Elsewhere (190)
Further to this, Juan Carlos Hidalgo on the vanity and horror of Venezuelan socialism:
A couple of years ago, the then minister of education admitted that the aim of the regime’s policies was “not to take the people out of poverty so they become middle class and then turn into escuálidos” (a derogatory term to denote opposition members). In other words, the government wanted grateful, dependent voters, not prosperous Venezuelans.
As noted many times, the left’s self-imagined radicals have little to gain from successful, independent people. Because success and independence – independence of them – makes you the enemy.
And Thomas Sowell on socialist thinking as sleight-of-hand:
Free college of course has an appeal to the young, especially those who have never studied economics. But college cannot possibly be free. It would not be free even if there was no such thing as money… Those young people who understand this, whether clearly or vaguely, are not likely to be deterred from wanting socialism. Because what they really want is for somebody else to pay for their decision to go to college.
British readers may recall the student rioting of 2010, during which students took thuggish umbrage at the thought of being expected to pay for their own choices, like adults, albeit with generous credit, and while depicting themselves as “slaves.” A bold choice of words for people so engorged with entitlement that they assume an unassailable right to other people’s earnings. Stripped of its threats and theatrical pretensions, the students’ message was: “I don’t think the degree course I’ve chosen is worth paying for and yet I refuse to do without, therefore someone else should be forced to pay for it instead.”
And by happy coincidence, these little clownlings are currently ‘occupying’ a lecture hall at Sheffield University and demanding a “free, non-hierarchical” university education. Because choosing to take a degree course that they don’t want to pay for, and don’t think is worth paying for, is apparently “a radical act,” and because, being so fabulous, so incredibly radical, they have a “right” to the money that other people had to earn by doing something of value. According to the occupiers and their supporters, learning useful skills and thereby becoming employable “is exactly what education shouldn’t be [about].” Which suggests they probably aren’t the engineers and biochemists of tomorrow.
Feel free to share your own links and snippets in the comments. It’s what these posts are for.
According to the occupiers and their supporters, learning useful skills and thereby becoming employable “is exactly what education shouldn’t be [about].” Which suggests they probably aren’t the engineers and biochemists of tomorrow.
There’s your problem.
The titans of tomorrow.
Hear them roar.
In other news, it turns out that “hate crime” hoaxes are still very much in fashion:
A catalogue of similar hoaxes, including several that are quite audacious, can be found here and here.
In other news, it turns out that “hate crime” hoaxes are still very much in fashion.
Naturally, the real perpetrators are not being charged with a hate crime:
““I especially want to point out that what happened on the bus was not a ‘hate crime.’ We spent a great deal of time carefully reviewing the audio recordings to determine whether any racial slurs were used,” Wiley said in his statement. “The only person we heard uttering racial epithets was one of the defendants.”
Hear them roar.
All fourteen of them.
Naturally, the real perpetrators are not being charged with a hate crime
#BlackLiesMatter
From the Sheffield “Our University” tweets:
“Lectures as normal at the occupation, sign of good protest management I think. Thanks @freeunisheff”
Rather than a sign of good protest management, I would think that everything going on as normal is a sign of a rather ineffectual protest. However I think Lacan is indistinguishable from a lemur, so I may be in error.
Regarding the protesters, The Mighty 14 with their little fisties in the air are not exactly latter day Huey Newtons, (or Wayne Newtons, for that matter).
“Our University”
Funny how it’s somehow become their university, as if theirs to do with as they please, and yet they don’t want to pay for any of it.
I don’t tweet but I hope someone lets the little darlings know how much we’re laughing at their histrionics
Given the number of begging letters I get from my alma mater (not Sheffield) the only way universities will clamp down on these little Wolfie Smiths is for alumni to tell them the money will stop flowing otherwise…
I don’t tweet but I hope someone lets the little darlings know how much we’re laughing at their histrionics
Histrionics; is that a degree course now?
In 1987, Allan Bloom, a progressive, wrote The Closing of the American Mind, where he described how political activism was replacing scholarship in higher education. Were he alive today he would be dismayed at how things have gotten worse.
