Re:The Google-Facebook Duopoly Threatens Diversity of Thought
by nrhk on Wednesday December 20, 2017 @01:16AM
(#15967455)
Saying we've overcorrected on racism is like saying we've overcorrected on feminism. If 2017 has shown us anything, its that there are a lot of skeletons hidden in many closets.
There's extremist in both groups that fight for overcorrection but lets not confuse that with an actual overcorrection of any kind.
Re:The Google-Facebook Duopoly Threatens Diversity of Thought
by meowface on Thursday December 21, 2017 @01:08AM
(#15976810)
There is no "we", just individuals and groups. Some individuals and groups do hold positions which have overcorrected for racism and, yes, even sexism. A big problem that is still in need of much correcting can still be overcorrected for.
It varies from university to university. Most universities don't experience anything like the authoritarian-left chaos at Evergreen [1], but you can find student organizations at universities all over America who hold these far-left beliefs. We had no scandals like this at my east coast university, but I'd estimate at least 10-20% of the student population holds extreme beliefs of this nature. You could see inklings of it on campus in the form of posters and group demonstrations and events. I have no statistics about the political leanings of universities in general, but if even 10 big universities have these issues (and it's definitely more than 10), then it's worth discussing.
At my university, even though it didn't seem to lean that much to the left, holding conservative views was definitely a stigma. Conservative students were routinely mocked and ostracized. And this isn't some self-pity, as I consider myself to have been and to be pretty left-wing on most social and economic issues. I just saw what people on the opposite side had to deal with.
>Consider, among many other facts, the fact that Alabama just very nearly elected to the US Senate a man who thinks the US was better under slavery and that the constitutional amendments granting women and blacks the right to vote should be revoked. If that's not enough to convince you that racism is a serious problem I don't know what would be.
Pointing to proof of a problem isn't proof that all opponents of that problem are justified. The position of many university campus students, and some professors, is not merely that racism is still a serious problem in the US but that non-minority groups have effectively been born with some innate sin which they must seek constant penance for due to historical power dynamics. Connected to this is a set of very tribalistic and insular beliefs not unlike what you see in alt-right communities. It's anti-intellectual and it's encouraging college students to view the world in a very narrow way. Oppression of minority groups was and is a dire issue, but it's important not to overcorrect.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/opinion/when-the-left-tur...