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

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

#261

Post by tangled_zans »

ap22213 wrote: post #256
derefr wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, yeah; that's what downvoting means: "I want to protect everyone else from wasting their time reading this." It certainly is suppression; and everyone who wants to be here has signed up for suppression. Calling it censorship, though, makes it sound like you think of HN as your blog. HN is a forum; a downvote is the virtual equivalent of what happens in a real public forum when people—as a group—decide to walk aw…

Interesting perspective. If that's the current common view, then in a way I feel really outdated. I clearly haven't been paying attention and honestly haven't been aware that 'down-voting' has changed in meaning over the past 10 years or so. Thanks for pointing that out. It's good to learn new things. Although I feel kind of aged at the moment, it also makes me feel good knowing that I can now suppress people much mo…

You have 1400 karma, how did you not figure out what the downvote button is for up until now?

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

#262

Post by MaysonL »

aaronem wrote: post #63
creshal wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

To an American it's always amusing when a European tells us our political system is unsatisfactory. Over and over and over again. Never gets old. No, really. Keep it up.

And the Europeans are always incredulous when they learn that the infant mortality rate in the U.S.A. is correlated with the zip code.

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

#263

Post by tangled_zans »

cglace wrote: post #173
briandear wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So much for tolerance. How about transgendered Republicans? Would they have been welcomed?

Like Bruce Jenner? https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/04/27/br...

(Caitlyn. Caitlyn Jenner. Surely the definition of "transgender" couldn't have eluded you while you were making a point about her being transgender?)

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

#264

Post by geofft »

hguant wrote: post #219
woah wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if that political view is that you're a nazi and think the holocaust was a good thing? Would it still be wrong for them to block you?

I think assuming the OC is a Nazi goes a bit far... But to your point - yes of course it's ok to disassociate with someone who is advocating violence or National Socialism, because it can reasonably be inferred that said person isn't rational, or has a twisted sense of morality than makes associating with them damaging to yourself. However, I'm assuming that's not the case here - it had come in vogue in SWJ and intel…

The National Socialists were a legitimate, popular political party in Germany, until they went too far off the rails for anyone to pull them back on.

Given the very serious discussions in US politics about placing US citizens in concentration camps and refusing them re-entry to the country based on their religion, the question about at what point a party becomes the National Socialists must be a legitimate one to ask. Clearly we're not there yet. But also, clearly there's a nonzero chance that we might find ourselves there very soon.

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

#265

Post by pgpkkg »

seansmccullough wrote: post #188
linkregister wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amazing to me that the top-rated comment in this thread broadly generalizes both "coastal intellectuals" and "Middle America" with insulting stereotypes. I'm embarrassed that the upvoters of this comment actually agreed with this comment. One trip to Houston or Minneapolis is enough to verify the presence of a thriving arts and culture scene. The anti-intellectual Middle America trope is not factual. One trip to…

I agree, I'm from Iowa, there are lot's of smart people in Middle America. There are also a lot of condescending people on the Coasts.

> There are also a lot of condescending people on the Coasts.

Well that wasn't an unprovoked passive-aggressive attack against people on the coast at all. [sigh].

I don't care where you live, this shit is awful, and you are awful.

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

#266

Post by tbrownaw »

scarmig wrote: post #187
isolate wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> point blank denial of facts such as that of human-caused climate change Science can't prove/disprove AGW because there's no control, which means that it isn't and can't be a fact. (I believe we should assume AGW to be safe.)

By that standard, science also can't confirm human's shared ancestry with apes, or the Big Bang. Science doesn't fit in a test tube.

Yep. And I generally take such "this is how we got here" reconstructions somewhat less seriously than I take laws / principles that can be experimented with and used to do things (and somewhat more seriously than predictions of the future based on said reconstructions).

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

#267

Post by pkgekgp »

seansmccullough wrote: post #188
linkregister wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amazing to me that the top-rated comment in this thread broadly generalizes both "coastal intellectuals" and "Middle America" with insulting stereotypes. I'm embarrassed that the upvoters of this comment actually agreed with this comment. One trip to Houston or Minneapolis is enough to verify the presence of a thriving arts and culture scene. The anti-intellectual Middle America trope is not factual. One trip to…

I agree, I'm from Iowa, there are lot's of smart people in Middle America. There are also a lot of condescending people on the Coasts.

On the off-chance that you're not the awful person you sound like: "There are lots of (negative adjective) people (in area)" always reads poorly.

Especially if you're from another area that is known for being hostile to people in that area.

It makes it seem like you're just another closed-minded jerk perpetuating the hate that your area is famous for. Which you almost certainly are.

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

#268

Post by tbrownaw »

jolux wrote: post #151

"Why would they? There's been lots of noise lately about how conservatives don't respect science or the intellectual sphere. Why would they? They know we're politically biased." This is where it took a turn for me. I'm basically in agreement with everything else, and it's personally eye opening to gain a greater understanding of these kinds of biases, but when you take a few bad apples in the social sciences (literal…

"... is ingenious, a deep thinker." vs. is dumb, a shallow thinker.

Vs. is able to explain things so that they seem obvious.

"... values artistic, esthetic experiences." vs. values uncreative, ugly experiences

Vs. values practicality.

"... is inventive." vs is uninventive

Vs. understands the value of having standards.

"... is sophisticated in art, music, and literature." vs. knows nothing of art, music, or literature

Vs. enjoys things as things rather than solely on the meta level.

"... likes to reflect, play with ideas" vs likes to avoid introspection, take things at face value, and move on.

Vs. prefers using ideas over taking them apart.

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

#269

Post by donatj »

tangled_zans wrote: post #234
donatj wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. The new part is that even people I didn't offend with my sensibilities are not associating with me on an automated basis.

What is your political affiliation that you shared? I am curious to know if I would empathise with someone wanting to delegate blocking people with your affiliation by a communal block list.

Libertarian. Apparently detesting violence is unpopular.

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

#270

Post by droidist2 »

merpnderp wrote: post #97
creshal wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

More progressive stance on abortion, higher government transfers of wealth to the poor than many Western European countries, high degree of state involvement in many industries, highest corporate tax rate (although effective tax rate is on par with Western Countries), and the only thing missing from the US to make it European style left wing is socialized health care.

>the only thing missing from the US to make it European style left wing is socialized health care

And most European countries don't even have socialized health care, just basically the UK.

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