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re: Tonight, Texas A&M's campus will darken for Silver Taps
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:17 am to Pettifogger
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:17 am to Pettifogger
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exceptions being those that would require me to alter my sexual preference
You gave your troll up here homie
1
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:21 am to ShaneTheLegLechler
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You gave your troll up here homie
I can't be serious and take a jab at the same time?
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:22 am to Pettifogger
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Seems self-explanatory to me. You can disagree, but I don't know why it is confusing. For example, at Auburn, we may have picked 10 things over the course of 150 years to do regularly, and hence they've become traditions. At TAMU, it seems you've selected 150 things to do over the past 125 years to become traditions. My belief is that TAMU has done this with posterity in mind.
This is just grasping at straws. You are trying to justify your opinion for not liking something just by saying, "I think it is this way, so it must be this way."
You'd serve yourself better from an integrity perspective by just saying, "look, I don't like it." No need to try to blindly justify it. Be who you are man.
That's what aTm graduates do -- they are proud of who they are and don't try to blindly justify it.
I appreciate the Aggie culture. I've visited 6 SEC stadiums now and 2 Pac10/12 stadiums. And truthfully, outside of the hospitality of LSU tailgating, the friendliest fan base I have experienced has been at College Station. It is very genuine.
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:22 am to Pettifogger
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Creating traditions on purpose doesn't mean they're not substantive.
They emerged spontaneously though.
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don't be defensive.
Not trying to be. Just wasn't understanding what you were trying to say. It's all good.
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:26 am to TbirdSpur2010
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:26 am to EKG
I believe all of that is true.
For example, with Silver Taps, I'm not aware of a related tradition that involves the "sun won't rise on them again" angle. I understand it derived from taps generally, but to my knowledge, that isn't a part of other taps ceremonies (I checked, it appears the Army specifically prohibits Silver/Echo taps). But there is a lot of significance built in to the TAMU version, and it sounds pretty planned to me. Now, it was planned 100 years ago, so that isn't a slight, but I think it was probably created with posterity in mind. Again, nothing wrong with that, it just goes to show the value of maintaining tradition to A&M, and to me, signifies that early TAMU people wanted to create an abundance of traditions to be carried forward.
For example, with Silver Taps, I'm not aware of a related tradition that involves the "sun won't rise on them again" angle. I understand it derived from taps generally, but to my knowledge, that isn't a part of other taps ceremonies (I checked, it appears the Army specifically prohibits Silver/Echo taps). But there is a lot of significance built in to the TAMU version, and it sounds pretty planned to me. Now, it was planned 100 years ago, so that isn't a slight, but I think it was probably created with posterity in mind. Again, nothing wrong with that, it just goes to show the value of maintaining tradition to A&M, and to me, signifies that early TAMU people wanted to create an abundance of traditions to be carried forward.
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:27 am to Floating Change Up
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That's what aTm graduates do -- they are proud of who they are and don't try to blindly justify it.
Um. No. That's exactly what they do. About everything.
This tradition I can support, but for the most part they're absurd.
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:28 am to Rebelgator
Look who's back!
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:32 am to Pettifogger
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there is a lot of significance built in to the TAMU version, and it sounds pretty planned to me. Now, it was planned 100 years ago, so that isn't a slight, but I think it was probably created with posterity in mind.
Um, how about just wanting to honor the fallen?
quote:
to me, signifies that early TAMU people wanted to create an abundance of traditions to be carried forward.
Nah it's just something we started doing as a military college. Lots of other senior military colleges have their own twists on traditions too.
Doesn't mean we had this conspiracy to create oodles of traditions just for the sake of having them
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:33 am to Rebelgator
quote:
Rebelgator
Glad to see you still hate!
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:34 am to TbirdSpur2010
I'm on y'all's crazy gay cowboy cult side on this one.
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:40 am to TbirdSpur2010
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Um, how about just wanting to honor the fallen?
They're not mutually exclusive. I'll admit, this is a pretty significant tradition with some nice symbolism and I'm jealous of it, to some extent. But, while prior generations were certainly better at creating meaningful traditions than ours, I suspect this was well orchestrated with the intention of being repeated.
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:42 am to Pettifogger
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I suspect this was well orchestrated with the intention of being repeated.
It must suck to go through life being so cynical.
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:45 am to Projectpat
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It must suck to go through life being so cynical.
Wouldn't know.
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:45 am to Pettifogger
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I suspect this was well orchestrated with the intention of being repeated.
That's kind of the point of any ceremony of this nature
You're entitled to your opinions and conspiracy theories, though
We're just gonna keep doing what we always do in Aggieland.
