Stop Demanding Dumb Answers to Hard Questions
popehat.substack.com
Stop Demanding Dumb Answers to Hard Questions
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Re: Stop Demanding Dumb Answers to Hard Questions
#2Excellent legal analysis, but misses the point completely. These college Presidents are getting pilloried because they are perceived as being supportive of the same people who say “words are violence” in other contexts: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/07/nyt-opinion-bennet-...
These are the same people who said Trump’s anti-China rhetoric caused anti-Asian hate crimes. If we take them at their word about that, what does their newfound nuance in this context say?
Re: Stop Demanding Dumb Answers to Hard Questions
#3Is calling for genocide against some groups OK, but not others?
If its not "all or none" you're not arguing free speech, you're arguing which heathens are worse.
Re: Stop Demanding Dumb Answers to Hard Questions
#4"Great"* explanation. That none of those highly-paid, very select heads of prestigious universities were able to give. Which should lead them to lose their jobs anyway.
*Being in Europe, we won't agree with the very low bar the US has for free speech - to us it's as absurd as the mad "right to bear arms" as applied in the US (note I am in Switzerland, which also allows to bear arms but... without the crazyness). But Popehat is a lawyer, he's not here to rewrite laws.
Re: Stop Demanding Dumb Answers to Hard Questions
#5[deleted]
Re: Stop Demanding Dumb Answers to Hard Questions
#6Excellent legal analysis, but misses the point completely. These college Presidents are getting pilloried because they are perceived as being supportive of the same people who say “words are violence” in other contexts: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/07/nyt-opinion-bennet-... These are the same people who said Trump’s anti-China rhetoric caused anti-Asian hate crimes. If we take them at their word about that,…
Yup, this was exactly the point and has largely been the major gripe when talking about the pro-Hamas protests. These are the same people that literally destroyed livelihoods over "hate speech" (their definition of what constitutes as "hate" has sometimes been dubious at best). This sort of lack of principle and inconsistency is not healthy for universities.
Re: Stop Demanding Dumb Answers to Hard Questions
#7> Discriminatory harassment may be considered to violate this policy when it is so severe or pervasive, and objectively offensive, that it creates a work, educational, or living environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive
In what contexts is (explicitly) calling for the genocide of Jews not objectively offensive or hostile? Maybe if you whisper it quietly in an empty room? I don't buy the examples provided in TFA (the ones he deems acceptable are not explicit calls for genocide).
Re: Stop Demanding Dumb Answers to Hard Questions
#8Excellent legal analysis, but misses the point completely. These college Presidents are getting pilloried because they are perceived as being supportive of the same people who say “words are violence” in other contexts: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/07/nyt-opinion-bennet-... These are the same people who said Trump’s anti-China rhetoric caused anti-Asian hate crimes. If we take them at their word about that,…
Yup, this was exactly the point and has largely been the major gripe when talking about the pro-Hamas protests. These are the same people that literally destroyed livelihoods over "hate speech" (their definition of what constitutes as "hate" has sometimes been dubious at best). This sort of lack of principle and inconsistency is not healthy for universities.
By conflating pro-palestine protests with pro-hamas you're no different from the anti-semitic assholes who use Israel's apartheid regime and their current genocide as a reason to hate all Jews.
It is in fact possible to say "Hamas is bad" while still believing Palestinians are humans with the same rights the UN brought in as a result of things like the holocaust. It's also possible to go "given the decades of colonial abuse by Israel the actions of Hamas are an entirely predictable outcome", much like the myriad terrorist attacks against English civilians by the IRA (that large swathes of America were 100% in support of).
Terrorism is objectively wrong, but it is a predictable outcome of abusive and dehumanizing colonial behavior.
Re: Stop Demanding Dumb Answers to Hard Questions
#9> Discriminatory harassment may be considered to violate this policy when it is so severe or pervasive, and objectively offensive, that it creates a work, educational, or living environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive In what contexts is (explicitly) calling for the genocide of Jews not objectively offensive or hostile? Maybe if you whisper it quietly in an empty room? I…
The phrase "reasonable person" does the heavy lifting here. A reasonable person should be able to understand that others have different opinions that may be distasteful or wrong. Unless those opinions are violent and directed at them personally, they are not hostile.
Re: Stop Demanding Dumb Answers to Hard Questions
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yup, this was exactly the point and has largely been the major gripe when talking about the pro-Hamas protests. These are the same people that literally destroyed livelihoods over "hate speech" (their definition of what constitutes as "hate" has sometimes been dubious at best). This sort of lack of principle and inconsistency is not healthy for universities.
By conflating pro-palestine protests with pro-hamas you're no different from the anti-semitic assholes who use Israel's apartheid regime and their current genocide as a reason to hate all Jews. It is in fact possible to say "Hamas is bad" while still believing Palestinians are humans with the same rights the UN brought in as a result of things like the holocaust. It's also possible to go "given the decades of colonia…
>Terrorism is objectively wrong, but it is a predictable outcome of abusive and dehumanizing colonial behavior.
And abusive and dehumanizing behavior is a predictable outcome of Terrorism. How do we break the cycle?