Superlatives
Because law school is really just high school with (mostly) legal drinking, BJESL is asking for nominations for its Annual 3L Superlatives. Only 3Ls are able to nominate, but all JDs are able to vote. The categories include:
- Funniest (Female / Male)
- Best Body (Female / Male)
- Best Looking (Female / Male)
- Best Dressed (Female / Male)
- Biggest Flirt (Female / Male)
- Best Personality (Female / Male)
- Biggest Gossip (Female / Male)
- Biggest Gunner (Female / Male)
- Favorite Couple
- Favorite Couple That Never Was
- Most Likely to Become a Supreme Court Justice
- Most Likely to Become an Ambulance Chaser
- Most Likely to Save the World
- Most Likely to Host a Daytime Talk Show
posted by A. Fong at 11:24 AM
55 Comments:
Terrible fucking idea.
um, what?
I agree with 11:28 A.M.
Chances are high that this thread will devolve into a series of mean-spirited (and no doubt anonymous) posts about Boalt 3Ls.
In all seriousness, I suggest deleting this thread, or--if deletion isn't possible--closing comments.
Another desperate cry for attention from the same group of people constantly degrading the reputation of the rest of the 3L class. The rest of us see it for what it is, a desperate attempt to massage the egos of a certain clique by nominating their members in the desirable categories, and throwing the class under the bus in the negative ones (gunner, chaser, etc)
While many of us may not like this and may want to counter it or complain, I think the best course of action is to ignore this garbage. By complaining we are only indulging these truly desperate people in their cry for attention. I hope my fellow 3Ls will take the high road and not respond to this survey which will only serve to embarrass, anger, and shame our fellow classmates. We have enough of a bullying problem in our public high schools and I can't believe it's occurring in our public law schools.
11:52, the thread needs to stay so that the people behind this can learn a lesson of how their actions affect others, what needs to go is this class awards idea which any person with a shred of empathy or maturity would not participate in.
I can't say I'd agree that law school is like high school and I definitely think this is a "terrible fucking idea."
But, it's just one clique doing something they think is "cool."
This would never happen if the gun club were still around.
I'm sad that Andrew beat me to the punch on this one.
It is a bad idea and I think it's probably motivated by a few people wanting some sort of affirmation that comes along with this sort of thing, so I'd like anyone who thinks they should be "the hottest bod" or whatever to think of me as having voted for them in that category.
You do have the hottest bod, BJESL, each and every one of you. And all of you Boalties out there, you all have the hottest bods, too. You're all the biggest Gunners, the Best Looking Female, the Funniest and certainly the best couple that never was. So, now that we've decided that we're all the best and the worst that should obviate the need for something that belongs in a high school and not a law school, no matter how much you think it resembles (or how much you'd like it to resemble) high school.
I thought BS from high school was behind me...
Final non-judgmental appeal: you guys may have not had bad intent creating this, but if this ends up on ATL, it will have an incredibly degrading effect on the reputation of our institution. You have the chance to change this before things go out of control.
Recommendations:
1) Delete this post.
2) Kill yourself.
I suggest we change this up totally, get rid of the negative ones, and nominate our profs (with asterisks) for these . . . thoughts?
I don't think this post needs to come down, but I think we should keep the discussion a little more focused than it currently looks to be.
I think this is a bad idea, for the reasons listed in previous comments, without the encompassed personal attacks. I am certain the organizers planned this without malice, with the intention that it be lighthearted and fun. But I think a lot of people would feel uncomfortable being nominated in these categories - not just for the hurtful ones, but for some of the others, too, like "best body" or "best couple that never was" (huh?). I just don't understand why we would want to take the one of the worst parts of high school and celebrate it in law school.
Well this certainly is a thing.
And I'm with 2:13. If this makes ATL I'm gonna rage.
I think people should really stop taking this so seriously. If you do not want participate then don't. I think that prohibiting someone else from having fun is another form of bullying that we should also be offended by. Final thought: Get a life!
This little controversy has been informative. After over a year and a half at this law school, I learned Boalt has a Journal of Entertainment and Sports Law.
FYI: Post went up by request because someone wanted a place where they could rant anonymously.
is this a joke? best body male/female? what the hell
3:32, it is not bullying to stand up against people trying to shame and humiliate our fellow classmates. Despite what Emily said, this superlative thing could have been done without including negative categories, and by trying to brand someone biggest "gunner" (a term which we all agree is incredibly negative), the superlatives were clearly intended to single out, demean, and offend certain members of our class.
