How Democracy Dies

[Zoupa]

(which apparently is only comprised of lefties)

Whataboutism. Nice.

It was an obvious dig at Berkut dude. This whole subject just seems like lots of wasted ink and electrons. Une tempete dans un verre d'eau, non?

[DGuller]

Only the leftist Twitter mobs have the potential to ruin someone's career (unless you work in some rightist groupthink tank or something of that nature).  In that a way that's a good thing, the world would certainly suck a lot more if the hard right rather than the hard left had the power to bully the corporate world into shunning some individual, but that does make the phenomenon quite disproportionate between the two sides.

[Razgovory]

I'm unclear on something.  Are we proposing to protect freedom of speech by removing the ability to criticize and the right to free association?

We are proposing nothing of the sort. At least I am not.

What sorts of ways of removing the ability to critisize and the right to free association have been proposed?

Then what is being proposed here?

[Eddie Teach]

By whom?

[Admiral Yi]

Only the leftist Twitter mobs have the potential to ruin someone's career (unless you work in some rightist groupthink tank or something of that nature).  In that a way that's a good thing, the world would certainly suck a lot more if the hard right rather than the hard left had the power to bully the corporate world into shunning some individual, but that does make the phenomenon quite disproportionate between the two sides.

They also have disproportionate influence on the issues of academic independence, the debate about the assault/come on line, and the whole shitstorm about gender identity.

[Valmy]

Then what is being proposed here?

Well all I have proposed is the new and exciting idea that mob justice is arbitrary and unjust.

[frunk]

Only the leftist Twitter mobs have the potential to ruin someone's career (unless you work in some rightist groupthink tank or something of that nature).  In that a way that's a good thing, the world would certainly suck a lot more if the hard right rather than the hard left had the power to bully the corporate world into shunning some individual, but that does make the phenomenon quite disproportionate between the two sides.

That was true in the past but I'm not so sure now.  See the reaction to The Hunt, or the job that got done on James Gunn.  The left adapted to it first, but the right is becoming adept at pulling the levers as well.

[Valmy]

My first rather visceral reaction to the Twitter Mob actually came from the Gamergate stuff. So the right does it as well. I am not sure that helps the case that it is a great thing that helps bring justice to our society though.

[viper37]

It's out of concern for others.

it is pure sillyness from activists in ivory towers.

[Oexmelin]

Activists =/= Ivory Tower. The two are mutually exclusive.

[Eddie Teach]

Activists aren't immune to living in a bubble or grasping on to impractical ideas.

[Oexmelin]

No, they aren't. It's just not what the Ivory Tower is.

[Malthus]

I've said it before, but the main damage the "ivory tower" academics in the humanities have done to our society, is that they have undermined the notion that objective truth is a worthwhile thing that can change minds, or is even possible to seek; everything becomes a matter of perspective, everyone is biased. This leaves us desperately vulnerable to people who care nothing for objective truth.

If everything is just a clash of values, then there is nothing to stop a guy like Trump from supporting his abhorrent values, other than the power to do so.

This situation also gives force to twitter mobs, left or right; if enough people are outraged, their outrage equals truth. What's to stop that, if everything is just a clash of values? The twitter mob is just a lot of people expressing some values.

To be clear, I don't blame the "ivory tower" for creating guys like Trump or twitter mobs. I blame them for failing to arm people with the intellectual tools to fight guys like Trump, or twitter mobs. 

[The Brain]

I've said it before, but the main damage the "ivory tower" academics in the humanities have done to our society, is that they have undermined the notion that objective truth is a worthwhile thing that can change minds, or is even possible to seek; everything becomes a matter of perspective, everyone is biased. This leaves us desperately vulnerable to people who care nothing for objective truth.

If everything is just a clash of values, then there is nothing to stop a guy like Trump from supporting his abhorrent values, other than the power to do so.

This situation also gives force to twitter mobs, left or right; if enough people are outraged, their outrage equals truth. What's to stop that, if everything is just a clash of values? The twitter mob is just a lot of people expressing some values.

To be clear, I don't blame the "ivory tower" for creating guys like Trump or twitter mobs. I blame them for failing to arm people with the intellectual tools to fight guys like Trump, or twitter mobs.

Yes.

[crazy canuck]

To be clear, I don't blame the "ivory tower" for creating guys like Trump or twitter mobs. I blame them for failing to arm people with the intellectual tools to fight guys like Trump, or twitter mobs.

How can professors arm people with the necessary intellectual tools when the shift in post secondary education has been away from liberal arts degrees to STEM and business degrees?