Has political correctness actually gone mad?

Here's the course syllabus for what it's worth. Done in the right way it could be an interesting exercise, though knowing how these things can go there's an obvious anti-Zionist agenda to the program. But the idea that it's somehow antisemitic is obviously ridiculous:

Course Description:

This 1-unit lecture and discussion-based course will examine key historical developments that have taken place in Palestine, from the 1880s to the present, through the lens of settler colonialism. First, by utilizing a comparative approach and engaging with existing scholarship, we will gain a broad understanding of settler colonialism. Second, we will explore the connection between Zionism and settler colonialism, and the ways in which it has manifested, and continues to manifest, in Palestine. Lastly, drawing upon literature on decolonization, we will explore the possibilities of a decolonized Palestine, one in which justice is realized for all its peoples and equality is not only espoused, but practiced.

Course Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this course, students will have: -

* Been introduced to Palestine’s history from the 1880s to the present -
* Acquired a basic understanding of settler colonialism as a distinct colonial formation, as it has been implemented in various settings, and as it relates to Palestine
* Developed a set of vocabularies specific to the colonial and settler colonial analytics -
* Gained the analytical skills necessary to ground research on Palestine and its history -
* Learned to express oneself using this history and these concepts and vocabularies -
* Researched, formulated, and presented decolonial alternatives to the current situation
 
Problem in all of these cases is the ideologue professors who are incapable of teaching about something by presenting more than one side of the argument. Palestine-related and gender studies the two most obvious examples, non-biased versions of these courses do not exist anywhere.

That Palestine course would probably be really interesting if presented by someone impartial.
 
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hobbers said:
Problem in all of these cases is the ideologue professors who are incapable of teaching about something by presenting more than one side of the argument. Palestine-related and gender studies the two most obvious examples, non-biased versions of these course do not exist anywhere.

That Palestine course would probably be really interesting if presented by someone impartial.
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I don't have much of a problem with professors who don't try to hide their position. I have taken a course on this conflict at an Israeli university, and on day one our professor introduced himself to the class as a 'committed Zionist'. But it was never a big problem as he made sure to teach the historiography from all sides and invite discussion on it, even as he made it clear which arguments he tended to favour himself. In this case though it seems the decision has already been made to associate Zionism with 'Settler-Colonialism' in advance of any discussion on the matter, which makes the entire framing of the discussion potentially problematic in the wrong hands.
 
Can't be arsed trawling back through the thread to December when the row broke out, but Jay Rayner was talking about 'food appropriation' and a load of Ohio students protesting that badly made foreign dishes served as 'authentic' is apparently the most offensive thing. Ever. Unless of course, you don't serve them every night, like the black bloke moaning about the lack of fried chicken on a Sunday.

http://nypost.com/2015/12/18/pc-students-at-lena-dunhams-college-offended-by-lack-of-fried-chicken/
 
Jippy said:
Can't be arsed trawling back through the thread to December when the row broke out, but Jay Rayner was talking about 'food appropriation' and a load of Ohio students protesting that badly made foreign dishes served as 'authentic' is apparently the most offensive thing. Ever. Unless of course, you don't serve them every night, like the black bloke moaning about the lack of fried chicken on a Sunday.

http://nypost.com/2015/12/18/pc-students-at-lena-dunhams-college-offended-by-lack-of-fried-chicken/
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Maybe this is how vegans win their war. I'm offended there is meat on campus, get it out of my sight.
 
Made me chuckle the way blacks, Japanese, Vietnamese and hindus all managed to get offended by the crappy canteen. Speaking of 'cultural (mis)appropriation', one of my local colleagues gets irrationally angry about the fact that the pub near the office serves a naan bread with Thai green curry, as does my wife about the fact that kedgeree, the veggie Indian dish, is served with smoked haddock in it here.
 
This one has has a bit of both cultural appropriation and blackface (or body in reality).

Disney pulls children's costume for new Polynesian princess film Moana from its stores and apologizes for the 'brownface' outfit
  • Disney has stopped selling a children's costume of the character Maui in the upcoming animated film Moana
  • The costume used brown fabric to depict the character's darker skin tone
  • Many were outraged, calling the outfit 'brownface'
  • Some also said it was disrespectful to Polynesian cultures where tattoos are sacred
  • Moana was initially hailed for featuring the first-ever Polynesian Disney princess and the first princess without a romantic interest
389C025200000578-3798362-image-m-6_1474378591415.jpg

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...Moana-stores-apologizes-brownface-outfit.html
 
Moana was initially hailed for featuring the first-ever Polynesian Disney princess and the first princess without a romantic interest
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Why was this a particular reason for praise?

 
Jippy said:
Made me chuckle the way blacks, Japanese, Vietnamese and hindus all managed to get offended by the crappy canteen. Speaking of 'cultural (mis)appropriation', one of my local colleagues gets irrationally angry about the fact that the pub near the office serves a naan bread with Thai green curry, as does my wife about the fact that kedgeree, the veggie Indian dish, is served with smoked haddock in it here.
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That's a western breakfast dish with Indian origins. It's meant to be served with fish, particularly smoked haddock. One of my favourite dishes and one of my "specialities" too.
 
Nick 0208 Ldn said:

Why was this a particular reason for praise?
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Because it shows that stories about females can be more than just about their search for romance or that their accomplishments go beyond just finding a good mate, that they have other things to contribute to movies, TV shows then just talking about men. It's the similar to the Bechdel Test for a movie or TV show, do the women characters have conversations that are not about men.
 
