Authentic Orange

Submitted By: Matthew Bushbaum

To ask ourselves, what does it mean to be authentically orange is to ask first, what it means to be authentic, then, what it means to “be orange,” and in the case of this situation I’m going to assume it means to “be orange” in respect to our interaction with the Oregon State University. When addressing what it means to be orange it is first derived to be referring to us being Oregon State University students and as such, we need to address what needs to be overcome to consider ourselves “orange” in the eyes of ourselves, peers and the university.

To first determine authenticity it needs to be known that the person in consideration doesn’t deny their facticity or their transcendence. Their transcendence is one’s existence beyond physiological state, (Lec, 5/26/15) and one’s facticity is the existence within their physical state (Lec, 5/26/15). Therefore a student to determine him or herself to be “orange” is to determine themselves to factually go to the institution be actively involved and typically blend in with the herd that is “being orange.” They must do this without denying their authenticity, meaning they must truly want to be a beaver not just attend class there.

Let’s assume a person is attending OSU yet they aren’t involved within the society that is to be a beaver such as attending sporting events, classes, extracurricular and the campus that is OSU. For example, they are an online student that doesn’t attend regular activities ever. For them to consider themselves to “be orange” would be in bad faith. This form of Bad faith is “ambiguous because they are being in situation” when they lie to his or herself about their authenticity (Lec, 5/26/15). We also need to consider the grey area between being active in OSU life and being inactive. Where is the line drawn? And there really isn’t a line in the eyes of our peers and the institution; however, there could be a line drawn in the imaginations of ourselves. Friedrich Nietzsche inquires about the “herd instinct” in The Gay Science saying, whenever a person is in situation they assess themselves, and “These assessments and rankings always express the needs of a community and herd” meaning those in the ’herd’ consider themselves “orange” only if they feel it necessary to consider themselves “orange.”

For one to declare being “orange,” one must see a benefit or gain from declaring, by not declaring themselves orange they can deny there authenticity if they are in fact orange. For the average person, to become orange and break into the community that is Oregon State all they have to do is claim being orange or to not claim being orange.  Everybody has this freedom and are condemned to make the personal observation of whether or not they are orange in nature (Lec, 5/14/15).

So in the eyes of your peers and the institution it is ambiguous whether or not you are “being orange;” however to be orange in your own eyes you must be authentic to yourself and be aware if you’re in situation or out of situation and if your denying your transcendence or facticity. Therefore, I consider determining whether or not you’re orange or not to be a personal quest of finding your authentic self then determining if that self is “orange” or not.