Slog Nov 3, 2017 1:00 PM

Reed Students Shut Down Woman of Color to Fight White Supremacy

by Katie Herzog

Comments

1
SJWism FOREVER!!!!
Cato the Younger Younger on November 3, 2017 at 1:16 PM · Report this
2
"continue reading" is broken.

but I'm already outraged at everyone involved, and all the forthcoming comments.
Max Solomon on November 3, 2017 at 1:17 PM · Report this
3
and previous comment.
Max Solomon on November 3, 2017 at 1:18 PM · Report this
4
This is exactly the kind of ridiculous shit that gives conservatives ammunition. I'm as liberal as it gets but I agree this students are idiots. They are partly to blame for Trump's ability to whip up HIS idiots against the straw man of "political correctness." And I remember the "King Tut" skit - it was in no way anti-Egyptian or anything else.
dvs99 on November 3, 2017 at 1:23 PM · Report this
5
All culture is appropriated. Everything from social customs to music to language itself steals from other traditions. Then people bastardize it and put their own spins on it until over time it becomes something entirely new. Anyone who's spent minimal effort studying cultural anthropology knows this. Railing against cultural appropriation is the absolute dumbest hill for progressives to die on, and die on it they will.
Keenan C on November 3, 2017 at 1:30 PM · Report this
5
Wait until RAR gets a look at 'Blazing Saddles'.
Midwest Mensch on November 3, 2017 at 1:30 PM · Report this
6
And we wonder why the right coined the word snowflake? If you are traumatized by disagreement maybe you should just stick to your echo chamber.
danindowntown on November 3, 2017 at 1:42 PM · Report this
7
And I should have gone as Steve Martin doing King Tut this year for Halloween.
Cato the Younger Younger on November 3, 2017 at 1:53 PM · Report this
9
Anyone from Reed care to drop by and explain why the students are not being giant assholes here?
Mtn. Beaver on November 3, 2017 at 2:26 PM · Report this
10
You all should actually read the article -- the entire last half is about how this year's freshmen are standing up against the snowflakes/bullies. It's pretty great.
Escapee from S. Idaho on November 3, 2017 at 2:32 PM · Report this
11
I can't wait for the far right and college crusaders join together to burn the Smithsonian to the ground. Maybe they can stone a few people to death while doing it.
JMS on November 3, 2017 at 3:04 PM · Report this
12
yep. super triggering, offensive, patriarchal, privileged, white gosh it makes me mad. just like sand in my vagina.
SwampThing on November 3, 2017 at 3:09 PM · Report this
13
kinda weird (albeit not suprising considering they are statist liberals) how herzog and theatlantic article don't mention the demographics of rar but by inference, while its dissenters and power-holders almost all get full adjectiving. if the west-centrism is true it is not a humanities course but an exercise in euro-supremacism, which is a scourge because so many people around the world are truly shitty and their history of brutality needs to be told. it's the history of men crushing men and women and ruining the earth.
pansack on November 3, 2017 at 3:11 PM · Report this
14
Every country in the world is shitty. There is no pure way of life anywhere. There is no list of evil and good countries or nationalities at this point. Colonialism and imperialism were indisputably evil, but it doesn't make everyone else on the planet saints and victims.
JMS on November 3, 2017 at 3:38 PM · Report this
15
Crazy how the word "traumatizing" now has zero meaning.

Idiot Sawant on November 3, 2017 at 3:46 PM · Report this
16
15: Used to be that it might describe watching your comrades blown to smithereens on the battle field or violent sexual abuse. Now it seems to be pretty much anything you don't feel like hearing on a given morning.
JMS on November 3, 2017 at 4:25 PM · Report this
17
The humanities are dead. The cowardly "leadership" of these university stood by and did nothing but accept the borrowed tuition payments. Discraceful.