A couple of years ago, the then minister of education admitted that the aim of the regime’s policies was “not to take the people out of poverty so they become middle class and then turn into escuálidos” (a derogatory term to denote opposition members). In other words, the government wanted grateful, dependent voters, not prosperous Venezuelans.
It would appear, then, that the sole purpose of the Bolivarian Revolution was to keep PSUV (the Venezuelan socialist party) in power.
And to what purpose was this power? To make party leaders rich?
Histrionics; is that a degree course now?
Almost certainly a core module in many a gender-studies course
Off topic:
The leap day is a women-hating, salary-stealing, birthday-wrecking, interest-hungry excuse for 24 hours.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/shortcuts/2016/feb/28/is-29-february-capitalist-conspiracy
From the “science” pages of the Guardian.
From the “science” pages of the Guardian.
Imagine the Guardian’s office parties. They must be such fun.
RY:
Reasonably sure that article was satirical, a mocking of all-too-typical Guardian offerings.
. . .the only way universities will clamp down on these little Wolfie Smiths is for alumni to tell them the money will stop flowing otherwise…
This actually works. Alumni outrage expressed in a severe diminution of contributions, as well as nastygrams to the state legislature helped encourage Mizzou to terminate its relationship with Melissa Click. I had a serious Mizzou student engaged in alumni telephone solicitation ( tell me off the record she’d received virtually unanimous pushback from angry former students.
@rabbit
You’re probably right. It’s increasingly difficult to tell if they are actually mocking themselves.
🙂
Wow! They’ve got 44 followers on Twitter.
It’s like the Arab Spring all over again.
TO THE BARRICADES!
Comrade Nicky apparently thinks a website that publishes the black market exchange rate for dollars/dolars (the real ones, not the fantasy rate insisted on by the gubmint) is causing the Venezuelan economy to collapse. Those evil capitalists sure are tricky, huh Nicky?
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article63211337.html
RY:
The confusion is understandable. The article wasn’t any more ludicrous than the typical Jessica Valenti offering.
Except Valenti isn’t as lucid.
“I think Lacan is indistinguishable from a lemur”
Well, as long as you can tell a hawk from a hand-saw, eh?
Oh, and hand the “occupiers” a bill for the use of the hall. “Our university” my ass.
“City AM” (whatever that might be) seems to think I shouldn’t be blocking their ads.
Tough titty. The exact same info is available elsewhere, you know.
The more the clownlings speak, the more absurd and dishonest they sound:
How incredibly gracious of them.
So despite their selfish and juvenile ‘occupation’ of a lecture theatre that other people had booked and wanted to use, and despite their stated plan to “make the space [their] own” and thereby impose on others, the protestors claim they weren’t going to disturb or disrupt anyone else’s lessons with their hackneyed posturing. But as those other lectures have been relocated elsewhere, the protestors are now claiming that the university management is “restricting access to critical voices and dissent.” There seems to be some dissonance between the two claims. Were they planning to share their “dissent” in other people’s lectures or not?
And as so often, note the vanity.
The protesters accused university management of “restrict[ing] access to critical voices and dissent,” adding: “It is not in their interests to expose their students to criticisms of their model of capitalist, competitive, individualistic education.
Lol. Yeah, students *never* get to hear
anti-capitalist wank“critical voices and dissent”.Lol. Yeah, students *never* get to hear
anti-capitalist wank“critical voices and dissent”.And especially not in Sheffield, in the heart of the “socialist republic of South Yorkshire.” Good heavens, no.
Ah, the “so engorged with entitlement ” link pic…that’s one of the knighted Pink Floyd musician’s kids, iirc. Wonder what he’s done with his privileged life since.
Ah, the “so engorged with entitlement” link pic…that’s one of the knighted Pink Floyd musician’s kids, iirc
And so definitely a member of the oppressed proletariat.
“Statistics on the prevalence of marriages between close relatives today are scarce. Once common practice in Western societies, estimates suggest the Middle East, along with Africa, continue to have the highest levels in the world. In Egypt, around 40% of the population marry a cousin; the last survey in Jordan, admittedly way back in 1992, found that 32% were married to a first cousin; a further 17.3% were married to more distant relatives. Rates are thought to be even higher in tribal countries such as Iraq and the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Kuwait.”
http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21693632-marriage-between-close-relatives-much-too-common-keeping-it-family
In Egypt, around 40% of the population marry a cousin
I knew the rate was high, but… blimey.
