Good on you Professor Klein. As an American who just happens to be Black, I am insulted by the letter written by one of your students. The worst kind of racism is the racism of low expectations. I'm still amazed at White liberals, who in general, think they need to come to the aid of Black people just based on their skin color. Nothing could be more insulting than believing the White hue of one's skin color somehow makes them superior to another race of people. What a false sense of superiority. White liberals are the most dangerous species to the success of Black as a whole.
It is my mission in life to expose every White liberal I come across. I will encourage you to continue to stand for what is right, and never back down to White liberals in particular.
One of the most shocking and memorable videos to come out of the George Floyd riots last summer was of two very thin, blonde, white women berating a black police officer as he stood guard. They were screaming "WHAT THE F**K IS WRONG WITH YOU" in his face. That's your average white female liberal, supporting the destruction of black communities, screaming at black cops, then UBERing home to a glass of Chardonnay and posting on social media about how woke they are.
I don't know. This is labeling people "white" and "black" and even "blonde," subliminally at least reinforcing how leftists force acolytes to see and treat one another. So what if she was blonde? - a hair color, natural or chemically induced, which appears to be illegal in TV and other ads. I have seen the " performatively" unhinged of both colors screaming and spitting in the faces of stoic white, black, and brown police-- all untenable. Finally, I consider myself a moderate liberal and I am white and "female." Far from putting me in a Kindergarten cubby hole, there's a conflation of the far end of the left spectrum approaching nihilism and classic liberalism, which is the polar opposite of everything they're espousing. I believe in free speech, the free and open exchange of ideas, free and fair press, individual rights, the dignity of every human being, respect for animals and this planet, free agency, in property rights and humane capitalism. The far left deliberately mislabels classic liberals as "right wing" and, ever so deceptively, hate-driven, irrational leftists mainstream. They are abetted in this not by the general populace which thinks they're crazy, but by the cowards or conformists or maybe converts in what we call our media. All in the blink of an eye.
One thing: CRT and all this malarky came OUTTA the nihilism of the 60s Post-Modernists. Unbelievable it's gotten as far as it has, but the results today sort-a derives from that beginning.
What should they have done? Said nothing? How do you know they two particular women are “supporting the destruction of Black communities “? I know that if I, a white woman, had been there, I would have screamed at the police officers to try to save a man’s life, not to enhance my image.
Consider doing some research on how to handle a fentanyl overdose. The knee (on the shoulder, not the neck, as shown in court) is to subdue the possibility of 'excited delirium.' Have you gone through lifeguard training? A drowning person can kill you. Excited delirium is a powerful force -- the fentanyl addled person goes stark raving mad with superhuman strength. While it is certainly arguable that Chauvin should have propped Floyd up as soon as he took notice that Floyd was in respiratory distress, it is also likely that no one expected him to die and the severity of his condition passed notice. The ambulance was on its way. So do you believe they called the ambulance to take him to the ER after they "murdered" him? (Useful Idiot).
Off the neck of a man crazed on drugs, a career criminal who once invaded a pregnant woman’s home and held a gun to her belly. I am not saying there should have been a knee on the mans neck. But you are glossing over the 30 minutes prior to that picture where police struggled to subdue a suspect. A career criminal suspect. The police face the worst of the society we created and put their lives on the line for us, for peanuts in salary. I don’t think a black or any police officer standing guard protecting the public deserves to be shouted at and spat in the face as these women and many others have done.
well put, Harry. If I might add my own loathing, i did see , after months without seeing, prior to kneeling, police tried putting man into the police car, as they tried, the man keeps calling for mom, while saying he (floyd) had trouble breathing. I forgot where I did see this but it was Only Twice, compared to hundreds of times the media showed the" Kneel Season".
Many times we hear people give a "no response" , because said is under revue etc. But not our almighty media, every night we had to revue the "Kneel Season".
Those women were screaming at a black police officer. He was not at St Floyd’s OD. It was later in time by days or weeks. It may not have even been in MN.
Lots of iPhones recording. Not a lot of people screaming. It's easy to say, "I would have done X" after the outcome is determined. But at the time it did not look like a life was at risk. It looked ugly and unnecessary but dis not look like imminent death.
One less criminal on the streets...regardless of color. And, blame the dems for keeping black people down since the 60s. Like Trump said, "what do you have to lose". Only your life, like Floyd and countless others in Chicago and other cities.
Another common sense simplicity from Trump, black people what do you have to lose? More time on the Democrats modern virtual plantation? “You ain’t black” J Biden.
They are not "like" religious zealots. They are religious zealots. That's why disagreement is not regarded as a difference of opinion but heresy of the worst kind.
Fear of being cancelled. I have seen it happen to a good friend who was running for re-election to local office. She stood up to critical race theory based resolutions and was promptly cancelled by the local Democrats and lost her race. She spoke up in support of Abigail Shriners book on the explosion of adolescent girls seeking gender change and was promptly fired. Wokeism is an affront to classic liberalism and plenty of liberals are not ok with it. Too few are willing to cross the mob and lose friendships and possibly employment.
welp...they think they are correct and they get their correctness from the NYT. Comes down to the Media, which for some reason, has so much influence on the liberal/left.
I’m not so sure. If there was a tally for division I would put them way ahead of the right. Lockdowns, virtue signaling and cancel culture are left inventions.
It just makes me SICK to hear white liberals talk like this. It's so freaking condescending! I am a white male and know many minorities who are much more financially successful than myself, and when I hear white liberals talking like this I think they must have heads made out of concrete. Frankly, we need minorities to pop off on these people, just turn it around and throw it in their faces.
All I can say is thank you . It is unfortunate that voices like yours are drowned out by stark raving mad l white liberals . By the way I had a few black buddies that are successful as were their parents . Maybe living in Canada is the difference ? I remember driving down through the US in the 60's and being sickened by what I saw . reminded me of 1950's quebec , no Jews Blacks or dogs allowed on the beach or hotel . People have to stand up against the insanity being foisted upon ud
'm not so sure , I have not been back to the US in 12 years , backthen things were not so great at least in Palm Beach where my parents had a house . Cross the bridge and the tracks it was a different world people lining the street selling crack heroin ,who knows what else . middle of the day , did not look like many were employed . Did not look so good to me cross the bridge and see people living on 1/10th what the other side spent on lawn care in a week . something is out of balance
As a traditional progressive myself, it really pisses me off that this new strain of far Left 'progressivism' is butchering the name. They need to get their own label and stop dragging ours through the mud.
I'm glad you taking a stand on this. As ugly and disgusting as it is to say this, I think that the woke Left won't really listen to anyone unless they are not white. What a strange world we live in now.
And, yah. That's what it is, but let us CALL it what it is: We are experience Black Supremists, and their white enablers, AFAIK.
I wrote a now vanished piece before I wrote word one on ANY-a this. It was titled "I Am One of the LEAST Racists Out THere of ANY Color." Something like that. Title alone made a liar outta me, but if people had looked at the EVIDENCE I provided they may have thought twice about it. No matter to me. I'm retired. And I know who I am down to the marrow.
That's why I can say these things, pretty much CERTAIN that these Black Supremists are a small, LOUD, VOCAL percentage of Blacks. Problem is that BLACKS who speak out are then labeled "white" and their whole personality is taken away from them. That, to me, is why it's so rare. Not to mention cancel culture effects them, too.
I think, but can't guess a percentage, that a LOTTA Blacks know all this is not helping, and is in fact hurting, Blacks actually GET where these lamers SAY they wanna get, right?
Thank you Lawrence. I feel the same way about white liberals. I am white and find myself having no business to intervene in the lives of anyone else. It’s why Jason Riley’s book “Please Stop Helping Us” says it all. I am angered by the true racism of diminished expectations. And the people who created the mess now want to point at anyone is who white and call us racist. I can only pray more and more white and black Americans wake up to see this charade.
As a white liberal, I realized a long time ago you respect people by applying the MLK line about judging by the content of character. It isn't complicated.
Which is why I disagree with F. Lawrence Coleman's points about white liberals. Look at the person, not the race.
Reading Sir Sowell had l LOT to do with me moving away from the Dem Party. M. Coleman has his mission, and I hope he has GREAT success at it. Hope I can help out a little, as well. Can only TRY, right? :)
I too am a former liberal. As I reflect back on it, I'm embarrassed that I was so naive. Groupthink is a powerful mechanism. What's the saying, "If you're 20 and conservative, you have no heart, but if you're 35+ and liberal, you're an idiot!"
if you are 20and conservative , could be you have been working your ass off since you were 13 to buy what others had mommy and daddy give them . The world is not black and white
completely agree, but please consider that many of the "woke" really do mean well. they're not immune to vulnerability and fear (even as they bully others). with so much intolerance in the world already, maybe there's a gentler way to bring about change?