Jippy said:
Made me chuckle the way blacks, Japanese, Vietnamese and hindus all managed to get offended by the crappy canteen. Speaking of 'cultural (mis)appropriation', one of my local colleagues gets irrationally angry about the fact that the pub near the office serves a naan bread with Thai green curry, as does my wife about the fact that kedgeree, the veggie Indian dish, is served with smoked haddock in it here.
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Great. Now I can hold a protest march against the local chippy. I thought it was the bad fish they used but who knew it was the turkish owner thats the problem.
 


I never really took the debate about safe-spaces and this this new sensitivity serious. I thought it was just a fringe phenomenon that is getting blown up by the internet. I am still not convinced that more than a tiny minority would act like this. It is just too weird. Can people who are still studying give me an update on this ? Is this real or a non-issue?
 
I'd absolutely hate to be at university now, especially in America. I know you could say it only seems regular because of social media etc but you see stuff like that more and more now.
 
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PedroMendez said:


I never really took the debate about safe-spaces and this this new sensitivity serious. I thought it was just a fringe phenomenon that is getting blown up by the internet. I am still not convinced that more than a tiny minority would act like this. It is just too weird. Can people who are still studying give me an update on this ? Is this real or a non-issue?
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Maybe it's me but to me they are all acting like prima donnas, it was cringeworthy.
 
PedroMendez said:


I never really took the debate about safe-spaces and this this new sensitivity serious. I thought it was just a fringe phenomenon that is getting blown up by the internet. I am still not convinced that more than a tiny minority would act like this. It is just too weird. Can people who are still studying give me an update on this ? Is this real or a non-issue?
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No idea what's going on but can someone please nuke that room?
 
I can´t even fully comprehend that there is a meeting where stuff like this is getting discussed. Don´t they have anything else to do? (e.g. posting on a web forum:drool:). The whole thing is just embarrassing for everyone in this room. To me it looks like a amateur version of a telenovela. I´d just like to know if there is anyone with first hand experience of this stuff. I still don´t believe that this is actually happening.
 
Bottom line: none of those headcases belong anywhere near a university.

Honestly if I were forced to share a campus with people like that I would not be able to hold back, I'd microaggress them all into oblivion.
 
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hobbers said:
Bottom line: none of those headcases belong anywhere near a university.

Honestly if I were forced to share a campus with people like that I would not be able to hold back, I'd microaggress them all into oblivion.
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With your views on rape you'd go a bit beyond microagressions.
 
This morning I was talking with another dad at my kids' school about how you can't play conkers anymore, he said it was political correctness gone mad, I pointed out he was getting political correctness confused with health and safety legislation, Stewart Lee would be spinning in his grave - if he was dead, and if there was some kind of afterlife whereby corpses reacted to events in the living world.
 
Adebesi said:
This morning I was talking with another dad at my kids' school about how you can't play conkers anymore, he said it was political correctness gone mad, I pointed out he was getting political correctness confused with health and safety legislation, Stewart Lee would be spinning in his grave - if he was dead, and if there was some kind of afterlife whereby corpses reacted to events in the living world.
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Am sure that first made the news about 10 years or more ago.
 
hobbers said:
Some women. And "asking for them" is not quite how I'd put it. I just know that if I were a feminist blogger/comedian/columnist and I wanted more hits on my blog, or more traction on my articles, I'd be very happy if my twitter feed lit up with rape threats, given that playing the victim is the easiest pathway of all to more coverage.
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I would suggest this is a rather extreme example of false-consensus effect, on your part. I really don't think many women share your casual attitude to mass online rape threats.
 
hobbers said:
Some women. And "asking for them" is not quite how I'd put it. I just know that if I were a feminist blogger/comedian/columnist and I wanted more hits on my blog, or more traction on my articles, I'd be very happy if my twitter feed lit up with rape threats, given that playing the victim is the easiest pathway of all to more coverage.
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If your twitter feed is lit up with rape threats you're not playing the victim, you are a victim. It would be scary as feck.
 
I don't understand the concept of rape threats, what is the point?
 
JPRouve said:
I don't understand the concept of rape threats, what is the point?
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I doubt that this is a conscious and rational decision to make them. A lack of impulse-control combined with a lack of moral consciousness (“not a big deal”). Just one example of angry/emotional people going nuts, when they are protected by anonymity.
 
The percentage of rape threats that are actually genuine on Twitter is probably less than 1%, they are really more of a trolling or fear tactic. Mostly the former as more people realise rape threats are only counter-productive and give SJWs and radical-feminists ammo for their propaganda. It only takes one person to rape another so even at less than one percent it is still scary to think there is someone who wants to rape you because they don't like what you are doing or saying.
 
PedroMendez said:
I doubt that this is a conscious and rational decision to make them. A lack of impulse-control combined with a lack of moral consciousness (“not a big deal”). Just one example of angry/emotional people going nuts, when they are protected by anonymity.
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Yeah but at what point someone thinks about rape when they are angry/emotional? I find it highly worrying.
 
JPRouve said:
Yeah but at what point someone thinks about rape when they are angry/emotional? I find it highly worrying.
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It's almost a meme at this point. Online rape threats have become the standard angle of attack for a certain type of loser who feels intimidated by women. The ultimate assertion of male over female dominance but arguably completely removed from the act itself.

Like saying "I'll fecking kill you" in an online argument when you would never even punch another human being, never mind contemplate taking their life.
 
With the way in which social media permeates into more traditional social life, anything said online must be taken as a statement of intent, insofar as one would classify such statements as harmful if said in person.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
It's almost a meme at this point. Online rape threats have become the standard angle of attack for a certain type of loser who feels intimidated by women. The ultimate assertion of male over female dominance but arguably completely removed from the act itself.

Like saying "I'll fecking kill you" in an online argument when you would never even punch another human being, never mind contemplate taking their life.
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I see, Twitter is a strange place.
 
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