I never engage in political conversations at my university, because I don't share the assumptions or assume the premises that most of my colleagues share about political framings.
Even to play devil's advocate earns me suspicious looks and scornful comments. I just avoid all of it, because it would be pointless to oppose the hive mind, and I don't want to be ostracized.
One colleague rebuked me for not being willing to "take sides" after the recent unpleasantness in the Twin Cities, when all I was doing was being silent about it all at an informal happy hour gathering, not joining in on the kvetching and catastrophizing. Not such a "happy" happy hour.
One thing I have come to understand is that lefty politics is a very dark place, spiritually and emotionally. So much general hatred, resentment, and simmering anger, leavened with self-congratulation and an extraordinary ignorance of principled arguments for opinions that oppose their narrative. Serious epistemic closure persists in the academy.
I'm still working at my age because I love what I do, love my students, and even love my colleagues. I'm grateful to have this fantastic gig. Life's too short for all this pissiness.
This is exactly it. The silence isn't apathy — it's survival. And the colleague who rebuked you for not joining the kvetching at a happy hour is the whole piece in one anecdote. Thank you for this.
Fortunately in my department political talk is quite taboo; every door is bare (it's so universal that I actually wondered if there is a policy against putting things on your door that I didn't know about). While I'd guess that a significant majority at minimum lean left, I don't actually know. Occasionally someone ventures to make a light joke with political undertones, and the resulting silence in the room is deafening. Eventually someone breaks the silence by changing the subject.
I'm quite happy with the dynamics, to be honest. It genuinely does feel "safer" this way, I think, and I'm not even conservative. I say this as someone who used to love to talk about politics, too, because I wanted to understand what everyone's viewpoints were and what motivates those viewpoints (and I still to this day am extremely curious about how people develop their viewpoints) but something has changed over the past decade and now I am of the opinion that at this point it's more productive to solely focus on work at work and to leave politics at home.
I would strongly prefer that universities be viewpoint neutral in the spirit of academic freedom, and I recognize that they have largely dug their own grave vis a vie accusations of political unipolarity, but is it really surprising they’d find ‘Trump is our president’ threatening? It’s a statement of fact but also very much a threat given the degree to which the right hates and attacks academia. Trump’s whole affect is ‘fuck you I will destroy you’…okay, not much room for meeting in the middle there. The saddest part for me is that even if universities sincerely try to create genuine viewpoint diversity (which they should because it’s the right thing to do), the right will still hate them. If there’s one thing the second Trump administration has demonstrated it’s that conservative calls for balance are a smokescreen for just wanting to take over progressive institutions to bend them to reactionary ends. The right doesn’t want balance, it wants to destroy the left. Why would the left participate in that?
"The right doesn’t want balance, it wants to destroy the left"
The soi-disant Left: you and yours, murdered an inoffensive young man trying to--in the most milquetoast manner--to engage in reasoned political discourse on campus; a gentle man with a young wife and kids, and danced and sang happy songs about it.
You and yours tried to murder president Trump multiple times, his supporters too, to destroy their livelihoods, blacklist them, imprison them on Trumped up charges, and praised the crimes. Many of us know ordinary decent citizens--nobody important or famous, so it doesn't count--not to you--who got killed, SWATed, or black-balled by you, for you, as you cheered them on and robbed them blind.
And every time the tide appears to turn against Trump, a slew of you philistine academics gleefully announce the horrors you intend to inflict on "the right" once the whip is in your hand again.
At my alma mater about 15 or so years ago, a noose was allegedly found on the door of a black student's dorm room. The campus shut down for a day of reflection. I suggested in the school's paper that perhaps a little investigation might be appropriate before shutting down the campus.
Well, turns out the student was the culprit. But by the time that was discovered, the outrage was over and the incident forgotten.
The fruits of decades of conservatives attacking higher education and science is that higher education has come to view conservative views as a threat. I'm not surprised by this. Its about as pure a self-defense response as you'll see in politics.
The very idea of "Gayness" as something inherent in a person and not simply a collection of deviant behaviors in it's very nature Liberal. At best the goal of a modern so called "conservative" then is to simply conserve some form of liberalism from 20, 40, or 60 years past. "I want my students to make up their own minds" is just older Liberalism, not 'conservative'. The very idea that a person being formed through education should get to choose what is correct and incorrect is still radical and Liberal.
I never engage in political conversations at my university, because I don't share the assumptions or assume the premises that most of my colleagues share about political framings.
Even to play devil's advocate earns me suspicious looks and scornful comments. I just avoid all of it, because it would be pointless to oppose the hive mind, and I don't want to be ostracized.
One colleague rebuked me for not being willing to "take sides" after the recent unpleasantness in the Twin Cities, when all I was doing was being silent about it all at an informal happy hour gathering, not joining in on the kvetching and catastrophizing. Not such a "happy" happy hour.
