Comments for Easily Distracted

Comment on Afterthought (On Microaggression) by does really works

does really works — Fri, 24 May 2013 04:52:09 +0000

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Comment on Afterthought (On Microaggression) by Jason Mraz Lucky

Jason Mraz Lucky — Fri, 24 May 2013 04:11:52 +0000

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Comment on Afterthought (On Microaggression) by Boise mold inspection

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Comment on Scan Here For More Information by Dubai Real Estate Advocates

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Comment on Second Thought: On the Persistence of Wrong Action by Doug

Doug — Thu, 23 May 2013 13:07:58 +0000

I’m reminded of Brecht’s question about dissolving the people and electing another.

Comment on A Partial Archive: Swarthmore 2012-2013 by Nord

Nord — Thu, 16 May 2013 04:58:27 +0000

Great series of posts Tim, makes me not regret skipping the reunion!

Abstract protests and non-actionable demands were the way that students passed the spring when I was there. The IC door has been pissed, pooped, and vomited on when I was there, by a mixture of political actors on “both sides” as well as drunk students who didn’t know the door from the dorm.

Real life is messy. The sexual assualt debate should be messy, because in the real world it is. The few cases I have seen since swarthmore in the real world are messy. One (messy) example – two students consensually having sex, one student asks the other student not to ejaculate in the student. Student does – is that student a) an ass or b) a rapist? What is the best structure to judge that situation, because to the shock and embarrassment of both students, it wasn’t the police…

Comment on A Partial Archive: Swarthmore 2012-2013 by Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:08:26 +0000

Can’t seem to get my full reply to you, sly, due to some weird wordpress automatic censorship (perhaps it didn’t like my use of the phrase “madrasa for fundamentalist liberalism”) but my reason for thinking Swat may be at a critical point is that if it gets a reputation for extremist thinking, only extremists will apply, and it will result in Swarthmore becoming even more homogeneous in thought, which will feedback in a self-reinforcing loop. Right now, I don’t see Swarthmore finding balance, but I hope I’m wrong. And yes, right now I find it hard to take Swarthmore seriously as an educational institution (seems more about indoctrination) but I should’ve added that I feel that way about most places these days.

Comment on Fifth Thought: How (Not) to Play the Hunger Games by Alum

Alum — Tue, 14 May 2013 22:00:34 +0000

“The second challenge is that this generation, whatever the quality of their education, is likely to be on average or on balance the first downwardly mobile generation in living memory. We’re involved in that inasmuch as we hope to arbitrage a bit against it, to give our students training and cultural capital that will enable some of them to ride against the tide.”

I couldn’t agree more. And, frankly, this is precisely the reason why the college and its faculty should resist the student demands for the formation of an ethnic studies department and mandatory coursework in ethnic and gender studies. It would be nice if the world was otherwise. But unfortunately a robust understanding of intersectionality isn’t much help in swimming against that tide, at least compared to, say, some basic familiarity with statistical data analysis or the ability to write a concise memo free of academic jargon. Adapting the liberal art’s education for a 21st century world and economy is a massive challenge already. Taking a time machine back to the 1980s to refight the culture wars isn’t a particularly useful approach.

-Swat alum, now a professor at another institution.

Comment on A Partial Archive: Swarthmore 2012-2013 by Jonathan Birge

Jonathan Birge — Tue, 14 May 2013 02:53:35 +0000

Karl: I’m not anti-liberal. I’m disappointed in what liberalism has become. Read what you wrote, and consider the fact that you actually insinuated that I condone and perhaps even participate in sexual harassment, and perhaps you’ll understand why. Your ludicrous response is pretty much the kind of response people would get at Swarthmore who dared to go against the current. If you’re not with us, you’re against us. If you dare to suggest we don’t need a gender studies department, you must hate women. Anyway, I appreciate the help in proving my point. One thing I think we can both agree on is that I didn’t do a very good job of it given my vitriol. But I’m not equivocating our responses. I was talking about an institution. You tried to paint another person with the worst kind of brush simply because I disagreed with you. That’s liberal?

Comment on Afterthought (On Microaggression) by J. Otto Pohl

J. Otto Pohl — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:18:32 +0000

I have lived in Ghana for over two years now and never had any such anxieties. Of course I have never been invited to any parties at the US embassy. It sounds from your description that you were considered foreign not because you were from the US, but because you continued to live as a foreigner rather than going native. This is part of the fact that liberals like yourself despite all your rhetoric are generally not comfortable in majority non-white environments. This is not true of conservatives as is evident by the very large number of evangelical Christian missionaries living here as equals with Ghanaians. It also maybe Zimbabweans are less truly accepting of foreign born people than Ghanaians. But, I have never felt singled out for being an American or White. Students and faculty here (I live on campus) identify me by name, Dr. Pohl not a representative of Obrunistan.