Monthly Archives: September 2021

Today, higher education has serious problems. Between political correctness, wokeness, equity and diversity issues, there are now many problems in classrooms and administrative offices.

Professors, who are the source of many of the classroom problems, are sometimes on the receiving end of political correctness and wokeness mania.

One such example involves veteran University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) law professor Jason Kilborn.

Just before the first class on the first day of the spring semester this year, UICs administration abruptly suspended Kilborn from teaching. He said the administration would not explain what the basis for the indefinite suspension was when he asked.

This hits you like a ton of bricks, he said. It was totally unexpected. Youre totally isolated.

When he finally learned the reason behind this extreme administrative action, Kilborn learned that UIC had violated his rights to academic freedom.

On an exam the preceding semester he had posed a hypothetical matter to which the law students were to respond. That issue set off alarms among some hypersensitive members of a student organization. Without discussing their concerns with their teacher, they complained to the law school dean, the university administration, and the media, calling his use of certain language inexcusable.

Just what momentous transgression had Kilborn committed? He had employed a long-used hypothetical issue in the law school exam that contained two redacted slurs.But even redacting the terms didnt save Kilborn from being targeted by his university.

Undergrad teaches students to think, but law schools, medical schools they have to teach students how to do, Kilborn said. As someone who has taught law for 21 years, he understands that concept, and had structured his curriculum to accomplish that goal.

Explaining his technique, he said, In virtually every one of my law classes, I try to put that scalpel in my students hands and ask them: What do you do? These hypotheticals, he explained, really force students, future lawyers, to be confronted with the messy reality theyll be faced with in the outside world.

Kilborn was eventually reinstated through action by FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education), but this occurrence paints a very clear picture of some of what has driven higher education at many institutions in our country from being a valuable asset, to being a politically-driven wasteland.

This is not the only case where a professor has been targeted for controversial expression. FIRE research into the rise in collegiate scholars punished for their constitutionally protected speech reveals that fully 74 percent of targeting incidents are successful. What that means is that the target professor ends up with some type of punishment, such as investigations or suspension. And FIRE noted that one in four targeted scholars lose their job.

Working hard to not upset students while trying to help them learn how to deal with the real world they are preparing to enter has become, in far too many cases, more important than the actual process of preparing them to survive and prosper after college.

Another professor trying to cope with this new upside-down campus environment was not suspended. Instead, he decided he had had enough.

Professor Peter Boghossian had taught philosophy at Portland State University for the last decade. He quit his teaching post, submitting his letter of resignation to the schools provost, and also publishing that letter.

His problems began, he explained, because he started asking critical questions. Unlike my colleagues, I asked these questions out loud and in public. The more he spoke out, the more push-back he got. So, he began publishing articles with two other people demonstrating how critical thinking had gradually faded from importance at Portland.

These articles resulted in him being attacked and verbally harassed by both students and faculty. This harassment included being spit on, and being threatened as he walked to and from classes.

When he went to Portland, he believed he was joining a group of professional people that were committed to growing critical thinkers, not machines. He believed his job was not to tell students what to think, but to teach them how to think, he said. But Portland no longer pursues its original mission.

In his letter to the universitys provost, Boghossian, explained, But brick by brick, the university has made this kind of intellectual exploration impossible. It has transformed a bastion of free inquiry into a Social Justice factory whose only inputs were race, gender, and victimhood and whose only outputs were grievance and division.

He continued, Rather, I sought to create the conditions for rigorous thought; to help them gain the tools to hunt and furrow for their own conclusions based on rigorous research, critical thinking and listening to diverse voices.

The education and degrees so many have sought and benefitted from for so long have, in many institutions, become little more than a certification of successful adopting of a political attitude that challenges Americas fundamental principles.

Helping young adults grow intellectually and gain needed skills isnt their goal. Turning America into another socialist failure is their goal. And the movement is expanding.

