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Yale censored a student's course catalog site. I made an unblockable replacement

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Re: Yale censored a student's course catalog site. I made an unblockable replacement

#61

Post by iamdave »

superpatosainz wrote: post #52
cliveowen wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, taking things to the extremes has been proved to be the best way to start a discussion and the only sure way to show an unbiased view of the facts at hand. I'm impressed by your incredible level-headedness, sir.

Sir, if I preoperly recall, that's exactly how you discard premises. Taking a premise and applying it to a more extreme situation just battletests it. It's done in justice and law courses, etc. "If the common good justifies killing X agent, then it must be ok for a doctor to kill a patient in their sleep, take his organs and save three people with his two kidneys and heart." Also, what Yale did wasn't right, and the…

"If the common good justifies killing X agent, then it must be ok for a doctor to kill a patient in their sleep, take his organs and save three people with his two kidneys and heart."

Isn't that a variation of a semantic shift fallacy? [1]

--- [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_change

Re: Yale censored a student's course catalog site. I made an unblockable replacement

#62

Post by pwang »

cliveowen wrote: post #24
lionhearted wrote: post #12

When I first left America, I disliked and felt disillusioned with the country. I've now spent more of my adult life outside the States than in the U.S., and I've also come to the opinion that the U.S. is one of the most amazing places in the world. Sometimes it's hard to point to exactly why America is so amazing. And the answer, maybe, is on display here. An undergraduate student at an elite university just innovati…

You could read it that way, or you could say that this miniscule altercation between a student and the dean of an Ivy League university, both part of an elite group that knows little about the real struggles the rest of the world faces on a daily basis, has been elevated to something important while its not and it's been given way too much attention than it deserves. How many college campuses and universities in the…

> a spoiled kid living a cushioned life inside a cocoon

Oh, I wasn't aware that you knew the author of blog post and software. Was he really very spoiled as a child?

(I'm assuming you knew him, based on your comment, because surely you're not blanket-judging everyone who goes to a top-tier or Ivy League school as a coddled little brat with a silver spoon and an insular view of the world? Such a judgment would not even be correct to first order.)

Re: Yale censored a student's course catalog site. I made an unblockable replacement

#63

Post by thisiswrong »

lionhearted wrote: post #12

When I first left America, I disliked and felt disillusioned with the country. I've now spent more of my adult life outside the States than in the U.S., and I've also come to the opinion that the U.S. is one of the most amazing places in the world. Sometimes it's hard to point to exactly why America is so amazing. And the answer, maybe, is on display here. An undergraduate student at an elite university just innovati…

> I've now spent more of my adult life outside the States than in the U.S., and I've also come to the opinion that the U.S. is one of the most amazing places in the world.

Yes. The American backed/sponsored slaughter of innocent men, women, and children across the Middle East and Africa in the name of profit, power, and greed doesn't seem to cross your mind. Also, it's clear that as an American you have free speech, but Americans who speak too freely might not wake up to see tomorrow [1] [2]

[1] http://www.globalresearch.ca/who-killed-michael-hastings/535... [2] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/22/white-house-dro...

Re: Yale censored a student's course catalog site. I made an unblockable replacement

#64

Post by adharmad »

I wonder whether organizations today are really so dumb that they need some education before making public knee-jerk reactions. Regardless of the rights or wrongs of the case, (and most of the readers don't understand or care) Yale would avoided all the bad publicity if they had just let the whole thing slide.

Re: Yale censored a student's course catalog site. I made an unblockable replacement

#65

Post by vanattab »

iamdave wrote: post #61
superpatosainz wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sir, if I preoperly recall, that's exactly how you discard premises. Taking a premise and applying it to a more extreme situation just battletests it. It's done in justice and law courses, etc. "If the common good justifies killing X agent, then it must be ok for a doctor to kill a patient in their sleep, take his organs and save three people with his two kidneys and heart." Also, what Yale did wasn't right, and the…

"If the common good justifies killing X agent, then it must be ok for a doctor to kill a patient in their sleep, take his organs and save three people with his two kidneys and heart." Isn't that a variation of a semantic shift fallacy? [1] --- [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_change

I just read the link and I am not following your reasoning. Please explain.

