University of Wisconsin stands by 'Problem of Whiteness' course

[robrecht]

Because that's not how academic campuses like this work. The professors have a captive audience and their word is law. There is no competition of ideas. I have 2 in college right now, and I routinely discuss things with them, and they agree that there are no competing ideas allowed in liberal focused classes.

Again, if you have any indication that this class is about actual dialogue, and not an a priori position of white supremacy where success is measured by admitting that first, then working toward an apologetic tail-tucking submissive position, then please put it forward. As stated, and with the recommended reading material, it is pretty obvious this is a "whitey bad until whitey admits whitey bad" course.

My point exactly. From my experience with private and public colleges that my daughters attend, and the selection of reading the class requires, there will be little discussion and a lot of indoctrination.

We have very different experiences of what takes place on a college campus. I think the great majority of professors (in non-technical fields) absolutely want actual, intelligent discussion of real ideas, pro and con, mastery of the material and an ability to critique from an opposing viewpoint and sometimes even originality.

[Darth Executor]

But why isn't it better to let the ideas compete in the marketplace and stand or fall on their own merit? If you merely censor someone you do not agree with, there will be less exchange of ideas and potential for dialogue and understanding. If these discussions cannot take place, that may end up being more destructive and divisive in the end.

Why should white people be second class citizens? I'd be more than happy to let such a course go if white supremacists can teach racial inferiority of blacks and jews next door. Why would I let people preach hate against me exclusively? And no, don't bother playing those games where you pretend they don't teach hate, that's exactly what they do.

[Darth Executor]

It is, or perhaps was, my hope that Muslims would shake liberal Europe out of it's idiocy.
I'll admit that I'm baffled that hasn't happened yet.
(How has Merkel not been beaten to death and dragged through the streets of Berlin?)

I thought referring to liberalism as a mental disorder was a joke at first but now I'm starting to think that isn't the half of it.

I do think the core problem we have with liberalism is our own prosperity.
As long as the stupidity of that cult can be glossed over with money nobody will be forced to face its abject failure.
Our welfare program is largely paying people to not riot - once the money is gone conservatism will set in again.

Keep in mind that in Europe if muslims prostitute your 13 year old daughter and you try to get her back the cops will arrest you. Merkel is probably safe for now, but given Germany's history of going from zero to Reich Time in very short amounts of time it's impossible to tell what will happen (not that I'm optimistic). I think prosperity was responsible for their rise in that Christians got complacent and lazy and just let them take over but I don't think that it, on its own, expains the issue. After all Japan and Korea are both rich and degenerate and yet this suicidal blight is nowhere to be found.

[Bill the Cat]

We have very different experiences of what takes place on a college campus. I think the great majority of professors (in non-technical fields) absolutely want actual, intelligent discussion of real ideas, pro and con, mastery of the material and an ability to critique from an opposing viewpoint and sometimes even originality.

My oldest got a D on her final paper for arguing against her Ethics professor's definition of "natural"... until I appealed to her advisor and the Ethics professor's chair

[Darth Executor]

I think the best way to start mitigating the effects of racism is to start talking about it and engaging everyone in the conversation, with all their diverse experiences and perspectives. If this can be done in a university setting, that sounds like a good idea to me. I'm not so sure this particular professor is judging people by the color of their skin, or at least he is not judging all white people as racist in a personal sense, and he is talking about some important severely disaffected perspectives that need to be part of the discussion, right?

It seems to me that only white on X racism (which has already been mitigated to near oblivion) is targeted for mitigation, while X on white racism is actively encouraged, all with your approval.

[robrecht]

My oldest got a D on her final paper for arguing against her Ethics professor's definition of "natural"... until I appealed to her advisor and the Ethics professor's chair

Have you heard of this happening a lot? What university? This seems incredibly rare in my experience.

[Adrift]

My oldest got a D on her final paper for arguing against her Ethics professor's definition of "natural"... until I appealed to her advisor and the Ethics professor's chair

That's definitely been my experience, and that of a number of my peers. robrecht must have been extremely fortunate to have that rare university experience where professors wanted their ideas challenged in class.

[Darth Executor]

That's definitely been my experience, and that of a number of my peers. robrecht must have been extremely fortunate to have that rare university experience where professors wanted their ideas challenged in class.

more likely he views the assumption of liberalism as natural and normal and doesn't even recognize it as such

[Bill the Cat]

Have you heard of this happening a lot? What university? This seems incredibly rare in my experience.