Prohibiting someone else from having fun at the expense of others is not bullying, it is stopping the shit we are trying to eliminate from our high schools and I guess now our law schools. If the only way you can have fun is by making others feel shitty with derogatory labels you are a bully, plain and simple.
we are supposed to be learning about the dangerous societal standards that females are held to with respect to their bodies and the insane effects it has on female confidence/body image and we are asking for "best body" ???
wow. embarassed
A. Fong: 2:15 PM here. I stand by statement.
It's a little ironic to be told to "get a life" while also being told that wanting to hold a public, all law school popularity contest is just "having fun."
2:15 -- unacceptable. dislike, vigorous hatred, whatever, that's all been done here many times (and isn't cool at all). but "kill yourself?" not funny; not okay; crosses the line majorly.
The fact that this has even been commented on so much and that people are taking this so seriously, pretty much reiterates how much like high schoolers everyone is acting. This seems pretty harmless, so if you're not a fan, don't participate. Plain and simple. Complaining anonymously is only going to bring more attention to the whole thing. Just ignore it.
As for the negative categories aspect, I am not sure being a "gunner" is such a bad thing. Do you mean people who study a lot, get good grades, and are eager to participate in class should be looked at negatively? I will say that the ambulance chaser category can't really be saved though.
So everyone take a deep breath, and chill out. Remember these distinctions don't mean anything anyways. Whether you think they are "a fucking terrible idea" (as the majority of people do) or you think they are "fucking awesome" (as surely no one does) at the end of the day it doesn't matter. No one cares.
This is one of the best posts I've ever seen on ATL.
6:01, that's where you are wrong... it does matter. If this goes on ATL I have to deal with a community of lawyers and friends thinking we go to law school with a bunch of immature douches. It will hurt boalt efforts at recruiting and will give the larger legal community a bad impression of this school. It's an embarrassment to the boalt community, a group of (mostly) mature people which includes all of us. We all shouldn't have to suffer because we go to school with a clique of coddled infants.
I've tried not to pipe up on this but 6:01 really pushed me over the edge. No, it does matter. In fact, it matters a lot. If you think it doesn't matter, then try pulling this kind of shit at your future place of work. I can hear the childish protests already, "But, but, we're in law school and we haven't a care in the world, and we're mocking things by repeating the conduct." Nice try, but no cigar. This is the kind of crap that I expect on AutoAdmit, not Boalt. [And if you're too young to know about AutoAdmit, in a sense you're lucky, so here's a handy starting point.)
It sounds like a segment of the Boalt student body has entered an era akin to mid-to-late 90's Saturday Night Live.
Who are these scatterbrains saying, "If you don't like it, don't participate"? People don't have to give their consent to be nominated and dragged into this likely offensive "fun." Also, I tried to figure out what BJSEL is and Google pretty certain that I'm just misspelling "BJ'S Wholesale Club."
I think the easy solution is remove "best body," "gunner," and "ambulance-chaser" and proceed as planned. I thought nothing of it when I saw the announcement on facebook. It had a bunch of funny costume suggestions and 90s tv references, so I don't think BJESL is taking the "superlative" idea too seriously, and neither should we. I guess even if a few people are offended by the very concept of "superlative" it would be easier to just scrap the whole superlative thing, and just throw a fun, innocent 90s party.
Then again, I did win, "Most Likely To Make Stupid Blog Comments" in high school...
3L here and I am also disgusted by this. This is the exact reason why I never go to law school prom: because high school for me ended about ten years ago. Come on, Boalt--we are WAY better than this.
Not to mention that everyone is right about this hitting ATL. The second that happens, we are all screwed. We just moved up two spots in the rankings (again). Do we really want something as childish, immature, and quite frankly frat-boyish and douchey as this to overshadow that?!?!?!?
2:15, kill the messenger much?
Re. ATL, that would be unfortunate, but ATL readers have short attention spans. And all else equal, if this really bothers people, I think it's preferable that folks discuss this in the open.
Using anonymous comments to launch personal attacks against the leadership of this journal—questioning their character and implying they “degrade” the class—is itself bullying and is unacceptable. I assure you that these people are honest, kind-hearted, and well-intentioned people who did not intend for these superlatives to be used to hurt anyone. I encourage people who take issue with these superlatives to discuss them openly with members of the journal.
I myself think that some of these categories are potentially quite hurtful, and would like to see them removed from the superlatives list. I also think the option of “opting out” doesn’t save someone the hurt or humiliation of being informed that they’ve been nominated in the first place.
The difference, however, is that I’ve raised my concerns directly with members of the journal, and I’m not afraid to put my name on them.
I think there should be an opt out list as well. Maybe we can have a petition where anyone who doesn't want to be included can be left off the list--even if nominated and voted for.
Some of us have our professional reputations to worry about. Remember, this is a PROFESSIONAL school. We are about to become attorneys. What's posted on the internet is kinda there forever.
