Religion is simply a selection of social values that individuals hold to be above evidence, critique, or question. We've replaced one religion with another. As the article states: "..the administration allege that those norms were exactly the problem in Senior House—that the strong culture in the dorm, far from being welcoming and supportive as the students contend, had become toxic, a negatively reinforcing environment. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle."

It's funny actually. Anywhere you see the word 'toxic' replace it with 'against wholesome family values' and we've simply traversed to another side the horse shoe. And this didn't start in the 80s. This all goes in an oddly regular 20 year cycle. The liberal 20s, conservative 40s, liberal 60s, conservative 80s, liberal 00s, and now we're headed into the 20s. And it's the exact same pattern over and over, it starts out great but then as the dominant position reaches critical mass they appproach insanity and we start a trend in the other direction again reaching it's peak after about 10 years before it too ends up headed into insanity and we reverse once again.

Well at least everybody can look forward to the 2030s!

"toxic" is the new "problematic" is the new "offensive" is the new "sinful".

Except Americans gain freedoms over time such as civil rights for minorities, ability to choose abortion, gay marriage, environmental rights, etc. It’s not just bouncing back and forth, there is progress being made, unfortunately some keep trying to reverse it.

Reminds me of the one hilarious thing about the USSR and when you look into their histories. They were basically exactly as uptight as the US despite lack of any religious motivations, convinced that the west was out to corrupt the youth just as the US was convinced the same about teenagers. They abhorred homosexuality despite a lack of religious basis for it and no real costs - it would save the state money to have their 'confirmed bachelor's living together openly.

Really it is an authoritarianism thing over any other professed values. As generations of teenagers have told anyone who will listen what they really can't tolerate is anyone openly deviating from the norms - not as a result of any actual harm but because they fear and hate anyone who questions them. A non-authoritaran system doesn't give a fuck about trivial things and has a live and let live attitude.

The current crop of leaders grew up through the 1960s and 1970s, and seem absolutely determined to prevent that era from ever happening again.

I don't follow your point exactly but we both agree that the closure of the Senior House is too bad.

I was talking about the social trend it represents, but it was kind of an incomplete thought.

> Behind a very thin veil of social liberalism, we are in fact living in a profoundly conservative and conventional era.

Maybe. Or it might be that social liberalism, at least in its current form, isn't that nice. Social liberalism compared to something like social democracy, or even various forms of "capitalism", takes the position that favorable rules are what grants you personal freedom. But it seemingly turns out that a lot of the things we care about exists in the practical realm. Having spent some, but fortunately not a lot of, time in oppressive countries it is always disappointing when you get back to the west and realize that overall it is still remarkably similar.

humans are humans, anywhere in the world.

Worship of the GOP and corporatism? Give me a break. At least neoliberalism or late stage capitalism make sense. The GOP are in such a position of power in the universities that there isn’t a single science, physical or social l, humanity, or other field of study where there are more Republicans than Democrats.

As to corporatism the US has much, much higher turnover in high cap companies than France or Germany. I think it’s akso substantially higher than the U.K. That points at something more akin to business friendliness/capitalism/creative destruction than fascist or ordo-liberal corporatism.

There is perhaps a correlation between worshiping the GOP and worshiping the GDP, but they are two very different things.