There's a reason this nonsense doesn't happen in the school of law, engineering, or medicine.
Westside forever on November 3, 2017 at 4:36 PM · Report this
18
I don't understand why any college or university would consider a humanities course that even mentions European or western history or the Enlightenment or any of that crap when there's such an vast and untapped reservoir of literature, technological innovation, architecture, written language and historical records, scientific discovery, mathematics, exploration, philosophy and other new ideas coming out of Sub-Saharan Africa over the past 2000 years. I'm traumatized just thinking about it.
mfg5000 on November 3, 2017 at 5:03 PM · Report this
19
#4 Could not agree more! This the kind of shit right-wingers have a field day with, and it resonates with fence-sitters, who are the bulk of the electorate out there. It may not drive them into the arms of Trump by itself, but it helps to do just that.
Morty on November 3, 2017 at 5:12 PM · Report this
20
#4 Could not agree more! This is the kind of shit right-wingers have a field day with, and it resonates with fence-sitters, who are the bulk of the electorate out there. It may not drive them into the arms of the likes of Trump by itself, but it sure helps to do just that.
Morty on November 3, 2017 at 5:13 PM · Report this
21
You know...at first reading this I was all "wow maybe PC culture really has run amok" but then I bothered to do some research on my own and this article misrepresents the RAR group...pretty dramatically.

Their actual claim is that it's racist that Hum 110 is the required freshman humanities course, because Hum 110 is focused specifically on European history. They want the school to re-work the required course into one that's more inclusive of non-western perspectives. I'm not totally on board with how they discuss all this stuff, but it's clearly not about a Steve Martin clip at all and it's a pretty reasonable ask imo. http://reediesagainstracism.tumblr.com/d…

I don't really get why you wrote this article this way - it feels intentionally misleading & provocative.
ughd on November 3, 2017 at 5:37 PM · Report this
22
@20 So good, it was worth saying twice.

Some of these fools should go live in a non-western culture for a few years. They will quickly develop a healthy respect for Western history and what it has given us today, including their foolishness.
Roger What on November 3, 2017 at 5:49 PM · Report this
23
" because Hum 110 is focused specifically on European history"

God forbid they notice they live in a nation heavily shaped by "European history" and its values. It's why they can protest like this unlike in a place like, say Egypt, where they'd be thrown in a 3rd world jail and simply vanish forever for speaking out.
Roger What on November 3, 2017 at 5:53 PM · Report this
24
^^^^ if you felt it necessary, there is more to see.

1) Reed Magazine has compiled a (thin) biblio regarding the subject.

2) RAR has a Tumblr. You should look at it. Beyond the demands, check out the updates (particularly the pics in the library). Maybe there is something to their complaints. Just maybe...

3) Regarding their demands. They are remarkably consistent with the demands presented by students throughout the country, and.... remarkably similar to statement issued by the Black Student Union at both the University of Washington and the University of Oregon.... in 1968.

Sean Kinney on November 3, 2017 at 6:22 PM · Report this
25
You know as long as I have been on earth - a long time - various groups of people occasionally do rediculous but mostly harmless bullshit.

So what. We have real shit to worry about.
Dr.Zaius on November 3, 2017 at 7:27 PM · Report this
26
@21 @24 thanks for information.
Mtn. Beaver on November 3, 2017 at 7:44 PM · Report this
27
Classic example of "Do what I say, not as I do".
I am a dedicated liberal fighting for everyone to be equal and respected.
But this group is pathetic!
It's college, you need to learn new shit, and teaching any culture, regardless of race, is not racist.
When you have one that you will NOT teach, that is racist.
Grow up, whiny ass entitled brats!
I really LOVE the part where the ringmaster says something like, "The rise in student activism, going way back to 2015". As if they are doing something new.
Dumbshit.
Just shows they think they're some special breed of people.
As if no other activism happened before they graced the earth with their presence.
Cami on November 3, 2017 at 7:50 PM · Report this
28
Why is anyone feeling oppressed? Did any of the protester actually grow up oppressed I mean, Reed is a PRIVATE Liberal Arts school. Tuition is $55k . A lot of Rich Upper Class "oppressed" kids getting Work Credit for their Street Cred class.
Thrill Killer on November 3, 2017 at 8:07 PM · Report this
29
Okay I took a look at their Tumblr. Jesus Fucking Christ the drama. The fearing for their lives! Aiiiiiiiieeeeee! Our liiiiiives! We fear for our liiiiiiivvvvvess!!!!! At Evergreen too.

