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MIT Abandons Its Mission. and Me

bariweiss.substack.com

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Re: MIT Abandons Its Mission. and Me

#41

Post by raxxorrax »

dragonwriter wrote: post #30
acdha wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> He directly equates DEI efforts to Nazi Germany: Specifically, he equated active racial, gender, etc. inclusion with active racial exclusion. Like the rest of his piece, it is part of a pile of nonobvious (but with a very high affinity for a particular political tribe, despite the author’s claim to be apolitical) conclusions offered without significant justification; the one place this seems to be noted at all os a…

> he equated active racial, gender, etc. inclusion with active racial exclusion.

I believe this to be correct. Explain the difference. People use it to stick it to some people they don't like. They justify it with oppression. There isn't any technical difference.

The alternative is to not do it. No option for contemporary progressive and national socialists alike.

Re: MIT Abandons Its Mission. and Me

#43

Post by peter_retief »

57844743385 wrote: post #4

What people haven’t grasped yet is you can’t fight the mob. There’s no recourse, no appeal, no tribunal, no council of wise learned people you can go to when the mob sets out to destroy you. You’re just simply fucked and have to accept you’ve been cancelled, your reputation is ruined and you’re “out”. That’s all there is to it and no-one has come up with a solution.

MIT need to do their job and evict the culprits from the campus and make sure their staff are safe from harrasment.

Re: MIT Abandons Its Mission. and Me

#44

Post by rich_sasha »

I'm far from American culture, discussion, problems etc. but reading around the topics of woke, cancel culture etc. I really get the impression of the actions of mentally ill people (which I mean in the literal, not figurative meaning).

If it's "just" a Twitter mob it's bad enough, but this is interfering with the very creating of national / world elites and shaping of fundamental discussions.

Re: MIT Abandons Its Mission. and Me

#45

Post by peter_retief »

hw-guy wrote: post #33
joshuaheard wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the first step is recognizing that there is a mob and mob behavior. Then, act to disband the mob by not engaging in mob behavior, and convincing others not to engage in mob behavior.

It is probably impossible to disband the mob, but it does not have to be given power. It is up to the leaders of universities and corporations to have the moral courage to stand up to the mob and ignore its outrageous demands.

Exactly, cowardly administors looking after their own interests at the expense of the University.

Re: MIT Abandons Its Mission. and Me

#46

Post by rainworld »

It’s never the mob. It’s left-wing activists and their liberal enablers, cowardly or enthusiastic. Always is, always has been.

(Ok not quite, avowed zionist Bari Weiss will happily have you cancelled if you say mean things about Israel.)

Not at all a new thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fire_Raisers_(play)

Re: MIT Abandons Its Mission. and Me

#47

Post by raxxorrax »

jordemort wrote: post #34

This has been (rightfully, IMO) flagged, so I'm screaming into the void a bit here, but: - Claiming that you can build a system that is entirely based on merit is equivalent to claiming that you are able to determine merit in a way that is completely objective and free of implicit or systematic bias. This is a BIG claim. - There is no such revolutionary method of determining merit being proposed - in this case, "meri…

> This is a BIG claim.

Certainly, probably unachievable. I am not really a fan of what some call a meritocracy, it is complete hogwash. If I must chose I prefer it to active racial discrimination however because making admission not factor in some alleged inequality between ethnic demographics is certainly preferable.

Where does ethnic discrimination help? In stoking ethnic conflicts and the deteriorating situation in the US is certainly partially caused by an insistence of said discrimination where undereducated people making decisions that are quite unwise.

Re: MIT Abandons Its Mission. and Me

#49

Post by jordemort »

raxxorrax wrote: post #47
jordemort wrote: post #34

This has been (rightfully, IMO) flagged, so I'm screaming into the void a bit here, but: - Claiming that you can build a system that is entirely based on merit is equivalent to claiming that you are able to determine merit in a way that is completely objective and free of implicit or systematic bias. This is a BIG claim. - There is no such revolutionary method of determining merit being proposed - in this case, "meri…

> This is a BIG claim. Certainly, probably unachievable. I am not really a fan of what some call a meritocracy, it is complete hogwash. If I must chose I prefer it to active racial discrimination however because making admission not factor in some alleged inequality between ethnic demographics is certainly preferable. Where does ethnic discrimination help? In stoking ethnic conflicts and the deteriorating situation i…

> I am not really a fan of what some call a meritocracy, it is complete hogwash. If I must chose I prefer it to active racial discrimination however because making admission not factor in some alleged inequality between ethnic demographics is certainly preferable.

If you agree that meritocracy is hogwash, then what do you propose in its stead? If we know that "meritocracy" as commonly practiced produces results that are not actually representative of the population, then should we not correct for that, at least until we are able to refine our practice of meritocracy such that it does not introduce this error?

> In stoking ethnic conflicts and the deteriorating situation in the US is certainly partially caused by an insistence of said discrimination where undereducated people making decisions that are quite unwise.

Can you clarify, please? It seems like you're making vague allusions here to things "everyone knows" but I can't quite parse your intentions. Can you give an explicit example of what you are talking about?

Re: MIT Abandons Its Mission. and Me

#50

Post by danso »

Quarrelsome wrote: post #37
danso wrote: post #5

Based on what little I’ve read about his situation, and general academic conventions, I don’t think MIT should’ve cut the author’s speaking invitation. But him getting dragged on Twitter? Yeah, that’s going to happen when you write an op-Ed in Newsweek that oafishly compares DEI efforts to the Nazi purge of Jewish students and scholars: https://www.newsweek.com/diversity-problem-campus-opinion-16... > Ninety years ag…

do you really think this guy invoking Godwin's law is heinous enough to cancel this guys speech about extra solar planets? At best, its a petty retort isn't it?

From my comment:

> I don’t think MIT should’ve cut the author’s speaking invitation.

"Oh but you said 'But' and we should ignore anything said after 'But...'". Sure, but if you could afford the slightest bit of nuance, you'd recognize that "don't cancel an academic lecture" and "making a bad-faith dumb Nazi comparison deserves to be dragged on twitter" are 2 different things? And asserting the former with the latter necessarily implies that academic decisions should not be made on the basis of social media outrage.

Abbot arguing that contemporary DEI campaigns are comparable to Nazism is distasteful on its face, but it's also reflects a shallow level of thinking and knowledge. Can he seriously not think of any other comparison from the last 90 years?

But again, the shallowness of his thinking in this area doesn't pertain to his speaking invitation.

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