I paraphrase, of course. Though not, I think, wildly:

The alleged harms of debate and the citing of statistics are not mere rudeness or a failure to flatter, but “lasting psychological damage.” Because statistics can do that, apparently.

What might constitute controversy in the minds of such implausibly delicate creatures is not made clear, though we are told that the terms “blind review,” “handicap parking” and “immigrant” were considered “harmful language” by Stanford University’s IT department. Which does rather suggest a kind of neurotic contrivance.

Humble, you say. We’ll get to that in a second.

You can guess where this one’s going.

And,

And what better gift to the world than imposing your own hang-ups and inadequacies on everyone else, quite emphatically, at every opportunity?

And then we arrive at this glorious conundrum:

The study, found here, informs us that those most keen to pre-emptively shut down discussion, including by vigorous means, also “rated themselves as higher in… empathy.”

The inversions of progressive “empathy” – and its routine departure from reality – have of course been poked at here before.

And regarding those claims of humility, nothing says, ‘I entertain the possibility that my assumptions may be wrong’ like forbidding any and all attempts at contradiction.

Consider this an open thread. Share ye links and bicker.

Lifted from the comments, some beverage-related economics news:

This is like the entire left versus right debate on markets pic.twitter.com/5PlEn1uWS5

— wanye (@xwanyex) April 29, 2026

What things actually cost is “incredibly rightwing,” apparently.

As Rafi says in reply,

The inability to grasp how things work is quite remarkable. There’s an air of imperviousness. And it does, I think, capture something of broader attitudes. Certainly, I’ve had several not dissimilar conversations.

I’m now poking at the implication that the All Powerful State should have an army of po-faced minions patrolling the nation’s coffee shops, correcting the price of oat milk and other disgusting boutique substances. Regardless of the actual cost to the owner of the coffee shop.

And so, not comprehending fairly obvious things, despite being adults, Our Betters invoke conspiracies and call for a kind of ludicrous tyranny.

By the way, Mr Cohen – the chap upset at having to pay a few extra cents for oat milk in his coffee – is an assistant professor of sociology at Berkeley. He has pronouns in his bio.

He teaches those less knowledgeable and worldly than himself.

Oh, and being an assistant professor of sociology, a statusful intellectual, Mr Cohen has, at the time of writing, not seen fit to respond to any of the numerous comments pointing out his error.

Including polite and informative replies from owners of coffee shops.

Lifted from the comments, which you’re reading of course, Christopher Rufo spies more dolts and liars in dumb academia:

And yet, none of these post-colonial theorists want to “decolonize” electricity, antibiotics, and other oppressive constructs of the Western world, in order to return to the authentic indigenous ways of the darkened teepee and dying from a small scratch on the leg. https://t.co/iL4cwZIqrr

— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@christopherrufo) April 17, 2026

Note that the first words uttered by Noah Romero, our Assistant Professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies, are hilariously untrue. Note too his framing of his own efforts – all that “undoing, dislodging, subverting” – as an “eradicative project,” one intended to purge Western civilisation of its, well, civilisation.

And presumably, by implication, to purge it of people like thee and me. Those who might protest. But remember, we’ve been assured that the term decolonise is “misinterpreted” by those who dare to look unimpressed, and that it is, despite appearances, entirely benign, used by higher beings with the most fragrant of intentions.

In entirely unrelated news, Hampshire College, where Mr Romero peddles his claptrap, among his fellow educators – sorry, fellow “activists” – is closing down permanently at the end of this year. Due to debt, accreditation issues, and steeply declining enrolment.

Whether this impending closure will impact Mr Romero’s primitivist fantasies of remaking the world, by dislodging and subverting things, or prompt any reflection on his life choices more generally, is a question I leave to the reader.

Conceivably, the world may soon be denied Mr Romero’s “projects that examine the anti-colonial pedagogies found in minority-led punk, skateboarding, and unschooling subcultures.”

I’ll give you a moment to bite down on your fist in sorrow.

But fear not, very similar noises, mouthed by eerily similar idiots, can be found elsewhere. More easily, and often, than one might wish.

Consider this an open thread. Share ye links and bicker.

And in academic news:

The class, since you ask, is Ecofeminist Poetry & Poetics. Taught by a Professor of English, Brian Teare, who will, we’re assured, situate relationships and encourage re-feeling.

Professor Teare will also reveal, in ways somewhat mysterious, how “chattel slavery, imperialism, industrialisation, settler colonialism, and militarisation” can be understood – and righteously tutted about – by listening to “birds, goats, willow oaks, and lichen.”

Those suitably intrigued will “listen across species.” Having forked over the suitable fee, of course.

Because an intersection had to be mentioned at some point, obviously. One must be seen wearing that rhetorical jewellery.

Readers are welcome to ponder whether the anticipated insights on “slavery, imperialism, industrialisation, settler colonialism, and militarisation” – arrived at via ecofeminist poetry and listening to lichen, a lifeform with no sound-producing anatomy – will be in any way surprising.

Professor Teare, pictured here, is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Not entirely unrelated.

See also, situated bodies and self-other paradigms.

Consider this an open thread. Share ye links and bicker.

Via pst314 in the comments, more wonders from the world of education:

You’re intrigued, I can tell.

The specific purpose, lest there be doubt, being classroom urination. Which is apparently a niche activity, a buzz of sorts. Among grown men who are entrusted to shape young minds.

Finding pleasure in the small things.

Perhaps a little too much pleasure.

A close call. Which I’m assuming was the point.

As so often, action was taken, belatedly, only after footage was provided by a concerned parent. Mr Champ’s colleagues and employers being, it seems, oblivious to the rumours of similar incidents – one might say school legends – by which a great many pupils had been entertained, before searching out confirmation and circulating said evidence via Snapchat.

Mr Champ is currently “on leave.”