Possibly our undoing. Nations rise and fall. We likely will do ourselves in. Karl Marx predicted that the West would do itself in after not being able to handle extended affluence. Hmm
What, to You M. Wolf, is "stooping to their level?" To me, here's a Way: https://www.fairforall.org/ As they used-ta say, "tough row to hoe." It's not in here, but SOMEWHERE I saw their commitment to combatting violence with non-violence. Glad I haven't been in the position. And I wish I was doing more than giving money.
The FAIR Pledge
Fairness. “I seek to treat everyone equally without regard to skin color or other immutable characteristics. I believe in applying the same rules to everyone, and reject disparagement of individuals based on the circumstances of their birth.”
Understanding. “I am open-minded. I seek to understand opinions or behavior that I do not necessarily agree with. I am tolerant and consider points of view that are in conflict with my prior convictions.”
Humanity. “I recognize that every person has a unique identity, that our shared humanity is precious, and that it is up to all of us to defend and protect the civic culture that unites us.”
I disagree. Wielding power for social credit is dispicable but the young should be afforded their folly. The administration, on the other hand, deserve what is coming to them.
Folly, as in lack of good sense, is one thing. Getting people suspended and/or fired is malicious. One almost wonders if the good professor was set up.
The spineless administration shoulders all the blame. This student has no power without the consent of the powers that be. It could have been a teaching moment for how important liberal vues are. Instead, they cowered and tried to use their statement as cover for other deficiencies. I have nothing but contempt for an administration that refuses to stand up for our shared values in the face of the empty threats and ignorance.
I'll give your thoughts more consideration, thanks. I'd be willing to give the administration 99% of the blame, but I do think a "teachable moment" for the student is in order.
The incentive structure has been fully endorsed and ratified by leadership. People are drawn to it like a moth to a flame. You gain nothing by punishing the student. There is nothing wrong with addressing a real or imagined grievance with a professor or the administration. You could even say that it should be encouraged. But when leadership uncritically denounces the accused, that is something else entirely.
Bari, thanks again for sharing these very important stories, it is so critical that the few objective journalists we have left call this shit out. Professor Klein, thanks for having the sack required to fight back and not just wimper away licking your wounds. We do still have a bit of reason and commitment to the law in our Federal Courts, so perhaps at least economic justice will be served upon UCLA in that venue.
It is just beyond imagination how gutless these University administrations are at this point. They have somehow forgotten that these bright yet still ignorant 18 year-olds show up at their University to “learn” - and that is their job and that of their professors to do the “teaching”. But no, they somehow seem to believe that these ignorant 18-22 year olds are there to do the “teaching” - and the University staff is there to do the “learning”.
So, we have now essentially allowed these ignorant, yet already radicalized 18 year-olds to bully the Universities into becoming mono-culture seminaries, indoctrinating both students and faculty into the religion of WOKENESS.
How in the world can anyone who wants to lay claim to being ideologically “liberal” look at this and believe it can end well. Have these brilliant yet gutless fools forgotten the writings of Orwell, or are they just willing to trash a society rather than stand up to a bunch of children?
The Deans are bending over this. They should be the first to defend and they are the first to surrender to the woke mob. Maybe one day a UCLA degree will be as worth as a door mat... but even then they would blame someone else..
As another father, I think it would be more practical to have her attend the best-ranked university she was admitted to (with a scholarship of course; no private university is worth its full tuition) - and to give her a good talk before she leaves home and warn her that she'd be entering a very socially secluded community with a heavy dose of groupthink, and to constantly be mindful of what her professors or peers pass off as received wisdom.
I myself had very radical-left views before I entered college, and quickly fell in with a radical student group. But some innate skepticism and a stroke of fortune took me back from that path. A professor for an applied math course which I enrolled in, had made a provocative statement about gender politics on a non-university publication. My radical peers found out and spent an entire night preparing for a campaign against that professor which involved, among other things, picketing his math class and publicizing other outrageous statements that he was supposed to have made - which we wholly invented. Our justification was that our "hyperbole" helped spread awareness about the kind of aggression and violence that characterized his speech.
That didn't sit right with me, so I did something quite unconscionable; I went behind the back of my peers and informed the professor exactly what my group was planning, which I thought of as a fair warning (though I still believed him to be the "bad guy"). The professor took it all in, sat me down, and chatted with me for a couple hours about precisely why I found him reprehensible. By the time I left his office I remember being in shock at how I had massively misjudged his character, and what else I might have misjudged during my foray into radical politics. I quit my "activist" group that night. (Unfortunately the group proceeded with their plan, and the administration predictably caved in; a senior dean at one point threatened to suspend the faculty member; but the matter died down after I sent an anonymous e-mail to the board of regents proving that the most outrageous statements were fabricated by my peers.)
I went on to work for the professor as a teaching assistant, and a few years later he wrote me a letter that got me into a very good graduate program.
I guess the point of the story is, most of these tertiary institutions are going to be crammed with ideologues - students, deans, faculty. But there are also going to be genuinely independent thinkers amongst them. Figuring out how to navigate through all that groupthink and meet a life-changing mentor was the most valuable part of that education for me. On top of that, having witnessed the mob mentality of my peers and the cowardice and duplicity of the deans helped develop my worldview a lot further than an alternate chronology where I had simply gone to class and did my problem sets without ever being involved in student politics.
A lot of this may change by the time your daughter is 18. There appears to be a massive backlash building in the K-12 arena, as demonstrated by the panicked response of school board associations and teacher unions as reported by NPR and CNN in the last few days, requesting FBI intervention (!!). This parental revolt will extend to colleges and universities soon enough.
I suspect that you are correct. I’ve got a feeling that effective backlash is building and things are getting ready to start crumbling. Especially as more and more lawsuits keep rolling in.
All school are impregnated with this craziness. You at home give your daughter the tolls to stay grounded in these environments. Sadly these ideologies are here to stay.
I recently had the same thought. I am a University of California graduate. I was an extremely diligent high school student and my parents wanted nothing more than for me to gain admission to a well respected UC school. At the time (1986) it was excellent quality and affordable for a middle class family.Originally I hoped for the same thing for my now 11 year old daughter. I have been saving diligently to fund her college education. Considering the pathetic nonsense currently going on in the UC system , I say hell no. I would do everything in my power to convince her to choose a university that refuses to participate in dealing out this postmodernist junk curriculum.
They weren't 18 year olds. These were grad students in a highly selective and highly respected program. Likely well into their 20's. Old enough to know better.
As for liberal, lets be clear. Their pitchfork brigade was not liberal. It was bigoted. Not in the traditional bigoted way, but yes, bigoted.
I blame Rush Limbaugh for making "liberal" a pejorative (at least among conservatives).
I for one have stopped referring to this mindset as "liberal." I just refuse to cede the word to them. I am a liberal for Christ's sake. They are left-of-center, Leftist, lefty, etc. Sometimes worse.
As a conservative, I can say that the abandonment of liberalism on the left has been rather shocking. Ideologically speaking, liberalism used to permeate both sides of the political spectrum to one degree or another. That was the basis for meaningful debate.
The populist right now has more in common with Bernie-aligned voters than anyone would have thought possible 20 years ago. The demographics have flipped in many areas as neoliberals and neoconservatives burn their constituents over and over again. But the chasm widens because liberalism is no longer a common thread.
Advocating for the 1st Amendment shouldn't be controversial. Standing up for the due process of all Americans should be embedded in our DNA. Unconstitutional executive orders should be widely denounced. Individual liberty and freedom should be honored and respected.
Conservatives and liberals have more in common than we have for decades. But the authoritarian religious scolds have taken over on the left. Bought and paid for neocons on the right need to be primaried. It is now a zero sum game where nothing is off the table for those who wield power. I say that we take it back. The consent of the governed has been revoked.
I disagree in this case, but agree for most people ignoring is the right choice. Clearly professor Klein has the fortitude and ability to fight back, in which case it helps shine the light on this nonsense. The more people hear and see this insanity the more quickly the illiberal leftist wave will start to recede.
In retrospect, vision is 20/20. And Klein is human, not AI. Klein’s response was within the realm of normal human behavior for such an occurrence. Moving forward- I am remembering Mark’s advice so as to reduce my vulnerability to harm.
You're correct that would have been the "smart" thing to do, but universities are a place where people with different ideas should respectfully engage. Professor Klein understands this, the student clear did not.
It wouldn't have resolved it. Organizations that have collapsed from within from continent concession to leftists are evidence that the demands only continue to escalate.
Prof. Klein did the second best thing to ignoring this demand entirely.
Do not negotiate with terrorists. You will get hurt, as he did, when you refuse- but submission absolutely will not save you from the left, it will only delay it.
