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How woke illiberalism is killing the academy
- JPKab 7y ago‘education should not be intended to make people comfortable; it is meant to make them think’ Good luck with that in the current climate of social media raised, anxiety-ridden student body.
- basch 7y agoeven the comments here. it looks like most people dismissed this without giving it a chance. the amount of "we cant tolerate this type of thinking here" really only enforces the point the article makes, despite its provocative title turning people off before they understand that. Personally, "its (author|publication) is biased in a way I dont agree with" seems like MORE reason to read it, not less. Aldaily chose it as its Essay & Opinion of the day today. https://aldaily.com/ https://aldaily.com/ (After today, this link will work - https://aldaily.com/archives/2020-03-08/ https://aldaily.com/archives/2020-03-08/ )
- Josh04 7y agospiked is funded in part by the Koch Brothers, so it's unsurprising to find them covering a Koch Brothers greatest hit.
- raxxorrax 7y agoI think the criticism in the article resonates with many people and I doubt we see editorialized content. Independence is an issue for newspapers, but it would be dishonest to start here with this topic.
- SideburnsOfDoom 7y agoThere are certain sources where the mere source itself raises these about concerns about editorialized and politicised content over accuracy. e.g. "The Daily Mail" is one. "Spiked Online" is another.
- throwawat45637 7y agoIt resonates with many people because it's been drilled into their minds for literal decades. Decades of right-wing academia rejects shouting "I've been silenced!" on literally every media avenue until people actually believed universities were orweillian nightmares (and not just very bland binge-drinking places).
- garraeth 7y agoAgreed. I'd like to have a discussion about the truthfulness of this event. If it has credibility then we should worry about it and discuss resolutions. It's unfortunate that HN has already marked this as "dead".
- SideburnsOfDoom 7y ago> HN has already marked this as "dead". Oh good. I expected that sooner or later. Better that it is dead than on the front page, TBH.
- raxxorrax 7y agoWouldn't this behavior mirror that from university staff accused of silencing debate? To me, this behavior looks exactly like something the author describes, even if he might exaggerate.
- ThrowawayR2 7y agoFor those liberals and the rest of the political spectrum out there who dislike the censorious aspects of today's progressivism, remember that your votes in primaries and on Election Day can never be flagged or canceled. Please vote.
- Josh04 7y agoIf the article is appealing to an existing inclination you have, that's all the more reason to consider the motives of the people writing it.
- everyone 7y agoYou mean the Koch brother.. Only one of the fuckers left :)
- SideburnsOfDoom 7y agoWorth checking out the track record of the source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiked_(magazine) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiked_(magazine) https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Spiked https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Spiked https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/07/us-billionaires-hard-right-britain-spiked-magazine-charles-david-koch-foundation https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/07/us-bil...
- hangphyr 7y agoAre you requesting people confirm that Spiked is approved by a specific orthodoxy before reading the article and judging for themselves?
- cultus 7y agoReputation of a source matters. An anti-vax publication would rightly get a negative reception here too. This is Hacker News. People shouldn't be posting garbage like this. Go to Reddit.
- knolax 7y agoYou have to be suspicious when a British magazine starts complaining about Chicago University.
- knolax 7y agoI'm sorry I meant University of California, Hicago.
- throwawat45637 7y agoYeah, I believe in an orthodoxy called "fact checking" and "not being funded by agenda-pursuing, climate change denialist billionaires"
- sequoia 7y agoCan you specify exactly what we should be looking for here? To put it another way, what moved you to post this comment with this content? There must be some takeaway you expect readers to have. What is it?
- sascha_sl 7y ago>Although the 87 professors who demanded that the invitation to Bannon be revoked asserted that they represented ‘the breadth of the University’s intellectual community’, in fact 36 of them – nearly one-third – teach at either the school of social work (20) or in the English department (16). Considering the topic Steve Bannon, I'm baffled it wasn't more. But besides, I'm more baffled the author attempts to disclaim concern for platforming Bannon with a mere third of "automatically reject-able" professors, and then continues the argument with less than a sixth. Is this meant to convince me of anything?
- shrikant 7y agoAnd the author's only previous piece was another "long read" on wokeness. I'm smelling an axe to grind.
- throwawat45637 7y agoCan we just not be having the same discussion over the same article, over and over again?
- cultus 7y agoCool, more dog-whistle far-right content on HN. I'm looking forward to my comment getting flagged and removed for pointing this out.
- charlesism 7y agoIf you post "go ahead and downvote me", whether justified or not, readers feel manipulated, and do.
- cultus 7y agoNo, just pointing out the rampant hypocrisy of the free-speech brigade.