This current scuffle echoes many of the sadly infantile tendencies that arise in social justice groups such as QPIRG and in their traditional opposition. Gather a group of people who feel irredeemably wronged – by “patriarchy,” by “phallogocentrism,” by “neo-colonialism,” or what have you – and toss them in a ring with an equally puerile group of idiots, such as Conservative McGill has ably proven themselves to be, and the inevitable result is wasted column inches on what is frankly a non-issue. I doubt many students were persuaded by the offer of a free lunch in exchange for their opting-out, and those that were, seem likely not to be the type to attend QPIRG’s meetings in any case, so why the fretting over their opting-out? Shouldn’t QPIRG be glad to be rid of such malignant privilegers of White Maleness, such as would abandon the pressing plight of Palestine for the pithy sake of some hot ramen?
I respect QPIRG’s stated principles, and I also respect the values embodied by conservatism in general (if not in particular those ones enumerated in the actions of our current prime minister). I only wish that the groups who would deign to bear such standards would have as much respect.
Mathew Powes
U1 Arts