What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[The Brain]

As long as you stick to the scientific method then political views don't matter a lot.

[DGuller]

As long as you stick to the scientific method then political views don't matter a lot.

Sticking to the scientific method is an expression of political views in itself.

[The Brain]

As long as you stick to the scientific method then political views don't matter a lot.

Sticking to the scientific method is an expression of political views in itself.

Many political ideologies don't like the scientific method. Doesn't change that as long as you stick to it political views don't matter a lot. Academia has had people with extremist views in significant numbers for decades. Universities that don't value the scientific method and take steps to stick to it deserve to fail.

[Razgovory]

I seem to recall Tolkien complaining about this sort of silly bullshit.

The problem is that fascists don't wear the swastikas arm band so people don't recognize them.  Not many people know what fascism actually is so when some asshole tries to lecture a class inferiors civilizations or what ever their fellow students don't make the connection between those statements and fascism.

[The Brain]

The idea that a person's work should be judged by their political views seems strange to me. If they don't do what they're supposed to then they won't pass the courses, and they won't get any degrees. Without degrees they are unlikely to become professors.

Many alcoholics are drunk at work. Doesn't change the fact that as long as you're not drunk at work it doesn't matter a lot if you're an alcoholic.

[DGuller]

The idea that a person's work should be judged by their political views seems strange to me. If they don't do what they're supposed to then they won't pass the courses, and they won't get any degrees. Without degrees they are unlikely to become professors.

Many alcoholics are drunk at work. Doesn't change the fact that as long as you're not drunk at work it doesn't matter a lot if you're an alcoholic.

What if that person's work is in a field where there is no objective way to evaluate it?  If you can't evaluate it based on their political views, then what else is left?

[The Brain]

The idea that a person's work should be judged by their political views seems strange to me. If they don't do what they're supposed to then they won't pass the courses, and they won't get any degrees. Without degrees they are unlikely to become professors.

Many alcoholics are drunk at work. Doesn't change the fact that as long as you're not drunk at work it doesn't matter a lot if you're an alcoholic.

What if that person's work is in a field where there is no objective way to evaluate it?  If you can't evaluate it based on their political views, then what else is left?

Why would you pay anyone for work that cannot be evaluated?

[Valmy]

So is Donald Trump going to veto that bullshit relief bill? He keeps talking about it. I am not really sure what to think really. I kean we need a better relief bill but...I mean hasn't the White House been in the middle of these negotiations all along? What is going on here?

[DGuller]

Why would you pay anyone for work that cannot be evaluated?

Labor laws.

[The Brain]

Why would you pay anyone for work that cannot be evaluated?

Labor laws.

[Oexmelin]

As long as you stick to the scientific method then political views don't matter a lot.

I take it you never taught.

[Josquius]

As long as you stick to the scientific method then political views don't matter a lot.

Sticking to the scientific method is an expression of political views in itself.

Many political ideologies don't like the scientific method. Doesn't change that as long as you stick to it political views don't matter a lot. Academia has had people with extremist views in significant numbers for decades. Universities that don't value the scientific method and take steps to stick to it deserve to fail.

Yet still people consistently argue all academics are left wing.
There's been quite a few studies over the years have shown the correlation between learning the methods of critical thinking and tending towards being left wing or at least socially liberal.

[Sheilbh]

And, of course, in Britain, many seem to think that the only way to salvage a sense of national history is to cling to all unsavory aspects of the British Empire, and that every attack on its toxic legacy is somehow an act of treason.

Yes. If you look at the polling on UK history it is far, far less polarised than in the US. There aren't many issues where BAME and white opinion differs significantly and on the big ones of, for example, do you think there should be more education on the British role in slavery or the negative impact of the British Empire - there is broad support across racial and political identities.

But I think our discourse is less united and more interested in controversy for its own sake and I think our leaders are different. I never learned anything about the rise or fall of the British empire good or bad really. But I also didn't learn about the list of Kings from William the Conqueror to Liz II. That isn't because my history was insufferably right-wing or conservative, the units I did at school included social history of 19th century Scotland (industrialisation, tenements, the clearances etc), I did units on the Troubles and on the rise of fascism in Italy and Germany. So no narrative but a fairly diverse pick and mix of themes. But I went to a comprehensive state school. And I wonder the extent to which actually our leaders who went to public school just learned a very different history - they do learn the Kings and the glorious rise of Britannia etc.

It's a reason I always find the rows about education slightly confusing is what (public school educated) columnists in the Guardian deplore and (public school educated) columnists in the Telegraph glory in just bears no resemblance to the history I learned.

I also have a semi-serious opinion that the rise of breakfast TV in the UK is a huge part of the culture war issues because they've got a few hours to fill so they take a controversy in a newspaper, get two rentagobs on either side who will explode appropriately and they have an entertaining show. This is something I noticed this year because I've been home so much, but when I was a kid the TV breakfast shows were basically either kids cartoons or the news until 9am and then sort of ridiculous light entertainment with Richard and Judy or at Pebble Mill. Now it's "Coming up: Trans pets". Everyone knows about the demonstrable effect our tabloids have on public opinion, but I genuinely think someone needs to investigate breakfast TV.

And as noted by Syt, it's also a problem on Star Wars related sites and channels, with people drawn to the aesthetics and coolness factor of the Empire.

Yeah - but, you know, if you consciously model the depiction of part of your universe on Riefenstahl then you will get some fascists attracted to it. The real mistake was probably in not depicting the model alliance as Eisenstein did so you have an equally vociferous tankie contingent.

Trump may have been defeated, but fascism is still on the rise. Historians have shown how the glorification of war shaped expectations of young soldiers in 1914, and the subsequent resentment, fascism. I think we should worry about how our global, cultural glorification of being a "badass" feeds into expectations and dreams of people today.

I think there's definitely something to this. I think another bit of cultural glorification, at least in the UK, has been the rise of "I see it as I see it" as a virtue . It's normally just a celebration of rudeness as "at least I'm being honest"

I think that's definitely tied to the success of Farage etc and the politics of authenticity.

[Solmyr]

the model alliance

[The Brain]

As long as you stick to the scientific method then political views don't matter a lot.

I take it you never taught.

I take it you never stuck to the scientific method.