James H. Smokey Shott, a resident of Bluefield, Va., is a Daily Telegraph columnist. Contact him at shottcommentary@gmail.com

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FROM THE OPINION PAGE Political correctness is one of many serious higher education problems - Bluefield Daily Telegraph

In case you missed it - and if you did, I going to guess you spend every moment of your free time away from cable news, the internet, YouTube and the podcastosphere, and to that I say I envy your peaceful existence - last week Joe Rogan recovered from Covid. He then went on his No. 1 in the world podcast to talk about the experience.

In short, he has made it abundantly clear he's not telling anyone not to take the vaccine (you can't, otherwise YouTube and the other socials will demonetize you, if not deplatform you altogether), but has been upfront that he's skeptical and refuses to take it. And described on his show how, once he felt symptoms, went to his doctor who prescribed some therapeutics. One of which, Ivermectin, he wanted because he had a medical expert on his show who recommended it and mentioned some public health official from Tokyo who touted its efficacy. And Rogan told his guest Tom Segura that he was back on his feet in three days and feels fine. But they laughed about how CNN and some other outlets referred to the drug he took as a "horse dewormer" and debated whether he can sue them.

OK, maybe that wasn't so short. But necessary in order to set the scene.

God knows, Rogan has had his critics for years. You can't talk into the most listened to microphone in the country and steer into every hot button issue, from political correctness to cancel culture, gender identity to politics, race to religion, sex to drugs and comedy, without creating a standing army of haters. It comes with the territory you've chosen to stake out. And ultimately, good for business.

What's ironic is that since Rogan talked about his treatment, his angriest and most vocal critic is pretty much the Columbus who discovered the territory Rogan rules over. The man I could've written that above paragraph about at any point in the last four decades. At least until the last five years or so. Ever since he's come out and repudiated everything he's ever done or said that might have offended anyone. In other words, the very humor upon which he built the greatest empire in the history of radio.

New Howard Stern hates Joe Rogan worse than anyone ever hated Original Recipe Howard Stern.

Source - Stern mocked the anti-vaccine sh*theads who accuse people of worshipping Dr. Anthony Fauci while they take horse dewormer from a doctor. ...

Stern, who remarked that Rogan could have also gotten a vaccine which Stern heralded as a cure and skipped the whole ordeal.

"I heard Joe Rogan was saying what are you busting my balls [for]? I took horse de-wormer and a doctor gave it to me. Well a doctor would also give you a vaccine, so why take horse-dewormer?"

Stern went on to muse about what the situation would have been like if Covid anti-vaxers were around to reject the vaccine for polio. He also once again mocked how all this anti-science goes out the window when people wind up in the emergency room for Covid.

Theres never been one that said Im so glad I refused. Im so happy that I cant breathe. This is a wonderful way to die, it was worth it because I didnt take the vaccine,' Stern said.

At another point, Stern tripled down on his lack of sympathy for imbeciles whove been hospitalized for Covid after refusing to get vaccinated. ...

We have no time for idiots in this country anymore, Stern said. We dont want you. We want you to all, either go the hospital, and stay home, die there with your Covid. Dont take the cure, but dont clog up our hospitals with your Covid when you finally get it. Stay home, dont bother with science, its too late. Go f*ck yourself, we just dont have time for you.

Just to get this out of the way, I'm not advocating for either argument. These are two comedians with differing opinions on medical treatment. And personally, I prefer getting my advice from the nice primary care man I'm signed up with. The guy who's never done stand up or fed hot dogs to chicks in bikinis from the end of a fishing rod but who has a degree in how to treat the human body. Your results may vary.

I'm just here to watch this battle play out. In the way that 1914 Jerry (No, I wasn't around yet. And I find your ageism offensive) would've watched with fascination as Serbia and Austria-Hungary went to war. Because I believe ultimately, this is where the battle lines of our time are being drawn. Two strong personalities with legions of followers that number in the millions. Each with tons of money and influence. Who are both virtually cancel proof, given that many have tried and none have come close to succeeding.

