Aaron Hanlon
@AaronRHanlon
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generalist #COYS
Maine, US and Cambridge, UK
Joined May 2012
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I think Americans significantly underestimate how much the ordinary British person hates Americans.
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Solid and astonishing roundup in the
@nytimes
morning briefing of the many GOP efforts underway explicitly to make it harder for people to vote in this election. Not the GOP campaigning for its issues and candidates, but trying to stop people from voting altogether.
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@BrandonLBradfor
Trying to wrap my head around being an affluent white woman and being like ‘you know what brand doesn’t cater enough to me? Lululemon.’
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Look at Hungary, where they banished a university from Budapest; Turkey, where they confiscated and destroyed 300,000 library books; Brazil, where they had police raids on universities to confiscate teaching materials and interrogate professors. This is a playbook, the beginning.
Trump admin says UNC and Duke program portray Islam too positively, asks them to change or risk losing funding
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1) Let us pause to appreciate the sheer comedic majesty of the fact that French politicians are worried about the threat of US academic theories of race, gender, and post-colonialism.
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‘Hi, we’re here to sign the petition against the new low-income housing unit. We just don’t feel it’s right for our neighborhood.’
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Canceling student loans is an imperfect mechanism to retroactively fund a decade of deep cuts to public higher ed funding, the burden of which was pushed onto the biggest and most diverse generations of college students ever at a price much higher than previous generations paid.
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I care about civility. I’m just not willing to engage in a conversation about Dems winning graciously until we address the deeper problem among GOP elected officials. This was 3 days ago, some tables turned, and now people wanna talk about gracious victory?
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postmodernism is accepting this almost certainly fake anecdote as a personal truth
Is Western culture stopping people from growing up?
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I'm unpleasantly surprised at how many students and faculty still seem to think ChatGPT searches and indexes all the internet's information in real time to produce its outputs, or works like an interactive and more sophisticated search engine to retrieve factual information.
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@Football__Tweet
'My opponent is not playing into my strengths and tactical preferences. They had the temerity to try and...win.'
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I’ve been asked to serve as a reviewer for my own manuscript at a journal that’s had this manuscript for 2 years. I think this might be a conflict of interest.
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It’s hard to appreciate this until you’ve been exposed to the really elaborate stuff, like sitting alone in a ramen place in Bermondsey listening to an English guy who’s holding the chopsticks 1/2 in from the tip like tweezers wonder aloud if Americans can use chopsticks, e.g.
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It can be self-deceptive because Americans are like ‘ooo what a cute accent, what an adorable monarch, what a beautiful baby prince, wow these buildings are old and I like that, ooo they put the fried fish in a newspaper,’ etc. and that kind of obscures the seething.
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As the death toll climbs and 'the economy' sinks, the story is this: Among our elected officials, preventable mass death is preferable to the govt. providing monthly paychecks to people until we can safely resume ordinary life. That's it.
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1) This is a thread that is also a brief guide for how to respond to people who are attacking or disrespecting work in ‘the humanities.’ The motto is: stop defending, and learn how to take back control of the conversation.
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Stepping out for a run, only this time as an associate professor with tenure.
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I hate it when I get the impulse to dunk on someone, such as Sen. Rubio for his 'marshall law' tweet. We will continue to suffer gravely for electing so many craven fools to high office. It's a deadly problem we tend to treat with irony, and that's a mistake.
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So, with student loan forgiveness we’re not talking about a new benefit that others who came before didn’t get. We’re taking about restoring a benefit to generations who were denied to benefit of public higher ed funding that prior generations already got!
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A month after writing this, I think I'd probably state it in even bolder terms: If you teach a 'humanities' subject, you're functionally not allowed to surpass a relatively low difficulty threshold. The experience of such classes being easier than 'STEM' is mostly due to this. ..
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The responses to this make me want to write something about why people can't identify satirical writing.
I caught a grad student of mine watching anime at the airport after a conference once. I was pretty furious. You’re basically saying ‘I’d rather watch this than network with my peers.’ I snapped a photo and told him someone sent me it. That woke him up real fast.
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1) This article is so misleading that I'm gonna go through it piece by piece. I will try to do so without lurching into mega-thread territory. I do not accept propaganda written to damage the English major, particularly when done so to serve one's partisan commitments. Thread:
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This joke really knocks the touchdown out of the park!!!
"Hello, sport fans. Have you heard about the wonderful world of reverse mortgages? It's as cool as hitting a 3 point kick!"
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Stop putting job prep at the center of the university mission.
How do universities prepare for jobs that don't yet exist?
