On Fri, Nov 20, 2015 at 9:29 AM, Maxim Linchits <[email protected]> wrote:

> Great find! It’s a perfect illustration of how American politics has
> become completely unhinged from reality. Liberal “anti-racism” is now
> essentially the struggle for political correctness, i.e. a war on symbols
> rather than substance. What other issues are they working on these days -
> writing angry letters in response some insensitive comments by Bill
> O’Reilly?
>



Maxim,
Thanks for the note. It is good to know that I am not the only one who
finds these things disturbing.

Sometimes it gets much worse than just a war on symbols. It can turn into a
witch-hunt or censorship. Like what happened to this guy at Missouri. He
arguably made a mistake, but the angry reactions to him seem way over the
top:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/11/12/grow-up-tweets-legendary-mizzou-football-star-to-students-who-hounded-hero-professor/

Or this from last year:
http://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/university-of-iowa-artist-behind-kkk-statue-discusses-fear-of-art-20150224

-raghu.






> Have they concluded their campaign to condemn Kanye West Halloween
> costumes? They need to save some of that outrage for real issues. With many
> people it seldom gets beyond “I can’t believe what I just heard, that’s so
> racist.” This is not a struggle against racism; it’s a struggle to save
> your own precious little ears and eyes.
>
>
>
> Political correctness has it’s value of course. Living in Russia, where PC
> is nonexistent, I sort of wish that people here didn’t blurt out the first
> racist idiocy to come into their heads, or at least felt some shame
> afterwards. But in the US the, elevated importance of PC over all other
> issues is truly bizarre. It always reminds me of the example of John
> McCain. Killing scores of Vietnamese from the sky is nothing to be ashamed
> of. Calling them “gooks”? Now you crossed a line!
>
>
>
> End rant
>
>
>
> *From:* [email protected] [mailto:
> [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *raghu
> *Sent:* Thursday, November 19, 2015 7:28 PM
> *To:* Progressive Economics <[email protected]>
> *Subject:* [Pen-l] Princeton protests: misplaced priorities?
>
>
>
> I don't know what to make of the actions of student protesters at
> Princeton and elsewhere.
>
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/19/nyregion/princeton-students-hold-sit-in-on-racial-injustice.html?_r=0
>
> On the one hand, it is heartening to see student activism like this.
> Apparently inspired by events at Missouri, these events bring attention to
> racism and prejudice that would otherwise go unnoticed.
>
> But on the other hand, look at these demands!
>
> "Change the title of those who oversee its residential colleges to “head”
> from “master”"?
>
> "Removal of Woodrow Wilson’s name from anything named after him at the
> university"?
>
> That's it???
>
> Nothing about opening the doors of that exalted institution to a larger
> number and more diverse group of students?
>
> Nothing about ending legacy admissions?
>
> Nothing about the obscene size of Princeton's endowment fund?
>
> Nothing about Princeton's part in EdX and the role the latter is playing
> in undermining public funding of higher education in places like San Jose
> State U?
>
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