And if I had to handicap it, I can't see any way Rogan doesn't win this battle in a rout. For a lot of reasons, not the least of which is his greatest strengths are his curiosity and thirst for knowledge. Whatever else you think about Ivermectin, he talked to a doctor who told him he believes in its efficacy. The last I looked, Stern was talking to Jimmy Kimmel and Elton John.

Besides that, there's not a Stern fan I know who doesn't see him as a sellout. Someone who's disavowed everything that made his show the best thing on the air. His two SiriusXM stations are next to one another. I defy anyone to sit through the current one where he's talking to Drew Barrymore about how great her daytime talk show is, then flip to Classic Stern having a guest queef "Flight of the Bumblebee," and not want to stick with Howard in his prime.

More to the point (and I say this as someone who got the shots as soon as I was eligible) I can't imagine that Peak Howard would've been screaming about other people's personal decisions. Sure, he openly rooted for some people to die. Don Imus and the religious zealots that were always trying to get him thrown off the air, just to name a few. But that Stern was a small "l" libertarian to the extreme. I can't imagine him demanding people take a drug they (for whatever reason) don't trust or not take one that they do. For certain he would've been putting Jenna Jameson on a Symbian instead of giving off big "Old Man Yells at Clouds" energy.

The bottom line is, this is a battle Stern might have won 20 years ago. But his audience has aged out of fights like this. And he doesn't stand a chance against the King of All Podcasts.

Link:

The New Front Line of the Culture War: Howard Stern vs. Joe Rogan - Barstool Sports

Thanks to the ongoing pandemic and lockdowns, millions of Australians are cowering under their doonas, desperate for distraction.

Sensing an opportunity, the book industry is rushing out a swathe of new and repackaged books reflecting recent local and global developments. Are they any good?

The old adage Write what you know is advice that has served former defence minister Christopher Pyne well in his first dive into airport fiction.

Drawing heavily from his time in government,The Hunt for Dud Octobertell the story of The Fixer, a plucky able-bodied seaman who, against great odds, establishes a new submarine base in Lake Burley Griffin. Whether hes battling naval top brass, ACT town planners or his own personal demons, readers can rest assured hell fix it.

In this part memoir, part DIY handbook, Porter explains the dark art of not knowing the things you need to know and knowing the people you do but being able to say you dont.

A must-read for anyone on a fixed salary and stuck in a legal or ethical bind, Strangers is a rollicking read of legal derring-do, political intrigue and the gift of moral ambiguity.

This tell-all blows the lid on the high times of football wives and Instagram influencers. It is a rip-snorting, wags-to-witches tale that delivers line after line of chatty, erratic and occasionally overconfident prose. It will leave readers wanting more. Heaps more.

This reprint includes a new foreword by the author in which she apologises for the way her work has unintentionally inspired and emboldened oppressive chauvinists from Texas to Kabul. The book was always intended to be a warning. Sadly, for too many men, my speculative fiction has become a kind of Misogyny for Dummies, Atwood said.

Similar rereleases are expected for The Plague by Albert Camus, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

A trenchantly, non-rhetorical follow-up to How Good is Scott Morrison, Van Onselens new work is a pithy and well-told tale, although the central characters unreliable narration can grate.

Marie Kondos world-conquering debut The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up was carefully constructed around a single powerful idea: if your stuff doesnt bring you joy, bin it. For this book, the core message appears to be: Dont just do something, sit there.

It explores the languid allure of indolence, sloth, prevarication, avoidance, denial, lethargy and meh. Essential reading, particularly during a third wave.

Its hard to know if Mark Mansons follow-up to Everything is F*cked is a carefully calibrated satire on the vagaries of modern-day book marketing, or a cynical cash-in. Either way, there are plenty of laughs as Manson drops f-bombs into classics such as: Pride and F*cking Prejudice, Moby F*cking Dick, The F*cked Gatsby, F*cker in the Rye and F*cking Boy Swallows F*cking Universe. Not too f*cking shabby.

