Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I was denied admission to a PhD program because of my perceived political views

joseduarte.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 380 posts

Re: I was denied admission to a PhD program because of my perceived political views

#71

Post by dragonwriter »

engi_nerd wrote: post #56
thieving_magpie wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree that it isn't addressing the substance of the post. I think it speaks to the heart of it. Please feel free to elaborate on why I'm wrong.

I believe the parent has posted and explained exactly what he meant. But here's how I understood it: He was exaggerating a bit for the purpose of making his argument a little more punchy, and phrases like "most of whom can't even swap a tire for a donut without calling AAA" are clearly meant to have an element of humor to them. You took his words at absolute face value without stopping to think that they might be mea…

> and phrases like "most of whom can't even swap a tire for a donut without calling AAA" are clearly meant to have an element of humor to them.

Its seems quite likely to be (insulting) hyperbole, but I don't see the humor. (I suppose it kind of sounds funny if you aren't used to the use of the term "donut" to refer to a reduce-size, limited-speed spare tire, since talking about swapping a tire for a donut would in that case be an absurdity.)

Re: I was denied admission to a PhD program because of my perceived political views

#72

Post by engi_nerd »

dragonwriter wrote: post #71
engi_nerd wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the parent has posted and explained exactly what he meant. But here's how I understood it: He was exaggerating a bit for the purpose of making his argument a little more punchy, and phrases like "most of whom can't even swap a tire for a donut without calling AAA" are clearly meant to have an element of humor to them. You took his words at absolute face value without stopping to think that they might be mea…

> and phrases like "most of whom can't even swap a tire for a donut without calling AAA" are clearly meant to have an element of humor to them. Its seems quite likely to be (insulting) hyperbole, but I don't see the humor. (I suppose it kind of sounds funny if you aren't used to the use of the term "donut" to refer to a reduce-size, limited-speed spare tire, since talking about swapping a tire for a donut would in th…

It is a rather wry sense of humor being displayed here.

Re: I was denied admission to a PhD program because of my perceived political views

#73

Post by e40 »

FussyZeus wrote: post #5

As someone who grew up in a strongly red area and with beliefs in that vein, I know EXACTLY the kind of exclusion that the author is talking about to a painful degree. For anyone who wants to experience it, walk into any Reddit discussion and tell everyone you're a devout Christian and watch the pseudo intellectuals exercise their "openness." And yes it's true I'm far from the most religious person there is, and I st…

walk into any Reddit discussion and tell everyone you're a devout Christian and watch the pseudo intellectuals exercise their "openness."

I think that's your problem. Walking into a discussing and announcing that is a fairly odd thing to do. I've never entered a discussion on reddit and announced I'm an devout atheist. I think people generally bristle at people staking out positions via broad categories.

Re: I was denied admission to a PhD program because of my perceived political views

#74

Post by isolate »

Zikes wrote: post #21
isolate wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If everyone in government is a Democrat, why do you need elections?

If everyone has been so far as to do look like, why do you even?

I guess English is not your first language? I can't understand anything past "been", which is surprising given how easily I understood your last question.

Re: I was denied admission to a PhD program because of my perceived political views

#75

Post by munin »

talmand wrote: post #62
fromMars wrote: post #51

I grew up in a red state, too, and as an atheist, I got tired of being told I was going to hell by peers and forced to pray at school events. As such, I have a lot of Christian friends but, it is understandable that some "intellectuals" are hostile to those with strong religious beliefs given that many with similar beliefs deny scientific concepts like evolution, advocate teaching creationism in schools, and deny the…

I'm curious, how exactly were you forced to pray at school events? Regardless, maybe the intellectuals should stop being hostile, have an honest dialogue with such people, and maybe they'll get somewhere.

being forced to pray at school events is pretty simple, the teacher asks "why aren't you praying?" and sends you to the principals office. nobody within a 200mi radius of you thinks that there is anything wrong with this because "it's the way it's always been" and there's no higher power to appeal to, so...

how can you "have an honest dialogue" with someone that thinks that you are going to burn in Hell and tells you that your ideas about women, voting, and abortion are "the Devils"?

