Civil, Erudited Debate From A Yale Official: "Are You Retarded?

Background: Clinton W. Taylor proposed sending Yale officials (fake, press-on) fingernails as a protest against Yale's admission of a Taliban official.

The nails symbolized the Taliban's habit of yanking out the fingernails of women who'd pained their nails whorish colors, which quite frankly I like. The whorish colors, I mean. Not the yanking out of fingernails, although I suppose it's okay between two consenting adults.

The campaign is called "Nail Yale."

Well, a Yale official wrote to Taylor, anonymously, but Taylor tracked him back and found his name and then later called him up.

And the Ugly was from a Yale Development Office Assistant Director, Alexis Surovov (Yale ’02), who sent us a love note entitled "Y Do You Hate Yale?":

What is wrong with you? Are you retarded? This is the most disgraceful alumni article that I have ever read in my life. You failed to mention that you've never contributed to the Yale Alumni Fund in your life. But to suggest that others follow your negative example is disgusting.

Mr. Surovov didn’t sign his e-mail, and he sent it through a Columbia account. After Debbie’s husband, a Yale Computer Science graduate, traced it back to him, Clint called him at his Yale office on Thursday to ask if he really thought we were retarded.

"Personally, that’s how I feel about it," he said. He didn’t approve of our "terrorist tactics" and when asked whether he really meant that, changed it to "terror tactics." He thought the red fingernails we advocated sending in were "a stretch," and a bit gruesome—"like something out of Quentin Tarantino’s movie Hostel." [Which is a horror film about backpackers being brutally tortured and killed.]

"Yeah, that’s the whole point," Clint said. "This isn’t a movie. The Taliban really did this stuff!"

Taylor has now started a blog about this protest, and Yale's, ummmm, retarded response. No address for that, yet; I guess it's just getting started.

But you can join the "retarded" protest by sending fingernails to Yale officials' addresses found here.

posted by Ace at 02:14 PM

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