Garbage Detected
At the University of North Texas, a small act of mockery proves revealing:
When [maths professor, Nathaniel] Hiers noticed “a stack of flyers” on microaggressions in the department faculty lounge in November, he read them and found the ideas wanting. Then he wrote “Don’t leave garbage lying around” in jest on a chalkboard, with arrows pointing to the flyers.
Those of a delicate disposition may wish to avoid this image of un-woke waywardness.
Do remember to breathe.
Needless to say, such demurral – promptly construed as “upsetting” and even “threatening” – could not go unpunished:
Hiers claims that the reasons he was given for his firing trace back to the microaggression fliers: He wouldn’t subject himself to “additional diversity training” or retract his criticism of the fliers, and his “actions and response are not compatible with the values of this department.”
Professor Hiers’ claim regarding the reason for his firing appears to be confirmed, in writing, by the maths department chairman Ralf Schmidt, who cites the incident as pivotal in his decision and describes Hiers’ mockery of the flyers as “cowardly.”
The department-endorsed leaflets insist that statements such as “I believe the most qualified person should get the job” are in fact racist, sexist “microaggressions” and, in ways somewhat unclear, terribly oppressive, even a grave health risk, allegedly “targeting” the “marginalised group membership” of theoretical persons. Persons who, we’re told, consequently endure all manner of hardships, from poverty and migraines to heart disease and eating disorders. And so, it turns out that airing a belief in the importance of competence – as opposed to a preoccupation with a person’s sex or skin colour – is some kind of malevolent incantation, a powerful curse.
Professor Hiers is now suing the University of North Texas.
Needless to say, such demurral – promptly construed as “upsetting” and even “threatening” – could not go unpunished
‘Woke’ academia sounds like a cult.
‘Woke’ academia sounds like a cult.
You could think of it as the new Scientology, only much more widespread and influential, and much more corrosive.
describes Hiers’ mockery of the flyers as “cowardly.”
Lefties project.
Lefties project.
Lefties also seize control of language. And we let them.
Professor Hiers is now suing the University of North Texas.
I hope he winds up owning the University of North Texas and subsequently closing it down as not fit for purpose. It’ll never happen but I can dream.
““By firing Dr. Hiers, the university sent an explicit message: ‘Agree with us or else.’”
I think I’ve mentioned before that this sentiment is much closer to what the Founding Fathers were worried about when they wrote about “the establishment of religion” in the First Amendment than daily prayers in schools or “In God We Trust” on banknotes.
As things stand, Hiers would seem to have a good case, but it’s not hard to imagine a future in which the state endorses the idea that deviation from a certain belief system is dangerous, unacceptable, and, if not actively punishable, at least deserving of the loss of certain rights. The Anglosphere isn’t there yet, but it’s worryingly close when such an idea is so widespread in academia.
And that, whether there’s an organised Church or not, is establishment of religion. During the Reformation, wars were fought over it. Monarchs lost their heads for persecuting the wrong side. The strife lasted for centuries (its echoes are still heard in Ireland). The separation of church and state is one of the United States’ greatest successes, but it’s been so successful that many of its people seem to have forgotten that it’s about freedom of conscience for the people, not enforcing a petty atheism on the state.
I’ve yet to see evidence that there’s more to the story – something genuinely damning of Professor Hiers. So far as I can see, his primary sin, the basis of his firing, was failing to conceal his disdain for something fatuous, pernicious and very much worthy of disdain. In the world of the woke – which now includes some maths departments – we must all pretend, it seems.
That seems pretty consistent for UNT, across all departments. Politics counts a lot more than research or teaching ability. With expected results on the quality of graduates and in the local community. Best thing that could happen for Denton would be UNT being closed or downsized.
Microaggressions? Where is the flyer for recognizing macroaggressions ie: trampling the Constitution with this travesty being Exhibit A?
It goes without saying that the “microaggressions” farce seems to run in one direction only.
Because of all that fairness, you know.
And reciprocal principles are just so inconvenient.
Garbage Detected
Garbage Math.
Hal,
I bet that xkcd is Randall’s comment on the various attempts to model and analyze the covid19 pandemic.
Palate cleanser – The cow is under the diving board!
The cow is under the diving board!
Heh. Blimey. There’s a lot going on there.
I’m impressed by the rope work.
Academia is drowning in its own effluent.
But, but…The cow spent practically no time under the diving board!
Where do I go to get a refund, huh?
(Never mind. The cowboy rope work was well worth the price of admission.)
Babylon Bee podcast Episode 26: PC Insanity On College Campuses covers similar ground. (also on spotify)
From about the 19 minute mark it becomes an interview with Mike Adams, a professor at UNC Wilmington, whose troubles started after 9-11. An interesting but slightly depressing tale.
“I bet that xkcd is Randall’s comment on the various attempts to model and analyze the covid19 pandemic.”
I stopped following xkcd when he went all-in on the climate panic. My irony-meter has smoke coming out of it.
I stopped following xkcd when he went all-in on the climate panic.
About when I gave up on him as well. I think the subject was AGW but specifically it was some cartoon where stick man “explained” his point, implied nothing more that was rational could be said, and walked out a door. At that point I thought, well screw you too mr. “scientist”. I do like the numbers cartoon, though. But as you say, irony meter pegged. But personally, on top of that, the point he’s making is one that I have spent countless hours trying to get across to certain “smart” people. At its root is something my never-graduated-from-college father ‘splained to me when I was in high school. Of course my own “educated” dumb ass didn’t understand it until about a dozen years later.
I stopped following xkcd when he went all-in on the climate panic
Me too
Uh oh
“Pubs could stay closed until Christmas.”
I hope he winds up owning the University of North Texas and subsequently closing it down as not fit for purpose. It’ll never happen but I can dream.
My dream goes on: Trump buys it and builds a Trump hotel on it.
Trump buys it and builds a Trump hotel on it.
It occurs to me that once an institution has become woke and dysfunctional, it’s not obvious how it might be restored to normal, i.e., non-dogmatically-unhinged, operation.
I stopped following xkcd when he went all-in on the climate panic
Everyone’s dumb about something.
It occurs to me that once an institution has become woke and dysfunctional, it’s not obvious how it might be restored to normal, i.e., non-dogmatically-unhinged, operation
In this case all one can do is convert it to a higher purpose. In this case turn it into a landfill.
Turn the UN building into a sewage treatment facility.
But personally, on top of that, the point he’s making is one that I have spent countless hours trying to get across to certain “smart” people.
Measure it with a micrometer; mark it with chalk; cut it with a hatchet.