Stupid White Men-- and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation! - Michael Moore [51]
So why not ran yourself? Run just to ridicule the whole ridiculous exercise. Form your own party, With its own stupid name. Campaign on wild promises: If elected, I’ll change the school mascot to an amoeba, or If elected, I’ll insist that the principal must first eat the school lunch each day before it is fed to the students. Put up banners with cool slogans: “Vote for me—a real loser!”
If you get elected, you can devote your energies to accomplishing things that will drive the administration crazy, but help out your fellow students (demands for free condoms, student evaluations of teachers, less homework so you can get to bed by midnight, etc).
2. Start a School Club.
You have a right to do this. Find a sympathetic teacher to sponsor it. The Pro-Choice Club. The Free Speech Club. The Integrate Our Town Club. Make every member a “president” of the club, so they all can claim it on their college applications. One student I know tried to start a Feminist Club, but the principal wouldn’t allow it because then they’d be obliged to give equal time to a Male Chauvinist Club. That’s the kind of idiot thinking you’ll encounter, but don’t give up. (Heck, if you find yourself in that situation, just say fine—and suggest the that principal could sponsor the Chauvinist Club.)
3. Launch Your Own Newspaper or Webzine.
You have a constitutionally protected right to do this. If you take care not to be obscene, or libelous, or give them any reason to shut you down, this can be a great way to get the truth out about what’s happening at your school. Use humor. The students will love it.
4. Got Involved in the Community.
Go to the school board meetings and inform them what’s going on in the school. Petition them to change things. They will try to ignore you or make you sit through a long, boring meeting before they let you speak, but they have to let you speak. Write letters to the editor of your local paper. Adults don’t have a clue about what goes on in your high school. Fill them in. More than likely you’ll find someone there who’ll support you.
Any or all of this will raise quite a ruckus, but there’s help out there if you need it. Contact the local American Civil Liberties Union if the school retaliates. Threaten lawsuits—school administrators HATE to hear that word. just remember: there’s no greater satisfaction than seeing the took on your principal’s face when you have the upper hand. Use it.
And Never Forget This:
There Is No Permanent Record!
Chapter 5 notes
5-089
List of Leaders of Fifty Largest Countries
(in order of country’s size)
1. CHINA
President Jiang Zemin
2. INDIA
President Kocherit Raman Narayanan
3. UNITED STATES
“President“George W. Bush
4. INDONESIA
President Megawati Sukarnoputri
5. BRAZIL
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso
6. RUSSIA
President Vladimir Putin
7. PAKISTAN
General Pervez Musharraf
8.BANGLADESH
President Shahabuddin Ahmed
9.JAPAN
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
10. NIGERIA
President Olusegun Obasanjo
11. MEXICO
President Vicente Fox Quesada
12. GERMANY
Chancellor Gerhard Schroder
13. PHILIPPINES
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
14. VIETNAM
President Tran Duc Luong
15. EGYPT
President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak
16. TURKEY
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer
17. IRAN
Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-Khamemei,
President Mohammad Khatami
18. ETHIOPIA
President Negasso Gidada
19. THAILAND
Prime Minister Thaksin Chinnawat
20. UNITED KINGDOM
Prime Minister Anthony C. L. Blair
21. FRANCE
President Jacques Chirac
22.Italy
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
23. CONGO (KINSHASA)
President Joseph Kabila
24. UKRAINE
President Leonid D. Kuchma
25. SOUTH KOREA
President Kim Dae-jung
26. South AFRICA
President Thabo Mbelki
27. BURMA
Prime Minister Than Shwe
28. SPAIN
President Jose MariaAznar
29. COLOMBIA
President Andres Pastrana
30.POLAND
Presided Aleksander Kwasniewski
31.ARGENTINA
President Fernando de la Rua
32. TANZANIA
President Benjamin Wiliam Mkapa
33. SUDAN
President Lt. Gen. Omar el-Bashir
34. CANADA
Prime Minister Jean Chretien
35. ALGERIA