Re: Yale censored a student's course catalog site. I made an unblockable replacement

#66

Post by the_af »

lionhearted wrote: post #12

When I first left America, I disliked and felt disillusioned with the country. I've now spent more of my adult life outside the States than in the U.S., and I've also come to the opinion that the U.S. is one of the most amazing places in the world. Sometimes it's hard to point to exactly why America is so amazing. And the answer, maybe, is on display here. An undergraduate student at an elite university just innovati…

Without diminishing what you say, it happens in other democratic countries as well. In many Latin American universities (and even lower education) the students are a force to be reckoned with. For example, in recent years a student coalition demonstrated against the education policies of former president of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, and it was a major crisis.

Similar demonstrations can happen against, for example, the principal of a university or school in other countries. The students protest even when they risk being expelled.

The US seems mild in comparison...

Re: Yale censored a student's course catalog site. I made an unblockable replacement

#67

Post by slurry »

pdb123 wrote: post #35
lionhearted wrote: post #12

When I first left America, I disliked and felt disillusioned with the country. I've now spent more of my adult life outside the States than in the U.S., and I've also come to the opinion that the U.S. is one of the most amazing places in the world. Sometimes it's hard to point to exactly why America is so amazing. And the answer, maybe, is on display here. An undergraduate student at an elite university just innovati…

As another American, I completely agree that this is wonderful. We both like this behavior because it's in accordance with our culture and values. But the example of Asian culture that you bring up is interesting. Japan (and to some extent China) are undeniably successful countries/cultures. Yet I'd guess that if a student acted this way there, he or she wouldn't be able to find a job. How do we know that having undu…

How do we know that having undue respect for hierarchy is objectively a bad thing?

I'd say China in the late Qing Dynasty would be a good data point for it being a bad thing. Or a compare-and-contrast of Spain and the Netherlands in the early modern period.

With respect to Japan, yeah, we think of it as super-hierarchical. Then again, Japan had two major hierarchy-toppling social revolutions pretty recently. First the military-imperial apparatus toppled the feudal nobility during the Meiji Restoration. Then General McArthur toppled the military-imperial apparatus during the American occupation. So, perhaps the slope of the long term trend line is as important as the current value?

Re: Yale censored a student's course catalog site. I made an unblockable replacement

#68

Post by john_b »

atmosx wrote: post #51

I admire the courage and stance of Sean Haufler on this. But out of curiosity, looking at his profile, why would someone who had an internship at Google and worked at FourSquare would need a CS(!!) and Economics(???) degree from Yale? I might understand the Economics part, what about the CS part???

Maybe he just wants it. Or maybe he finds Yale to be a good environment for learning. It might not be about need.

Re: Yale censored a student's course catalog site. I made an unblockable replacement

#69

Post by pliny »

thisiswrong wrote: post #63
lionhearted wrote: post #12

When I first left America, I disliked and felt disillusioned with the country. I've now spent more of my adult life outside the States than in the U.S., and I've also come to the opinion that the U.S. is one of the most amazing places in the world. Sometimes it's hard to point to exactly why America is so amazing. And the answer, maybe, is on display here. An undergraduate student at an elite university just innovati…

> I've now spent more of my adult life outside the States than in the U.S., and I've also come to the opinion that the U.S. is one of the most amazing places in the world. Yes. The American backed/sponsored slaughter of innocent men, women, and children across the Middle East and Africa in the name of profit, power, and greed doesn't seem to cross your mind. Also, it's clear that as an American you have free speech,…

When comparing things (the US is one of the most amazing places in the world -> the US is amazing in comparison to most places) it's usually more important to focus on differences rather than similarities.

State-sponsored slaughter of innocent people in the Middle East and Africa is a pastime enthusiastically practiced by Canada and all of the "important" European nations (UK, Germany, France, and to a lesser extent Scandinavians) not just by the US.

Re: Yale censored a student's course catalog site. I made an unblockable replacement

#70

Post by impendia »

cliveowen wrote: post #24
lionhearted wrote: post #12

When I first left America, I disliked and felt disillusioned with the country. I've now spent more of my adult life outside the States than in the U.S., and I've also come to the opinion that the U.S. is one of the most amazing places in the world. Sometimes it's hard to point to exactly why America is so amazing. And the answer, maybe, is on display here. An undergraduate student at an elite university just innovati…

You could read it that way, or you could say that this miniscule altercation between a student and the dean of an Ivy League university, both part of an elite group that knows little about the real struggles the rest of the world faces on a daily basis, has been elevated to something important while its not and it's been given way too much attention than it deserves. How many college campuses and universities in the…

I agree that this case has received much more publicity than it deserves. But I also agree with mindcrime's point, admire the student's actions, and am grateful to live in a country where the consequences to the student are likely to be mild.
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