Yes. At VCU.

[robrecht]

This seems to be more of a generational gap. Younger generations believe they're oppressed by the police but older blacks do in fact enforce the law, and usually give higher penalties than white communities. Obv. the generation gap is important because it shows where the community is heading but there's more to it than that. Your fellow liberals have convinced the bulk of an entire generation of blacks that they can do no wrong and anything bad that happens to them can be blamed on whitey.

I think most immature people today believe that they can do no wrong and anything bad that happens to them can be blamed on someone else. There are differences in who is blamed, but it is generally someone in authority or with positions of power.

There's nothing wrong with benefitting from a legacy of unjust oppression and slavery. Everybody does (including former slaves who now live in a first world country with all the opportunity in the world as opposed to the blacks who sold them who still live in Africa). Unless you're from some isolated tribe of barbarian savages (and even then...) odds are EVERYBODY has benefitted from their ancestors exploiting and oppressing somebody. And I see God ordering lots of genocide in scripture, but I can't for the life of me remember Him commanding any Jewish Guilt over anything other than betraying Him. You suffer from a serious sickness and you need to let it go before you trigger another world war.

Seems like you missed the point. Take out the final clause and just look at the subject and predicate: "As for a 'problem of whiteness', from a sociological perspective, I would point to a general lack of interest in understanding and addressing societal problems with an end toward creating a more just and fair society ..."

[Darth Executor]

I think most immature people today believe that they can do no wrong and anything bad that happens to them can be blamed on someone else. There are differences in who is blamed, but it is generally someone in authority or with positions of power.

Seems like you missed the point. Take out the final clause and just look at the subject and predicate: "As for a 'problem of whiteness', from a sociological perspective, I would point to a general lack of interest in understanding and addressing societal problems with an end toward creating a more just and fair society ..."

Seems to me that in your mind the only way to understand/address societal problems is to agree with you.

[robrecht]

Seems to me that in your mind the only way to understand/address societal problems is to agree with you.

Where'd you get that idea?

[robrecht]

If the course was named "The problem of blackness" or "the problem of arabness" there wouldn't be any debate about what its contents are or whether it should be taught.

Wouldn't it be great if someone could teach such a course in country with Sharia law or otherwise dominated by extremists. We should be happy to live in a country where the traditionally predominant culture can be challenged by minorities from the perspective of an underclass.

[robrecht]

That's definitely been my experience, and that of a number of my peers. robrecht must have been extremely fortunate to have that rare university experience where professors wanted their ideas challenged in class.

It's not enough to simply challenge the ideas of the professor, but at any good college no professors should be teaching merely his own ideas. First one has to show mastery of the material, which is hard enough for many students, then, especially if you have some interpersonal skills and stroke the professor's ego a bit, you should be able to get a much better grade by going further with your own reading and interpretation. Any professor that is simply teaching their own ideas and not wanting those ideas challenged should be weeded out early in the process.

[Darth Executor]

Wouldn't it be great if someone could teach such a course in country with Sharia law or otherwise dominated by extremists.

Great for who? Certainly not the islamists. And in general, it's better if you can attack minorities but not the majority rather than being able to attack the majority or not minorities. One is a relatively normal and healthy state, the other is in complete collapse.

We should be happy to live in a country where the traditionally predominant culture can be challenged by minorities from the perspective of an underclass.

We don't live in such a country. The predominant culture is liberalism and of its two pillars, the first two (racial and gender equality) are untouchable if you want to make a livelihood and avoid becoming a complete pariah for anyone who's not independently wealthy and who can thus insulate himself from progressive jihads. The third pillar (sexual degeneracy) is quickly becoming untouchable too. It's already illegal to refuse to cater to gay mockeries of weddings in many places.

Bashing white people OTOH is perfectly kosher, just like bashing Jews is halal in islamist countries.

But even if your description of the current affairs was accurate, no, there is no reason to be happy to live in a country where the traditionally predominant culture can be challenged. Particularly when that culture is pretty great and is being challenged by people who have not themselves produced any worthwhile culture. What you are describing is ethnomasochism and is the product of propaganda against your interests.