
For everyone’s information, the Bonfire will be rebuilt. It will be supervised by professional engineers and will be much smaller. Sadly, student involvement will be minimal and will last about two weeks, instead of three months. The logs will be professionally cut most likely and the site will be fenced off with security guards. This is all a good thing, except for the minimal student involvement. You see the thing that made bonfire so special over the years was the comraderie established in the first four months of school (cut didn’t start till late septmeber, early October). Now with the minimal involvement a lot of that will be lost and sadly the tradition will likely fade into the shadows.
But to call us all morons and all sheep lovers is a huge stereotype. Most students can be seen walking around in “NORMAL” clothes. And the comment about sheep lovers is just downright moronic and without any merit. I think I can recall more intelligible comments from my four year old cousin.
Come on. Of course there going to say alcohol was involved. I mean, what are they going to say, the truth?
Alcohol wasn’t involved. The reason they say that it was has nothing to do it’s newsworthiness, and everything to do with it’s simpleness.
They report that because a) It’s partly true- two of the twelve killed were above the legal Texas limit and one had traces of alcohol in their system. It’s also true that the majority their didn’t drink or were drunk. Why couldn’t the news reports say, “Seventy-four percent of the students were sober!! Why the tragedy from such bright students at a major University!?!”
It easy could have been reported that way, but it wasn’t. And it wasn’t for reason b) They come up with that simple-minded answer to appease the idiot audience.
The audience of a local newstation isn’t interested in the hard to follow, and often complicated, facts. They simply want something to blame quickly and easily… anything in the way of that is beyond the viewer’s normal level of caring or concentration is too hard to follow. They want simple and unthinking distortions- “Give me something quick I can be firm on- dinners ready and I’m a hungry”
Demise, I respect everything you’ve said thus far. Your defense looks good this year. Good luck establishing a running game, that seems to be tu’s weakness right now.
I’ll withdraw my good luck wishes for T+1, though.
For the rest: these were twelve of the best people you could hope to find anywhere. Many were freshmen (class of 2003 at the time). They didn’t die for a fire. They didn’t die for a stack. They died because some things went wrong in a project they believed in. And they believed in it because it brought them together in a way that does not exist anywhere else.
In addition to the twelve, there were 27 injured. I saw one of them last week- John Comstock. He was the most severely injured, and had originally been expected to die. His leg was amputated, and he had nerve damage that he is only just now recovering from. He has just now returned to A&M after 3 semesters off. One thing is different about him: he has a 3"x4" tattoo of Bonfire on his arm. He is scheduled to light the stack in 2002.
So, if you asked Tim Kerlee, Christopher Breen, Jerry Self, Micheal Ebanks, Jeremy Frampton, Lucas Kimmel, Chris Heard, Brian McClain, Jamie Hand, Nathan West, Chad Powell, or Miranda Adams whether Bonfire should burn again…
There is no doubt in my mind they’d say yes.
Read about just one of these guys- this is about Tim Kerlee.
