4 ms·

This is understandable as it shows an incredible lack of critical thinking on the student's part. Being an effective lawyer means not knee jerk reacting.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> it shows an incredible lack of critical thinking on the student's part It’s material that these are law students. Not undergrads. Undergrads should have room to be stupidly wrong and learn from it; that’s what academic freedom is for. That said, they’re still kids. Davis Polk has the right to do what they did; I’d make the same call in their place. But I also wouldn’t mind having these people on a legal team I hired, provided there was afterthought to their actions.
- maximinus_thrax 3y ago
  > they’re still kids. One might argue that they're adults, they have left the 'nest', they can drive, vote, drink, operate guns, etc... Actions have consequences, people learn this even before college. I'm not defending the law firms nor the students. Students have their right to say whatever they wish, and companies have their right to hire based on whatever non-discriminating criteria they wish. 'Political tribe' is not a legally protected group, so I don't see the problem here. Maybe it's for the best, the students may end up working for human rights NGOs instead of big law.
  - weatherlite 3y ago
    > may end up working for human rights NGOs instead of big law How is that letter showing human rights values?
    - maximinus_thrax 3y ago
      That's not for debate, not here, please. It will only be the start of a mindless circlejerk
enterprise_cog 3y ago
That they didn’t blindly support Israel shows a lack of critical thinking? What? Also what about the statement is kneejerk? Please explain.
- raxxorraxor 3y ago
  No, but that they support the attacks on it and put the blame on Israel, otherwise you might want to time your protest better.
drewcoo 3y ago
> knee jerk reacting Knee-jerk means behaving in a predictable manner, following the easiest path. A knee-jerk response would be condemnation of Hamas and support of Israel because that's how all of our media is telling us to respond. Both-sides-ing can also be a knee-jerk response for some people who habitually try to claim some middle moral high ground. Taking a contrarian position, knowing that it may hurt them personally like this, is the opposite of knee-jerk.
- jfengel 3y ago
  In general, that's true. But there are environments where the default position is to see the Palestinians as the victims of an oppressive Israeli government. Not entirely without reason -- Israel has been building settlements in the West Bank, on land that would reasonably form part of a Palestinian state under any two-state solution. In those environments, it's common to use the term "apartheid" to refer to Israel's treatment of Palestinians. And it can look that way, if you haven't looked at the history. Israel segregates Gaza, allowing people into Israel only to work, and carefully scrutinized. They provide much of Gaza's water and energy, and been able to cut it off (which they now have). That's a superficial view, failing to take into account the history of the conflict, but it's definitely the case that it's common in certain left-leaning circles like college campuses. In a lot of those places, the recent atrocity by Hamas is making them question that view. But it really does sound as if these students were living in an environment where they had been reinforcing Palestinian victimhood, and supporting Palestine is exactly what I'd call a knee-jerk reaction.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago

> it shows an incredible lack of critical thinking on the student's part It’s material that these are law students. Not undergrads. Undergrads should have room to be stupidly wrong and learn from it; that’s what academic freedom is for. That said, they’re still kids. Davis Polk has the right to do what they did; I’d make the same call in their place. But I also wouldn’t mind having these people on a legal team I hired, provided there was afterthought to their actions.

maximinus_thrax 3y ago
> they’re still kids. One might argue that they're adults, they have left the 'nest', they can drive, vote, drink, operate guns, etc... Actions have consequences, people learn this even before college. I'm not defending the law firms nor the students. Students have their right to say whatever they wish, and companies have their right to hire based on whatever non-discriminating criteria they wish. 'Political tribe' is not a legally protected group, so I don't see the problem here. Maybe it's for the best, the students may end up working for human rights NGOs instead of big law.
- weatherlite 3y ago
  > may end up working for human rights NGOs instead of big law How is that letter showing human rights values?
  - maximinus_thrax 3y ago
    That's not for debate, not here, please. It will only be the start of a mindless circlejerk

enterprise_cog 3y ago

That they didn’t blindly support Israel shows a lack of critical thinking? What? Also what about the statement is kneejerk? Please explain.

raxxorraxor 3y ago
No, but that they support the attacks on it and put the blame on Israel, otherwise you might want to time your protest better.

drewcoo 3y ago

> knee jerk reacting Knee-jerk means behaving in a predictable manner, following the easiest path. A knee-jerk response would be condemnation of Hamas and support of Israel because that's how all of our media is telling us to respond. Both-sides-ing can also be a knee-jerk response for some people who habitually try to claim some middle moral high ground. Taking a contrarian position, knowing that it may hurt them personally like this, is the opposite of knee-jerk.

jfengel 3y ago
In general, that's true. But there are environments where the default position is to see the Palestinians as the victims of an oppressive Israeli government. Not entirely without reason -- Israel has been building settlements in the West Bank, on land that would reasonably form part of a Palestinian state under any two-state solution. In those environments, it's common to use the term "apartheid" to refer to Israel's treatment of Palestinians. And it can look that way, if you haven't looked at the history. Israel segregates Gaza, allowing people into Israel only to work, and carefully scrutinized. They provide much of Gaza's water and energy, and been able to cut it off (which they now have). That's a superficial view, failing to take into account the history of the conflict, but it's definitely the case that it's common in certain left-leaning circles like college campuses. In a lot of those places, the recent atrocity by Hamas is making them question that view. But it really does sound as if these students were living in an environment where they had been reinforcing Palestinian victimhood, and supporting Palestine is exactly what I'd call a knee-jerk reaction.