Post by Optimus on Feb 10, 2018 8:15:33 GMT -5
Alright, Vince. This one's right up your alley, so I figured if you hadn't seen this article yet, you might find it interesting:
nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/02/we-all-live-on-campus-now.html
I'd say I usually disagree with Andrew Sullivan on about 40% to 50% of what he says. Sometimes he makes good points. Sometimes I have to roll my eyes. But, he's one of the more reasonable conservative voices out there, so I at least try to read his stuff (when I can) with an open mind.
I agree with a good bit of the sentiment in this piece. But, I will add that given that much of my time over the past 4 years has been spent on college campuses, I'm not sure that the sky is falling just yet. Most of the extreme SJW bullshit that happens, generally tends to happen in the humanities departments or from humanities students. The STEM departments remain largely unaffected.
Anyway, even though I don't agree with everything in it, it's still an interesting article and I thought some people - Vince especially - might like to read it and discuss.
nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/02/we-all-live-on-campus-now.html
Over the last year, the most common rebuttal to my intermittent coverage of campus culture has been: Why does it matter? These are students, after all. They’ll grow up once they leave their cloistered, neo-Marxist safe spaces. The real world isn’t like that. You’re exaggerating anyway. And so on. I certainly see the point. In the world beyond campus, few people use the term microaggressions without irony or an eye roll; claims of “white supremacy,” “rape culture,” or “white privilege” can seem like mere rhetorical flourishes; racial and gender segregation hasn’t been perpetuated in the workplace yet; the campus Title IX sex tribunals where, under the Obama administration, the “preponderance of evidence” rather than the absence of a “reasonable doubt” could ruin a young man’s life and future are just a product of a hothouse environment. And I can sometimes get carried away.
The reason I don’t agree with this is because I believe ideas matter. When elite universities shift their entire worldview away from liberal education as we have long known it toward the imperatives of an identity-based “social justice” movement, the broader culture is in danger of drifting away from liberal democracy as well. If elites believe that the core truth of our society is a system of interlocking and oppressive power structures based around immutable characteristics like race or sex or sexual orientation, then sooner rather than later, this will be reflected in our culture at large. What matters most of all in these colleges — your membership in a group that is embedded in a hierarchy of oppression — will soon enough be what matters in the society as a whole.
And, sure enough, the whole concept of an individual who exists apart from group identity is slipping from the discourse. The idea of individual merit — as opposed to various forms of unearned “privilege” — is increasingly suspect. The Enlightenment principles that formed the bedrock of the American experiment — untrammeled free speech, due process, individual (rather than group) rights — are now routinely understood as mere masks for “white male” power, code words for the oppression of women and nonwhites. Any differences in outcome for various groups must always be a function of “hate,” rather than a function of nature or choice or freedom or individual agency. And anyone who questions these assertions is obviously a white supremacist himself.
The reason I don’t agree with this is because I believe ideas matter. When elite universities shift their entire worldview away from liberal education as we have long known it toward the imperatives of an identity-based “social justice” movement, the broader culture is in danger of drifting away from liberal democracy as well. If elites believe that the core truth of our society is a system of interlocking and oppressive power structures based around immutable characteristics like race or sex or sexual orientation, then sooner rather than later, this will be reflected in our culture at large. What matters most of all in these colleges — your membership in a group that is embedded in a hierarchy of oppression — will soon enough be what matters in the society as a whole.
And, sure enough, the whole concept of an individual who exists apart from group identity is slipping from the discourse. The idea of individual merit — as opposed to various forms of unearned “privilege” — is increasingly suspect. The Enlightenment principles that formed the bedrock of the American experiment — untrammeled free speech, due process, individual (rather than group) rights — are now routinely understood as mere masks for “white male” power, code words for the oppression of women and nonwhites. Any differences in outcome for various groups must always be a function of “hate,” rather than a function of nature or choice or freedom or individual agency. And anyone who questions these assertions is obviously a white supremacist himself.
I'd say I usually disagree with Andrew Sullivan on about 40% to 50% of what he says. Sometimes he makes good points. Sometimes I have to roll my eyes. But, he's one of the more reasonable conservative voices out there, so I at least try to read his stuff (when I can) with an open mind.
I agree with a good bit of the sentiment in this piece. But, I will add that given that much of my time over the past 4 years has been spent on college campuses, I'm not sure that the sky is falling just yet. Most of the extreme SJW bullshit that happens, generally tends to happen in the humanities departments or from humanities students. The STEM departments remain largely unaffected.
Anyway, even though I don't agree with everything in it, it's still an interesting article and I thought some people - Vince especially - might like to read it and discuss.
