Belvedere: “…scholarly pursuits shouldn’t be inhibited by the government.” Young: “Right”…government shouldn’t…”come in and put its thumb on the scale.” Clearly, the Biden administration did just that with EO 13985 and Equity Action Plans across many federal agencies, including the Department of Education. The Biden DOE OCR sent their own Dear Colleague letters with explicit policy guidance and investigated complaints & worked with institutions to resolve complaints. Don’t like what the Trump administration is doing but the previous administration, as well as the Obama administration, had their thumb on the scale as well.
Somewhere between inequality and iniquity, we get the tendentious (and pejorative) notion of "inequity" -- as if it's self-evident (and indisputable) that all outcomes (among arbitrarily-defined groups) must be the same. Furthermore, the ILLIBERAL leftist will periodically interject, "Right?," while steamrollering along with such rhetoric -- excluding (or relegating to disruption) any attempt to say, "No, that's NOT right!"
As "No black America, no white America" (which many voters took at face value) morphed into a focus on "Black lives" (rather than merely on police brutality), those voters began to detect the more-than-faint whiff of a bait-and-switch.
There was no statewide "bathroom bill" in North Carolina until the City of Charlotte took it upon itself to declare "gender identity" a sacrosanct (legally protected) human attribute, explicitly elevating it above biological sex. Soon enough, those aforementioned voters were being branded with un-chosen and unwanted identities like "Latinx" and (even among gay people) as "cis" -- in a world of "female" penises and pregnant "men."
Time after time, we've seen a shift from a liberal recognition of "self-determination" as an individual right (of personal freedom and "live and let live" -- each of us at a unique intersection of identities) -- to a "progressive" politics bent on redressing the purported grievances of "historically marginalized" groups.
This is a repeating pattern -- and it needs to stop! Reognizing the need for (and the importance of) such a "reckoning" in no way excuses -- and is ultimately crucial to undermining and disabling -- the truly anti-democratic predations and bald-faced lies of a Donald Trump.
For me, this was a worthwhile intro to a push for expanding ideas we can consider in universities and beyond. I am not Jewish, but Google AI tells me that "Jewish individuals constitute approximately 0.2% of the world's population. However, they account for roughly 22% of all Nobel laureates between 1901 and 2023, according to Wikipedia. " I imagine this is controversial. I know we must say "environment", not "genetics".
I'm sorry, but I do not understand your point. (My initial feeling is that there are many things that would seem to be beyond the control of the individual.)
That depends on what one means by "the control of the individual." I grew up in a (Jewish) household that placed a high value on learning. Is that "environment" or "heredity" (or a composite of both)? In the end, it was still up to me (i.e., a matter of defining myself as an individual) to determine whether or not I loved to read, or to do math (or for that matter, whether I did my homework).
FWIW, I basically agree with your initial comment :-)
I see it as both environment and heredity. Yes. The agency part- We do like to feel like we have agency- choices. I'm going to say that is above my pay grade. Thanks for the discussion. :)
Belvedere: “…scholarly pursuits shouldn’t be inhibited by the government.” Young: “Right”…government shouldn’t…”come in and put its thumb on the scale.” Clearly, the Biden administration did just that with EO 13985 and Equity Action Plans across many federal agencies, including the Department of Education. The Biden DOE OCR sent their own Dear Colleague letters with explicit policy guidance and investigated complaints & worked with institutions to resolve complaints. Don’t like what the Trump administration is doing but the previous administration, as well as the Obama administration, had their thumb on the scale as well.
Yes, and that was bad. But Trump doesn't merely have his thumb on the scale. He has his boot on the neck of universitie.
I'm with Cathy Young on this -- and then some.
Somewhere between inequality and iniquity, we get the tendentious (and pejorative) notion of "inequity" -- as if it's self-evident (and indisputable) that all outcomes (among arbitrarily-defined groups) must be the same. Furthermore, the ILLIBERAL leftist will periodically interject, "Right?," while steamrollering along with such rhetoric -- excluding (or relegating to disruption) any attempt to say, "No, that's NOT right!"
As "No black America, no white America" (which many voters took at face value) morphed into a focus on "Black lives" (rather than merely on police brutality), those voters began to detect the more-than-faint whiff of a bait-and-switch.
There was no statewide "bathroom bill" in North Carolina until the City of Charlotte took it upon itself to declare "gender identity" a sacrosanct (legally protected) human attribute, explicitly elevating it above biological sex. Soon enough, those aforementioned voters were being branded with un-chosen and unwanted identities like "Latinx" and (even among gay people) as "cis" -- in a world of "female" penises and pregnant "men."
Time after time, we've seen a shift from a liberal recognition of "self-determination" as an individual right (of personal freedom and "live and let live" -- each of us at a unique intersection of identities) -- to a "progressive" politics bent on redressing the purported grievances of "historically marginalized" groups.
This is a repeating pattern -- and it needs to stop! Reognizing the need for (and the importance of) such a "reckoning" in no way excuses -- and is ultimately crucial to undermining and disabling -- the truly anti-democratic predations and bald-faced lies of a Donald Trump.
Have you read ANYTHING I’ve written over the last 10 years on intellectual diversity & the need for university reform?
Walk & chew gum? Seriously?
Seems it's about equivalence. One is annoying the other is seriously dangerous to democracy
They've both operated symbiotically (each feeding on the other) to undermine democracy.
For me, this was a worthwhile intro to a push for expanding ideas we can consider in universities and beyond. I am not Jewish, but Google AI tells me that "Jewish individuals constitute approximately 0.2% of the world's population. However, they account for roughly 22% of all Nobel laureates between 1901 and 2023, according to Wikipedia. " I imagine this is controversial. I know we must say "environment", not "genetics".
It doesn't really matter whether we say "environment" or "genetics" -- as long as we recognize that on the end, it's a matter of agency.
I'm sorry, but I do not understand your point. (My initial feeling is that there are many things that would seem to be beyond the control of the individual.)
That depends on what one means by "the control of the individual." I grew up in a (Jewish) household that placed a high value on learning. Is that "environment" or "heredity" (or a composite of both)? In the end, it was still up to me (i.e., a matter of defining myself as an individual) to determine whether or not I loved to read, or to do math (or for that matter, whether I did my homework).
FWIW, I basically agree with your initial comment :-)
I see it as both environment and heredity. Yes. The agency part- We do like to feel like we have agency- choices. I'm going to say that is above my pay grade. Thanks for the discussion. :)
Jonathan Haidt is a megalomaniacal authoritarian POS so he could care less.