So the stranger has three different times they discussed the privilege of the womens strike, but no actual coverage how the protests that happened on international women's day. Good job guys, next time how about at least covering the protests?!

That's the least rumpled suit I've seen Trump wear.

I think you really need to have an episode about the events leading to the downfall of the former President of S. Korea, Geun-hye Park. Because that story really fits the intersection of everything you discussed on the podcast: women's protests, privilege, and university protests. While large scale protests put the nail in the coffin of Park's presidency, the real story behind Park's fall started at a prestigious women's university in Seoul (Ewha Womans University), and student protests to maintain their privilege.

The initial student complaint was about a new program for non-traditional students to enter the university without taking the difficult national university entrance exam or showing alternative evidence of academic ability. Part of the protest was about maintaining academic standards and standing up against the sexism of the limited programs, but Ewha alums that I spoke with admitted that it was about prestige. They didn't want just anyone to be able to enter their university and leave with an Ewha diploma without earning it.

This led to students occupying an academic building. Professors and administrators claimed they were held hostage for days, and this was the first lesson for student protestors. Violence and force (even just claims) discredits you. And so they had push back against such allegations by posting pictures of sitting students who could easily be stepped around to show they were not violent or hostage takers. Then, the university president requested and got 1,600 police officers to clear the 200 protestors. And the students got another lesson that violence and force discredits you as public opinion turned against university administrators. It also rallied alumnae.

And then those same student protestors, living in the bubble of university, then began to organize two large scale protests of 10,000 and 20,000 students, alumnae, and professors. Almost all of the protestors were privileged women. And they protested to protect their rights, to support each other, and to protect their privilege as members of an elite university.

The program was canceled. And the students learned another lesson. Don't stop. They demanded the resignation of the university president and continued with smaller but continuous protests. To my knowledge, the big protests ended on campus. I believe they ended because they succeeded on two important fronts. First, the program was cancelled. Second, the small scale but continuous protests were now safe. Police were not going to be called in again. And the smaller protests continued. The student activists also continued to dig to find more cause to force their university president resign. And that's how they found out about the daughter of President Park's confidant being given special admission into the university, which led to the president's impeachment. And of course, the university president resigned, and just last month, was arrested.

http://evoice.ewha.ac.kr/news/articleVie…
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/south-korea…

*I apologize where there are inaccuracies. I'm writing mostly from memory of what I've read previously and what my wife, an Ewha alum, kept me informed about during while she followed it in social and regular media.

I've listened to the last segment twice, and i still can't believe how stupid Rich Smith was on the free speech issue. Yes Charles Murray is bad bad bad bad bad. But the students' mobbing has just made him look BETTER! How difficult is it to get that?

@4 Agreed. I'm listening now and am totally annoyed by everything he's saying. I also don't like the fact that he supposedly represents my generation.

On the next Blabbermouth, I'd like to hear some discussion of the showdown in the UK between Nicola Sturgeon and Theresa May over a new referendum on Scottish independence. The stated motivation is Brexit. Scotland wants to say in the EU, and England wants to leave, so Scotland wants a vote on whether it should DTMFA England and hook up with Brussels. Shit is escalating over there kinda quickly. I know it seems like a world away, and we've got our own mess to deal with thanks to Trump. There's also something in common with us, though. Scottish Independence is kinda where I could see the whole Cascadia thing go in a few decades if the GOP keeps shifting the rest of the country's Overton Window to the Far Right while the Pac NW stays Solidly Left.

Besides, it'd be a refreshing break from our own depressing shit. Its nice to look at the rest of the world once in a while and see the bigger picture. Don't forget South Korea, too.

Back when I was an aspiring co-ed at a midwestern diploma mill, we often had controversial speakers, but the protests were almost always contained to outside of the lecture hall. If they did make it inside, it was usually of the silent type ("die-ins", etc).

While I do think it's rather douchey to have provocative-for-the-sake-of-provacative lecturers in, it's even douchier to have temper tantrums about it, and it does liberals no favors. If we believe in a marketplace of ideas, we have to let the crappy ideas into the marketplace as well, so that they can collapse on their own.