Score One for the Farm Kid

Thursday was an interesting day of class.  It was the last lecture for my Energy Law and we were scheduled to do about an hr on renewable energy (solar, ethanol and biodiesel (diesel made from vegetable oil), watch a relevant movie and have the wrap up discussion.   Needless to say class did not go according to the professors outline.  I was able to disrupt the class which resulted in the professor apologizing to me not only during the class, but also during the break after the hour and a half discussion which I caused.  

When the professor was talking about farmers and the high price they are receiving for their crops as a result of ethanol production when there is a food shortage worldwide. Implying that farmers should be giving the crops away to feed these people instead of finally getting a fair price for them. I completely lost it.  I arced (fired) up so fast and so hot that when I opened my mouth and at first no words would come out.  On the second attempt I was able to say that I was offended by what she was saying. She looked surprised and intrigued.  When I tried to say more I again couldn't speak. I flailed my hands around a couple of times and was able to get a couple of little squeaks out. And that was it.   I was finally able to breathe and when I did that I was able to rally nicely and get my point across that it was not the farmers (of developed nations) fault, as they are producing food at historical record levels, that there is a food shortage in developing nations. And historically farmers have never received the money they should be getting for the services they produce. I further went on to inform them that in most cases there is at least one if not 2 off farm incomes to help supliment the farm income and in m ost cases it is only these off farm jobs which allow the farm to continue at all.  At this point she did apologize to me saying that it wasn't her intention to attack the farmers, she feels that it is a good thing that farmers are finally starting to get better prices at the gate. She was trying to get to the point about government priorities (should government actions be focused on the good of thier own nation or helping other countries) This then lead to an hour and a half discussion about government involvement/subsidies/policies and energy concerns.   We then took a break and she again came over to me and held my hands to make sure that I was ok and that she really was sorry about how I had misinterpreted the comments. She also said she was glad that I questioned her about them as the resulting discussion was more then what she had planned for the wrap up discussion.  

After she checked on me my friend on the class also checked up to see how I was cause he had never seen me lose control to the point where I couldn't talk in the two years we've known each other.  

On a side note, I always knew going to a private university that I was amongst 'privileged' kids. This really came into focus during the discussion when at one point it came out that I was from a farming background.  There was a collective breathe taken by the class and most people turned their nose up.  Gotta Love people of so called privilege.  They are more concerned with helping those less priviliged then themselves on the other side of the world then they are about helping their own farmers.  I don't know where they think their food comes from.  

Anyway, class participation for this course counts for 20% of our mark. Needless to say after Thursday I think my mark jumped considerably. 

Like I said: Score one for the Farm Kid  :)