This is precisely why we have capitalism
The Problem at Yale Is Not Free Speech
91–100 of 182 posts
Re: The Problem at Yale Is Not Free Speech
#92The articles contends the rich kids at Yale pretend to be poor to shirk the elite responsibilities, which then leads to deterioration of the elites. I find it doubtful that the kids have thought it through that far. A couple of more likely explanations come to mind: - Rebellious teenagers always want to establish independence from their parents. Giving up part of the money takes you part of the way there. - It's hard…
"Rebellious teenagers always want to establish independence from their parents"
The rebelliousness of college students seems so obvious to me. Everyone here using youthful behavior (almost all in their teens and early twenties) to bash their favorite bogeyman group (usually composed of much older people) is missing the completely obvious.
Re: The Problem at Yale Is Not Free Speech
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You don't see these college students go after someone with actual power just like you don't see the animal rights advocates throw paint on Hell's Angels for wearing leather. This is a strange example of inconsequential protest, as the movement against furs was highly successful.
You’re kind of illustrating GP’s point. Throwing paint on a fashionista wearing fur poses very little risk- compare the risk to a Hell’s Angels biker who might literally kill you. And furs were always expensive which kept the quantity relatively low- compare the number of fur animals killed to the number that are killed for their hides to make car interiors, house furniture, clothing, and more. If the fur protesters…
No one raises and kills cows for the leather; the leather is a byproduct.
Re: The Problem at Yale Is Not Free Speech
#94I find this piece fascinating. To honor it I offer a tl; dr 1. Author recounts experiences of people lying about their class/wealth at Yale, often feigning less wealth. 2. Explains behavior 1 as style, safety, loss-of-perspective, and avoiding social responsibility 3. Retells several incidents where a vocal minority of students at Yale picked and won battles over verbiage (e.g. emails, Calhoun, "Master of college").…
> 4. Interprets the battles in 3 as at best insignificant and at worst a distraction from real problems of class disparity in America. Contrasts these protests against Vietnam protests. I tend to agree. I view the "tempest in a teapot" protests that go after some academic functionary in the same light as I view most of the animal rights protesters--deeply hypocritical. You don't see these college students go after so…
So they're hypocrites because they don't try go out of their way to be physically harmed? That's a unique take.
Re: The Problem at Yale Is Not Free Speech
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
You’re kind of illustrating GP’s point. Throwing paint on a fashionista wearing fur poses very little risk- compare the risk to a Hell’s Angels biker who might literally kill you. And furs were always expensive which kept the quantity relatively low- compare the number of fur animals killed to the number that are killed for their hides to make car interiors, house furniture, clothing, and more. If the fur protesters…
No one raises and kills cows for the leather; the leather is a byproduct.
The leather is a product, not a byproduct, just not the sole product. I fail to see the logic that killing a mink for its fur is wrong, but killing a cow is okay because we get meat along with the leather. You can also make arguments about how it’s okay because cows are raised specifically to be killed, but the fact remains that we kill orders of magnitude more cows than we ever have minks. My previous argument stands unchanged about how protesting mink is a small victory and most animal rights protesters stopped short of going for a big one.
Btw, I’m not an animal rights protester, I eat meat and have leather furniture. I’m just backing up the top level argument that Yale students aren’t protesting the big stuff.
Re: The Problem at Yale Is Not Free Speech
#96The problem is that Yale exists at all
Re: The Problem at Yale Is Not Free Speech
#97I have many reservations about the rest, but the first point about guilty rich kids deserves to be more widely known.
Forget "upper middle class", let's ban "middle class" from the discourse. It's 1/2 anachronism 1/2 compromise between guilty rich and aspirational poor.
Re: The Problem at Yale Is Not Free Speech
#98This reads like a prologue to the Cambridge 5 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Spies
There too an empire was in decline.
Re: The Problem at Yale Is Not Free Speech
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
> the situation makes your point about "they have to conceal it to be treated as human" ring totally false They can smell it sure, but their reaction is proportional to some product of distance between their socioeconomic positions and how much shame the other party signals. Pretending to be poor is demonstrating shame of one's higher position. In your case, this seems to have been enough to placate their less privil…
But it really occurs to me, the rich aren't acting poor to fool the poor. The rich don't care about the poor and don't encounter them that much. The rich act "poor" to fool themselves or just flatter themselves, to tell themselves they face challenges or just because their idea of the poor is romantic. Back in college X, lots of folks dressed vaguely dock workers, with lots of plaid and such, but no one trying to act…
I think you’re forgetting the two rules of fashion:
1. Do what those above you do.
2. Whatever you do, do not do what those below you do.
If rich people act poor, it’s because they’re trying to avoid being mistaken for middle-class kids who are trying to be mistaken for rich kids. When all the middle class kids start wearing Armani, it’s time to start dressing like the lower class (knowing that the Middle Class kids can’t possibly follow you there because they’re too scared of being confused with actual lower class people).
Re: The Problem at Yale Is Not Free Speech
#100This article strikes me as extraploating a select few experiences to make far reaching conclusions. 99% of the people at yale are not children of billionaires or statesmen. They are children of doctors, lawyers, programmers, etc. who are wealthy but not wealthy enough to live off their inheritance indefinitely. People attend classes, do research, play sports, or put up performances - in short what's been going on for…
Do you have a source for the claim that 99% of attendees of Yale don't have enough money to live off their inheritance indefinitely?
Do you have a source for the claim that more than 1% are?
I’m not sure why we’re talking about inheritances anyway; most people these days don’t get significant inheritances until they’re in their fifties or sixties, when their parents die. A college student who has already been the recipient of a large inheritance is a rare bird indeed.