You guys can play your games, but keep those of us who want no part of it out of it.
Reading Nuts and Boalts makes me said to be a Boaltie.
mebbe i shouldn't have done this but i did. i forwarded the link to ATL and asked some of my friends at peer schools to do the same. it's stupid enough that i want BJESL to know exactly how stupid it is. i know this is cutting off the nose to spite the face, but this idea is so dumb it needs to be ridiculed by everyone everywhere.
I really don't see what's wrong with being an ambulance chaser.
BEST BODY? I mean, come on people. But even if they remove the offensive categories, I think the majority of our class sees this as one big inside joke for "that one group" of 3Ls that takes a lot of pride in behaving like a college fraternity. Whether that group overlaps with the BJESL leadership, I have no idea. But the whole thing is a poor representation of our class, which is full of mostly kind, smart, funny, down-to-earth people with better judgment than this.
Ben wrote: "Using anonymous comments to launch personal attacks against the leadership of this journal—questioning their character and implying they “degrade” the class—is itself bullying and is unacceptable."
Honestly, I don't know who represents the leadership of BJESL. I looked for a web site, but BJESL apparently doesn't maintain one. And the "superlatives" nominations site does not list any contact names or info.
This contest has the potential to harm the general reputation of the school. The sponsors of the contest--whoever they are--made the survey available over a public web site. It is reasonable to criticize them, anonymously or otherwise.
What's a good argument for anonymous posting on this subject? I can't think of one.
@James, people want to complain about this but don't want to directly piss off their friends in BJESL.
I said good argument.
Jackie O,
When you have "no idea" about who came up with this, but insist on attributing it to people you don't like that's just as shitty as anything else that's gone on here.
3:29, would you say it is a shit storm?
Wait... Orin Kerr reads this blog?
Relavent: http://imgur.com/EhScp
Armen's post linked to Kerr's on VC, and that shows up on VC, so Kerr probably decided to drop by.
While I agree with everything that has been said about how this list is degrading, reflects poorly on the 3L class and Boalt, is like high school all over again, etc., there may be SOME room for compromise here. To the proponents of this list: many of the people who have posted here arguing that this list isn't so bad and that only those who like it should participate--so why don't you just take it off the Internet? You're posting it on a public forum as if it's created by (and therefore endorsed by) a Boalt student group, and you're telling people who don't want to be involved that they should just "opt out." But if you publish that list, how is anybody who sees it going to know who opted in and who opted out? Doesn't that just make it easier for the popular kids to win since the "unpopular" kids didn't even try to play?
Regardless of how immature and ridiculous people think this list is, it's true that none of us can tell you how to have your fun. But we can most certainly object when that "fun" comes at our expense, and when that "fun" is broadcast to the world as if we participated. There is no reason at all that this list needs to be anywhere on the Internet, either posted or referenced. If you want this to be your private fun, keep it private.
@10:30,
It was created and endorsed by a student group -- BJESL! I thought this was clear in the post.
And this is really annoying, but in case folks haven't gotten the point yet, I DON'T endorse the Superlatives. Nor does Nuts & Boalts. I'm just linking to the dang thing and asking for comments.
Yeesh.
What good is a superlative competition if you let people opt out? An opt-out regime is an attack on the integrity of the whole concept!
http://tinyurl.com/2fwx4e8
@ A. Fong: my 10:30am post wasn't directed at you--it was directed at the people who want to make this list in the first place. It's an online survey. It's talked about on Facebook (to the best of my knowledge, anyway). As you pointed out, it was started by BJESL. My point is (1) it shouldn't be public, and (2) it shouldn't have ANYTHING to do with Boalt or a Boalt student group. If a group of people wants to do this on their own time, there is nothing we can do to stop them. So far, though, there is nothing private about this list--even before it was posted on Nuts & Boalts to open up a forum for people to discuss it.
I like how author first sets the scene as "Because law school is really just high school with (mostly) legal drinking" and then when people call him out, he or she attempts to hide behind some lame excuse like "need to give people way to criticize this anonymously."
Ugh. Hypocrisy stinks.
4:27, perhaps I should have added a tag after that remark? I thought the "Good fun? Bad idea?" indicated my relative neutrality on this.
Also, I love how you're commenting anonymously.
Ugh, hypocrisy stinks.
Law student, eh? Started thinking about that future job yet? May I make a suggestion? Check out JD Match in between the papers and exams. I work with JD Match and it’s a great step for any law student looking for an AmLaw firm job and a little weight off their shoulders. http://bit.ly/GANvQk
So BJESL is where all the former frat boys and sorority girls congregate?
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