College Turmoil

[Josh]

t1,

Would it be possible for you to avoid clickbait style stories that simply provide confirmation bias for views you already hold?

Her sources may not be to your liking but the fact that Gay plagiarized extensively on her very small academic output has been pretty well established.

I don’t dispute this at all.

But what’s the reason for all this sudden surge of right wing clickbait? Why wasn’t it relevant two months ago?

[temporal1]

t1,
Would it be possible for you to avoid clickbait style stories that simply provide confirmation bias for views you already hold?

Her sources may not be to your liking but the fact that Gay plagiarized extensively on her very small academic output has been pretty well established.

I don’t dispute this at all.
But what’s the reason for all this sudden surge of right wing clickbait? Why wasn’t it relevant two months ago?

Josh,
i hoped my response to ken_s above would answer your question.
over time, there’s been lots of discussion about sources, there’s Signtist’s dedicated topic, Credible News Sources, 64 pages, viewtopic.php?t=95 - it usually surprises me when the question comes up.

i suppose most sources i look into, i first noticed on MD, now MN.
i prefer nice, clean format, no rough language. i don’t always get what i want.

In this case, tho, i searched for CAROL SWAIN regarding C Gay, these reports appeared, my biggest irritation being her name isn’t featured, even when she’s clearly the person referenced in the headline. i’m not a CAROL SWAIN officionado, i’ve enjoyed a few pieces connected with her over years. [i was searching for CAROL SWAIN, not any particular source.]

i believe we ALL would like to be able to auto-refer to the NYT, trusting their balanced reporting. [MAYBE ONE DAY.]

Robert often shares from not-mainstream sources. i appreciate it.
As things are, msm is known not to report in balance. i consider Fox mainstream. i avoid lots of sources. i don’t boycott them.
i don’t trust any as approaching The Word of God.

As for my “sudden surge,” i’m not sure what this means.

After Oct 7, with Ukraine continuing, China threatening, Iran, forum banter, etc., i became overwhelmed by the weight of it, i took a break from MN, didn’t read or post, i’m not sure for how long, i returned and tried to keep my posts to a minimum.

i’d been listening to some of Ben S’s OPINION videos, he’s obviously biased and opinionated, what i heard him saying pretty much aligns with my real life experience with Jews in the U.S.

i thought it would add to discussions.
Nothing more.

- - - - - - -

LIZ MAGILL - not fired.

Reuters / University of Pennsylvania president resigns after antisemitism testimony
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/univer ... 023-12-09/

.. She has agreed to stay on until an interim president is appointed, Scott Bok, chair of the Philadelphia-based university's board of trustees, said on Saturday in a statement posted on the university's website.
Bok also stepped down.

"I write to share that President Liz Magill has voluntarily tendered her resignation as President of the University of Pennsylvania,"
Bok said in the announcement released by the university.
Magill will remain a tenured faculty member at the university's law school,
Bok said. ..

i 100% support honorable decisions to step down, recuse oneself, etc.
It should happen more often, esp in positions of high leadership.

WJC formalized stubborn decisions to NEVER STEP DOWN, no matter how tasteless the dispute, no matter what is required to remain. i very much dislike what’s transpired in the culture following his “leadership” on this. Very poor results. Often ugly results.

i don’t know LM’s reasoning. i don’t need to know. i respect her decision to step down. She’s not harmed.

[RZehr]

Personally I'm tired of hearing about the Ivy League and their silliness and the outsize influence they have on this nation's discourse. For example, the University of Texas educates more students than the entire Ivy League combined.

I find this fascinating. What are the numbers?

[Ken]

Personally I'm tired of hearing about the Ivy League and their silliness and the outsize influence they have on this nation's discourse. For example, the University of Texas educates more students than the entire Ivy League combined.

I find this fascinating. What are the numbers?

Based on the current published numbers (which probably change on a daily basis as students come and go), the UT system is more than double the size of the entire Ivy League:

The University of Texas system enrolls over 255,000 students spread across 9 campuses, the largest of which are UT-Austin, UT-Arlington, UT-El Paso, and UT-San Antonio. https://www.utsystem.edu/about

The 8 Ivy League schools combined enroll a total of 125,819 students - 49,031 undergraduate and 76,788 graduate students. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League

In fact, in your own home state, UO and OSU enroll a combined 48,473 undergrads which is only a few hundred shy of the combined undergraduate enrollment of the entire Ivy League.