I had an intern try to school me about saying "biological male" for a person who was, um born male. And a former co-worker (co-woker) instruct me to say "hola communidad" instead of "hi you guys." I just smile and say "that's interesting, thanks for bringing it to my attention". I'm a liberal on most issues but the "progressives" have lost their minds. Too bad the Republicans are mired in the Big Lie.
Saying it maybe more clearly, it's the Country's INSTITUTIONS that are woke a lot more that President or Congress. The mainstream and social media. The universities that are training the woke. As You can see, the students. The corporations are going woke, hiring all the DEI and all that. Now the woke are into K - 12.
Comparing all that to Biden/Harris? Not much comparison, right? They're being LED that way, not pushing it forward, AFAIK.
I understand Your point. Not sure how much applies to Biden/Harris.
IOW, I'm not sure Biden/Harris is necessarily the DEATH KNELL. OTOH, I'm not sure of the answers they're coming up with either.
In any event, You likely won't agree that both Biden and T.Rump are, basically, leading us in the same direction by different routes. One will take longer than the other, I suspect.
Once Biden demonized "vax resisters", that showed him to be all-but hell-bent, on the liquidation of those who fail to kowtow to his handlers' every whim.
Naw. I've studied this a fair bit. True, he's enamored of the progressives. He'll rue the day. As far as being woke: He's been touched by it. It was in his Executive Order of Jan. 20. But looking at Biden like he's TOTALLY woke? I'm pretty sure he's not as far gone as some in his administration. Thinking now of Head of Military Milley and Sec. of Defense. Forget his name. And they're just being led by the mob, more than understanding and being like THE woke, right?
You have to look at their actions, Penny, not just buy their rhetoric. It's less than a year, so we'll see what unfolds. Is Kamala even, uh, around? I never hear about her anywhere except saying inane things at political fundraisers.
Gotta love those who cry about their need for safe spaces yet are always ready to punish those who dare disagree with their views and who will use , threaten or condone violence to enforce their intolerance and hatred.
If the student’s email was indeed taken from a form, Prof. Klein might wish to find out through discovery how many of his colleagues received a similar email, how they responded and what, if anything, happened to them.
The student’s condescension in writing (or simply forwarding it on the assumption he read it first) the email itself is rather breathtaking. Another matter for the discovery process: was the student acting alone?
I can understand why you would limit the complaint to the University, but adding the student as a defendant would send a message that this is not a game and his actions have consequences for which he must be held accountable.
In the end, you could always release the student once he has provided in all relevant sworn testimony and documents (including against any University official he dealt with) and a written apology detailing his improper conduct. One might, but only if the circumstances bear it out, grant that the student was acting from a good motive but went about it the wrong way. In law, that type of person is known informally as “white heart, empty head.”
My daughter who has been working in finance for 10 years now, she’s 30, says it’s incredibly hard to hire people which she desperately needs to grow her team. Kids in their early to mid-20’s are entitled, not rigorous, undisciplined and complain a lot. She’s rather shocked at how juvenile this cohort is.
Good to know because when my son graduates in two and a half years there should be available jobs since the slackers don't want to work. He will work his butt off because that's how we raised him.
That was my experience in interviewing most (not all) millennials for employment up until I retired fairly recently. It was all about them and what will you and your company do for them. Oh, and they all want to do "meaningful" work (I thought work itself was meaningful) and it has to more or less save the world as well. Short conversations.
Professor Klein, would it be possible to sue the students who caused your income loss? I am so disappointed at the UC system in general. I had wonderful and rigorous professors that had their education there and as a CA Tax payer it is ridiculous to see where the UC system is heading.
Yeah, as a fellow Californian, there's a lot of illiberal and frequently dishonest 'woke' descending on our students. And I especially don't like paying for it.
Download and read the suit he's bringing. There are 12 unnamed "Does," male and female (one presumes). John and Jane. The discovery process will bring their names to light. It's a well constructed and persuasive action he and his lawyers are bringing, and it should win on the merits.
But, for the rest of us, what most of us has feared is happening is now indeed happening. Western Civilization is crashing in on itself. The most debased, insane and self-defeating narratives have captured the minds of our young people in our lands.
In my view, this will unfortunately not end by rational debate or government edict. No, this will cruise at ever-faster speeds to its unfortunate conclusion: the chaotic social and political fracturing of our civilization into a million pieces.
Of course, in concert with Big Tech governments will use the vaccine passport platform to establish some semblance of control (why do you think they're pushing it SO hard?!). It will work for awhile. But, when our economic system finally meets the logical conclusion of the abuse heaped upon it during the last 40 years (offshoring, quantitative easing, demographic collapse, debasement of currency, rising inflation, and now vaccine mandates that are pushing 5-10% of the workforce into the shadows), the music will stop.
I wish I knew a way out of this mess. But, as the book of Judges foretells, a people whose sole impulses are pleasure, evil and greed is on the precipice of ruin. The 20-year war in Afghanistan is only the latest embodiment of these vices.
Only bondage can restore the yearning for liberty. I fear that's where this is all headed. Tell me I'm wrong and there's still hope?
Extremely well said, but like Cicero before the loss of the Republic, or Socrates through his teaching by questioning, or the good Judges, and later prophets, whom God sent, we must act with moral witness
Unfortunately a nation's course is set by its elites. There is not one elite university in the West that isn't fully infected by the self-sabotage of woke philosophy. As the universities go, so goes the country. This isn't hysteria...this is reality.
Here's the thing a few are waking up to. 2 outta 3 people in this country do NOT have 4-year degrees. Only place that matters, and the only place that DOES matter? The ballot box.
How many antifa are in solitary confinement in jail with no quick court date? Then research how many are in the DC jail in solitary for 6 months and counting.
Back in the day, liberals would be screeching is this happened in the USSR.
Thank you for having the courage to stand up against this type of bullying. The ironic thing is that you successfully pushing back against the university is the best thing that could happen to the school, the faculty and the students - including the student that created this situation. And of course, for all of the rest of us.
The business school getting schooled? About time. You'd think they'd know the real world has real world consequences. Because that is part of what they teach.
That said, UCLA did bring him back relatively quickly, so I'm not sure the lawsuit sticks. This is the woke mob getting its vengeance for perceived crimes. And its damn hard to sue them.
He's been branded a racist and lost substantial income in consultation fees. They also took it upon themselves to defame him before bringing him back. I think he has a case.
To my eye, the saddest part of this whole tale - other than the persecution of the professor, of course - is that a student at this level was so poorly educated that he (she) could not see the degree to which he was embarrassing himself. I used to think that when people embarrassed themselves, they would be as aware as those surrounding them and self-muzzle. Turns out that is not always true - and never true when one lacks the most basic tools of clear thinking.
I have for decades harbored a feeling of unease about my country and mused about, "What's wrong with us?" Many these days think that it can be encapsulated in one phrase: The West has abandoned all standards.
At one time we had clear standards for behavior, standards for respect of one generation for the prior, academic standards - literally standards for everything. In those days we understood and accepted that those standards made underachievers feel badly - but felt their incentives for people to do better was worth it.
Abandoning, though, the standard of "Standing Up For What Is Right" has inflicted untold damage. Longer ago than I care to remember, I attended grade school in the mountains of West Virginia - a throwback, in many ways, but in others a place where traditions and standards were not only honored, but taught. Our teachers taught us to stand up for the right, even if there was a cost, that there almost always would be, and the Honorable Man accepted that cost.
We are in days of reckoning. Bari - better than most - sees it. Over the last generation we have been asleep at the wheel and have allowed Western Civilization to be hollowed out by sorehead Marxists, ne'er-do-well idlers, well-meaning but credulous liberal dupes who think that - next to "racism," of course - "judgmental" is the worst adjective that can be applied to one. Maybe we NEED a little judgmental-ism.
I don't disagree with a fair bit of what you're saying, but I think you've unfairly judged the student in question. Reading his reply to the professor's rhetorical questions, as quoted in the legal brief, actually renewed my faith in certain young people. He clearly did seem to have a conscience.
I think we see this over and over: good intentions. But, of course, we know which road is paved with good intentions. Lewis Brandeis said that, "The greatest danger to liberty lurks in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." One may mean well all he wants, but sometimes the result of one's zeal is indistinguishable from results of malice. There is a great - and fairly short - video by an escapee from Mao's Cultural Revolution. She talks about the techniques used to convert credulous youths into weapons of the Revolution, including using them to rat out their parents, and the perfect congruence with Communist Racist Theory (CRT) being taught in Loudoun County, VA schools. Let's see - here it is
I just read a great article over at "Law and Liberty," entitled, "Has America Lost its Story?" It goes into the American Myth in great depth and talks about America's story and how we need it today more than ever.
"For we can’t really appreciate the statuary of our country—our political and social and economic institutions—or know the value of American liberty and prosperity, unless we pay the price of learning the story. Otherwise, we are like children handling delicate artifacts, unaware of how precious and fragile they are, until we have broken them."
