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Harold Bloom Has Died

nytimes.com

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Re: Harold Bloom Has Died

#41

Post by SquishyPanda23 »

coldtea wrote: post #15
teflodollar wrote: post #10

It's too bad to read these reports about his lecherousness, because he was without question a giant in the US world of letters.

Well, hitting on women (for men), hitting on men (for women), drinking, taking drugs, being tightwad, being lavish, being easily angered, and tons of other things, never stopped anybody from being a giant of letters or the arts, a great politician, a good scientist, a great athlete, a great actor, a great humanitarian, a great businessperson or any other thing... In fact it's probably more common in the great men and…

People are entitled to like sex and to approach people for relationships that may become sexual.

If female grad students were inviting him over for booty calls I think the tone of the conversation would be much different.

But the claim is that he was making advances on people who didn't welcome them. This is especially a problem since he was an influential professor with power over their careers.

Even for professors, where the natural state for many is social awkwardness, you have some obligation to read the signs of when your behavior is unwanted.

Re: Harold Bloom Has Died

#43

Post by DataWorker »

coldtea wrote: post #15
teflodollar wrote: post #10

It's too bad to read these reports about his lecherousness, because he was without question a giant in the US world of letters.

Well, hitting on women (for men), hitting on men (for women), drinking, taking drugs, being tightwad, being lavish, being easily angered, and tons of other things, never stopped anybody from being a giant of letters or the arts, a great politician, a good scientist, a great athlete, a great actor, a great humanitarian, a great businessperson or any other thing... In fact it's probably more common in the great men and…

Hitting on others isn’t wrong unless you’re successful, then it’s power imbalance.

Re: Harold Bloom Has Died

#44

Post by [deleted] »

p1necone wrote: post #25
jeffdavis wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are two separate issues: speaking ill of the dead at all; and speaking disrespectfully too soon after a death. Speaking ill of the dead at all is generally not good because the person is no longer able to defend their reputation, and no remedy can be made. The dead is no longer in a position of power to be removed, nor can they improve themselves out of remorse. So of something ill is to be said, saying it afte…

I don't know that I consider calling people out for shitty things they've done to be "disrespectful". Calling people out for shitty things they haven't done would be be disrespectful.

[deleted]

Re: Harold Bloom Has Died

#45

Post by teflodollar »

SomeOldThrow wrote: post #30
teflodollar wrote: post #10

It's too bad to read these reports about his lecherousness, because he was without question a giant in the US world of letters.

How are these contradictory? He is obviously both.

I don't think they're in any way contradictory. I think he was a genuinely great critic, and that can't be taken away from him. But that doesn't mean I can't be disappointed to learn he made female graduate students uncomfortable.

Similarly I fully support Handke winning the Nobel this year, but it doesn't mean I can't deplore his support of Milosevic.

Re: Harold Bloom Has Died

#47

Post by whiddershins »

jchallis wrote: post #2

I used to tutor math and physics near Bloom's office in Timothy Dwight. My main association with the man is that he would come on strong to every female English graduate student he could reach. When #MeToo first came to national consciousness about men in arts and letters who completely abused their position to take advantage of women, I thought of Harold. How could these giants of arts and letters abuse so many? Bec…

You can do as you like, but for me it is a decent heuristic to not speak ill of the dead.

I, personally, really don’t enjoy reading about people using someone’s death or funeral as a platform for maligning their life, regardless of the accuracy and poignancy of the claims.

Would you bring up this discussion in front of a grieving family member? Do you think it impossible someone already in pain might read what is said on the internet?

There’s a concept I like that even the bitterest of enemies allow the dead to be buried in peace.

Re: Harold Bloom Has Died

#48

Post by emmelaich »

coldtea wrote: post #15
teflodollar wrote: post #10

It's too bad to read these reports about his lecherousness, because he was without question a giant in the US world of letters.

Well, hitting on women (for men), hitting on men (for women), drinking, taking drugs, being tightwad, being lavish, being easily angered, and tons of other things, never stopped anybody from being a giant of letters or the arts, a great politician, a good scientist, a great athlete, a great actor, a great humanitarian, a great businessperson or any other thing... In fact it's probably more common in the great men and…

Moreover it (was?) in many professions considered part of the role.

Lecherous / womanising professor is a popular trope.

e.g. Donald Sutherland in Animal House

Re: Harold Bloom Has Died

#49

Post by emmelaich »

jchallis wrote: post #2

I used to tutor math and physics near Bloom's office in Timothy Dwight. My main association with the man is that he would come on strong to every female English graduate student he could reach. When #MeToo first came to national consciousness about men in arts and letters who completely abused their position to take advantage of women, I thought of Harold. How could these giants of arts and letters abuse so many? Bec…

> Because no one spoke out.

Did you?

Re: Harold Bloom Has Died

#50

Post by dang »

SomeOldThrow wrote: post #28
jerf wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You shouldn't speak ill of the dead like this. It is uncouth and crass for all sorts of reasons. It doesn't mean you need to forget or ignore it, it just means... today is not the day. More days will come.

FUCK Harold Bloom. He had a salary if you don’t remember.

We've already asked you more than once to stop posting unsubstantive comments here. "FUCK $object" is the ultimate unsubstantive comment. That's going the wrong way down a one-way street.

We'd appreciate it if you'd please take a step back and review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and post more in the spirit of this site. That doesn't require you to change your views—just be more thoughtful when you post, which includes not posting when you don't have anything thoughtful to say.

You might also find these links helpful regarding the intended spirit of the site:

https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html

https://news.ycombinator.com/hackernews.html

http://www.paulgraham.com/trolls.html

http://www.paulgraham.com/hackernews.html

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