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Professors can’t stay silent about this extremist moment on campuses

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Professors can’t stay silent about this extremist moment on campuses

#11
post #5

I worry about an increasing movement toward radicalization on all ends of the political spectrum. I think Trump represented a shift to the far -right. Now I worry liberals might shift to the far -left. The middle ground seems to be disappearing

I think it's called optimisation. Ad sponsored content is optimised to lock in the user and take him/her to the extremes.

Re: Professors can’t stay silent about this extremist moment on campuses

#14
http://reediesagainstracism.tumblr.com/demands

I'm all for equality, but increasingly, these BLM-emulative student movements aren't egalitarian, but racist in the other direction. See #7 for example. Many of those demands, like #24, aren't even possible let alone reasonable. There are specific laws governing the employment of non-naturalized residents.

Re: Professors can’t stay silent about this extremist moment on campuses

#15

The author is referring to students protesting the mandatory freshman lecture on Western Civilization, which has a history of being protested at Reed. There's a list of demands as well. http://reediesagainstracism.tumblr.com/demands Students typically have an incredibly small say in shaping the institutions that shape their future. If protesting wasn't uncomfortable, it wouldn't be effective.

None of the demands seem to have much to do with the teaching of this particular course.

It is also the case that the professors have very little control over meeting these demands.

Finally, presumably there are some people who want to take that class.

This is like yelling at the Starbucks barista because you don't like the flavors they're using in the cake, even though other customers want that flavor.

My sympathy is with the barista.

Re: Professors can’t stay silent about this extremist moment on campuses

#16
post #5

I worry about an increasing movement toward radicalization on all ends of the political spectrum. I think Trump represented a shift to the far -right. Now I worry liberals might shift to the far -left. The middle ground seems to be disappearing

The middle ground is being demonized.

Many of my left-leaning friends equate "radical centrists" with Germans who stayed silent during the Holocaust. This is not an exaggeration.

Re: Professors can’t stay silent about this extremist moment on campuses

#17
post #6

>We introduced ourselves and took our seats. But as we were about to begin, the protesters seized our microphones, stood in front of us and shut down the lecture. I'm not sure who gave these people the idea the heckler's veto is a legitimate tactic on a college campus or why the administration puts up with it. Those students should be summarily expelled.

I agree, they should be expelled for deliberately disrupting a class like that (or at least be forced to drop it with an F on their transcript). I think the lack of an appropriate response like that is what "gave these people the idea the heckler's veto is a legitimate tactic on a college campus." They tried it, it worked, so they do it again but bigger.

Re: Professors can’t stay silent about this extremist moment on campuses

#19
post #10

whole lotta people on this "hacker news" website that love to say authority shouldn't be questioned

It's a variant of Chesterton's fence: question an authority when you've learned how that authority works and what motivates it. For god's sake, if you want to be a contrarian, be intelligent about it.

Some freshman with a copy of Derrida and a bullshit social justice grievance does not know enough to question 4,000 years of civilization.

Re: Professors can’t stay silent about this extremist moment on campuses

#20

The author is referring to students protesting the mandatory freshman lecture on Western Civilization, which has a history of being protested at Reed. There's a list of demands as well. http://reediesagainstracism.tumblr.com/demands Students typically have an incredibly small say in shaping the institutions that shape their future. If protesting wasn't uncomfortable, it wouldn't be effective.

Students shouldn’t have any say in shaping institutions they attend to gain knowledge. They are not smarter than their professors. Or if they disagree, they should attend another university and vite with their wallet/loan/whatever.

This post is poisonous to knowledge. I've politely corrected professors who I respect on multiple occasions. Just because you are informed about a particular subject does not mean that you are never wrong about that subject. I've noticed that STEM professors tend to be more willing to accept that they are wrong about something than in the humanities which I suspect is because it is much easier to prove that someone is incorrect about something in STEM.
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