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The latest manifestation of the conservative targetting of academia is the Professor Watchlist, created by the "activist organization" Turning Point USA, founded by rising star Charlie Kirk. It's stated purpose is to "watch" professors "who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom"
Of course, this is not new. David Horowitz has written a book called The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America . HeterodoxAcademy.org has rational articles discussing the liberal slant to modern college campuses. Nicholas Kristoff writes an interesting piece on the same topic. However, with the election of President Trump, the stakes may have been raised. A professor in California has gone incognitio after criticizing Trump in the classroom and receiving death threats.
But more important is how the attempt to blacklist liberal academics has actually backfired. George Yancy [not the George Yancey from the Kristoff piece above] published a response, "I Am a Dangerous Professor" in the New York Times, and since then it seems to have become de rigueur for all academics to get their name on the Professor Watchlist in order to cement their tenure. An entire hashtag on Twitter has taken form: #trollprofwatchlist! People have taken to mocking the list by suggesting candidates such as Thomas Jefferson, Gandhi, and Jesus, not to mention Socrates, who obviously belongs.
Charlie Kirk may not be dangerous, but he did start this list. I am watching him now.
[Editor note - This story was substantially rewritten for balance. As always, the original submission is available at the link below.]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Tuesday December 20 2016, @02:12PM
So I trust you won't complain when the inevitable anti-anti-left backlash commences?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 20 2016, @02:34PM
Context matters. I (not same AC) would not complain if the backlash consists of a moderate response in which people who object to this list explain why and how the concerns outlined are not truthful or the reaction is not reasonable.
However, both me and you know that the response will be is to liberally (no pun intended) mis-interpret all of their actions as racist/sexist/homophobe/whatever based on the most contrived "evidence", while dissmissing their points without addressing them.
Not all protests are equal.
(Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Tuesday December 20 2016, @02:59PM
But what about the big, swinging pendulum?
(Score: 5, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday December 20 2016, @03:19PM
It's not swinging freely. I put drawers on because it's Balls Cold outside today.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 20 2016, @04:08PM
However, both me and you know that the response will be is to liberally (no pun intended) mis-interpret all of their actions as racist/sexist/homophobe/whatever based on the most contrived "evidence", while dissmissing their points without addressing them.
So basically you require that "the left" to go high in response to "the right" going low.
Funny, I don't see your argument as a condemnation of "the left," at all.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 20 2016, @04:12PM
This is a natural and one of the few good parts of American society. A minority of one side or the other of the political spectrum goes full on bat-shit psycho radical, meets a backlash and we end up in a nice "real" medium.
Before the SJW insanity conservatives had dibs on being the morality police under the auspices of the "Moral Majority." Ironically they and the SJW types use the exact same sort of emotional catch as well. When anybody challenged the Moral Majority they called into question their character. Instead of calling them a racist or sexist or whatever else, they'd call them a pervert or a deviant. Critique the extremes of SJW land and you get called a sexist, racist, or various other ad hominem slurs that really have nothing to do with what's being discussed - but are used to conveniently dismiss otherwise valid issues.
Most people who think they're the moral crusaders of today just don't have the life experience to recall the Moral Majority and so the cycle repeats itself. Much as the conservatives who will become the new force in America won't have the life experience to recall the Moral Majority and avoid falling into the same extremes they did, nor will the far left liberals who will eventually replace this new conservative group remember the SJWs, and so on. It's just a vicious cycle of ignorance because nobody learns from what's happened before time and time again.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday December 20 2016, @05:03PM
+50 insightful
Yes, that so-called "moral majority" were some real sons-of-bitches. I hated them just as passionately as I hate today's SJW's. And, again, we see that today's left authoritarians are simply a remake of yesterday's right authoritarians. The message is exactly the same: FEAR MUh AUTHORITY!!! SUBMIT!!! If either the lefts or the rights ever really took control of this country, we would be indistinguishable from Islam. Maybe a few cosmetic differences, but it would authoritarianism, all the same.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Tuesday December 20 2016, @05:21PM
If either the lefts or the rights ever really took control of this country/quote.
Phew, good thing there's no chance of that happening any time soon, eh?
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Wednesday December 21 2016, @04:14AM
I said this before here only and I will say it again - we need to divorce the words "liberal" and "left", and marry the words "conservative" and "power". Whoever is in power is conservative and gets the right to question other people's character, intention and to pass judgement without needing to provide a proof. Whoever wants to have more wiggle room is liberal. Left is the true conservative here and what we are seeing is that huge pendulum swing just starting to happen.