• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • BOSTON BETTER BEER BUREAU
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT
    • MASTHEAD
    • ADVERTISE
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Boston's Only Newspaper

FREE RADICAL: MODERN COLLEGE CULTURE RUINS EVERYTHING

Written by EMILY HOPKINS Posted October 20, 2014 Filed Under: NEWS+OPINIONS, Uncategorized

Image by Tak Toyoshima

Riots. Overturned cars. Broken windows. Trash everywhere.

Nope, I’m not talking about Ferguson, Missouri. I’m talking about Keene, New Hampshire, the recent scene of senseless violence and damage wrought by thousands who descended on the college town for this year’s annual Pumpkin Fest.

While it’s been said that many of the chaos causers weren’t students, the outrageous behaviors that are now under inspection are stereotypical college idiocy, complete with scattered Solo cups and binge-drinking bros throwing fists. Campuses are hotbeds for privileged folks, and the oppressive structures that we try to eradicate elsewhere are often hailed with glee by the majority of students.

For interlopers one and all, the idea of entering a community and acting in ways you’re not supposed to, as one reveler put it, is a stone’s throw from colonialism. In fact, student bodies are inherently complicit in their own type of colonialism—descending upon an existing locale, erasing history, leaving destruction.

There’s a lot we can learn about the American psyche from peeling away layers of the Keene riots. Unfortunately, each layer is just as rotten as the next.

 

FURTHER READING

HIGHER ED’S NOT MAKING THE GRADE

TIPS ON CITY LIVING FOR INCOMING STUDENTS

 

Author profile
EMILY HOPKINS
Related posts
  • EMILY HOPKINS
    https://digboston.com/author/emily-hopkins/
    A DEPARTURE: AFTER FOUR YEARS OF BLISTERING COLUMNS, A FREE RADICAL CHANGE
  • EMILY HOPKINS
    https://digboston.com/author/emily-hopkins/
    PAST INCARCERATION: REMEMBERING CHARLESTOWN'S FORGOTTEN PRISON
  • EMILY HOPKINS
    https://digboston.com/author/emily-hopkins/
    WHY BOTHER? ON RENEWING URBAN RENEWAL IN BOSTON.
  • EMILY HOPKINS
    https://digboston.com/author/emily-hopkins/
    THE THIN BLUE PAYWALL

Filed Under: NEWS+OPINIONS, Uncategorized Tagged With: college privilege, Keene State, New Hampshire, riots

WHAT’S NEW

Internal Emails Show How MBTA Sought To Market “Safe,” “Good” Trains As System Failed 

Internal Emails Show How MBTA Sought To Market “Safe,” “Good” Trains As System Failed 

Media Farm: MBTA Orange Line #Traindemic Shutdown Edition

Media Farm: MBTA Orange Line #Traindemic Shutdown Edition

New Superintendent Skipper Responds To BPS Student Concerns

New Superintendent Skipper Responds To BPS Student Concerns

"Orange Line" Calamities and Shutdowns Going Back More Than a Century

“Orange Line” Calamities and Shutdowns Going Back More Than a Century

Guest Opinion: To Solve Accessible Housing Shortage, Mass Should Look To ... Paris

Guest Opinion: To Solve Accessible Housing Shortage, Mass Should Look To … Paris

One Effort To Help Improve Public Transportation In Mass Bolstered

One Effort To Help Improve Public Transportation In Mass Bolstered

Primary Sidebar

Advertisement

FEATURED EVENT

Most Popular

  • The T Will Stay Broken Because Poor and Working People Are Seen As Expendable 
  • Inside the Bay State’s Legendary (and Only) One-Man Brewery
  • Governor’s Council Weighs Controversial Parole Board Renomination
  • Worcester’s Wasteful, Never-Ending War on Police Transparency
  • The “Biggest Masshole In Massachusetts” Is Running For Secretary Of State

Footer

Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Advertise

Customer Service

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an email blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: [email protected] To reach editorial (and for inquiries about internship opportunities): [email protected]