I am convinced that a day does not pass at Notre Dame when some highbrow preppy doesn't gasp with indignation over something "offensive." A couple of weeks ago, it was the shock that college students - yes, college students - would actually chant mean things at opposing teams. Then it was the Student Senate's turn to look silly by calling Observer cartoonist Jeff Beam's recent comic "racist."

I admit it is inappropriate to insult Khalid El-Amin for doing the hoogily-boogily out of wedlock. The chants were indeed an unfortunate occurrence, almost as harmful to children's ears as the suffocating elitist outcries we were subjected to by the disenchanted masses.

And perhaps the cartoon could have been run next to a half-page disclaimer to address every single manner in which it was taken out of context. People who made it a race issue neglected the fact that it was a play on the ignorance concerning a foreign name - borderline at best, but never racist.

Certainly it involves race, but not in such a way to offend people who have real racism to contend with. So if he draws a cartoon next week telling American Studies majors that Slobodan Milosevic is not a Croatian playing for the Lakers, I will be the first to jump to his defense.

So why exactly must we take so much time out of our lives to apologize to the offended? There has to be an explanation for the over-sensitivity plaguing our beloved campus. Maybe it's a private school thing. Or maybe some of our more apologetic students were taught that it is really, really nice to overreact in the name of "class" and "demeanor" and those other nice fluffy things.

Ladies and gentleman, if you remember anything during your four years here, remember this: class and maturity are overrated. And I'm not talking about the voice inside that tells us it is wrong to chant obscenities (except at bad calls by the ref). This is an obvious no-no. I speak of the "class" of the upturned noses roaming about, those crabby twits who don't want to draw the line between having a little fun and going too far. Amazingly, most of these people are students, while most faculty and staff criticism is fairly legitimate. I would have thought it to be just the opposite, but every time another senator gets on his soapbox and cries foul, I realize that many of us are just too excitable.

All I ask of my fellow students is to let go of the "outrage" and the guilt of living in posh little suburbs that compels you to crusade for causes that make you feel better inside. If you're really concerned with diversity, free expression, free thought, etc., then you need to embrace those things that you disagree with. If the American Criminal Lovers' Union can do it, why can't we?

Very rarely does our collective student body use common sense, and as long as these attitudes exist, they never will. We are the same knuckleheads responsible for the "bubble" that exists around the Notre Dame Community, yet we criticize it to look worldly and informed to outsiders.

Let's solve the problem now. Shut up, wipe the tears away, change your undergarments, and get to work.

• Stop whining the guilt away