Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by on Tuesday December 20 2016, @01:36PM   Printer-friendly
from the foolproof-like-all-other-watchlists dept.

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.]

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 20 2016, @02:25PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 20 2016, @02:25PM (#443788)

    Actually, you sometimes do get your "ranty goodness" up on the front page. And it doesn't get edited much, if at all. Imagine that!

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   +1  
       Touché=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Touché' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   1  
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday December 20 2016, @02:34PM

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Tuesday December 20 2016, @02:34PM (#443797) Homepage Journal

    Actually, you sometimes do get your "ranty goodness" up on the front page. And it doesn't get edited much, if at all. Imagine that!

    I dunno what site you've been reading but I almost never get more than one or two sentences dedicated to my own views. If the story gets accepted at all.

    Fact check that if you like, I'll wait...

    Now apologize to the community for lying to them.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 20 2016, @04:49PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 20 2016, @04:49PM (#443873)

      A sentence or two. I bet I can find some TMB articles that are paragraphs of rantiness. We could even compare the original submissions to the posted one and count the differences. Smart money says there aren't many.

      I am at work, if you want me to and if you promise to apologize yourself if I can prove that your articles fairly sail through approval compared to this one then I will look when I get home. I of course will post the results either way, and apologize if I am wrong.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday December 20 2016, @06:13PM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday December 20 2016, @06:13PM (#443943) Journal

        I of course will post the results either way, and apologize if I am wrong.

        The obvious rebuttal is that this isn't much of a wager for an anonymous coward. You're attempting to stake your reputation on your claim. But being an AC (or at least the usual kind without any sort of identifying characteristic), you don't have a reputation to win or lose.

        • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday December 20 2016, @07:04PM

          by aristarchus (2645) on Tuesday December 20 2016, @07:04PM (#443974) Journal

          The obvious rebuttal is that this isn't much of a wager for an anonymous coward.

          Khallow!!! Do you expect us to start drinking this early in the morning?

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 20 2016, @07:25PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 20 2016, @07:25PM (#443991)

            The obvious rebuttal is "YES... YES!" Drink up like everyone else.

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday December 20 2016, @07:41PM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday December 20 2016, @07:41PM (#443998) Journal

            Do you expect us to start drinking this early in the morning?

            If you're going to ride the khallow booze train, you'll need to get your alcoholism on. I would have thought that was obvious by now.

            • (Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Tuesday December 20 2016, @08:37PM

              by aristarchus (2645) on Tuesday December 20 2016, @08:37PM (#444027) Journal

              Do you expect us to start drinking this early in the morning?

              If you're going to ride the khallow booze train, you'll need to get your alcoholism on. I would have thought that was an obvious rebuttal by now.

              FTFY

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 20 2016, @10:55PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 20 2016, @10:55PM (#444098)

          Ahh yes, attack me because I am at work and don't log into social media at work. You stay classy khallow.

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday December 21 2016, @09:07AM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday December 21 2016, @09:07AM (#444265) Journal

            Ahh yes, attack me because I am at work and don't log into social media at work.

            Then just tell us that you'll give a name when you're not at work. Assuming generously, that you planned anything of the sort.

      • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday December 20 2016, @08:32PM

        by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Tuesday December 20 2016, @08:32PM (#444021) Homepage Journal

        A sentence or two. I bet I can find some TMB articles that are paragraphs of rantiness.

        I don't gamble but that's not a gamble. I know for certain that you'll find no such thing.

        As for minor to no differences, that's precisely what you'll find on my accepted stories. I don't like my posts being heavily edited, so I stick to a formula that the eds mostly just pass through. It goes like this:

        Someone from somewhere brings us this adjective noun:
        Some paragraphs of quoted article.
        One (almost always) to three (rarely if ever) sentences of my personal views and/or snark.

        The only exceptions are the site update posts and those have nothing argumentative in them.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 20 2016, @10:57PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 20 2016, @10:57PM (#444102)

          The problem though is your articles tend to be nothing but rantiness. I don't care if someone else said it first, if you submit BS you own it, even if its in quote brackets.

        • (Score: 1) by charon on Tuesday December 20 2016, @11:09PM

          by charon (5660) on Tuesday December 20 2016, @11:09PM (#444108) Journal
          This is true. It's an easy format to follow, and easy for us editors to source check. TMB is well behaved when submitting. In IRC, on the other hand...