"Whenever any nation is faced with a deadly challenge to its institutions and its well-being, as we are today, it must find a way to draw upon its deepest sense of itself. That is the task before us now. In order to answer the question, “Why do we fight?” we must also answer the questions “Who are we? What binds us together? Why does our way of life deserve to persist?” Such questions might have seemed academic in the past. But they are far from being academic now. They are especially unavoidable for a great democracy, which depends for its unity and morale upon a foundation of shared convictions, broadly diffused through the population."
"Without memory, and the stories within which our memories are suspended, we cannot say who, or what, we are. Without them, all of life and thought is a meaningless, unrelated succession of events. And for human beings, meaning is not just a luxury. It is a necessity."
You see, it APPEARS (italics) that the younger have a great memory for factoids, but lack the attention span and experience to gather MEANING. Why else launch themselves in harmful efforts of a secular Religous Crusade?
"The American story can and should have many disparate parts, including its shameful and disappointing elements. All of it needs to be there. But we need to regain a sense of perspective."
Perspective requires nuance, something SORELY lacking in today's discourse, right?
I agree they were gutless. But businesses are like people in this respect. Sometimes look at what's in their short-term interest, instead-a the long term. But then, if people just sit around arguing the meaningless, their bet may prove the better one.
Have you read the suit? The full exchange between the professor and the student is actually civil and in good faith. The student, confronted by his professor's rhetorical questions, appears to realize that he has asked for too much and ends up apologizing several times as he backs away from his initial ask.
I'm a slow reader and only went down to section on Damage to Plaintiff, I hafta admit that when I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I've written that student should be sued, when obviously he was innocent of any wrong-doing ASSUMING he had no hand in putting Prof. Klein's email on social media. The person who did, IMHO, should suffer the consequences, but was not named in lawsuit.
All I can say is that I hope ALL of that can be proved and if it is, IMO this character Bernardo gets fired, as he was attempting to do to Prof. Klien. Too shocked at UCLA's actions...
Ugh. I am a Bruin, in name only. This is the kind of stuff that stopped me from ever giving to my alma mater ever again and start giving to an institution that actually teaches kids to use their brains and draw their own conclusions. I'm sorry this happened to you Dr. Klein and I hope you are wildly successful. Please come back and let us know how it's going.
" “chilling” other professors into not voicing unorthodox opinions. " That your opinion is considered unorthodox is just wrong and sums up the current 'woke', politically correct, state of racial affairs.
We have stopped giving to our schools - Harvard, Smith, Yale - about 5 or 6 years ago. We could see the corruption & insanity back then. Now our money goes to conservation & land management and small local non-profits. Higher education is pretty much a lost cause nowadays.
Without a doubt, the most important battle of our time is that of "equity" vs. "equality." Equity, which is either expressly defined as equal outcomes or otherwise defined so as to imply equal outcomes, has no limiting principle. Carried to its logical extreme, it is capable of, and indeed requires, dissolving every single structure in our society. No legislation, court order, local ordinance, corporate policy, or cultural norm can possibly result in equal outcomes. This is particularly true when the concept of equity is combined with "intersectionality." Even if a structure were to somehow produce equal outcomes along racial lines (e.g., an unconstitutional college admissions process with perfectly exact racial quotas), intersectionality could always be invoked to argue that the structure is nevertheless still inequitable because it does not produce equal outcomes with respect to sexual orientation, gender, socioeconomic status, etc. the list goes on. Thus, the satisfaction of equity will necessarily cause our society to collapse into some form of theoretical, postmodern version of communism. Attempts to achieve equity will cause our society to move asymptotically towards theoretical communism.
Sound absurd? Try to think of a limiting principle. How much equity is "enough" equity? Ask yourself whether you've heard *anybody* on the Left articulate a limiting principle.
The reality is, there is no logical stopping point keeping us from sliding all the way down the slippery slope. And here is the implication: those on the Left who control the equity narrative will arbitrarily decide the limits. They will decide which structures get nuked, and which are allowed to stand. Advanced math? Gone. Colorblind grading? Gone. Merit-based promotions? White supremacy. Vaccine Passports? Let's keep that one, hold your fire. You get the point.
Those who deeply care about our country, regardless of whether you consider yourself liberal or conservative, should be concerned about this arbitrary exercise of power. Deny the Left the use of this unimaginably powerful weapon, for it will dissolve our country into nothingness. Reject the concept of "equity" at all costs.
One of the biggest issues with “equity” is that it is impossible to make the less naturally talented (in any field) more talented (as opposed to being trained or educated, which can improve performance but only to the limits of one’s natural ability). Therefore, the only way to achieve “equity” is to cut down and hobble the more talented to achieve “equity” — like if the NBA were required to include players who are representative of the range of heights found in the general population, it would substantially reduce the quality of professional basketball.
This is essentially the plot of Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”, so sadly this is just old wine in new bottles, but the wine turned to vinegar long ago.
As my son and I enjoyed the Milwaukee Bucks championship parade this summer, I wondered if I could get some equity out of this. I mean I watched all of the games, even attended one with my family, cheered them on, celebrated with them, bought some t-shirts and hats and still.....nothing. No equity here! We are living in obtuse times!
Good on you Professor Klein. As an American who just happens to be Black, I am insulted by the letter written by one of your students. The worst kind of racism is the racism of low expectations. I'm still amazed at White liberals, who in general, think they need to come to the aid of Black people just based on their skin color. Nothing could be more insulting than believing the White hue of one's skin color somehow makes them superior to another race of people. What a false sense of superiority. White liberals are the most dangerous species to the success of Black as a whole.
It is my mission in life to expose every White liberal I come across. I will encourage you to continue to stand for what is right, and never back down to White liberals in particular.
One of the most shocking and memorable videos to come out of the George Floyd riots last summer was of two very thin, blonde, white women berating a black police officer as he stood guard. They were screaming "WHAT THE F**K IS WRONG WITH YOU" in his face. That's your average white female liberal, supporting the destruction of black communities, screaming at black cops, then UBERing home to a glass of Chardonnay and posting on social media about how woke they are.
I don't know. This is labeling people "white" and "black" and even "blonde," subliminally at least reinforcing how leftists force acolytes to see and treat one another. So what if she was blonde? - a hair color, natural or chemically induced, which appears to be illegal in TV and other ads. I have seen the " performatively" unhinged of both colors screaming and spitting in the faces of stoic white, black, and brown police-- all untenable. Finally, I consider myself a moderate liberal and I am white and "female." Far from putting me in a Kindergarten cubby hole, there's a conflation of the far end of the left spectrum approaching nihilism and classic liberalism, which is the polar opposite of everything they're espousing. I believe in free speech, the free and open exchange of ideas, free and fair press, individual rights, the dignity of every human being, respect for animals and this planet, free agency, in property rights and humane capitalism. The far left deliberately mislabels classic liberals as "right wing" and, ever so deceptively, hate-driven, irrational leftists mainstream. They are abetted in this not by the general populace which thinks they're crazy, but by the cowards or conformists or maybe converts in what we call our media. All in the blink of an eye.
And I truly love the expression 'performatively unhinged".
I loved reading that too!
Yah, that was GREAT, M. Russell!
One thing: CRT and all this malarky came OUTTA the nihilism of the 60s Post-Modernists. Unbelievable it's gotten as far as it has, but the results today sort-a derives from that beginning.
Amen. The visual sb enough to jar people to their senses.
What should they have done? Said nothing? How do you know they two particular women are “supporting the destruction of Black communities “? I know that if I, a white woman, had been there, I would have screamed at the police officers to try to save a man’s life, not to enhance my image.
How would you have saved a man’s life by screaming vile obscenities at a police officer standing guard?
How does that work?
One of them might have taken his knee off the man’s neck.
The officer being yelled at by the SJW white woman was just a black officer standing guard. No one in the vicinity had their knee on anyone's neck.
But too her, he's a traitor to his race. To you too, I guess.
Bingo
Consider doing some research on how to handle a fentanyl overdose. The knee (on the shoulder, not the neck, as shown in court) is to subdue the possibility of 'excited delirium.' Have you gone through lifeguard training? A drowning person can kill you. Excited delirium is a powerful force -- the fentanyl addled person goes stark raving mad with superhuman strength. While it is certainly arguable that Chauvin should have propped Floyd up as soon as he took notice that Floyd was in respiratory distress, it is also likely that no one expected him to die and the severity of his condition passed notice. The ambulance was on its way. So do you believe they called the ambulance to take him to the ER after they "murdered" him? (Useful Idiot).
