Republicans have been attacking elite universities for years. After a tense congressional hearing last week, many on the left are joining them.

Republicans have been attacking elite universities for years. After a tense congressional hearing last week, many on the left are joining them.

For years, conservatives have struggled to persuade American voters that the left-wing tilt of higher education is not only wrong but dangerous. Universities and their students, they’ve argued, have been increasingly clenched by suffocating ideologies — political correctness in one decade, overweening “social justice” in another, “woke-ism” most recently — that shouldn’t be dismissed as academic fads or harmless zeal.

The validation they have sought seemed to finally arrive this fall, as campuses convulsed with protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and hostile, sometimes violent, rhetoric toward Jews. It came to a head last week on Capitol Hill, as the presidents of three elite universities struggled to answer a question about whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate school rules, and Republicans asserted that outbreaks of campus antisemitism were a symptom of the radical ideas they had long warned about. On Saturday, amid the fallout, one of those presidents, M. Elizabeth Magill of the University of Pennsylvania, resigned.

  • TheFriar@lemm.ee
    174·
    1 year ago

    I think his entire article misses the point. NYT is so goddamn focused on their “conservatives SLAM liberals” or “republicans CAUGHT RED HANDED” framing that they can’t see the forest for the trees.

    This isn’t a matter of “liberals” harboring antisemitic feelings. And it’s definitely at least six layers deeper than “republicans score points as liberals FLOUNDER.” Like…this is the only way these people can conceive of the world? I don’t know how to explain what I’m feeling—I mean, I guess I do. It’s a fucking farce. Zero critical thinking skills whatsoever. And all these writers went to fucking Harvard and Yale, I guarantee it.

    Anyway, my point is, the real issue here is that no one can conceive of nuance anymore. People who typically fall under the “liberal” label are fully aware of racism, antisemitism, etc. In fact, the white liberal LOVES to accuse people of it—because it bolsters their liberal bonafides (or at least scores them internet points). They are fully aware of long-running antisemitism and systemic racism showing itself as subtle social cues. They know it. They’re not unaware of what it looks like.

    The disconnect is happening because the same social media ecosystem in which they score those “I’m more aware than you” points is also giving them points in the “pro-Palestine minigame.” Their feelings are commodified—in engagement, in views, in likes…being personally affected by the news is like gold stars and everyone is so goddamn busy trying to make the global situation about them. So if you can show just how angry you are, people will see that you care, and the further you take that to further display your anger, the more it shows.

    We’ve lost our ability to operate in any gray area—or to even conceive of a gray area. It’s black or white, no questions, no straying from the pack. Peoples opinions are streamlined now. It’s all served up to us on a platter in the most digestible form possible, and then regurgitated down the line so that our opinions on “Our Side” all match. That doesn’t leave any room for critical thinking, and it sure as shit doesn’t leave room for “well, let me just say, I don’t think we should really say _____.” As soon as you question anyone on your established “side,” the groupthink jumps into action to label you whatever the most egregious opposite of a perfect liberal/conservative is. Because you’re a traitor. We’ve established an order here and it leaves no room for drawing logical conclusions on your own. From there it’s a short hop to “kill all Jews.” Because we weren’t questioning the thinking anyway. So why question the calls for genocide? It’s all legitimately unhinged and tragic to see all these people lost to this sort of…idiocy. I’ve tried pointing this out to people who otherwise wouldn’t be harboring super extreme thoughts. But they just can’t see it. Or won’t admit to seeing it. And I’m not sure which is worse.

    That’s the much, much larger and deeper problem here. And it’s going to doom us all.