Hear them roar.
Hear them squeak you mean? 😉
In Egypt, around 40% of the population marry a cousin
I knew the rate was high, but… blimey.
Yes, but the ones to really worry about are the ones where you wonder whether if they get divorced they are still brother and sister.
This business of a “free” college education is amusing to see, especially here in the states where people talk about how the Europeans manage it without student loans and such. It’s big with the Bernie Sanders crowd, of course.
I always tell them that if they want that system here, they’d better be prepared to have about 75% of the current students tossed from university because they didn’t do well enough in high school. What? You can’t read then write and converse intelligently about the latest op-ed in Le Monde or the Frankfurter Allegemeine? No university for you, bub. Oh, and forget about the “Grievance Studies” degree you planned on getting. The public doesn’t need another feminist Tumblr blogger.
@Mojo
“City AM” (whatever that might be) seems to think I shouldn’t be blocking their ads. Tough titty. The exact same info is available elsewhere, you know.
If you don’t allow City AM’s ads through then City AM won’t receive any ad income, and eventually (one assumes) City AM will fold. Ultimately, it’s not impossible to imagine all ad-supported media sites folding, with the result that we’re left only with State media paid for via theft, sorry enforced taxation.
So it might not be a bad thing to allow their ads – doesn’t mean you have to buy anything from them. But each to his or her own.
Re these Sheffield jackasses, my word – it’s like Viz was never invented. But then, my daughters attend a very (very) academic school along with lots of other middle class white girls and they are overrun by stupid teenage SJWs. What do we expect?
Ah yes, the December 2010 riots. I remember them, and also the story of Alfie Meadows.
Meadows was – at least according his mother, ‘The Guardian’ and the soon-to-be-defunct ‘Independent – a lovely young chap from Middlesex University who became the victim of shocking police violence during the course of the demo. He was (we were led to believe) clubbed to the ground by the Met, and given a life-threatening blow to the skull by a police nightstick. Meadows’ mother – Susan Matthews – went as far as to claim that the police tried to delay the emergency medical treatment he desperately needed; a claim which was subsequently retracted.
Then the Independent Police Complaints Commission suspended its investigation into the attack on Alfie Meadows – at the request of his own legal team.
And then he went on trial for violent disorder in March 2012, during which the prosecution presented evidence that placed him among a group of ‘demonstrators’ that separated itself from the main body of the student march. Meadows was also shown attired in a combat jacket and a balaclava (a ski-mask), which is just the kind of thing one wears when out for a peaceful protest.
Furthermore, accounts of the events leading up to Meadows receiving his life-threatening injuries could not confirm that he’d actually got them from a police baton. In fact, the possibility was that he was on the receiving end of what in Army-speak is called a ‘blue-on-blue’, and that he may very well have been hit by one of the many pieces of Irish confetti that the ‘peaceful students’ launched at the coppers, causing the senior officer on the scene to request back-up over the radio.
Anyway, for some reason Meadows got acquitted, but the judge told him and his co-defendants that their behaviour on the day of the demo was ‘on the verge of violent disorder’. Meadows has since spoken of his need to get justice, but strangely enough nothing has been heard since then.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9169527/Disabled-student-Alfie-Meadows-determined-to-be-part-of-violent-mob.html
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/mar/08/student-tuition-fees-cleared-disorder
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2121115/Alfie-Meadows-Tuition-fee-protester-brain-surgery-police-clash-mob.html
Nobody reads the ads, Dan. They’re a waste of space, and annoying to boot.
It’s not my job to molly-coddle businesses caught in the throes of a change in their ecology, I AM the ecology. Red in tooth and claw, but not in ideology.
It would seem that the family tree is a wreath.
“Funny how it’s somehow become their university, as if theirs to do with as they please”
remove public support, then give it to them. lock, stock, and barrel. they then will have their free education. then start a new university that students and future employers, not the government, must pay for. if anyone wants a free education, direct them to the free university.