When was the last time the national press was in a tizzy about something undergrad student did at say UT-San Antonio or UT-Arlington which are both larger than every single Ivy League school?

[barnhart]

Philip Rieff’s My Life Among the Deathworks. Near the end he recalls that his grandfather did not want to be buried in America, where he lived, but in Israel, where he had grown up. His reason was that “he thought Hitler had won in some way” in the West, and he did not want his grave there. It is a haunting comment. Rieff explains it by arguing that the West is susceptible to “decreation,” a Nazi-like cultural impulse to throw off all external authority and plunge civilization into an orgy of self-destruction. - Carl Trueman, First Things

This activates my thinking. HK, do you think as did Mr. Rieff, that Israel was/is prevented under some mechanism from falling into the trap of human desecration or conversely that the flaw within the US society is so deep that it will inevitably or irrevocably follow that path.

[HondurasKeiser]

Philip Rieff’s My Life Among the Deathworks. Near the end he recalls that his grandfather did not want to be buried in America, where he lived, but in Israel, where he had grown up. His reason was that “he thought Hitler had won in some way” in the West, and he did not want his grave there. It is a haunting comment. Rieff explains it by arguing that the West is susceptible to “decreation,” a Nazi-like cultural impulse to throw off all external authority and plunge civilization into an orgy of self-destruction. - Carl Trueman, First Things

This activates my thinking. HK, do you think as did Mr. Rieff, that Israel was/is prevented under some mechanism from falling into the trap of human desecration or conversely that the flaw within the US society is so deep that it will inevitably or irrevocably follow that path.

I’m not sure I know enough about an Israel to proffer a cogent response. I read and listen to a number of Jewish commentators that have, in the past few months, made the point that Israel, for all of its flaws and divisions, is a highly cohesive, trusting and “happy” society. They also point out that Israelis feel a deep sense of purpose in their existence as a country. Something that seems to be missing in the American psyche. I’m not sure that these things alone are enough to counteract the spirit of “desecration” inherent in the Western-Liberal mind but it does seem to me that the U.S., a country that is Liberal par excelence, is much further down the road of desecration/de-creation than many others.

[mike]

Now a Harvard donor who made the largest donation in its history is suspending donations over complaints about its president's perceived lack of condemnation of antisemitism as well as some possible issues with plagiarism.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ckout=true

Of course, as we all know, this really means nothing, as Harvard is still richest in US with $51 billion endowment.

[Ken]

Now a Harvard donor who made the largest donation in its history is suspending donations over complaints about its president's perceived lack of condemnation of antisemitism as well as some possible issues with plagiarism.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ckout=true

Of course, as we all know, this really means nothing, as Harvard is still richest in US with $51 billion endowment.

It doesn't mean "nothing"

But if they give their money instead to some other more worthy cause then something good will have come of it.

[mike]

Now a Harvard donor who made the largest donation in its history is suspending donations over complaints about its president's perceived lack of condemnation of antisemitism as well as some possible issues with plagiarism.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ckout=true

Of course, as we all know, this really means nothing, as Harvard is still richest in US with $51 billion endowment.

It doesn't mean "nothing"

But if they give their money instead to some other more worthy cause then something good will have come of it.

I was just kidding you a little. I agree with that.

[Ken]

Now a Harvard donor who made the largest donation in its history is suspending donations over complaints about its president's perceived lack of condemnation of antisemitism as well as some possible issues with plagiarism.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ckout=true

Of course, as we all know, this really means nothing, as Harvard is still richest in US with $51 billion endowment.

It doesn't mean "nothing"

But if they give their money instead to some other more worthy cause then something good will have come of it.

I was just kidding you a little. I agree with that.

Honestly, institutions who let themselves be manipulated by donors get what they deserve. Whether it is Harvard, Sattler University, or some religious charity.

Who is Harvard in the business to serve? Fickle billionaire donors or the next generation of students and future leaders?