I've often thought it is shortsighted to compare the US, a large and highly diverse country, with the Nordic countries or any of the other European nations which are about the size and often smaller than many of our states. It's apples and oranges.
This is not a new. I experienced similar situations during classes as opposed to being part of a debate team. I went to Brooklyn College between 1964 and 1973 (part of the CUNY system), and my experience with night school classes and day classes was....well, it was as different as night and day. The late '60s through the '70s were turbulent times. At night, classes went on as scheduled. Demonstrations were just not done, classes were not cancelled and professors pretty much taught the subject matter straight. During the day, it was a different story. Professors took liberties to a point I never thought was possible. Politics was part of every course. One professor teaching a geology course managed to inject Richard Nixon and William Schockley (a brilliant Bell Labs physicist and engineer who just happened to invent the transistor and do early research on semi-conductors). Well, Shockley apparently has been connected with racist views and advocacy of eugenics. This is, of course repugnant but I noted at the time that that never seemed to have tainted the reputation of Margaret Sanger who went on to found Planned Parenthood while also holding repugnant views on eugenics. At least she never made it into my geology lecture hall. Liberal educational institutions have long tilted the scales of justice away from conservative viewpoints, including capitalism and the regulation of issues where there are deep divides, including abortion. If you wanted to pass these rogue courses, you did what you had to do. There was no appeals court in which to be heard....at least, not a fair one.
Bari: sorry that I didn’t see a way to send you a note outside of another story’s comments. I want to suggest a story to explore. It is the relabeling of “mass shootings” to incorporate what used to be called “gang-related” or “rival” shootings. This this seems intentional, to draw away labels from black on black shootings, while simultaneously increasing the incidences of “mass shootings” that strengthens the gun ban argument. The prompt for this note came from a CBS national evening news on Memorial Day about a shooting near Miami, FL. The intro headline was “Mass shooting”, while the report told of rival groups shooting at each other, 4-5 guns recovered, innocent bystanders shot in the crossfire, etc. It seems the categorization of this as a mass shooting is meant to obscure some behavior we no longer want to talk about, and build a narrative of epidemic mass shootings, which there are already plenty of. Many traditional media report and label similarly.
At root, debate is a structured way of asking Why a lot.
You say you want to improve humanity. Why do you believe your ideas are better? Why do you claim those of your opponent are worse? Why do you favor this method over some other?
Why do you to improve human life, and what would that look like? Why that way and not some other?
Its not unreasonable to view Platos Dialogues as debates in which Socrates always won by asking Why a lot.
All logical processes begin with core assumptions that cannot be further defended, but logic very much CAN be used to identify and map those assumptions.
It is not logical to find baby seals adoreable but it is logical to want to defend them if you do. But even there you may find baby Eskimoes adoreable too and there may be a real world, practical and unavoidable conflict between loving seals and loving people who need them to survive.
The failure to perform that sort of analysis is a core feature of Leftist thought. They want the good feels but none of the bad, and since the world rarely works that way they develop the habit of lying early on.
what's to discuss. Our woke liberal class has descended into a belief that they are absolutely right in everything and respect no other views or even the right to have views other than theirs. They are the modern equivalent of slaveholders in the 1840s and 1850s arguing that slavery must be allowed where they stood and the rest of new America as it grew...they were prepared to start and fight a war for their views. So it is again these days
I've often thought it is shortsighted to compare the US, a large and highly diverse country, with the Nordic countries or any of the other European nations which are about the size and often smaller than many of our states. It's apples and oranges.
The link came to my email and it was a great discussion. Thanks Bari💖
A bit disappointed that I'm a subscriber and there wasn't a link to join the event. Please include links in future promotions.
