I am a moral absolutist so when I sincerely say something deserves censure and blame (i.e. it is reprehensible) I absolutely believe it does. Who am I to judge a person who chooses to be a coastie? I am a person whose values directly conflict with the coastie lifestyle and so who has a moral obligation (otherwise I would be a philosophical fraud) to condemn coastie attitudes.

Five quick general reasons why I call coastie (as I define the term here) attitudes reprehensible:

1. It is giving up the self to the will of others and nature. Being a hedonist coastie means to be significantly governed by pleasure triggers external to the self. In the process a coastie loses all free will and the ability to act towards their philosophical preferences. In effect, coastie hedonism turns a person into a pleasure-zombie and I am not a big fan of the undead.

2. A coastie’s self-indulgence creates a major opportunity cost for the society I live and participate in. A coastie consumes value, without creating any value that assists the economy and marketplace of ideas that services me every day. There are few things I dislike more than unnecessarily wasting value (why do you think I was so conservative on the SSFC?) and coasties by their very nature have to waste value and create nothing to remain coasties. Try to convince me that Paris Hilton is not wasting the opportunity her life has presented to her…

3. The propagation of the coastie stereotype inflames anti-semitic and classisist tendencies. For the more frequent use of coastie (not the way I defined it here) often has very classist and anti-semetic overtones. I don’t think we need to discuss why this is bad.

4. Ignorance and apathy are forces that can corrupt and destroy nations. Thus, in no way can I condone behavior that harms the interests of a country (USA) I love so dearly.

5. Arrogance is fine in certain situations and small doses. Personally, I am a huge advocate of confident humility (essentially arrogance lite). A coastie’s arrogance approaches epic levels of condescension, however. Their arrogance gives them delusions of grandeur that easily become harmful to others and their own self.

There is no need to defend her honor or your own. I am sure if she were the lifestyle definition of a coastie you two would not be together for very long. For a moment, let us assume that the requirements of a successful romantic relationship are mutual mental stability, trust, understanding, physical attraction, and emotional attraction. If true, a romantic relationship with a coastie would be something very difficult for many on this board to handle for an extended period (I know I could not do it). Keep in mind that I do not mean this just for female coasties. Male coasties, also defined by lifestyle/attitude, are just as reprehensible and frequent in numbers.

“It seems that it’s not so much a matter of IS or OOS status, as much of a matter of whether a student has mommy & daddy’s credit card. Obviously the so-called ‘coasties’, whether they be from Boston or Racine, who have enough of their parents money are going to have more time to dedicate to extra-curriculars, above average academic success, etc etc. The average middle-class Wisconsinite that doesn’t receive an adequate amount of financial aid but who’s parents can’t afford to pay their bar tab every weekend isn’t going to be able to dedicate the amount of time needed to a “leadership” position as those that have parents that do. Like stated above, its not where the person is from, but more so their attitude and lifestyle that determine their ‘coastie’ status.”

Yes, but we must be careful, the coastie attitude is not exclusive to individuals from a wealthy background. It is an attitude that knows no distinction between class, race, sexuality, and sex. Being a coastie is the ultimate act of being ungrateful and transcends these categories. Coasties and non-coasties form the dichotomy of attitude that separates the wealthy Paris Hiltons of the world from the Warren Buffets, and the lazy poor from many hard working lower income individuals around the world.

To Lapidus, I completely agree with your coastie definition, which is why I was emphasizing lazy students, both OOS and ISS. I’m technically dating a coastie, but she doesn’t fit under that definition, so I obviously don’t think of her as one. You know…she’s actually a nice person who has goals besides getting wasted haha.

The first sentence of the second paragraph of my post should read: “Second, I would prefer not to make absolute statements assigning worth to all OOS or in-state students.”

NOT

“Second, I would prefer to not to make absolute statements assigning worth to all OOS or in in-state students.”

I must have not edited this sentence or done so too quickly, since the sentence in my post makes no sense. My apologies.