Living Down to the Stereotype

Just when I thought we Aggies had outgrown the eternal Aggie joke, the one that depicts us as uncouth louts, I read today's Houston Chronicle article that gleefully recounts the e-mail and voicemail exchange between an A&M former student and our current athletic director.

I'll summarize.

One of the many thousands of former students who agonize over everything associated with the football team, a guy who had his heart set on A&M joining the Southeast Conference, was not content with venting his spleen on the many web pages set up as forums for that discussion. No, no. He sent an e-mail directly to the athletic director. The e-mail contained extremely unflattering comments containing both anal and, um, lingual-anal references. Now, keep in mind this is a graduate of Texas A&M, not an 8th grader.

Not to be outdone, the athletic director, a man with a great deal of experience, who should be much smarter than this, called the guy up and left a threatening voicemail message expressing the desire to introduce his wing-tips to the man's hindparts. The former student, thrilled that he had enticed the athletic director to respond angrily to his childish provocation, posted the voicemail message to the internet, where it has gotten a great deal of play.

I saw this same thing play out when I was the Marine Officer Instructor at A&M over ten years ago. When we made efforts to change some things in the Corps of Cadets to try to improve the environment and make better leaders, we got the same kind of reaction from Old Ags. I never attempted to answer the nasty e-mails I got. When the other Major on the staff with me, a guy who since went on to be wounded in combat in Iraq and today commands a Marine regiment, tried to explain what we were trying to do, he got a response that trashed him in the most personal way and then went on to slander his wife and family in the most crude fashion imaginable.

So here's how it works: some guy or gal in Waxahachie who graduated from A&M, armed with shreds of rumors and out-of-context information, lashes out at the people (many of whom are also Aggies) who are on the spot, on top of the issue, doing what they believe is best for A&M. He/she does so believing that having an Aggie ring and internet access entitles him/her to personally, crudely attack people from a safe distance and the anonymity of an e-mail address.

I'm firmly convinced that the greatest threat to A&M is neither the state legislature, nor the t-sips, nor Islamic fundamentalists. It's Aggies.

So the lesson learned (that I occasionally forget) is to never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty and the pig loves it.