Off the neck of a man crazed on drugs, a career criminal who once invaded a pregnant woman’s home and held a gun to her belly. I am not saying there should have been a knee on the mans neck. But you are glossing over the 30 minutes prior to that picture where police struggled to subdue a suspect. A career criminal suspect. The police face the worst of the society we created and put their lives on the line for us, for peanuts in salary. I don’t think a black or any police officer standing guard protecting the public deserves to be shouted at and spat in the face as these women and many others have done.
well put, Harry. If I might add my own loathing, i did see , after months without seeing, prior to kneeling, police tried putting man into the police car, as they tried, the man keeps calling for mom, while saying he (floyd) had trouble breathing. I forgot where I did see this but it was Only Twice, compared to hundreds of times the media showed the" Kneel Season".
Many times we hear people give a "no response" , because said is under revue etc. But not our almighty media, every night we had to revue the "Kneel Season".
I get the "glossing over",,,yep.
No, of COURSE. Curse of BLM to me. Curse ON BLM from me.
Those women were screaming at a black police officer. He was not at St Floyd’s OD. It was later in time by days or weeks. It may not have even been in MN.
Basically they were racist bitches.
Lots of iPhones recording. Not a lot of people screaming. It's easy to say, "I would have done X" after the outcome is determined. But at the time it did not look like a life was at risk. It looked ugly and unnecessary but dis not look like imminent death.
One less criminal on the streets...regardless of color. And, blame the dems for keeping black people down since the 60s. Like Trump said, "what do you have to lose". Only your life, like Floyd and countless others in Chicago and other cities.
Another common sense simplicity from Trump, black people what do you have to lose? More time on the Democrats modern virtual plantation? “You ain’t black” J Biden.
They are not "like" religious zealots. They are religious zealots. That's why disagreement is not regarded as a difference of opinion but heresy of the worst kind.
Nothing could be truer. And why they have ZERO compunction about getting HERETICS fired.
I would-a said 100%, if You'd left out the word "demonic" and substituted "hollow." Big difference and trueer.
Why do most liberals remain silent about this scourge ?
That's one of the big problems here, the left (they've bastardized the term liberal) don't see it as a scourge at all. They call it progress.
This country couldn't be more divided.
because, as we have seen throughout history, courage is always in short supply.
To be frank? Most-a the liberals, like most-a the conservatives don't look much below the surface.
In the case of liberals, they just have no clue what they've aligned themselves with. If they knew? Not impossible.
Conservatives? Up to You to see past T.Rump.
Happen?
Fear of being cancelled. I have seen it happen to a good friend who was running for re-election to local office. She stood up to critical race theory based resolutions and was promptly cancelled by the local Democrats and lost her race. She spoke up in support of Abigail Shriners book on the explosion of adolescent girls seeking gender change and was promptly fired. Wokeism is an affront to classic liberalism and plenty of liberals are not ok with it. Too few are willing to cross the mob and lose friendships and possibly employment.
welp...they think they are correct and they get their correctness from the NYT. Comes down to the Media, which for some reason, has so much influence on the liberal/left.
You forget one salient fact, Classical Liberal. The point is that they're human, like You and me.
Besides, the woke aren't the only ones guilty of sowing division, right?
I’m not so sure. If there was a tally for division I would put them way ahead of the right. Lockdowns, virtue signaling and cancel culture are left inventions.
Oh, but they mean well and care about others! 🙃
Gosh I hope so.
good one...classy
It just makes me SICK to hear white liberals talk like this. It's so freaking condescending! I am a white male and know many minorities who are much more financially successful than myself, and when I hear white liberals talking like this I think they must have heads made out of concrete. Frankly, we need minorities to pop off on these people, just turn it around and throw it in their faces.
All I can say is thank you . It is unfortunate that voices like yours are drowned out by stark raving mad l white liberals . By the way I had a few black buddies that are successful as were their parents . Maybe living in Canada is the difference ? I remember driving down through the US in the 60's and being sickened by what I saw . reminded me of 1950's quebec , no Jews Blacks or dogs allowed on the beach or hotel . People have to stand up against the insanity being foisted upon ud
'm not so sure , I have not been back to the US in 12 years , backthen things were not so great at least in Palm Beach where my parents had a house . Cross the bridge and the tracks it was a different world people lining the street selling crack heroin ,who knows what else . middle of the day , did not look like many were employed . Did not look so good to me cross the bridge and see people living on 1/10th what the other side spent on lawn care in a week . something is out of balance
As a traditional progressive myself, it really pisses me off that this new strain of far Left 'progressivism' is butchering the name. They need to get their own label and stop dragging ours through the mud.
I'm glad you taking a stand on this. As ugly and disgusting as it is to say this, I think that the woke Left won't really listen to anyone unless they are not white. What a strange world we live in now.
Two things, Sir Elliot:
Are You enamored of the Squad?
And, yah. That's what it is, but let us CALL it what it is: We are experience Black Supremists, and their white enablers, AFAIK.
I wrote a now vanished piece before I wrote word one on ANY-a this. It was titled "I Am One of the LEAST Racists Out THere of ANY Color." Something like that. Title alone made a liar outta me, but if people had looked at the EVIDENCE I provided they may have thought twice about it. No matter to me. I'm retired. And I know who I am down to the marrow.
That's why I can say these things, pretty much CERTAIN that these Black Supremists are a small, LOUD, VOCAL percentage of Blacks. Problem is that BLACKS who speak out are then labeled "white" and their whole personality is taken away from them. That, to me, is why it's so rare. Not to mention cancel culture effects them, too.
I think, but can't guess a percentage, that a LOTTA Blacks know all this is not helping, and is in fact hurting, Blacks actually GET where these lamers SAY they wanna get, right?
Thank you Lawrence. I feel the same way about white liberals. I am white and find myself having no business to intervene in the lives of anyone else. It’s why Jason Riley’s book “Please Stop Helping Us” says it all. I am angered by the true racism of diminished expectations. And the people who created the mess now want to point at anyone is who white and call us racist. I can only pray more and more white and black Americans wake up to see this charade.
Yah, and before it's too LATE. TY.
As a white liberal, I realized a long time ago you respect people by applying the MLK line about judging by the content of character. It isn't complicated.
Which is why I disagree with F. Lawrence Coleman's points about white liberals. Look at the person, not the race.
That's really all anyone needs to know. Sad they don't.
Thomas Sowell could not have written it better! There is hope that this Woke disease will die out.
Reading Sir Sowell had l LOT to do with me moving away from the Dem Party. M. Coleman has his mission, and I hope he has GREAT success at it. Hope I can help out a little, as well. Can only TRY, right? :)
Yah. ~ Former white Liberal...
I too am a former liberal. As I reflect back on it, I'm embarrassed that I was so naive. Groupthink is a powerful mechanism. What's the saying, "If you're 20 and conservative, you have no heart, but if you're 35+ and liberal, you're an idiot!"
I've always been heartless.
(haha) I hadn't heard that saying. If I didn't laugh I'd cry. (not really) TY (thank You).
if you are 20and conservative , could be you have been working your ass off since you were 13 to buy what others had mommy and daddy give them . The world is not black and white
Starts when you have a mortgage and kids and real taxes.
completely agree, but please consider that many of the "woke" really do mean well. they're not immune to vulnerability and fear (even as they bully others). with so much intolerance in the world already, maybe there's a gentler way to bring about change?
Nope. Everyone means well. This is a principled man being destroyed. Direct your sympathy to the right person.
Fuck the "well-meaning" left.
and where does that leave us?
Possibly our undoing. Nations rise and fall. We likely will do ourselves in. Karl Marx predicted that the West would do itself in after not being able to handle extended affluence. Hmm
i do take a side. i hate the "woke" ideology as much as anyone. it's racist. illiberal. and deadly. but i'm not willing to stoop to their level.
They'll thank you for your passivity when they come for you.
What, to You M. Wolf, is "stooping to their level?" To me, here's a Way: https://www.fairforall.org/ As they used-ta say, "tough row to hoe." It's not in here, but SOMEWHERE I saw their commitment to combatting violence with non-violence. Glad I haven't been in the position. And I wish I was doing more than giving money.
The FAIR Pledge
Fairness. “I seek to treat everyone equally without regard to skin color or other immutable characteristics. I believe in applying the same rules to everyone, and reject disparagement of individuals based on the circumstances of their birth.”
Understanding. “I am open-minded. I seek to understand opinions or behavior that I do not necessarily agree with. I am tolerant and consider points of view that are in conflict with my prior convictions.”
Humanity. “I recognize that every person has a unique identity, that our shared humanity is precious, and that it is up to all of us to defend and protect the civic culture that unites us.”
No one as zealous as a convert. Toss in a bit of Stockholm Syndrome and we're pretty close to the description of woke.
But to be truly woke would mean that one would have to invoke the following commandment: "Intent Doesn't Matter"
F them all.
