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E-PrinceThough we have been using the word “tool” in everyday speech for the better part of a decade, I am beginning to get a distinct feeling that none of us knows exactly what it means. Regardless, we apply it almost ...
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"Who are considered the biggest tools at Princeton? Most would say the Wilson School and politics majors. Why? Because they have devoted themselves to the real or perceived improvement of society."
I strongly disagree with the author's take on the definition of tool and his application. Tools are people who are willing to be used to achieve some ends. Usually, this is meant in a negative way. The term is applied to people who display unsavory behavior to attain goals that are motivated by reasons considered to be vices, e.g. people who want to get rich from finance act like tools (suck up to people, hyper competitive, etc.) to get a job at Goldman Sachs.
Therefore, the biggest tools are not only many Wilson School majors and politics majors, but also ORFE and econ majors, because they have similar end goals and are willing to be used to get to those goals. Seriously, who would look down on Wilson School majors because they want to make the world a better place? People consider Wilson School majors to be tools because so many end up working for financial institutions or consulting or the like.
tools aren't people who actually want to better society-- tools are people who want to constantly better themselves (or their resumes) with no consideration for other people and only pretend to want to better society because they think it will help them attain their personal goals.
David Mendelsohn - tool of tools, troll of trolls, smugest of the smug, and worst columnist of the Prince's staff. Burn everything down, abolish the University, and let Mendelsohn's column never fade from our memories. We can achieve nothing more.
"...resulting in a mild admiration of his or her superiors and a fiery hatred of and disgust for his or her peers."
What? Wouldn't it make more sense if it were mild admiration from his superiors and fiery hate from his peers?
Wow. If it were my belief that all people who wrote for the Prince were tools, this would certainly give great evidence to my hypothesis. There are no words to describe the contempt I have for this article.
The general definition of 'tool' as used on campus is someone who very much violates Shakespeare's ageless rule that 'the fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool'. Somebody who spouts ridiculous nonsense peppered with sweeping analogies and ridiculous name-dropping, the kind of person who makes you want to play bullshit bingo every time they open their mouth - see your article.
Granted Princeton's motto is ridiculously toolish, but on the other hand, it was invented by Woodrow Wilson, the mother of all tools and the man who continues to detrimentally affect this university to this day. Tools seek no form of greatness, they simply seek the approval of others, and will go to any lengths to gain it. They're the type of people that litter the dystopias of 1984 and Atlas Shrugged, those who attempt to claim that all they care about is helping others in order to try to prove themselves better than their superiors.
You are the stereotypical tool, David Mendolsohn.
i was hoping this article would be about home improvment, but i was sorely mistaken
Here's a simple model of the idea of toolery:
In Victorian times, it was understood that a true gentleman did not work at a profession for a living. Acquiring a skill and plying your trade was considered lower-class; a true gentleman lived off his own land while occupying himself with non-lucrative pasttimes like politics.
In modern times, it is understood that a true gentleman doesn't crassly pursue professions at which he can make money, such as banking, law, or medicine. Instead, he is supposed to work at a nonprofit or "take a few years off" to "discover himself."
In both cases, the idea is to raise the status of people who can do the non-lucrative option (ie people with money or people who happen to like social status and not money). The effect is to lower the status of new money relative to old money.
okay so i think i grasp what 'tool' means... can you give me some examples? i can't think of anyone who might fit
you are a freshman, so... pretty much any single one of your friends.
It takes a little over a semester out of high school for the average student who got into Pton to *stop* being a tool