Right Angle Undebatable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYLtaMku4Dc
This is not a new. I experienced similar situations during classes as opposed to being part of a debate team. I went to Brooklyn College between 1964 and 1973 (part of the CUNY system), and my experience with night school classes and day classes was....well, it was as different as night and day. The late '60s through the '70s were turbulent times. At night, classes went on as scheduled. Demonstrations were just not done, classes were not cancelled and professors pretty much taught the subject matter straight. During the day, it was a different story. Professors took liberties to a point I never thought was possible. Politics was part of every course. One professor teaching a geology course managed to inject Richard Nixon and William Schockley (a brilliant Bell Labs physicist and engineer who just happened to invent the transistor and do early research on semi-conductors). Well, Shockley apparently has been connected with racist views and advocacy of eugenics. This is, of course repugnant but I noted at the time that that never seemed to have tainted the reputation of Margaret Sanger who went on to found Planned Parenthood while also holding repugnant views on eugenics. At least she never made it into my geology lecture hall. Liberal educational institutions have long tilted the scales of justice away from conservative viewpoints, including capitalism and the regulation of issues where there are deep divides, including abortion. If you wanted to pass these rogue courses, you did what you had to do. There was no appeals court in which to be heard....at least, not a fair one.
I hate to be a stickler, but I assume you mean 8 pm EDT/5 pm PDT. We are in daylight time right now, after all.
Bari: sorry that I didn’t see a way to send you a note outside of another story’s comments. I want to suggest a story to explore. It is the relabeling of “mass shootings” to incorporate what used to be called “gang-related” or “rival” shootings. This this seems intentional, to draw away labels from black on black shootings, while simultaneously increasing the incidences of “mass shootings” that strengthens the gun ban argument. The prompt for this note came from a CBS national evening news on Memorial Day about a shooting near Miami, FL. The intro headline was “Mass shooting”, while the report told of rival groups shooting at each other, 4-5 guns recovered, innocent bystanders shot in the crossfire, etc. It seems the categorization of this as a mass shooting is meant to obscure some behavior we no longer want to talk about, and build a narrative of epidemic mass shootings, which there are already plenty of. Many traditional media report and label similarly.
Maybe there’s a story there . . .
Am I the only one unable to link to the event registration?
does anyone know where the link is for this live conversation??
Hi Linda! You can register for the event here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TwZwAGioQm-iCwTPP-Svsw
At root, debate is a structured way of asking Why a lot.
You say you want to improve humanity. Why do you believe your ideas are better? Why do you claim those of your opponent are worse? Why do you favor this method over some other?
Why do you to improve human life, and what would that look like? Why that way and not some other?
Its not unreasonable to view Platos Dialogues as debates in which Socrates always won by asking Why a lot.
All logical processes begin with core assumptions that cannot be further defended, but logic very much CAN be used to identify and map those assumptions.
It is not logical to find baby seals adoreable but it is logical to want to defend them if you do. But even there you may find baby Eskimoes adoreable too and there may be a real world, practical and unavoidable conflict between loving seals and loving people who need them to survive.
The failure to perform that sort of analysis is a core feature of Leftist thought. They want the good feels but none of the bad, and since the world rarely works that way they develop the habit of lying early on.
what's to discuss. Our woke liberal class has descended into a belief that they are absolutely right in everything and respect no other views or even the right to have views other than theirs. They are the modern equivalent of slaveholders in the 1840s and 1850s arguing that slavery must be allowed where they stood and the rest of new America as it grew...they were prepared to start and fight a war for their views. So it is again these days
Would love to participate/listen to this on Thursday but I am currently cycling in Austria and Slovenia.
Any chance of a recorded possibility post event?
Bari, you have opened up the journalism and readership to a whole different level. Thank you!
Good! BIR your initial comment certainly seemed to indicate concern about eliminating such restrictions.
I don’t know where the link to this meeting would be.
Sorry, where do we register for this event?
If you're a paid subscriber, you just click on the link, I believe.
click on what link?? I don’t see any link to click to this conversation!
Ah, thanks. I’m used to other methods of signing up (for free) at EventBrite,
The link doesn’t take you to the login for the event
I’m glad I’m not the only one.
I’m already a paying member! Why did I receive this without a login??
Hi Peter! Please click here to register for this evening's event: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TwZwAGioQm-iCwTPP-Svsw