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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.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @08:11AM
> I am not stupid enough to join fellow leftists in their idiotic love affair with Islam.
Just stupid enough to join fellow bigots in their idiotic crusade against muslims.
Like runaway, you are an ISIS collaborator. Helping to spread their message that there is no place in the west for muslims.
When in fact the strongest foes of ISIS and "radical islam" are the billion+ muslims who aren't assholes.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday August 29 2016, @08:15AM
Oh fuck off. Islam is toxic as hell and anyone who's ever read the Koran can tell you that. The only way we're gonna beat it is slow cultural assimilation, which we CANNOT do by letting idiots launch all-out offensives against the Muslim world. Not to mention, a good chunk of our Christians are basically Taliban with Bibles.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @08:45AM
> Oh fuck off. Islam is toxic as hell and anyone who's ever read the Koran can tell you that.
When are you going to read the quran? I don't mean verses hand-picked without context by people deliberately selling hate. I mean actually read the whole book, or at least entire passages with the aid of context from academics with an interest in describing how it is applied by regular muslims?
> Not to mention, a good chunk of our Christians are basically Taliban with Bibles.
An overwhelming small minority. The worst of them live in the same conditions as the worst of muslims. For example, are you aware that female genital mutilation is a social practice bounded by geography, not religion [politifact.com] as is commonly asserted?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @02:36PM
The Quran, placed in chronological order, describes the transition of Mohummad from a troubled nobody, to leader of a failed peaceful religion, to a wildly successful bandit-warrior. Chronology is critical due to the Quran's own "satanic verses" that outline the concept of abrogation: the old is replaced by the new. The peaceful aspects of Islam have been abrogated by the newer conquer-the-world warlike Islam.
Embedded concepts in the "cannot-be-wrong" Quran make reasoning with Islamic advocates impossible due to the existence of "moral lying" termed taqiyya.
Those interested in further analysis would be well-served to read the book Prophet of Doom [prophetofdoom.net], freely available in PDF format (and sadly lacking its former accessibility of HTML, audiobook, and dead-tree formats).
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday August 29 2016, @02:54PM
I probably read the Quran before you were born. I took that little task on when I was in the Navy. I was running low on reading material, stumbled across an interesting looking book, and picked it up.
EVERYTHING that people fault the Bible for, is repeated in the Quran, and multiplied a thousand fold.
For all of it's excesses, Chriatianity was founded by a peaceful man. Islam was founded at the point of a sword. Anyone who doesn't understand that Islam's purpose is to conquer the world is just plain stupid. For all her faults, Azuma at least understands that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @04:34PM
I probably read the Quran before you were born. I took that little task on when I was in the Navy. I was running low on reading material, stumbled across an interesting looking book, and picked it up.
Oh puhlease, nobody believes that bullshit. You may have thumbed through a copy, but every post you make about islam proves that your understanding of the quran is nothing more than crap you got from dedicated islamofoes. Half the time you post a URL on the topic its from a hate site. If you had a serious interest in understanding rather than scapegoating your sources would be a lot more neutral.
For all of it's excesses, Chriatianity was founded by a peaceful man. Islam was founded at the point of a sword.
Really? So, if that is the end all and be all determinant, the fact that Moe and his buddies were chased out of Mecca (the hegira) [historyworld.net] at the point of a sword after a failed plot to assassinate him ought to count for the same. The hegira is the official start of Islam. But that doesn't count, does it? How about his return to Mecca which is negotiated through diplomacy? Nope that doesn't count either.
Your hypocrisy is especially ripe given how frequently you promote violence in the name of christian superiority.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Monday August 29 2016, @05:47PM
Moe was a warrior, a pedophile, a necrophile, a murderer, a rapist, and so much more. I've not discovered any redeeming virtues.
I've read a bit about the Hindu faith, Native American spirituality, Wicca, Paganism, and more. Compared to any of those, Islam is a death cult.
I repeat - everything that is wrong with the Christian patriarchy is multiplied a thousand fold in Islam.
Thanks to that pedophile pig, you can find "learned" imams in Islam proclaiming that it is perfectly alright for a horny man to use infants for satisfaction. Don't believe it? Read this report from the US Army - http://www.wnd.com/2012/12/army-acknowledges-pedophilia-part-of-islam/ [wnd.com]
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday August 30 2016, @05:09AM
AC below me said it better than me.
I'll restrict myself to answering your rhetorical question: although not in the original Arabic I've read the thing several times all the way through. It's not a huge book, though it still boggles me that apparently some people *memorize* the entire thing. Thing is, it doesn't get any better with repeated reads. It just...doesn't. The Bible at least has some interesting material in it (I like Eccelesiastes, at least until the very obviously pseudepigraphical ending...). I honestly cannot find one redeeming thing about the Koran.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday August 29 2016, @02:48PM
You're still a half-wit. ISIS is recruiting people FROM AROUND THE WORLD. England, France, Belgium, anyplace where Muslims are wealthy enough to have spare people with the time to enlist. You've read the headlines about the narcissistic little teenage asswipes who run away to join ISIS. But, most of the asswipes don't get into the news - they just go, and no one cares. Their mothers and fathers approve of the children becoming martyrs.
Wake up and smell the coffee.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @04:36PM
> You're still a half-wit. ISIS is recruiting people FROM AROUND THE WORLD.
And you are doing your damndest to help them by spreading their message.
You fucking collaborator.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday August 30 2016, @05:11AM
So what do you suggest we do? Because I think alerting fellow leftists that, hey, this shit is toxic as hell and it's massively hypocritical to give it a free pass is just basic logical hygiene; it undermines supposed liberal values to let that shit slide.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...