Hand wringing won't help here. It shouldn't be THAT difficult to find out who the cadres are that began organizing the pro-Hamas turnout on October 8th, right after the massacre and rapes and kidnaps. A lot of that organizing got done on campuses, and a few of those cadre types need to be heavily investigated, arrested and charged. Moreover, their affiliations and their sources of funding need to be publicized. About time that the student no-nothings began to open their eyes and see who is using them, and for what ends. Today's CNN online featured two items -- (1) a condemnation posted by the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs bemoaning the "harsh" treatment of protesting students on some of the US campuses and (2) an article announcing that Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi has been sentenced to death --- to DEATH -- for protesting in 2022. The cynicism and manipulation know no bounds. Time for sleepwalkers in Columbia, Yale and elsewhere to stop mouthing "from the river to the sea" and be, finally, shaken awake. Really awake this time.
Why is the West so lenient with them? They're fighting and misbehaving, and many come from immigrant parents who fled war-torn regions. What’s even more interesting is that they're upset about TikTok being banned in the US. The peculiar thing is that Arabs and other Muslims feel like their freedom of speech is being taken away. I should mention that I’m a mandaeism girl from Iraq, and we fled Iraq in 92. I start asking myself, maybe there is a reason why dictatorship exists in the Middle East? Because a certain group from Middle East always creates chaos where ever they are.
There parents came from the most brutal dictatorship in Middle East, and now they are protesting for banning of TikTok.
TikTok's CEO said in a video that people should resist the ban, encouraging them to protest. I just wonder why TikTok's CEO doesn't fight for free speech in China, Iran, or Russia—why is he so eager to bring free speech in US? The world seems upside down.
Yesterday, I visited Columbia University. I saw a small number of 'protesters" who are breaking the law with impunity. And a large number of students going about their normal business.
Perhaps the most important long-term change is to restore merit and intellectual achievement as the central roles of the university. The rest will follow from that.
Degrees in Queer Theory or Palestine Studies are merely excuses for mediocrities to obtain a diploma from an acclaimed university without having to study the difficult and serious fields like quantum physics, differential geometry, econometrics ...
I learned from the History of English podcast that early iterations of universities, known as "stadium generale" were more akin to trade unions that were formed for the protection of students against unscrupulous teachers (or magistri) and merchants who took advantage of students by price gouging or simply absconding without delivering product such as an education, food, or lodging. I am keen to find out whether this is an accurate portrayal because it seems the system was long ago subverted to exploit students, and the notion of the venerable institution of higher education was a myth. Here is a transcript of the podcast episode: https://historyofenglishpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HOE-Transcript-Episode095.pdf
The best line: stop hand-wringing and take action.
Hand wringing won't help here. It shouldn't be THAT difficult to find out who the cadres are that began organizing the pro-Hamas turnout on October 8th, right after the massacre and rapes and kidnaps. A lot of that organizing got done on campuses, and a few of those cadre types need to be heavily investigated, arrested and charged. Moreover, their affiliations and their sources of funding need to be publicized. About time that the student no-nothings began to open their eyes and see who is using them, and for what ends. Today's CNN online featured two items -- (1) a condemnation posted by the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs bemoaning the "harsh" treatment of protesting students on some of the US campuses and (2) an article announcing that Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi has been sentenced to death --- to DEATH -- for protesting in 2022. The cynicism and manipulation know no bounds. Time for sleepwalkers in Columbia, Yale and elsewhere to stop mouthing "from the river to the sea" and be, finally, shaken awake. Really awake this time.
Why is the West so lenient with them? They're fighting and misbehaving, and many come from immigrant parents who fled war-torn regions. What’s even more interesting is that they're upset about TikTok being banned in the US. The peculiar thing is that Arabs and other Muslims feel like their freedom of speech is being taken away. I should mention that I’m a mandaeism girl from Iraq, and we fled Iraq in 92. I start asking myself, maybe there is a reason why dictatorship exists in the Middle East? Because a certain group from Middle East always creates chaos where ever they are.
There parents came from the most brutal dictatorship in Middle East, and now they are protesting for banning of TikTok.
TikTok's CEO said in a video that people should resist the ban, encouraging them to protest. I just wonder why TikTok's CEO doesn't fight for free speech in China, Iran, or Russia—why is he so eager to bring free speech in US? The world seems upside down.
Yesterday, I visited Columbia University. I saw a small number of 'protesters" who are breaking the law with impunity. And a large number of students going about their normal business.
Perhaps the most important long-term change is to restore merit and intellectual achievement as the central roles of the university. The rest will follow from that.
Degrees in Queer Theory or Palestine Studies are merely excuses for mediocrities to obtain a diploma from an acclaimed university without having to study the difficult and serious fields like quantum physics, differential geometry, econometrics ...
I learned from the History of English podcast that early iterations of universities, known as "stadium generale" were more akin to trade unions that were formed for the protection of students against unscrupulous teachers (or magistri) and merchants who took advantage of students by price gouging or simply absconding without delivering product such as an education, food, or lodging. I am keen to find out whether this is an accurate portrayal because it seems the system was long ago subverted to exploit students, and the notion of the venerable institution of higher education was a myth. Here is a transcript of the podcast episode: https://historyofenglishpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HOE-Transcript-Episode095.pdf