I have seen it argued that the poverty in Cuba is not so much the side effect of the US embargo (though it plays a part) but rather a deliberate act of the Brothers Castro. Cuba in 1959 was not a poor country. It had poverty of course, but generally as Latin American countries went it was well fed, well educated, with a strong middle class and good economic opportunity. But it was a dictatorship and the middle class wanted to be democratic. So the revolution was really funded by the middle class and their children were on the front lines of the Revolution.
And despite the Castro myth, until 1958 there were other groups in Cuba that were more successful in attacking Batista. In particular, the middle class, liberal Revolutionary Directorate came within a hair’s breadth of overthrowing Batista in 1957.
Castro once he came to power decided not to allow a power against him and so he figured the best way was to impoverish the middle class, all the while trumpeting the advances of the “Revolution.”
Instalanch on the way.
I have seen it argued that the poverty in Cuba is not so much the side effect of the US embargo (though it plays a part)…
Indeed, a part, as in microscopic, given that the rest of the world has been engaging in no such embargo, and that the only physical blockade occurred during the missile crisis in 1962.
“learning useful skills and thereby becoming employable”
Looking at that bunch I suspect they’re clear of any danger.
Since there is no such thing as ‘free’ the money has to come frome somwhere. As the little darlings are obviously too cowardly to get a gun and steal the money themselves they must perforce comission the government to steal it for them.
The wind must be quite invigorating atop that moral pinnacle.
It is not in their interests to expose their students to criticisms of their model of capitalist, competitive, individualistic education.
Criticism is just about all they hear when it comes to capitalism. How often do students hear a defense of it?
Irish confetti
I’ve never heard that term before (and I’m part Irish). My laugh for the day!
The Era of the Drama Queens:
Every Crisis Is a Triumph
http://no-pasaran.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-era-of-drama-queens-every-crisis-is.html
…/… We live in the era of the Drama Queen.
We have been digging ourselves deeper and deeper into that era for the past fifty years.
Leftists are drama queens. Leftists constantly erupting in hysterics — male (girly men?) or female — rule the roost.
Racism! Patriarchy! Sexism! Rape on campus! Christianity’s bigotry! The reactionary average American! Republicans’ hate speech and hate thought! US history, a litany of racism and oppression! All the founding fathers, hypocritical sonzabitches! All our ancestors, imperialist mongrels! Oppression of women, and gays, and transgenders!
(The only person, the only people, who come out positive in this (self-serving) world view are — surprise, surprise — the drama queens themselves! Also known as the wise men, and the wise women, arriving as knights in shining armor on their white steeds to fight for the victims and the martyrs of the world.)
Whenever there is drama — whenever there is a crisis (or the semblance of a crisis) — the left’s drama queens win.
There must be constant drama — crises, if you prefer — or the movement loses momentum and/or comes to a standstill and/or dies out.
We have been in the midst of the triumph of the drama queens and the Chicken Littles and the other arrested-development adolescents since the 1960s, with the movement reaching its zenith with the 2008 election. …/…
learning useful skills and thereby becoming employable
Looking at that bunch I suspect they’re clear of any danger.
Brace yourselves, comrades. The Sheffield University Poetry Society is lending its weight to the cause. “Free poetry tonight!”
Woo. Yeah.
And now Queer Agenda, “a network of anti-capitalist queer activists in and around the Sheffield area,” are weighing in too.
Can total revolution be far behind?
“Free poetry tonight!”
Ooh, lets!
Roses like lips
Violets like sky
Your poem sucks
Piss off and die.
Thank yew, thenk yew, yer a wunnerful audience.
And now another traditional favourite . . .
They told me, Francis Hinsley, they told me you were hung
With red protruding eye-balls and black protruding tongue;
I wept as I remembered how often you and I
Had laughed about Los Angeles and now ’tis here you’ll lie;
Here pickled in formaldehyde and painted like a whore,
Shrimp-pink incorruptible, not lost nor gone before.
“Free poetry tonight!”
Woo. Yeah.
Snork. It’s the cliché apocalypse.