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> U.S. colleges have been carefully steering conversations about admissions in the direction of racial quotas, to avoid talking about how by far the largest dri

> U.S. colleges have been carefully steering conversations about admissions in the direction of racial quotas, to avoid talking about how by far the largest driver of unfairness in the admissions process is legacy admissions and donation quid pro quo arrangements. A lesson that generalizes well. Remember Occupy Wall Street, Piketty's tome, the Bernie primaries? It all feels like distant history now.

latency-guy2 4y ago
Only if you have been led to believe any of those things were popular. Occupy Wall Street had participants that counted at most 30,000 cumulatively across demonstrations in NY and surrounding areas. Impressive number? Not in my opinion. Admittedly, I have no idea what the hell 'Piketty's tome' is, so I won't talk about it, seems like its related to a few books that sold 1.5m copies, pretty successful, that's it from me for now though. Bernie in 2016 received ~43% of the vote in democratic primaries, in 2020 he slipped down to ~26%, neither times was he close. Hillary received ~55% in 2016, Joe received ~51% in 2020. Opinion polls consistently put Hillary far above Bernie throughout the entire election season. In 2020, Joe also had the highest approval rating amongst candidates in DNC, only dropping for a few weeks where admittedly Bernie had higher approval, but then dropped it when it really mattered. So you'll have to point to me where exactly these people are popular, maybe within their own world? Maybe by spending? That only works for Bernie, not for Occupy Wall Street which was a very minor event by all measures. Can't speak to Picketty, so I will leave that undecided on my end, and let you define it's success. Note, I am far from a Democrat or a Socialist, in fact I'm Republican through and through.
- leereeves 4y ago
  43% of the vote in democratic primaries is quite popular. And Bernie is a great example because identity politics was specifically used against him; his supporters were derided as mostly white male "Bernie Bros". Sounds like exactly what GP was talking about: steering conversations to race and sex to avoid talking about economic inequality.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - rayiner 4y ago
    > And Bernie is a great example because identity politics was specifically used against him; his supporters were derided as mostly white male "Bernie Bros". And the abiding irony of that was that most of the people who did that supported Elizabeth Warren, who had vanishingly little support from actual minorities. She finished behind Tom Steyer in South Carolina and behind Mayor Pete in Nevada (states where the democratic base is heavily black and hispanic, respectively). Even the New York Times acknowledged that Warren's campaign was a "demographic cul-de-sac" dominated by "college-educated white people." And those people had the gall to paint Bernie--who has invested enormous time and energy in reaching out to Hispanics and did well among that group--as racist.
    - tptacek 4y ago
      All that aside, it seems like the original point being made was roughly that Occupy and Bernie were popular causes among young and online people, but not among the broader electorate. And that's basically true, right?
      - leereeves 4y ago
        It seems to me that 43% support among Democrat primary voters is fairly broad, but I guess that's just a debate about semantics. I would argue, however, that he faced tremendous opposition from the wealthy, and that translated into most corporate media either attacking him or ignoring him, so his supporters could only be heard on social media.
        tptacek 4y ago
        Look at the Michigan county-by-county primary results (better yet: compare 2020 to 2016) and tell me that Democratic Socialism is a viable position in the modern Democratic party. Sanders didn't even take Washtenaw this go-round. I think it's very likely that Sanders overperformance in 2016 was really an artifact for a lot of deep-seated dislike and distrust of Hillary Clinton (something Biden himself was reported sour about in the wake of the 2016 fiasco). Corporate opposition is a just-so story. Until his campaign fell apart, Sanders stomped Biden in earned media coverage.
- jcranmer 4y ago
  > Admittedly, I have no idea what the hell 'Piketty's tome' is, Piketty is an economist who wrote Capital in the Twenty-First Century, which is a book on economics and wealth inequality (essentially arguing that the rich are inevitably going to get richer absent government intervention).

latency-guy2 4y ago

Only if you have been led to believe any of those things were popular. Occupy Wall Street had participants that counted at most 30,000 cumulatively across demonstrations in NY and surrounding areas. Impressive number? Not in my opinion. Admittedly, I have no idea what the hell 'Piketty's tome' is, so I won't talk about it, seems like its related to a few books that sold 1.5m copies, pretty successful, that's it from me for now though. Bernie in 2016 received ~43% of the vote in democratic primaries, in 2020 he slipped down to ~26%, neither times was he close. Hillary received ~55% in 2016, Joe received ~51% in 2020. Opinion polls consistently put Hillary far above Bernie throughout the entire election season. In 2020, Joe also had the highest approval rating amongst candidates in DNC, only dropping for a few weeks where admittedly Bernie had higher approval, but then dropped it when it really mattered. So you'll have to point to me where exactly these people are popular, maybe within their own world? Maybe by spending? That only works for Bernie, not for Occupy Wall Street which was a very minor event by all measures. Can't speak to Picketty, so I will leave that undecided on my end, and let you define it's success. Note, I am far from a Democrat or a Socialist, in fact I'm Republican through and through.

leereeves 4y ago
43% of the vote in democratic primaries is quite popular. And Bernie is a great example because identity politics was specifically used against him; his supporters were derided as mostly white male "Bernie Bros". Sounds like exactly what GP was talking about: steering conversations to race and sex to avoid talking about economic inequality.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- rayiner 4y ago
  > And Bernie is a great example because identity politics was specifically used against him; his supporters were derided as mostly white male "Bernie Bros". And the abiding irony of that was that most of the people who did that supported Elizabeth Warren, who had vanishingly little support from actual minorities. She finished behind Tom Steyer in South Carolina and behind Mayor Pete in Nevada (states where the democratic base is heavily black and hispanic, respectively). Even the New York Times acknowledged that Warren's campaign was a "demographic cul-de-sac" dominated by "college-educated white people." And those people had the gall to paint Bernie--who has invested enormous time and energy in reaching out to Hispanics and did well among that group--as racist.
  - tptacek 4y ago
    All that aside, it seems like the original point being made was roughly that Occupy and Bernie were popular causes among young and online people, but not among the broader electorate. And that's basically true, right?
    - leereeves 4y ago
      It seems to me that 43% support among Democrat primary voters is fairly broad, but I guess that's just a debate about semantics. I would argue, however, that he faced tremendous opposition from the wealthy, and that translated into most corporate media either attacking him or ignoring him, so his supporters could only be heard on social media.
      - tptacek 4y ago
        Look at the Michigan county-by-county primary results (better yet: compare 2020 to 2016) and tell me that Democratic Socialism is a viable position in the modern Democratic party. Sanders didn't even take Washtenaw this go-round. I think it's very likely that Sanders overperformance in 2016 was really an artifact for a lot of deep-seated dislike and distrust of Hillary Clinton (something Biden himself was reported sour about in the wake of the 2016 fiasco). Corporate opposition is a just-so story. Until his campaign fell apart, Sanders stomped Biden in earned media coverage.
jcranmer 4y ago
> Admittedly, I have no idea what the hell 'Piketty's tome' is, Piketty is an economist who wrote Capital in the Twenty-First Century, which is a book on economics and wealth inequality (essentially arguing that the rich are inevitably going to get richer absent government intervention).