An Focal James Gaffney rallies against the ingrained culture of complaining in UL by, eh,
complaining about it.
In a recent issue of An Focal, a number of students were surveyed to see if they thought there is a good atmosphere here on the UL Campus. Most of the respondents agreed to greater or lesser degrees that there was. While I would generally share their sentiments, none of them mentioned an issue that I feel greatly deteriorates from the feel-good ambiance that permeates the very air we breathe out here in Plassey – none of them mentioned the level of complaining that one encounters here. Moaning, bitching, sulking, generally giving out – call it what you like, this is a phenomenon that is firmly entrenched among students of UL. It manifests itself when people make derogatory statements about a situation, but aren’t prepared to alleviate the problem themselves. I think the gentleman who in the survey who replied ‘No, it’s crap’ did far better than I could to illustrate this negative viewpoint. I feel it would have been far more beneficial to all concerned if he had offered reasons why he thought the atmosphere was crap, so then these reasons could be addressed.
Sure everyone complains, don’t they? The weather’s too hot, the weather’s too cold, they’re bored, then they’re too busy, the government are a crowd of chancers, the electorate are shower of chancers – it’s just part of human nature, right? Just because everyone does it, doesn’t make it a good thing, and in actual fact, it can be fairly disheartening for those around the complainer.
I am a UL student. These days what this amounts to is that every morning I’m blessed with waking up to about 7 million of those unwanted ‘EVERYSTUDENT@ul.ie’ forwarded emails in my inbox. While most people grumble about this nuisance and simply delete the offending messages, some take practical steps to end this scourge by asking ITD if they can address the problem. Others feel they have to let the whole college know their anger, so they curse the forwarder in messages laden with bile – but offer no solutions to stopping the problem. For me, anyway, this latest plague our mailboxes has been ravaged by has had at least one silver lining in the form of the actions of one recipient of an e-petition, who instead of simply binning the email and whining about it later on, he replied to all and directed everyone to read a well-argued internet article addressing the question of why signing and circulating online petitions is a useless way of remedying important issues. The same article introduced me to a new term – ‘slacktivism.’ According to the author, e-petitions are the latest manifestation of slacktivism, in other words the search for the ultimate feel-good that derives from having come to society's rescue without having had to actually get one's hands dirty or open one's wallet. For me, constant complaining without offering concrete solutions is the second-cousin once removed of this mongrel term.
In my opinion nearly every everyday complaint you here from Mr/Ms ULStudent has a simple practical solution. Prices too high for you in the restaurant? Get a few friends together and get a sandwich-drive going, whereby you make your sandwiches at home and eat them in the canteen instead of paying through the nose for lunch. Feeling too tired? Go to bed earlier. Hungover? Shoulda thought of that of that when you were buying your dirty cans of Dutch early yesterday evening. Study workload getting on top of you? You’re joking! Well guess what, sunshine, you’re in college, you’re here to get a degree, so to get around that particular hurdle, why not try to stop complaining, and start studying!
Acting to resolve your problems rather than moaning about them unleashes some fantastic benefits. For instance, if you feel you’re being ripped off, I know it is clichéd to the death, but simply shop around. Do a bit of research on the product or service’s competitors, you might be lucky. I did the same recently with my mobile phone provider and not only are my new network cheaper, they also send me a nice thank you message whenever I top up. Ah, the simple pleasures. I’d never be getting messages like that if I had spent all my time cribbing.
Not only can complaining rather than taking positive measures damage your pocket, it can also damage you’re health. If you’re constantly giving out about not feeling well, it is highly advisable that you seek medical advice – there are times when complaining and complaining alone can prove detrimental to the health of the complainer, and in the worst cases fatal.
In addition to the numerous benefits that cutting down on the bitching can have, a 2000 study by the Mayo Clinic found that optimists live, on average, 19% longer than pessimists. Although, on the other hand, if you always viewed the glass as half-empty you might not really care about foregoing the extra 19%, but that’s an argument for another day.
You may point out that it is quite ironic that the writer of an article is expressing his gripe with people complaining too much by complaining about people complaining. I would say to you that, yes, you’re spot-on, it is incredibly ironic – not quite like rain on your wedding day, but the other ironic. As I’ve made clear, I am of the view that complaining can serve useful purposes – but only if the complaint in question is coupled with suggested practical solutions to the complaint in question. If you’ve got any complaints about that, or anything at all raised in this article, such as the overuse of one particular verb, well, at least by now you should know what not to do.
