Friday, November 27, 2015

The Regressive Left’s Brave New World of Education

I hope the “safe spacers” can take a joke.

Sadly, it’s not funny when parts of the left actually think like this, and think their feelings are more important than facts or free speech.


17 comments:

  1. Can we agree
    1 cultural appropriation is the ugliest and most dangerous idea currently in vogue
    2 it is a left wing idea, taught and embraced only on the left, and widely on the left
    3 it is actually fundamentally a racial idea that conflates culture and race/ethnicity. "Culture" is effectively used by its peddlers as a synonym for race.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I disagree that it is "embraced" "widely on the left." Outside the US, I think you'll find it is a minority of vocal radicals, like most of the extreme PoMo leftism and extreme SJWs.

    What's more I have little doubt that your poor regular Joe -- who votes for the mainstream left because he knows, economically speaking, it is the lesser of two evils -- couldn't care less about this B.S. and when he hears it he groans in horror.

    But otherwise, what you say is true, yes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And, actually, no, I do not think "cultural appropriation is the ugliest and most dangerous idea currently in vogue". Get a grip.

      There are far worse ideas. Extreme austerity is worse. Reflexive support for the EU in Europe, anyway, is far worse. That certain brand of extreme violent religious fundamentalism raging in many parts of the world. Far worse.

      Delete
    2. I meant of the recent crop of bad ideas fashionable on campus. We are returning to the idea of the octoroon.

      Of course it is widely embraced on the left. Look at how many college presidents etc immediately knuckle under. This is evidence that they will receive little support from their community if they resist. You want to count Joe Average who votes for a left center party as part of the left, but I don't think that is right. He's not a self conscious leftist, just a consumer of political rhetoric.

      Delete
    3. If your comments are restricted to universities, they are more reasonable.

      "You want to count Joe Average who votes for a left center party as part of the left, but I don't think that is right. He's not a self conscious leftist, just a consumer of political rhetoric. "

      I disagree. Many people's political sympathies run deeper than just some consumption "of political rhetoric".

      Delete
    4. Even in the US it's a vocal minority on the left, though they seem to have more presence here than elsewhere, which is odd considering we're generally thought to be to the right of other countries.

      I go to college here in California where some of the "rot" (as Chomsky would call it) has set in among the students and there's two things I've found interesting among the extreme identity politics/PM people.

      1)Their utter indifference to economic issues. I've met some of these people who are extreme on social issues but oppose "free" college because they don't even understand that it's publicly funded college, not literally "free" college, and they think the college would have to shut down because the government would force them to provide services for free (no really). This makes me suspect hardcore identity politics is a way for upper-middle class kids to feel like they're helping without actually sacrificing anything (like paying extra taxes) or spending time to understand anything with even the slightest complexity.
      2) They even hate each other and others who aren't as out there as they are. I've seriously heard people rambling about "white feminists" because they thought said white feminists were racist(?). So even having mainstream feminist/socially progressive beliefs can be turned against you. This gives me hope that they'll implode soon due to an inability to reach out even to people who otherwise might be semi-sympathetic.

      Delete
    5. Yes, the degree of hate and loathing that these people have is unbelievable. They hate white males. They hate "dead white male" science.. The list never ends.

      Let's hope their movement implodes soon.

      Delete
    6. I'd have to agree with Will. They seem to be somewhat more vocal on websites like YouTube though, but even there, their communities are vastly quite small and cultish and their YouTube channels rarely ever exceed over 2000 subscribers. I've tried to press several of these people on economics and they either don't answer the question much at all or have a little bit of an understanding of what neoliberalism is, but without any of the knowledge of post-Keynesian economics or anything like that but mostly identify as socialists or even Marxists in a few cases I've come across. One of them who supports Bernie Sanders and lives in the UK tried to defend the EU and justifying it by claiming that it's prevented many countries there from going to war with each other. He's vehemently against UKIP and thinks that they are really extremist racists and far right wingers. That's the other thing I've seen them make accusations about all the time. It's a very strange echo chamber that they have set up for themselves.

      In my own college experience, I can remember a little bit of this kind of thinking here and there in the more general classes I took, especially the sociology class I remember taking.

      Delete
    7. This is not as new as you guys think. This stuff started at least as far back as the 80s. In grad school I took a year off to teach in rural Georgia. To my immense surprise I found rural Georgians more open minded and willing to tolerate disagreement than the left wing students at my Canadian university. It's worse now but I wouldn't hold my breath awaiting the implosion. It will require external correction.

      Delete
  3. this video was too dumb... had to stop watching.

    ReplyDelete
  4. if anything this video only demonstrates how increasingly mentally ill and disconnected from reality parts of the right have become.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sadly for your reflexive belief that a conservative/right-winger made this, Philippe, the reality is that it was NOT made by a self- identifying-conservative.

      Neel Kolhatkar, the man wrote and directed it, has made it clear that he is by "no means a conservative":

      http://www.konbini.com/en/lifestyle/neel-kolhatkar-mocks-equality/

      Sorry to burst your bubble and safe space.

      Delete
    2. Also, it is hilarious how you think that a satire and attempt at humour on our extreme and laughable PC culture is "mentally ill." No, Philippe, if there anything like mental illness here it is the mentality of bizarre spoilt brats who need "safe spaces" and can't tolerate different opinions, and who think modern science "oppresses" them.

      Delete
    3. I bet you thought that about 1984.

      Delete
  5. Right wing doesn't necessarily mean 'conservative'. A lot of right-wingers don't refer to themselves as conservatives and instead use misnomers like 'libertarian'. These types are usually obsessed with feminists and 'men's rights', and have a pathological hatred of 'social justice warriors' who they caricature in absurd ways, as in this video. These people spend their lives in a parallel universe of right-wing misinformation and as a result are often mentally ill, see for example people like major freedom and Bob Roddis as extreme exmples of this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You might be the first person to confuse LK with Bob Roddis.

      Delete
  6. LK, what do think of Adolph Reed's claim that identity politics serves neoliberalism? http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/06/15/jenner-dolezal-one-trans-good-other-not-so-much

    ReplyDelete