Perhaps it is time to start naming the people who start these wars, i.e., the student who sent the original email.
I disagree. Wielding power for social credit is dispicable but the young should be afforded their folly. The administration, on the other hand, deserve what is coming to them.
Folly, as in lack of good sense, is one thing. Getting people suspended and/or fired is malicious. One almost wonders if the good professor was set up.
The spineless administration shoulders all the blame. This student has no power without the consent of the powers that be. It could have been a teaching moment for how important liberal vues are. Instead, they cowered and tried to use their statement as cover for other deficiencies. I have nothing but contempt for an administration that refuses to stand up for our shared values in the face of the empty threats and ignorance.
That said, I personally want that brat to pay dearly. I just don't think it would be the right thing to do.
I'll give your thoughts more consideration, thanks. I'd be willing to give the administration 99% of the blame, but I do think a "teachable moment" for the student is in order.
The incentive structure has been fully endorsed and ratified by leadership. People are drawn to it like a moth to a flame. You gain nothing by punishing the student. There is nothing wrong with addressing a real or imagined grievance with a professor or the administration. You could even say that it should be encouraged. But when leadership uncritically denounces the accused, that is something else entirely.
I agree, this seems *not* like folly.
This is not folly. This is the Khmer Woke.
If these red guards are not stopped with their nonsense they will do greater damage. The next one could be you.
Very apt comparison. Same age group as well I believe.
PLEASE read this comment, sir!
Bari, thanks again for sharing these very important stories, it is so critical that the few objective journalists we have left call this shit out. Professor Klein, thanks for having the sack required to fight back and not just wimper away licking your wounds. We do still have a bit of reason and commitment to the law in our Federal Courts, so perhaps at least economic justice will be served upon UCLA in that venue.
It is just beyond imagination how gutless these University administrations are at this point. They have somehow forgotten that these bright yet still ignorant 18 year-olds show up at their University to “learn” - and that is their job and that of their professors to do the “teaching”. But no, they somehow seem to believe that these ignorant 18-22 year olds are there to do the “teaching” - and the University staff is there to do the “learning”.
So, we have now essentially allowed these ignorant, yet already radicalized 18 year-olds to bully the Universities into becoming mono-culture seminaries, indoctrinating both students and faculty into the religion of WOKENESS.
How in the world can anyone who wants to lay claim to being ideologically “liberal” look at this and believe it can end well. Have these brilliant yet gutless fools forgotten the writings of Orwell, or are they just willing to trash a society rather than stand up to a bunch of children?
The Deans are bending over this. They should be the first to defend and they are the first to surrender to the woke mob. Maybe one day a UCLA degree will be as worth as a door mat... but even then they would blame someone else..
I am the father of a 12 year old girl. UCLA joins the long list of universities she will never attend.
At least not as long as I’m paying for it.
It would be easier to keep a list of universities that aren't illiberal hell scapes.
As another father, I think it would be more practical to have her attend the best-ranked university she was admitted to (with a scholarship of course; no private university is worth its full tuition) - and to give her a good talk before she leaves home and warn her that she'd be entering a very socially secluded community with a heavy dose of groupthink, and to constantly be mindful of what her professors or peers pass off as received wisdom.
I myself had very radical-left views before I entered college, and quickly fell in with a radical student group. But some innate skepticism and a stroke of fortune took me back from that path. A professor for an applied math course which I enrolled in, had made a provocative statement about gender politics on a non-university publication. My radical peers found out and spent an entire night preparing for a campaign against that professor which involved, among other things, picketing his math class and publicizing other outrageous statements that he was supposed to have made - which we wholly invented. Our justification was that our "hyperbole" helped spread awareness about the kind of aggression and violence that characterized his speech.
That didn't sit right with me, so I did something quite unconscionable; I went behind the back of my peers and informed the professor exactly what my group was planning, which I thought of as a fair warning (though I still believed him to be the "bad guy"). The professor took it all in, sat me down, and chatted with me for a couple hours about precisely why I found him reprehensible. By the time I left his office I remember being in shock at how I had massively misjudged his character, and what else I might have misjudged during my foray into radical politics. I quit my "activist" group that night. (Unfortunately the group proceeded with their plan, and the administration predictably caved in; a senior dean at one point threatened to suspend the faculty member; but the matter died down after I sent an anonymous e-mail to the board of regents proving that the most outrageous statements were fabricated by my peers.)
I went on to work for the professor as a teaching assistant, and a few years later he wrote me a letter that got me into a very good graduate program.
I guess the point of the story is, most of these tertiary institutions are going to be crammed with ideologues - students, deans, faculty. But there are also going to be genuinely independent thinkers amongst them. Figuring out how to navigate through all that groupthink and meet a life-changing mentor was the most valuable part of that education for me. On top of that, having witnessed the mob mentality of my peers and the cowardice and duplicity of the deans helped develop my worldview a lot further than an alternate chronology where I had simply gone to class and did my problem sets without ever being involved in student politics.
This comment is one of the best things I have read about all of this!
A lot of this may change by the time your daughter is 18. There appears to be a massive backlash building in the K-12 arena, as demonstrated by the panicked response of school board associations and teacher unions as reported by NPR and CNN in the last few days, requesting FBI intervention (!!). This parental revolt will extend to colleges and universities soon enough.
Yeah, the change seems to be that parents who object to their children being abused or perverted go on a terrorist watch list.
I suspect that you are correct. I’ve got a feeling that effective backlash is building and things are getting ready to start crumbling. Especially as more and more lawsuits keep rolling in.
All school are impregnated with this craziness. You at home give your daughter the tolls to stay grounded in these environments. Sadly these ideologies are here to stay.
Same here, my daughter is 12 and I am making a list of woke universities.
Your list must be very very long. All going woke
I recently had the same thought. I am a University of California graduate. I was an extremely diligent high school student and my parents wanted nothing more than for me to gain admission to a well respected UC school. At the time (1986) it was excellent quality and affordable for a middle class family.Originally I hoped for the same thing for my now 11 year old daughter. I have been saving diligently to fund her college education. Considering the pathetic nonsense currently going on in the UC system , I say hell no. I would do everything in my power to convince her to choose a university that refuses to participate in dealing out this postmodernist junk curriculum.
They weren't 18 year olds. These were grad students in a highly selective and highly respected program. Likely well into their 20's. Old enough to know better.
As for liberal, lets be clear. Their pitchfork brigade was not liberal. It was bigoted. Not in the traditional bigoted way, but yes, bigoted.
I would like to have a way to revoke the term, "liberal" from leftists who do not deserve the designation.
I blame Rush Limbaugh for making "liberal" a pejorative (at least among conservatives).
I for one have stopped referring to this mindset as "liberal." I just refuse to cede the word to them. I am a liberal for Christ's sake. They are left-of-center, Leftist, lefty, etc. Sometimes worse.
Just my own small way to fight back.
As a conservative, I can say that the abandonment of liberalism on the left has been rather shocking. Ideologically speaking, liberalism used to permeate both sides of the political spectrum to one degree or another. That was the basis for meaningful debate.
The populist right now has more in common with Bernie-aligned voters than anyone would have thought possible 20 years ago. The demographics have flipped in many areas as neoliberals and neoconservatives burn their constituents over and over again. But the chasm widens because liberalism is no longer a common thread.
Advocating for the 1st Amendment shouldn't be controversial. Standing up for the due process of all Americans should be embedded in our DNA. Unconstitutional executive orders should be widely denounced. Individual liberty and freedom should be honored and respected.
Conservatives and liberals have more in common than we have for decades. But the authoritarian religious scolds have taken over on the left. Bought and paid for neocons on the right need to be primaried. It is now a zero sum game where nothing is off the table for those who wield power. I say that we take it back. The consent of the governed has been revoked.
PERFECTO! 110% right. Especially:
"I say that we take it back. The consent of the governed has been revoked."
Klein's mistake was in replying to the set-piece email, supplying his enemies with words to quote out of context. A simple "no" would have sufficed.
Or just delete without engaging.
Yep.
Don't negotiate with terrorists.
I disagree in this case, but agree for most people ignoring is the right choice. Clearly professor Klein has the fortitude and ability to fight back, in which case it helps shine the light on this nonsense. The more people hear and see this insanity the more quickly the illiberal leftist wave will start to recede.
This is the way.
In retrospect, vision is 20/20. And Klein is human, not AI. Klein’s response was within the realm of normal human behavior for such an occurrence. Moving forward- I am remembering Mark’s advice so as to reduce my vulnerability to harm.
You're correct that would have been the "smart" thing to do, but universities are a place where people with different ideas should respectfully engage. Professor Klein understands this, the student clear did not.
There is a near 0 percent chance that anything but total subservience to the student's request would have actually "resolved" the case.
