Academics are ill equipped to deal w the tactics that drove out Gay We are trained to engage substantively w questions thrown at us So when malicious actors unleash a shitstorm We carefully inspect & discuss the validity of each piece of shit Rather than step up to protect the victim
Well said. Academics and debate are supposed to be about listening to voices, taking into account what is said, and seeing if it sinks or swims. The bad guys count on that, so their BS can be amplified. Do not play their games, call out their motives, and then block them. DO NOT ENGAGE.
Hear, hear. But it’s not an excuse for us failing her.
I disagree that we're ill equipped, the problem is we need to treat these bad faith actors the same way we treat the all-caps crank email writers. We have plenty of experience dealing with those.
Yeah we need like a union style coordinated effort to broadly mobilize defense in response to attacks across the sector and go on the attack against bad faith actors. I’ve seen some promising starts from aaup, but tons of work to do here.
Academics understandably tend to forget the few ways to deal with autocratic scum: 1. “Man, F**k You” attitude and mocking words, backed up with speedy self-defense against smear campaigns, by mocking words, or in courts. OR MORE. 👆🏻It must be clear no one will yield ever. 2. Clowns.
Exactly. We can’t even deal with “more of a comment than a question” types.
I don’t have a good answer, but I really think there needs to be some kind of buddy system. Every academic gets a non academic to mentor them in the world of just kinda being normal, for lack of a better word.
Academia, famous for having no politics in the workplace.
I’m a staunch liberal and have no respect for Rufo or his allies. But as a HS history teacher, I failed students who did what Gay did. I taught lessons on avoiding plagiarism, kids learned, and few transgressed. I do not believe the Prez of Harvard should be held to a lower standard than a HS soph.
Alternative view: Ivy League academics are ill equipped to deal with *mainstream* challenges to their positions because they live in an ideological cocoon. www.thefire.org/news/harvard...