One thing I have come to understand is that lefty politics is a very dark place, spiritually and emotionally. So much general hatred, resentment, and simmering anger, leavened with self-congratulation and an extraordinary ignorance of principled arguments for opinions that oppose their narrative. Serious epistemic closure persists in the academy.
I'm still working at my age because I love what I do, love my students, and even love my colleagues. I'm grateful to have this fantastic gig. Life's too short for all this pissiness.
This is exactly it. The silence isn't apathy — it's survival. And the colleague who rebuked you for not joining the kvetching at a happy hour is the whole piece in one anecdote. Thank you for this.
Fortunately in my department political talk is quite taboo; every door is bare (it's so universal that I actually wondered if there is a policy against putting things on your door that I didn't know about). While I'd guess that a significant majority at minimum lean left, I don't actually know. Occasionally someone ventures to make a light joke with political undertones, and the resulting silence in the room is deafening. Eventually someone breaks the silence by changing the subject.
I'm quite happy with the dynamics, to be honest. It genuinely does feel "safer" this way, I think, and I'm not even conservative. I say this as someone who used to love to talk about politics, too, because I wanted to understand what everyone's viewpoints were and what motivates those viewpoints (and I still to this day am extremely curious about how people develop their viewpoints) but something has changed over the past decade and now I am of the opinion that at this point it's more productive to solely focus on work at work and to leave politics at home.
Another great and insightful article from my new favorite Substack.
I would strongly prefer that universities be viewpoint neutral in the spirit of academic freedom, and I recognize that they have largely dug their own grave vis a vie accusations of political unipolarity, but is it really surprising they’d find ‘Trump is our president’ threatening? It’s a statement of fact but also very much a threat given the degree to which the right hates and attacks academia. Trump’s whole affect is ‘fuck you I will destroy you’…okay, not much room for meeting in the middle there. The saddest part for me is that even if universities sincerely try to create genuine viewpoint diversity (which they should because it’s the right thing to do), the right will still hate them. If there’s one thing the second Trump administration has demonstrated it’s that conservative calls for balance are a smokescreen for just wanting to take over progressive institutions to bend them to reactionary ends. The right doesn’t want balance, it wants to destroy the left. Why would the left participate in that?
"The right doesn’t want balance, it wants to destroy the left"
The soi-disant Left: you and yours, murdered an inoffensive young man trying to--in the most milquetoast manner--to engage in reasoned political discourse on campus; a gentle man with a young wife and kids, and danced and sang happy songs about it.
You and yours tried to murder president Trump multiple times, his supporters too, to destroy their livelihoods, blacklist them, imprison them on Trumped up charges, and praised the crimes. Many of us know ordinary decent citizens--nobody important or famous, so it doesn't count--not to you--who got killed, SWATed, or black-balled by you, for you, as you cheered them on and robbed them blind.
And every time the tide appears to turn against Trump, a slew of you philistine academics gleefully announce the horrors you intend to inflict on "the right" once the whip is in your hand again.
TL'DR: Yes. The right wants to destroy the left.
Now.
Check your privilege.
Grow. Up.
Oh hello. Fuck you.
Perfect. Thank you for proving my point.
At my alma mater about 15 or so years ago, a noose was allegedly found on the door of a black student's dorm room. The campus shut down for a day of reflection. I suggested in the school's paper that perhaps a little investigation might be appropriate before shutting down the campus.
Well, turns out the student was the culprit. But by the time that was discovered, the outrage was over and the incident forgotten.
My friend's children, university ages, chided him for saying "gracias" to a Latino waiter. You can't do that they insisted.
Had I achieved a PHD, my door would have been empty of virtue signaling.
Conservatives are the whiniest people in America.
The fruits of decades of conservatives attacking higher education and science is that higher education has come to view conservative views as a threat. I'm not surprised by this. Its about as pure a self-defense response as you'll see in politics.
So, in other words, academia’s going from “left leaning” to “hard leftist” is the rights fault? Have I got that correct?
Nobody is reading this chatgpt ass post
You obviously read it. Makes sense you would, though, as you're a nobody.
Nah all I had to do was see the 50 em dashes to know it wasn’t worth my time.
The very idea of "Gayness" as something inherent in a person and not simply a collection of deviant behaviors in it's very nature Liberal. At best the goal of a modern so called "conservative" then is to simply conserve some form of liberalism from 20, 40, or 60 years past. "I want my students to make up their own minds" is just older Liberalism, not 'conservative'. The very idea that a person being formed through education should get to choose what is correct and incorrect is still radical and Liberal.
Emperical science is liberal, yes.
Lol. Lmao, even.
Yes, this is the product of decades of courage amongst gay folk and cowardice amongst Conservatives.