Give me a flippin break!

Chewbacca Mom likely brought supreme joy to the interweb by her uplifting post in a Chewbacca mask, but this is dumb.

If I were a donor to Southeastern University you can bet that someone would be answering some very serious questions.

It's a nice thing to do, but scholarships should be granted on quality merits related to academics, not a frickin FaceBook video.

Go home world, you're drunk.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/06/02/che...l?intcmp=hplnws

"A Florida university announced Monday it has offered scholarships to a woman who made the viral Facebook video showing her laughing hysterically as she tries on a Chewbacca mask."

Dang, why didn't I think of making a FB video to pay for my kids college!

Norman I agree!! What a mixed up world! ...Back to work, I have 2 tuition bills to pay

I think I will start a "Go Fund Me" or would that be misleading, It should probably be "Go fund my kids..." to pay for tuition.

If someone started a Go Fund Me page with the purpose and description that it was simply to pay that someone's bills and people funded it, would that be legal?

I'm not asking from a moral or ethical perspective, I think that's something else entirely. I'm really lacking in morals anyhow.

There are so folks on "go Fund Me" who are out of work and asking for help to pay the bills.....

Look at all the free marketing SEU is getting because of that decision. They most likely could not have purchased ads in all of the publications for what it will cost them to do this. It is a private, Christian University and she is very involved in her church. It's a good thing. Her laughter was infectious and made my day when I first saw it. I was in shock when so many put her on TV and started giving her free stuff - but that's just the way our country works these days. Far better to be know and rewarded for this innocent video than for the dissolute, drugged, permissive lifestyle so many of our "public figures" engage in.

Good that she is a Christian. Good that she goes to church. Good that she is not on drugs and is not being rewarded for that. But the fact that an institution of higher education gives something away that others work their tail off to pay for, based on a funny FB video, is absolutely contrary to what higher education stands (used to stand for). Higher education, to me, means you are willing to put in the work, and for many of us, the money, to better yourself.

This is representative of what I think our country is shifting away from; seeing value in hard work and earning things on your own.

Rant, over. I'll get back to work.

Again totally agree with Norm!

So higher education is not about employment of professors and giving low intelligence Senators (who formerly were employed by one of the most prestigious schools) the ability to blame banks for rising tuition costs? Who knew and did not tell me?

I agree with Norm. Give her all the free trips to Disney and all the Chewbacca masks she can wear. Giving her kids free rides to college is taking that opportunity from 2 other kids that may have worked their tails off for years to have the grades and other activities needed to be successful in that same college. That's just disgraceful.

I think her video was hilarious and I don't have an problem with her being on late night TV and the morning talk shows but the scholarships take it too far.

Anyone for Chewbacca mom for POTUS? or SCOTUS nominee? Senator from Mass?

Do we know for sure that her kids would not have qualified for scholarships on their own and that this wasn't just what finally tipped the award in their favor?

(Not disagreeing that it isn't a bit ridiculous. I'm just askin'...)

Becca, I'd like to add that as a good American living in the year of 2016, I am making my point based solely on the headline and content of the story without engaging in any further critical thinking.

I'm on Walden's side of the fence. I love to see average people getting lucky so I'm choosing to be happy for her and her family.

There are many scholarships out there that have nothing to do with academic merits. Sounds like this private university had the means and motivation to offer the scholarships.

""Over 90-percent of our students receive institutional aid. We've had the privilege to increase that aid from $6 million to $25 million this year. If we can help her in any way, we want to do that," Executive Vice President Brian Carroll said."

"President Dr. Kent Ingle said Payne, a Texas native, inspired the university with the joy she expressed on her video."

As a Christian university, I am sure they esteem values such as joy, selflessness, and charity. Candace has been open that her joy comes from her faith in Jesus Christ. "As far as the joy aspect, it is much deeper than the Chewbacca mask. It was fun watching it go viral and fun watching people get some joy out of it, too, but at the core of real joy is faith" (in an interview with Christian Examiner). Since then, "Payne has since been interviewed by many TV shows and newspapers around the world for making so many people joyous by her spontaneity. She is now using her voice to share her faith with youngsters." (Source: Christianity Daily.)

For the university, it is a win-win for them... they put their beliefs into action by supporting someone who is bringing upbeat attention to their ideals, and they receive positive press out of it too.

Isn't that what banks do with donation dollars? We do it as a feel-good action that gains us good publicity, yes?

Norman, you are certainly free to your criticism, and I support your right to it. But calling the whole thing dumb and drunk sure paints you as curmudgeon. (Maybe you are, and like it! ) If you were a donor to the university, pulling your support would be the thing to do. But griping about someone else receiving a gift while you have to work just comes across as sour grapes.

As a college graduate that worked herself through all of school, in addition to academic scholarships and some student loan debt; that values a strong work ethic and has made her 9 year old son start his own savings account funded solely by his own chore earnings... I'm happy for her.

I won't argue with some of the points you have made here, we are all entitled to our own opinion. I think it is great that she is receiving a scholarship and she should absolutely take the blessing bestowed upon her.

The part I disagree with is the trigger for the gift. She may be a beam of light, pull all of her positivity from Christ, and be a model figure in the church (these are all good things), but the trigger for the deed was a high-count FaceBook post.

I'm all for folks being blessed with grace in this world, more power to her. Faith and industriousness can go hand and hand. The problem here is that the headlines will portray the image that she received the scholarship on the trigger that she made a funny FB post. The narrative you provided from Christian Daily ads more to the story, but the trigger remains.

At the end of the day, the picture painted is what our world will see.

I also worked my way through college while working full time and supporting a family, so I 100% agree with your last paragraph. I am also happy for her.

it's a private school, they can do what they choose with their scholarships...I think the world needs to reward those that bring laughter and joy a lot more than it does now, and this school just did a small part in this.



and the way America works today, look for the lawsuit of the next interwebs phenom that doesn't get a scholarship...

I am so proud of myself! I don't have a clue about any of this...because it all sounds like a bunch of stupidity to me! Sticking my head back in the sand now...(it's nice down here, and I don't have to watch my country go helter-skelter into the toilet...)

We never seem to be happy for someone else if we believe they are getting an advantage we didn't get. Why is that, do you think?

as a whole people like to see other succeed through hard work and a little bit of luck. not putting on a mask and acting like a moron.

but for her, this may have been her 2978th attempt to break the internet, and she finally found the formula that worked, so it could be it was hard work and a little bit of luck, with a mask and moron added in...

I think I will just be happy for her. She sure did make me laugh.