What is it with these college student SJW's and their quivering fearing for their lives? I've literally been in the middle of getting my ass kicked by ACTUAL WHITE SUPREMACISTS and it didn't occur to me to fear for my life. But a provost won't get down on hand and knee and eat their assholes and oooooooooohhhhhwwwwwwaaaaaahhhhhh our liiiiiives are in danger! What a bunch of bizarro bully cowards drama Kings. Pathetic.
Clara T on November 3, 2017 at 8:56 PM · Report this
30
@27 it's not about teaching texts from European culture being racist. It's about the fact that their required humanities course teaches ONLY Western texts. Is it really that much to ask that the required course be more inclusive & global? It's a smart move that would create more well-rounded students!
ughd on November 4, 2017 at 12:09 AM · Report this
31
@30, sure, and that gets done all over the country without the asshat narcissistic histrionics.
Clara T on November 4, 2017 at 6:48 AM · Report this
32
"Is it really that much to ask that the required course be more inclusive & global?"

Would be nice but most American college students don't even know where they come from, and why they have so much freedom to bitch and moan like this. A lesson from Aristotle through Martin Luther through Lincoln through Martin Luther King would be good for them.
Roger What on November 4, 2017 at 7:09 AM · Report this
33
@30, these kids knew what they were getting into. They read about the school. They knew in advance what the curriculum was going to be. If they (kids) don't like it. They can go to another school. But, THEY CHOSE to go to a Majority White Rich Liberal Arts school. Fuck them whiny bitches
Thrill Killer on November 4, 2017 at 7:32 AM · Report this
34
# 23 "unlike in a place like, say Egypt, where they'd be thrown in a 3rd world jail and simply vanish forever for speaking out."

What I'm hearing from you is that you think that these sheltered, white, upper middle-class liberal arts students could benefit from a course that explains culture and traditions in..wait for it

non western, non-european countries.

findlay415 on November 4, 2017 at 10:46 AM · Report this
35
@34 Absolutely, after they learn about western civilization, and how it has given them so much, they should learn about other 3rd world sh*tholes.
Roger What on November 4, 2017 at 11:42 AM · Report this
36
@31 ok but...it's not getting done here. They've been talking about this for a long time & the administration isn't making moves. That's why protests are staged. According to the open letter on the RAR tumblr, the president of the university even denounced the Hum 110 syllabus (but then later backtracked). It's not really that reasonable to say "why do they have to do it THIS WAY" when it's the administration that isn't effectively responding to their concerns...they're doing it this way because they weren't being heard and the change they wanted wasn't happening.

@33 I had a similar thought at first (they signed up for a "classical" Western canon education) but I don't think it's a good argument - probably true that they should have made a different choice, but this is how change is made & universities moving away from the Western canon is a good thing. It makes sense that students at a school like Reed, which markets itself as very progressive & inclusive, would want more progressive, inclusive education.

@34 lol
ughd on November 4, 2017 at 5:50 PM · Report this
37
Forget it, Jake, it’s Reed.
pain au levain on November 4, 2017 at 8:43 PM · Report this
38
@36, ..."They knew what they were getting into..." is a fair argument. It's like going to Catholic School and saying "I didn't know they taught religion here!" And the school should not change. As those complaining, not race-wise. But number of participants are strictly Single Digit. And most likely under 5% if that. Why change things for plus 90% who like things the way they are. And as expensive as that school is. Their parents could have easily afforded Howard U. if the kids wanted that kind of curriculum.
Thrill Killer on November 4, 2017 at 8:45 PM · Report this
39
While the irony of shutting down a "woman of color" to fight "white supremacy" isn't lost on me it is equally enraging when white man is shut down for things that are not vaguely racist, such as the incident in Evergreen involving Brett Weinstein. Again, I understand the hypocrisy, but I also understand the lack of ethics in believing women or POC are more deserving of freedom of speech just based on them being women or POC. It's because of that leftist "logic" that Louis Farrakhan still speaks at colleges across this country spewing anti-Semitism without any protest but let a Jewish guy question affirmative action and he's shut down.
lrasp on November 5, 2017 at 7:37 AM · Report this
40
Buried with a donkey
He's my favorite honky
Toe Tag on November 5, 2017 at 9:15 AM · Report this
41
You know, if you read the entire article, you would see that RAR is facing massive pushback from the new class of incoming freshmen, on whom they made a very bad first impression. The group is losing steam and looks likely to be dead before long. I suspect that the great campus PC wave is cresting and will soon subside all over the country. I am a great believer in higher education, and it gratifies me to see this latest proof that colleges can self-correct and right their course.
Always east coaster on November 6, 2017 at 6:11 AM · Report this