The Off Topic Topic

[Zanza]

I just drove a partially self-driving car. It was on the highway in very dense stop-and-go traffic and the car did not just accelerate and brake itself, but also steer itself up to 50 kph. I had driven another car with that technology before, but today I had more than 30 minutes of that traffic and it was really strange to lean back and just let the car do its thing.

[Liep]

So we're voting on judicial EU membership December 3rd and the posters are ready!

"Empower the Danish police - Vote Yes":


"Help the police uncover paedophilic networks - Vote Yes":


The focus on Police here is because Europol is changing something bureaucratic so we might need to fully join EU to continue to be a part of it, of course we could just make a separate agreement on Europol, but that would require work from the politicians. A campaign of fear is easier, this is an actual quote from a politician: "If you vote no you are assisting the baby rapers."

The election is about much more though, amongst them are giving away sovereignty from Danish courts to the EU, but, you know, paedophiles.

[Barrister]

Why do you hate the police and want to help the child molesters, Liep?

[Razgovory]

MU just saw some resignations of chancellery because of protests.  Not that the people forced to resign actually did something terrible, but because they come from a background of White Privilege, they can't understand the institutional racism that black students must deal with everyday.

[Valmy]

MU just saw some resignations of chancellery because of protests.  Not that the people forced to resign actually did something terrible, but because they come from a background of White Privilege, they can't understand the institutional racism that black students must deal with everyday.

Yeah that was weird. Threatening to starve yourself to death is pretty hardcore. It seems the MU system President did not view black people as human beings. It looked like that typical combination of militancy and vagueness that creates such wonderful things as the Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street, and BLM except that in this particular case this guy just really really wanted the MU System President out. So I guess that was specific.

Here are the movements demands:

A news conference of Wolfe reading a handwritten, formal apology.

The immediate removal of Wolfe as UM System President.

Enforcement of mandatory racial awareness and inclusion curriculum for all faculty, staff and students, controlled by a board of color.

An increase in the percentage of black faculty and staff to 10 percent by the 2017-18 academic year, and the development by May 1 of a 10-year plan to promote a safer, more inclusive campus.

An increase in funding to hire more mental health professionals for the MU Counseling Center, particularly those of color, and more staff for the social justice centers on campus.

Which, you, know I guess those are demands. Some of them are quite specific, 10 % black faculty and staff in 1.5 years. Others, like what sort of 10-year plan they want and what sorts of things are supposed to promote a safer, more inclusive campus might be included. Ah well. Sign of the times I guess.

The specific failings of Mr. Wolfe I am not familiar with.

I found it interesting that there is going to be a board 'of color' monitoring the inclusiveness curriculum but the added faculty and staff are to be 'black'. I don't know if those kinds of quotas are legal but I have not kept up with the lawsuits over the years.

[Admiral Yi]

We should nuke the American university system from orbit.  It's the only way to be sure.

[Ed Anger]

We should nuke the American university system from orbit.  It's the only way to be sure.

Sounds like your white cis privledge talking. Stop triggering me.

[MadImmortalMan]

There's a new family renting the house next door. I talked to the dude today. He was mowing the lawn. He said his wife was going to live there and that they were separating. I asked him if that's the case, why is he mowing her lawn?

He shut off the lawnmower, got in his car and left.

I'm guessing my new neighbor isn't going to like me very much. 

[Razgovory]

Several times I've heard the the decision to resign was because they need to "save that young man's life", that is the one who went on a hunger strike.  That does beg the question if people will capitulate to any demand that is made with a hunger strike.  If Arab student went on a hunger strike demanding all Jewish students be expelled are we to expect that the staff will expel all Jews to save this person's life?

The actual grievances that were raised are so far removed from the demands.  Some black students had complained they heard racial slurs from people driving past on the road.  I'm don't think that's really illegal, and not sure what the University can do about it.  Someone did draw a swastika in shit in one of the men's rooms in one of the dorms.  I imagine that the school has rules against that, but if nobody know who did it, they can't exactly punish anyone.  Other grievances are a bit more odd.  The school was founded before the end of slavery thus there is institutional oppression and the president must go.

[Ed Anger]

America is fucked.

[Valmy]

He said that graduate students (who are mostly white) had a complaint and the whole country listened and addressed their grievance. But that for two years the School President had ignored the marginalized students of color. So without any options left he did this because nobody acknowledge people of color are humans or have any value. It is all big words and emotionally delivered but yeah I couldn't really get a grip on what exactly the University was supposed to do but fire the President.

Ah well the revolution will not be televised but it will be tweeted and put up on youtube so we will see soon what happens next.

[Admiral Yi]

Have the Al and the Jesse swooped in yet?

[Valmy]

The school was founded before the end of slavery thus there is institutional oppression and the president must go.

Ah yeah. Founded in 1839. The Tigers were the name of the local Unionist Militia. CIVIL WAR HIJACK!

[Eddie Teach]

The Tigers were the name of the local Unionist Militia.

The Rebels didn't pay enough back then.

[Jacob]

The specific failings of Mr. Wolfe I am not familiar with.

It's interesting the different coverage that's going around on this. Raz obviously read something entirely different than what popped up on my news feed.

First off - in the coverage I came across - the initial complaints were about people using outright racist terms and, in one incident, using feces to draw a swastika in a dorm bathroom.

Secondly, the protests were about the president's lack of leadership in responding to those events.

Finally - the reporting I came across claimed that there was only action on this after the football team got involved. The hunger strike and protests had not moved the administration at all, but the football team's declaration that they wouldn't play got a response in two days.

Ah well, I suppose it's another example of the difference in reporting from the different sides in the culture wars.