NYU’s Students Embarrass Themselves

Please watch that.  

Here are my thoughts:

1. I have never occupied anything I wasn’t supposed to.  I believe it would be interesting to occupy something – a university is probably the best place to do that – but for a good cause. Their list of demands is pretty odd…  Why the obsession over Gaza/Palestine? Would this have happened last year if Gaza hadn’t been bombed to bits?  What about Darfur – wasn’t that all the rage a few years ago?  Before that – it was Apartheid… How fickle we can be?  
    
2. The video above is pretty interesting.  Not only does it show that the students are unorganized and delusional, it shows the university officials in a very good light.  The camera man instigates the security officers (who look really bored) and practically begs them to abuse him and his party.  Meanwhile, the University spokesperson just wants them to shut up so he can tell them they are probably not going to graduate from NYU.  They are poised and let the students congregate… that request from the videographer for the guards to use “Earmuffs” was pretty ridiculous.
    
3. Facilitate a meeting!?  What? Are you high?  There is nothing to facilitate. The University demanded your id cards – so they know who to expel/arrest, and another thing, your negotiators are pretty much never coming back.  I’m sure NYU, much like the USA, does not negotiate with terrorists.
    
4. There was no brutality.  Even when that girl was pulled off the balcony – she was not in danger… she was just loud.  When the camera moved over and she was standing there screaming.  One quickly finds that she was merely pulled off the balcony by her shoulders.  It’s NYU’s right.  These students have trespassed on school property.  From my understanding, the University does not allow students to be on that balcony in the winter (obviously since it’s cold and probably has no winter maintenance).  So, the students had to break that door down. Property damage AND civil disobedience along with trespassing?  Yikes…
    
5. Shouldn’t the seniors know better than to cause the University to kick them out?  They have spent 7 semesters here! Not to get a diploma would totally piss mommy and daddy off.  Sure, it could be argued (in certain circles) that this was a good cause, but couldn’t there really have been a better way.  The school totally let them keep those barriers up for one night – and then decided they were tired of that noise and kicked some ass.  Start a petition, rally around the school frequently, make websites posting terrible Financial Aid packages – you can’t just take over a building!
    
6. They seriously believe that the University (much like the KGB) was going to arrest them, ship them to Siberia and steal their things (because they are tired of drinking corporate water).  Chances are if the University did anything terribly stupid, they would have a lawsuit. A macbook is hardly worth thousands of dollars in litigation with the owner. It makes no sense.
    
7. Noam Chomsky wrote them a fucking letter of support!  Good ol’ Noam. For some reason, I always think he’s deceased, but periodically, he does something that says, “Nope, still kicking!”, and I breathe a sigh of relief.  This is the most recent thing I’ve heard from him.

I rarely side with the big guy – but this was straight up stupid.  It always bugs me when people do something dumb and then claim its their legal right under the first amendment.  Sure, you can scream whatever you want on the streets, but you can’t break into my house and yell at me about it.  These kids deserve to be expelled for disrupting the lives of all the other students.  Of all the 50,000 only 1,048 people (not necessarily students) have signed their petition on www.takebacknyu.com.   That’s about 2% of the entire student population.  I bet those kids will be telling this story for ages – while it just becomes an obscure footnote in NYU history.

The American Health System is Fucked

Last night, I decided I should take my contact out.  Of course, I washed my hand and put my finger to my eye and removed the left contact.  I pick up the lens cleaner liquid bottle and pour some in the case.  I drop my contact in.  I go for the right eye – do the same.  There is one thing amiss though… my right begins to itch, swell and turn red.  At first, I think my eye might fall out – when it doesn’t, I realize I might have had something on the bottle that irritated the shit out of my eye.  I take a benadryl and go to bed.

I wake up, and my eye is still swollen.  Of course, it has gone down a bit, but still visibly annoyed.  My sister suggests I go to the Emergency room – and this is where the title of this post comes from.

Things that happened to me at the hands of the healthcare system:

1. I had to sit in a room where people were literally spitting on the floor.  Kid literally vomited everywhere. Why isn’t there a room specifically for pediatrics?  Kids are far more disgusting than adults… at least in this case.
2. I waited 2 hours to be seen by a doctor and 1 hour to be discharged.  I was moved to the actual ER because the emergency room for non-life threatening emergencies was getting a little too full with screaming children and the elderly. 
3. I experienced a complete lack of confidentiality.  I was placed in a room with Mr. Bridges.  His doctor came in before mine and questioned him on the following:
   - his sex life
   - former drug use
   - medication
   - family history of disease
   - Military Service

   I asked the doctor if he wanted me to step out once he asked Mr. Bridges to undress.  The doctor looked at me and said, “oh, you don’t mind? I just thought I should not bother you since you were listening to your iPod.”  It was the worst reason not to ask anyone to leave the room.  Now Mr. Bridges and I are like family.
    

4.  The doctor assumed I had conjunctivitis from a contact lens solution bottle.  So she prescribed two random eye drops and benadryl – just in case it was an allergy.  She didn’t run tests, draw blood or anything.  Then she left for an hour.
5. Total cost of emergency room visit $75 for 3 hours of work – that’s $25 – it’s more than I make an hour
6. The pharmacy, Rite Aid, failed me.  I dropped off my prescriptions and was told to return in about two hours.  I returned in three.  There was a long line and one cash register working.  Once I make it to the front of the line – the lady slowly gets my prescription, and says, “One of your medicines was not in stock.  Can you wait until tomorrow?”  I could have punched her in the face.  What if that was insulin? Why didn’t I get a call?
7. Medication was expensive.  ”This 5mL will cost $50.”  After I confirmed that I had insurance and that this was the co-pay.  I was really pissed because this was only 5 FUCKING MLS.  

I had conjunctivitis in Peru when I was 10 and the 5ml bottle of whatever they were putting in my eye was only S/. 10 – that’s roughtly $3 American dollars and without insurance.  Is there a reason people in Peru get better healthcare?  Also, why must I pay $50 for medicine for an infection I don’t have?  Because the doctor is a bitch who thinks its appropriate to have a patient wait an hour for 2 prescriptions… ultimately she didn’t even come over with the prescriptions – she sent two nurses.

I am so pissed. I spent $125, was misdiagnosed, not given the proper medication for anything, and shafted by my private healthcare provider.

JJRC