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:47 am to TbirdSpur2010
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That's kind of the point of any ceremony of this nature
Don't disagree, and it requires a fair amount of foresight that isn't very common anymore.
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:50 am to Pettifogger
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They're not mutually exclusive. I'll admit, this is a pretty significant tradition with some nice symbolism and I'm jealous of it, to some extent. But, while prior generations were certainly better at creating meaningful traditions than ours, I suspect this was well orchestrated with the intention of being repeated.
I get what you're saying but do you have similar observations about say the Naval Academy?
Aggie traditions aren't nearly so "weird" compared to other schools that for most of their existence were all male with a compulsory military component.
Definitely weird relative to other SEC schools that have long been coed and not defined as much by military service but as another poster said this particular tradition is "good weird".
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:52 am to Pettifogger
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For example, at Auburn, we may have picked 10 things over the course of 150 years to do regularly, and hence they've become traditions. At TAMU, it seems you've selected 150 things to do over the past 125 years to become traditions.
We like our traditions bro. None are mandatory, I always took a buffet approach to traditions: I embraced the ones I liked (Silver Taps, Elephant Walk, ring dunk, Muster, Howdy, etc.) and ignored the ones I didn't like (Midnight yell, Fish camp, etc.)
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:53 am to Pettifogger
Pettifogger, to give a better explanation of just why A&M has so many more 'traditions' than most other colleges, it has to do with A&M's rather unique history. For the majority of its history, A&M was a very insular, tight-knit college that revolved around the military lifestyle. I don't know if you've ever served, but the military has an enormous plethora of traditions for just about everything, and a lot of them seem stupid nowadays, but stem from western military culture of the past few hundred years, which is always behind the times by a good 50 years or so.
A lot of the 'traditions' nowadays are remnants of a much larger body of 'aggie customs and courtesies' that for the most part have been discarded over the last 30-40 years as the school has transitioned from a very small senior military college to a civilian university. So when you say 'aggies have too many traditions, its ridiculous' a lot of older aggies see it as the exact opposite: most of the military style traditions have been lost or are no longer practiced, and the few that remain are just the tip of the iceberg.
The 150 things left are just the remainder of like 1500.
A lot of the 'traditions' nowadays are remnants of a much larger body of 'aggie customs and courtesies' that for the most part have been discarded over the last 30-40 years as the school has transitioned from a very small senior military college to a civilian university. So when you say 'aggies have too many traditions, its ridiculous' a lot of older aggies see it as the exact opposite: most of the military style traditions have been lost or are no longer practiced, and the few that remain are just the tip of the iceberg.
The 150 things left are just the remainder of like 1500.
This post was edited on 2/4/14 at 10:55 am
Posted on 2/4/14 at 11:06 am to cokebottleag
That much is apparent. I'd say my guess is that there has been a pretty concentrated effort to preserve traditions during that era. Moreover, I'm assuming TAMU mimicked military traditions, putting a distinctive twist on them to distinguish from the originals.
I do think the purpose may be somewhat different. I think most military traditions arise out of a sense of the necessity of ritual or regimen to promote unity, uniformity and discipline. I'm sure many of those same factors were in play for TAMU, though I think the relatively young age of TAMU likely led to a more rapid acquisition of unique traditions to mirror the services.
For example, let's the US spun off into a new state, or even TAMU spun off to form a new college. The legacy of being part of the original would probably inspire the relatively quick creation of new traditions inspired by the original. True, a new state's military would want to promote the same things as the original (discipline, etc.) but there would also be a desire to quickly establish your own history/traditions to celebrate and take pride in.
That is what I think happened with A&M. Hence, I don't think they're substance-less at all, but I do think there was probably an intention to create a body of traditions that were unique to the school.
I do think the purpose may be somewhat different. I think most military traditions arise out of a sense of the necessity of ritual or regimen to promote unity, uniformity and discipline. I'm sure many of those same factors were in play for TAMU, though I think the relatively young age of TAMU likely led to a more rapid acquisition of unique traditions to mirror the services.
For example, let's the US spun off into a new state, or even TAMU spun off to form a new college. The legacy of being part of the original would probably inspire the relatively quick creation of new traditions inspired by the original. True, a new state's military would want to promote the same things as the original (discipline, etc.) but there would also be a desire to quickly establish your own history/traditions to celebrate and take pride in.
That is what I think happened with A&M. Hence, I don't think they're substance-less at all, but I do think there was probably an intention to create a body of traditions that were unique to the school.
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