Re: I was denied admission to a PhD program because of my perceived political views

#76

Post by oldmanjay »

engi_nerd wrote: post #70
oldmanjay wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hyperbole serves no master. Employ it to bolster a point, and we might use our fancy coastal intelligences to reason that the point is probably weak.

Or, you might laugh? It is funny. Taking this single little point and then using it to systematically reject the whole argument is an example of what the parent was ranting about.

Who rejected anything? This is more hyperbole. I stress, that does not strengthen an argument. It is an extra-factual means of convincing people via emotional channels that an argument is stronger than it is.

Re: I was denied admission to a PhD program because of my perceived political views

#77

Post by dragonwriter »

talmand wrote: post #68
creshal wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To an European it's always amusing when Americans pretend they have a left wing.

As an American I'm always confused by this kind of statement. From what I've read of European politics it really doesn't seem that different in the rhetoric, just in how the different parties and individuals refer to themselves. The laws and systems are different, but to me the politicians are roughly the same.

Most European countries -- and most democracies in general, though there are some exceptions -- have, largely due to differences in electoral systems, more real axis of variations among visible electoral parties and farther extremes on the axes that roughly align with those in the US which are represented.

On top of that, the center in the US is pretty far to the right in European terms; the mainstream of the Republican and Democratic parties (in government, if not in the electorate) have been, I think fairly, described as, respectively, right-wing and center-right in European terms.

Re: I was denied admission to a PhD program because of my perceived political views

#78

Post by dragonwriter »

fromMars wrote: post #51

I grew up in a red state, too, and as an atheist, I got tired of being told I was going to hell by peers and forced to pray at school events. As such, I have a lot of Christian friends but, it is understandable that some "intellectuals" are hostile to those with strong religious beliefs given that many with similar beliefs deny scientific concepts like evolution, advocate teaching creationism in schools, and deny the…

> As such, I have a lot of Christian friends but, it is understandable that some "intellectuals" are hostile to those with strong religious beliefs given that many with similar beliefs deny scientific concepts like evolution, advocate teaching creationism in schools, and deny the existence of global warming.

I think the usual word with hostility toward people not because of things they do, but because of things other people that share a characteristic with them do, is "bigotry".

Re: I was denied admission to a PhD program because of my perceived political views

#79

Post by BellsOnSunday »

FussyZeus wrote: post #61
BellsOnSunday wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't recognise the prejudice against practical skills in my neck of the woods (CS dept in a UK university) but religious colleagues are quietly looked down upon and sometimes mocked. (Not that there are many of them.) I try as hard as I can not to judge such people myself but will admit to finding it hard to take someone seriously who believes in such stuff. Being able or unable to change a tyre doesn't come close…

Speaking as someone who does: Those of us who do are often raised in a very religious place among very religious people, it's a big part of our lives. Rationally, I have no reason to believe in any God. That's why it's called a belief. It's a lot more to do with the culture one grows up with than the belief itself, and anything you learn at such a young age is difficult to shake loose of completely. Personally, I use…

I was brought up amongst and by religious people too, so I don't automatically assume people are stupid for having beliefs. But I'm aware that is really just a rhetorical position on my part, and when faced with someone who claims to be a scientist, living in the west in the 21st century, and who actually believes this stuff (e.g. the afterlife) then it is just difficult to take them seriously. That makes me vulnerable to accusations of having a closed mind, etc, I know...but I stopped believing in those things (if I ever did) around the same time I stopped believing in Father Christmas, so you'll have to cut me some slack :) And you actually make it worse when you justify your beliefs by saying that they make the Universe a "nicer" place to live in, which is just juvenile (I can imagine even nicer universes, would you like to believe in them instead?). I would stop at your previous statement about not needing to rationalise belief (in fact it's a category error to do so).
Post reply on HN