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Academics have for a long time been progressive activists at many schools.
by newsclues 3y ago
Academics have for a long time been progressive activists at many schools.
- CivBase 3y agoI think this quote from Julia Adams, one of the signers, is relevant: > "The concerns articulated in the FfY formation statement pertain to universities — and not their members! — as activists." There's no problem with individuals within academics being activists, but the institution itself should remain neutral. Its goal should be to foster an environment where ideas can be shared freely and considered by anyone.
- ToucanLoucan 3y ago> There's no problem with individuals within academics being activists, but the institution itself should remain neutral. Its goal should be to foster an environment where ideas can be shared freely and considered by anyone. Not all ideas are created equal. We have a long history of ideas, including sciences, that are discredited to a degree where they are, frankly, beneath consideration. Subjects like phrenology and eugenics, the creation theory for the origins of the universe, etc. IMO continuing to permit debate on some of these is not only harmful because the science itself was, in itself, harmful, but it's also a waste of an expensive institution's resources. At some point, further inquiry on a given subject just does not merit the time and energy of people who have far better work to be doing.
- CivBase 3y agoI don't think anyone is asking institutions to spend resources on ideas which have been discredited. I believe the ask is for academic institutions to avoid creating an atmosphere where ideas are abandoned before they can be evaluated because they run counter to the activist ideas promoted by the institution. EDIT: or an atmosphere where certain ideas are favored because they support the activist ideas promoted by the institution.
- pradn 3y agoMany academics lean left, but some of the biggest academic impacts on the real world came from conservatives. The Chicago-school economists were behind the Neoliberal turn -- directly causing the overthrow of Allende, the market shocks after the Cold War. And the NeoCon academics in foreign policy & history were behind interventionist wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere.
- birdofhermes 3y agoNot to mention the Federalist Society and their attack on constitutional law over the past twenty-some years.
- tastyfreeze 3y agoCan you give some examples of the Federalist Society attacking Constitutional law? That seems antithetical to their mission statement.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- sandworm101 3y ago>> progressive activists at many schools. That is the general idea of modern education: progress through study and research. We can of course go back to the old model: preservation through study and repetition. But I like modern technology. I also like modern ideas. I like to vote, and that other people are allowed to vote too. We should continue that progression.
- BitwiseFool 3y agoThe brilliance of naming an ideology "progressivism" is that it is forever associated with something people consider beneficial, progress.
- sandworm101 3y ago>> something people consider beneficial, progress. Lots of people don't want progress. Returning the country to a perceived previous state is a cornerstone of "make American great again". A large part of the country actively wants to undo progress and return to what they believe was a more simple and understandable world.
- newsclues 3y agoI want progress, I hate when people call regression progress.
- newsclues 3y agoIt’s a code word for communist which is a regressive ideology.