It wouldn't have resolved it. Organizations that have collapsed from within from continent concession to leftists are evidence that the demands only continue to escalate.
Prof. Klein did the second best thing to ignoring this demand entirely.
Do not negotiate with terrorists. You will get hurt, as he did, when you refuse- but submission absolutely will not save you from the left, it will only delay it.
I had an intern try to school me about saying "biological male" for a person who was, um born male. And a former co-worker (co-woker) instruct me to say "hola communidad" instead of "hi you guys." I just smile and say "that's interesting, thanks for bringing it to my attention". I'm a liberal on most issues but the "progressives" have lost their minds. Too bad the Republicans are mired in the Big Lie.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
That is wise advice
Brevity is a virtue in these cases, for sure.
See my reply below.
Saying it maybe more clearly, it's the Country's INSTITUTIONS that are woke a lot more that President or Congress. The mainstream and social media. The universities that are training the woke. As You can see, the students. The corporations are going woke, hiring all the DEI and all that. Now the woke are into K - 12.
Comparing all that to Biden/Harris? Not much comparison, right? They're being LED that way, not pushing it forward, AFAIK.
"somewhat conservative"? You mean, a tad to the right of Stalin?
Whether "somewhat conservative" or not, they are indeed a very tricky bunch.
When you hang with the "woke", you beg to be fleeced.
With them, it's all really about *them*, their *whims*, and (if you defy them by so much as a scintilla) your misery.
They specialize in Signaling their Virtue, to the detriment of others.
They're well on the way, to turning this country into a caricature of an Orwellian dystopia.
I understand Your point. Not sure how much applies to Biden/Harris.
IOW, I'm not sure Biden/Harris is necessarily the DEATH KNELL. OTOH, I'm not sure of the answers they're coming up with either.
In any event, You likely won't agree that both Biden and T.Rump are, basically, leading us in the same direction by different routes. One will take longer than the other, I suspect.
That's just me.
Once Biden demonized "vax resisters", that showed him to be all-but hell-bent, on the liquidation of those who fail to kowtow to his handlers' every whim.
IOW, tell me what he's DONE. In LAWS. Not much, so far as I can see.
Naw. I've studied this a fair bit. True, he's enamored of the progressives. He'll rue the day. As far as being woke: He's been touched by it. It was in his Executive Order of Jan. 20. But looking at Biden like he's TOTALLY woke? I'm pretty sure he's not as far gone as some in his administration. Thinking now of Head of Military Milley and Sec. of Defense. Forget his name. And they're just being led by the mob, more than understanding and being like THE woke, right?
You have to look at their actions, Penny, not just buy their rhetoric. It's less than a year, so we'll see what unfolds. Is Kamala even, uh, around? I never hear about her anywhere except saying inane things at political fundraisers.
Gotta love those who cry about their need for safe spaces yet are always ready to punish those who dare disagree with their views and who will use , threaten or condone violence to enforce their intolerance and hatred.
Exactly, you see these people freaking out and think "I need a safe space from YOU..."
Yah. GIMME A "SAFE SPACE!!" WIsh it were to be found in the US, is my wish. ):
If the student’s email was indeed taken from a form, Prof. Klein might wish to find out through discovery how many of his colleagues received a similar email, how they responded and what, if anything, happened to them.
The student’s condescension in writing (or simply forwarding it on the assumption he read it first) the email itself is rather breathtaking. Another matter for the discovery process: was the student acting alone?
I can understand why you would limit the complaint to the University, but adding the student as a defendant would send a message that this is not a game and his actions have consequences for which he must be held accountable.
In the end, you could always release the student once he has provided in all relevant sworn testimony and documents (including against any University official he dealt with) and a written apology detailing his improper conduct. One might, but only if the circumstances bear it out, grant that the student was acting from a good motive but went about it the wrong way. In law, that type of person is known informally as “white heart, empty head.”
The Complaint is a painful read. The "Student" had behaved correctly. The perversion started and ended with the faculty.
Well how did the email get into the wild if not released by the student to who knows who?
I like your thinking.
I think the most cowardly humans on earth are surely college administrators.
My daughter who has been working in finance for 10 years now, she’s 30, says it’s incredibly hard to hire people which she desperately needs to grow her team. Kids in their early to mid-20’s are entitled, not rigorous, undisciplined and complain a lot. She’s rather shocked at how juvenile this cohort is.
Good to know because when my son graduates in two and a half years there should be available jobs since the slackers don't want to work. He will work his butt off because that's how we raised him.
Good for him. Lots of people in highly paid jobs are looking for hard workers. They are rare today.
That was my experience in interviewing most (not all) millennials for employment up until I retired fairly recently. It was all about them and what will you and your company do for them. Oh, and they all want to do "meaningful" work (I thought work itself was meaningful) and it has to more or less save the world as well. Short conversations.
Absolutely true. It's a lost generation. Kids in their 20s are the worst.
The SAT has been dumbed down in the last couple of decades.
Professor Klein, would it be possible to sue the students who caused your income loss? I am so disappointed at the UC system in general. I had wonderful and rigorous professors that had their education there and as a CA Tax payer it is ridiculous to see where the UC system is heading.
Yeah, as a fellow Californian, there's a lot of illiberal and frequently dishonest 'woke' descending on our students. And I especially don't like paying for it.
I am listening to my local school board meeting and the plan to implement the DEI "woke"curriculum.. Most parents are in favor.
Phew... Can only say that's sad.
Only thing. Is it MOST parents or most parents that are HEARD right now? I wonder.
Download and read the suit he's bringing. There are 12 unnamed "Does," male and female (one presumes). John and Jane. The discovery process will bring their names to light. It's a well constructed and persuasive action he and his lawyers are bringing, and it should win on the merits.
For Mr. Klein's sake, I hope he wins his case.
But, for the rest of us, what most of us has feared is happening is now indeed happening. Western Civilization is crashing in on itself. The most debased, insane and self-defeating narratives have captured the minds of our young people in our lands.
In my view, this will unfortunately not end by rational debate or government edict. No, this will cruise at ever-faster speeds to its unfortunate conclusion: the chaotic social and political fracturing of our civilization into a million pieces.
Of course, in concert with Big Tech governments will use the vaccine passport platform to establish some semblance of control (why do you think they're pushing it SO hard?!). It will work for awhile. But, when our economic system finally meets the logical conclusion of the abuse heaped upon it during the last 40 years (offshoring, quantitative easing, demographic collapse, debasement of currency, rising inflation, and now vaccine mandates that are pushing 5-10% of the workforce into the shadows), the music will stop.
I wish I knew a way out of this mess. But, as the book of Judges foretells, a people whose sole impulses are pleasure, evil and greed is on the precipice of ruin. The 20-year war in Afghanistan is only the latest embodiment of these vices.
Only bondage can restore the yearning for liberty. I fear that's where this is all headed. Tell me I'm wrong and there's still hope?
Extremely well said, but like Cicero before the loss of the Republic, or Socrates through his teaching by questioning, or the good Judges, and later prophets, whom God sent, we must act with moral witness
You aren't wrong.
Unfortunately a nation's course is set by its elites. There is not one elite university in the West that isn't fully infected by the self-sabotage of woke philosophy. As the universities go, so goes the country. This isn't hysteria...this is reality.
Here's the thing a few are waking up to. 2 outta 3 people in this country do NOT have 4-year degrees. Only place that matters, and the only place that DOES matter? The ballot box.
Sorry. I just cannot agree both sides are badshit crazy.
One side just wants to be left alone. The other side wants to boss everybody around.
If you think there’s any moral equivalence there you’re the one that’s batshit crazy.
Jan 6. Left alone?
How many antifa are in solitary confinement in jail with no quick court date? Then research how many are in the DC jail in solitary for 6 months and counting.
Back in the day, liberals would be screeching is this happened in the USSR.
Thank you for having the courage to stand up against this type of bullying. The ironic thing is that you successfully pushing back against the university is the best thing that could happen to the school, the faculty and the students - including the student that created this situation. And of course, for all of the rest of us.
The business school getting schooled? About time. You'd think they'd know the real world has real world consequences. Because that is part of what they teach.
That said, UCLA did bring him back relatively quickly, so I'm not sure the lawsuit sticks. This is the woke mob getting its vengeance for perceived crimes. And its damn hard to sue them.
He's been branded a racist and lost substantial income in consultation fees. They also took it upon themselves to defame him before bringing him back. I think he has a case.
Should sue the student, IMHO, in addition to the school. Loss of business. Defamation. &c.
To my eye, the saddest part of this whole tale - other than the persecution of the professor, of course - is that a student at this level was so poorly educated that he (she) could not see the degree to which he was embarrassing himself. I used to think that when people embarrassed themselves, they would be as aware as those surrounding them and self-muzzle. Turns out that is not always true - and never true when one lacks the most basic tools of clear thinking.
