College campuses have always been bastions of this kind of nuttery. My uncle used to complain crazy shit they’d do in the 70s. Maybe it’s getting worse though I don’t know.
Sometimes their nutters becomes standard procedure. Colleges were having people put their preferred pronouns in email signatures years ago, and its become standard for big corporations now. But at the time it seemed excessive.
1 Like
That’s why you need people pushing the boundaries. There is an argument that the “over the top” aspect of early gay pride parades helped anchor people so that when they met their gay neighbour and he was just a standard dude they were like ‘oh well this isn’t so bad’. We need screaming crazy college kids to help people accept the small changes that really do make a difference in acceptance. Obviously you weigh that against the inevitable backlash but ultimately I think it’s an overall positive in effect not just in righteousness.
2 Likes
I don’t see how shutting down the outdoor club because hiking is supposedly a rich white people activity helps any of that.
You need 10 misses to get 1 hit.
Not when the 10 misses do collateral damage.
Try a flamboyantly gay hike and see if that helps.
Well that is the counter weight. I mean kids are gonna do kid things no matter what you and I think so even if you think on balance it’s harmful good luck getting that message across without being ignored as a jordan peterson crybaby. But I think on balance that it is positive overall. At least I choose to believe that seeing as it’s going to happen anyway.
I think I definitely missed < sarcasm > tags in my comment, but the fact that you took my comment at face value is in retrospect to be expected - because this is probably how the median liberal voter thinks.
BTW don’t think I could have articulated my own thoughts on this better than how you put it!
In my case, the Democratic Party. Thus my posting history here.
This. Also unions are a means to an end of organizing working-class people into a power bloc. A union composed of and led by college-educated activists may or may not be a good thing, but it’s not going to achieve anything in terms of shifting the center of gravity of power in the Democratic Party or left politics more broadly.
Books and free speech win a victory today.
3 Likes
https://twitter.com/RainofTerra/status/1589336474545426432
https://twitter.com/nbcsnl/status/1589104491206361088
I know it was already discussed in this thread, but having personally experienced this (and yes, you can see my history of posts about activists coming in and screaming about victimhood when trying to set up an organization, thus dooming it from the start) it’s really hard not so be frustrated that it’s taken so long for more left-wing thought leaders to acknowledge the issue.
See especially the “trends” section.
I’m sorry I missed the earlier discussion, I was in campaign mode.
My input is, every time I try to talk about this here, I get jumped on for being a shitlib. The thing is, I don’t disagree that progressive values and ideas are correct. I do disagree that demanding purity and refusing to compromise are the ways to go about building power and creating change. From the article I linked (the definition of Maximalism):
Considering anything less than the most idealistic position as a betrayal of core values and evidence of corruption, cowardice, lack of commitment, or vision. Relatedly, a righteous refusal to engage with people who do not already share our views and values.
Maximalist arguments may present themselves as debates around principles, tactics, and language or as the performance of solidarity with individuals, identity groups, and other movements. Maximalism demands that allies embrace certain tactics or positions as a test of alignment.
Boy, that sure feels familiar.
Anyway, yes, I’ve seen this in the wild.
I’ve talked a lot about the difference between politics and activism, and how activists don’t usually make good politicians, and vice versa. This is why. I get a lot of hate on here for it, but when you’re out in the real world trying to build power and actually get shit done, dealing with this stupid internal bullshit is endlessly frustrating.
10 Likes
That just sounds like something a shitlib would say!
I kid, I kid, I love you.
1 Like
Finally found a professor who got cancelled for attacking religion.
In a course on global art history, adjunct professor Erika López Prater showed an image of a 14th-century painting that depicted the prophet Muhammad. On the class syllabus, she noted that the course would include images of religious figures, including Buddha and Muhammad, and that students could reach out if they had concerns—none did. Before showing the image, she told students that she was going to show it, and gave them the option to opt out—none did.
And yet for showing the image, she was essentially let go.
This incident is making headlines because conservatives have latched onto it as another example of left-wing “cancel culture.” But how a conservative interpretation of Islam that gets a sensitive and thoughtful art history lecturer fired is “left-wing” is beyond me.
The student newspaper published an oped arguing against firing, then published a retraction and apology.
We do have to ask: Was this a reasonable act? Is this a reasonable response? Should the person accused of doing harm be penalized, and if so, how?
Unfortunately, the party line at Hamline seems to be that asking those questions—questions that are integral and necessary for truth-finding and anything resembling justice—is itself a harmful act. Allowing any claim of harm to be both unchallenged and a catalyst for punishment quite simply puts far too much power in the hands of potential bad actors—or even good people with silly or bad ideas, who just get too far over their skis.
2 Likes
How is what the professor did an attack on religion?
the executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Hussein, who as far as I know is not an art historian, declared that there was “absolutely no benefit” to the professor showing an image of one of the most famous pieces of Islamic art in a global art history class. The image, he said, was “[blasphemy].”
That is one opinion
sounds like it belongs in an art history class. Depictions of Mohammed aren‘t even universally considered blasphemous among Muslims. Exhibit A: one of the most famous pieces of Islamic art
The article and I agree. I guess I’m just trying to mock this version of authoritarianism.