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posted by CoolHand on Monday August 29 2016, @01:42AM   Printer-friendly
from the it-takes-all-kinds dept.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/opinion/sunday/a-confession-of-liberal-intolerance.html?_r=0

WE progressives believe in diversity, and we want women, blacks, Latinos, gays and Muslims at the table — er, so long as they aren't conservatives. Universities are the bedrock of progressive values, but the one kind of diversity that universities disregard is ideological and religious. We're fine with people who don't look like us, as long as they think like us.

O.K., that's a little harsh. But consider George Yancey, a sociologist who is black and evangelical. "Outside of academia I faced more problems as a black," he told me. "But inside academia I face more problems as a Christian, and it is not even close."

I've been thinking about this because on Facebook recently I wondered aloud whether universities stigmatize conservatives and undermine intellectual diversity. The scornful reaction from my fellow liberals proved the point.

"Much of the 'conservative' worldview consists of ideas that are known empirically to be false," said Carmi. "The truth has a liberal slant," wrote Michelle. "Why stop there?" asked Steven. "How about we make faculties more diverse by hiring idiots?"

To me, the conversation illuminated primarily liberal arrogance — the implication that conservatives don't have anything significant to add to the discussion. My Facebook followers have incredible compassion for war victims in South Sudan, for kids who have been trafficked, even for abused chickens, but no obvious empathy for conservative scholars facing discrimination.

The stakes involve not just fairness to conservatives or evangelical Christians, not just whether progressives will be true to their own values, not just the benefits that come from diversity (and diversity of thought is arguably among the most important kinds), but also the quality of education itself. When perspectives are unrepresented in discussions, when some kinds of thinkers aren't at the table, classrooms become echo chambers rather than sounding boards — and we all lose.


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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by ilPapa on Monday August 29 2016, @02:51AM

    by ilPapa (2366) on Monday August 29 2016, @02:51AM (#394411) Journal

    All this divisive PC bullshit, Black Lives Matter, etc are very deliberate efforts to keep the people divided

    The guy running the campaign of Donald Trump said he doesn't want his kids to go to school with Jews, but it's "PC bullshit" that's keeping people divided.

    You're a silly SOB.

    --
    You are still welcome on my lawn.
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  • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday August 29 2016, @03:01AM

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Monday August 29 2016, @03:01AM (#394415) Homepage

    As a kid I went to school with Jews, and I strongly encourage all gentiles to let their kids go to school with Jews, just so they can see how annoying Jewish kids are.

    It's a good life-lesson because Jews don't stop being annoying when they grow up. In fact, they get much worse.

    " Y-you're contradicting yourself and being divisive! "

    Possibly. But that's because in my 3+ decades of life I've never encountered a Jew who wasn't also an asshole. Muslims too. I can't say the same for every other category of individual. You can hate me for being divisive against 2 classes of people, while Facebook (run by a Jew) is classifying people into over thirty genders.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @03:29AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @03:29AM (#394432)

      Yeah, they know what they're doing, and we're letting them do it.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Ramze on Monday August 29 2016, @05:32AM

      by Ramze (6029) on Monday August 29 2016, @05:32AM (#394481)

      Ever thought the common denominator was yourself? Perhaps you're an asshole, and that's why people who you act like an asshole towards are reacting badly towards you? Seems like the most likely possibility rather than "everyone that believes in these two religions and/or is descended from people indigenous to a certain region of the planet are assholes." We're talking about billions of people here. Only 16 Million Jews worldwide, but about 1.6 Billion Muslims on the earth. I gotta say, just the odds alone that ALL 1.6 Billion or so are assholes is infinitesimal compared to the odds that perhaps it's just you that's the asshole.

      My own anecdotal evidence is quite the opposite of your experience. Granted, I've only known a handful of Muslims (that I know of -- many are Black Muslims who choose to hide their religion for fear of being ostracized,) but all the Jews I've met have been among the kindest, most thoughtful, and well-rounded individuals I've ever known. In fact, I'm travelling with one of my favorite friends (who happens to be Jewish) to a huge convention this coming weekend (along with several other friends), and we're going to have a hell of a lot of fun. He's even covering for another friend who can't afford to pay his share of the expenses up-front and will let the guy pay him back over time b/c he's good for it... and no, he's not charging interest. lol.

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @05:33AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @05:33AM (#394482)

      > You can hate me for being divisive against 2 classes of people, while Facebook (run by a Jew) is classifying people into over thirty genders.

      Yeah, you are actually being inclusive.
      You combine over thirty different kinds of asshole into one person.

      • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @07:18AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @07:18AM (#394511)

        Liberals thought they could replace Christianity with a kind of ersatz charity without God. The bit they forgot about is real Christian society doesn't put up with bullshit like rapist muslim men or usurers/banksters etc. But Liberals roll over for everything because they are ideologically loose like a two bit whore. So now the experiment has failed, time for all you liberals to find some real substance or go home.

        • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday August 29 2016, @05:53PM

          by DeathMonkey (1380) on Monday August 29 2016, @05:53PM (#394849) Journal

          Christian society doesn't put up with bullshit like rapist muslim men
           
          Yeah, if the keyword is Muslim. Rapist Christian Men get moved to a different Parish.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @01:38PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @01:38PM (#394658)

        > You combine over thirty different kinds of asshole into one person.

        Are we discussing "The Donald" now?

  • (Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Monday August 29 2016, @03:01AM

    by dyingtolive (952) on Monday August 29 2016, @03:01AM (#394416)

    Which is crazy to me. If it's good enough for the Jewish, it's good enough for me. Shit. I wish I could have gone to such a school growing up.

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
    • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @04:25AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @04:25AM (#394455)

      Everyone knows it's the black schools you didn't want to go to. You know, the middle schools with the resource officers and metal detectors.