To me, it's not only a case of being totally, completely, and absolutely UNAWARE... As far as I can tell these kind HAVE no shame... It's not in them.
the worst take is by the business which kowtowed to a woke mob and ended their relationship with Prof. Klein.
These businesses are gutless, but that shouldn't surprise, business rarely has incentive to stand for what is right.
I have for decades harbored a feeling of unease about my country and mused about, "What's wrong with us?" Many these days think that it can be encapsulated in one phrase: The West has abandoned all standards.
At one time we had clear standards for behavior, standards for respect of one generation for the prior, academic standards - literally standards for everything. In those days we understood and accepted that those standards made underachievers feel badly - but felt their incentives for people to do better was worth it.
Abandoning, though, the standard of "Standing Up For What Is Right" has inflicted untold damage. Longer ago than I care to remember, I attended grade school in the mountains of West Virginia - a throwback, in many ways, but in others a place where traditions and standards were not only honored, but taught. Our teachers taught us to stand up for the right, even if there was a cost, that there almost always would be, and the Honorable Man accepted that cost.
We are in days of reckoning. Bari - better than most - sees it. Over the last generation we have been asleep at the wheel and have allowed Western Civilization to be hollowed out by sorehead Marxists, ne'er-do-well idlers, well-meaning but credulous liberal dupes who think that - next to "racism," of course - "judgmental" is the worst adjective that can be applied to one. Maybe we NEED a little judgmental-ism.
I don't disagree with a fair bit of what you're saying, but I think you've unfairly judged the student in question. Reading his reply to the professor's rhetorical questions, as quoted in the legal brief, actually renewed my faith in certain young people. He clearly did seem to have a conscience.
I think we see this over and over: good intentions. But, of course, we know which road is paved with good intentions. Lewis Brandeis said that, "The greatest danger to liberty lurks in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." One may mean well all he wants, but sometimes the result of one's zeal is indistinguishable from results of malice. There is a great - and fairly short - video by an escapee from Mao's Cultural Revolution. She talks about the techniques used to convert credulous youths into weapons of the Revolution, including using them to rat out their parents, and the perfect congruence with Communist Racist Theory (CRT) being taught in Loudoun County, VA schools. Let's see - here it is
https://americasvoice.news/video/wmnRkrc581eINMs/
We need to understand: good intentions and "conscience" don't matter. The result is the same.
Great points. I agree.
Yah. NAILED it. :)
I just read a great article over at "Law and Liberty," entitled, "Has America Lost its Story?" It goes into the American Myth in great depth and talks about America's story and how we need it today more than ever.
TY (thank You) James. TYTY. A few highlights:
"For we can’t really appreciate the statuary of our country—our political and social and economic institutions—or know the value of American liberty and prosperity, unless we pay the price of learning the story. Otherwise, we are like children handling delicate artifacts, unaware of how precious and fragile they are, until we have broken them."
"Whenever any nation is faced with a deadly challenge to its institutions and its well-being, as we are today, it must find a way to draw upon its deepest sense of itself. That is the task before us now. In order to answer the question, “Why do we fight?” we must also answer the questions “Who are we? What binds us together? Why does our way of life deserve to persist?” Such questions might have seemed academic in the past. But they are far from being academic now. They are especially unavoidable for a great democracy, which depends for its unity and morale upon a foundation of shared convictions, broadly diffused through the population."
"Without memory, and the stories within which our memories are suspended, we cannot say who, or what, we are. Without them, all of life and thought is a meaningless, unrelated succession of events. And for human beings, meaning is not just a luxury. It is a necessity."
You see, it APPEARS (italics) that the younger have a great memory for factoids, but lack the attention span and experience to gather MEANING. Why else launch themselves in harmful efforts of a secular Religous Crusade?
"The American story can and should have many disparate parts, including its shameful and disappointing elements. All of it needs to be there. But we need to regain a sense of perspective."
Perspective requires nuance, something SORELY lacking in today's discourse, right?
TYTY again, Sir.
I agree they were gutless. But businesses are like people in this respect. Sometimes look at what's in their short-term interest, instead-a the long term. But then, if people just sit around arguing the meaningless, their bet may prove the better one.
Have you read the suit? The full exchange between the professor and the student is actually civil and in good faith. The student, confronted by his professor's rhetorical questions, appears to realize that he has asked for too much and ends up apologizing several times as he backs away from his initial ask.
I'm a slow reader and only went down to section on Damage to Plaintiff, I hafta admit that when I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I've written that student should be sued, when obviously he was innocent of any wrong-doing ASSUMING he had no hand in putting Prof. Klein's email on social media. The person who did, IMHO, should suffer the consequences, but was not named in lawsuit.
All I can say is that I hope ALL of that can be proved and if it is, IMO this character Bernardo gets fired, as he was attempting to do to Prof. Klien. Too shocked at UCLA's actions...
Sorry. I didn't see it at the bottom. TYTY for tip. :)
TY, M. Gussow. Where did You find it? Online anywhere?
It's right at the bottom of the article. I see that you've found it!
Ugh. I am a Bruin, in name only. This is the kind of stuff that stopped me from ever giving to my alma mater ever again and start giving to an institution that actually teaches kids to use their brains and draw their own conclusions. I'm sorry this happened to you Dr. Klein and I hope you are wildly successful. Please come back and let us know how it's going.
1994 - School of Public Health. Go Bruins
1987 - School of Fine Arts. Beat USC!
" “chilling” other professors into not voicing unorthodox opinions. " That your opinion is considered unorthodox is just wrong and sums up the current 'woke', politically correct, state of racial affairs.
That’s exactly what struck me, the new definition of “unorthodox”.
Yah!
As a Bruin, I am offended and disappointed. As a rational adult who's paying attention, I'm entirely unsurprised.
I haven't given the school another dime since I bought a sweatshirt for my girlfriend at CityWalk 20 years ago.
We have stopped giving to our schools - Harvard, Smith, Yale - about 5 or 6 years ago. We could see the corruption & insanity back then. Now our money goes to conservation & land management and small local non-profits. Higher education is pretty much a lost cause nowadays.
NOT a suggestion. Please NOTE.
But have You seen:
https://www.fairforall.org/
https://braverangels.org/ (it's not just for families)
https://woodsoncenter.org/
Without a doubt, the most important battle of our time is that of "equity" vs. "equality." Equity, which is either expressly defined as equal outcomes or otherwise defined so as to imply equal outcomes, has no limiting principle. Carried to its logical extreme, it is capable of, and indeed requires, dissolving every single structure in our society. No legislation, court order, local ordinance, corporate policy, or cultural norm can possibly result in equal outcomes. This is particularly true when the concept of equity is combined with "intersectionality." Even if a structure were to somehow produce equal outcomes along racial lines (e.g., an unconstitutional college admissions process with perfectly exact racial quotas), intersectionality could always be invoked to argue that the structure is nevertheless still inequitable because it does not produce equal outcomes with respect to sexual orientation, gender, socioeconomic status, etc. the list goes on. Thus, the satisfaction of equity will necessarily cause our society to collapse into some form of theoretical, postmodern version of communism. Attempts to achieve equity will cause our society to move asymptotically towards theoretical communism.
Sound absurd? Try to think of a limiting principle. How much equity is "enough" equity? Ask yourself whether you've heard *anybody* on the Left articulate a limiting principle.
The reality is, there is no logical stopping point keeping us from sliding all the way down the slippery slope. And here is the implication: those on the Left who control the equity narrative will arbitrarily decide the limits. They will decide which structures get nuked, and which are allowed to stand. Advanced math? Gone. Colorblind grading? Gone. Merit-based promotions? White supremacy. Vaccine Passports? Let's keep that one, hold your fire. You get the point.
Those who deeply care about our country, regardless of whether you consider yourself liberal or conservative, should be concerned about this arbitrary exercise of power. Deny the Left the use of this unimaginably powerful weapon, for it will dissolve our country into nothingness. Reject the concept of "equity" at all costs.
One of the biggest issues with “equity” is that it is impossible to make the less naturally talented (in any field) more talented (as opposed to being trained or educated, which can improve performance but only to the limits of one’s natural ability). Therefore, the only way to achieve “equity” is to cut down and hobble the more talented to achieve “equity” — like if the NBA were required to include players who are representative of the range of heights found in the general population, it would substantially reduce the quality of professional basketball.
This is essentially the plot of Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”, so sadly this is just old wine in new bottles, but the wine turned to vinegar long ago.
As my son and I enjoyed the Milwaukee Bucks championship parade this summer, I wondered if I could get some equity out of this. I mean I watched all of the games, even attended one with my family, cheered them on, celebrated with them, bought some t-shirts and hats and still.....nothing. No equity here! We are living in obtuse times!
Yah, again.
Yah.