In 12 Rules for Being Incel Catnip, public thinker and clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson attempts to understand why so many of his readers are sad and broken misogynists and why they use his books to justify their terrible memes and poor hygiene. After 674 long pages, and several quixotic tilts at political correctness and feminism, Peterson concludes absolutely none of it is his fault.

Often referred to as Australias best storyteller, and not just by himself, Peter FitzSimons has crash-tackled some of our nations tallest tales Gallipoli, Kokoda, James Cook, Ned Kelly and, um, Kim Beazley. Now hes set his sights on the biggest target yet: himself.

In this hard-hitting expose, FitzSimons asks: Should I have done more to stop Malcolm Turnbull screwing up the republic referendum?, Is there anyone who doesnt know Ive given up the grog? and How funky do those bandanas get under studio lights?

A worthy addition to the canon.

Its more than a newsletter. Its where readers expect more fearless journalism from a truly independent perspective. We dont pander to anyones party biases. We question everything, explore the uncomfortable and dig deeper.

And now you get more from your membership than ever before.

Peter FrayEditor-in-chief of Crikey

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The best (totally real) books to extend your lockdown misery - Crikey

One interesting note from our not always rational Chief Executive's Office, they are withdrawing their nomination of David Chipman (wildly anti-2nd Amendment) to Director of ATF. After his debacle at his hearings I guess the CEO thought better of his qualifications? This in no way means the Left is one bit less determined to take the 2nd away from honest gun owners while at the same time doing nothing to curtail violent criminal drug gangs running rampant, killing one another along with a new element of just picking some innocent citizen to shoot and kill just for the heck of it. A new gang initiation perhaps?

Now I believe I made the case recently that the Left is consistently inconsistent and this is just another example of that. Government (FBI) statistics, if anyone cares to check, show conclusively that "Gun Violence" is both gang related and it is with the use of hand guns by a huge percentage. Yet the Left keeps insisting the problem is "assault guns," which are not assault guns nor by any means the choice of criminals, period.

Typically more interested in the optics of a problem then addressing the problem itself, this speaks to their obsession with vote harvesting rather then public safety. Take away every law abiding citizen's every weapon and it would not put even a scratch in our gun violence in this country. The problem is criminals with guns nothing else, yet the Left, pushing political correctness ignores reality.

I may have mentioned, philosopher Ayn Rand said, "You can avoid reality, but you can not avoid the consequences of ignoring reality." Boy was she right!

If you are a resident of Laconia or the local towns around, it is obvious crimes are rising even in our out-of-the-big-city environment. The spillover comes largely from the illegal drug industry and gangster wanna-be's looking for the fast buck. That and the Left's all-cops-are-racist narrative pushed by the terrorist BLM thugs hiding behind an antiracist screen sounding so appealing to many.

No one wants to be perceived as a racist but look at BLM's actions. Most destruction by them is in Black community's, including the killings.

I again point you back to Ayn Rand.

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Steve Earle: The Left unconcerned about consequences of their narrative - The Laconia Daily Sun

Culture warriors will hate what PwC is doing. I can almost hear them, as I write this, fulminating about the woke accountancy firm on the back of the measures it is taking to improve diversity.

Let me explain: The business already voluntarily reports its ethnicity pay gap along with the mandatory gender pay gap reporting that is required of all employers above a certain size. But this year it has also added disability pay gap reporting and has provided a number based on its employees socioeconomic background too.

Were doomed, I tell you, doomed. Before too long you wont be able to get in the office cafe for all the bally wheelchairs and therell be guide dogs sleeping in the corridors. Britain will soon be on its knees, swamped by a tide of political correctness, if this catches on.

Visit link:

PwC's bid to improve diversity is not woke. It's shrewd business - The Independent