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2) On the one hand, in the US, you have a capacious grifting industry that pins the downfall of 'American values' and 'Western Civilization' on a handful of passé French philosophers ...
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3) And on the other hand, you have the French president and education minister parroting nearly verbatim the same US-based grift, but reversing causality and blaming it on US intellectuals.
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PSA: ‘English’ is shorthand for literature written in English. That’s the content. We don’t teach people how to speak the English language.
Most english majors lack a goal or a purpose. Why else would you major in your native language
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Addendum: This part is pretty funny too. Beware Toronto, the Canadian outpost of US academic multiculturalism!!!!
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Just the first few paragraphs of this made me feel ill.
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I really don’t care about your degree from the 1980s, before Reaganism cut higher ed spending by a billion dollars.
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Here's an idea for the Future of the The University: Bring everything back in-house. Hire human beings directly employed full-time by the institution to do important work. Stop farming it out to to 'portals' and apps that push support services back onto faculty and students.
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The total level of student loan debt and its adverse effects on the economy is good evidence that slashing higher education funding & encouraging a consumer market for the vastly economically beneficial public good that is a college education was bad policy.
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You response to this thread is predicated on the assumption that I am
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N/a or just show results
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Unpopular opinion (I think): Much of academic 'self care' culture functions like corporate 'wellness' culture more broadly: to shift responsibility and accountability onto those being ground up by academic 'austerity' measures, adjunctification, lack of shared governance.
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Finally read the op-ed, and I agree w/
@chrislhayes
. It’s a hedge meant to shift responsibility for Trump away from Republicans and onto a general American ‘we.’ As I wrote in May, 2016 Trump is inextricable from mainstream GOP policy & rhetoric:
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You hear a lot of talk about college students struggling w/ mental health more than before, feeling stressed, joyless, run down, etc. One reason why is they're treated like employees--like a workforce--earlier and earlier.
Every student should have access to an education that aligns with industry demands and evolves to meet the demands of tomorrow’s global workforce.
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1) Not in the mood to do it, but this is a thread on the assumptions baked into three claims: (a) universities subsidize the humanities; (b) higher-income students pursue English and history; (c) low-income students avoid the humanities. In short, these are glib or wrong. ...
Should universities subsidize the humanities, given that it is students from higher-income families who pursue majors in English and history? Low-income students avoid the humanities. See
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The book
What are the best examples of boring technology that work exceptionally well and aren’t overhyped?
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The
#StudentBan
should face lawsuits. It’s not the government’s place to judge whether online instruction requires residential resources, such as high-speed internet, being in same time zone, physical lab or library access, quiet working space, etc. Evict ICE from our classrooms.
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The real slap in the face is knowing this nation made a choice to provide quality higher ed for my parents’ generation w/o requiring them to saddle themselves with 5-figure debt for the opportunity, while knowing legislators of that generation chose not to do the same for mine.
New post: "Elizabeth Warren's plan to cancel student loan debt would be a slap in the face to all those who struggled to pay off their loans"
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1/2) I just want to amplify this point, as someone who’s covered free speech on campus culture wars since 2015. The libertarian position has always been ‘instead of shutting it down, hold a counter-scheduled event.’ That’s exactly what
@christapeterso
did here, yet…
What an absolute disgrace, and also a complete misrepresentation of both Christa and her talk. What's more this is a literal case of countering speech with putting forward one's own arguments in reply and it's still being framed as an attack on free speech! Incoherent disgrace.
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It's very controversial when state law (status quo) *while the election is taking place* says ballots must be *postmarked* but not *received* by election day, then one party tries to overturn state law in the middle of the election.
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Free link here to my latest essay on people making stuff up about ‘the humanities
#Twitterstorians
#18c
@V21collective
FYI
@KevinMKruse
@TheTattooedProf
@Lollardfish
and quoting
@JeffreyASachs
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I need academia to step back from making virtually everything about everyone's feelings. I am not here for this and I find it incredibly alienating.
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A not insignificant reason I quit a good job in (not management) consulting to do a PhD in English & pursue a low-odds academic career is I find the trainings & self-help culture of the corporate workplace misguided and repulsive. Joke’s on me, academia is the same.
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This has 8K retweets and 22K likes and is simply factually incorrect. The earliest (1813) reference in the OED makes no mention of slavery. The auctioneer bit is from an 1836 reference (an ill-chosen one, btw) that's making a racist joke using the pre-established phrase.
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You’ll see more of this language. They’re using the word ‘grooming,’ which has a pedophilia connotation, to describe what they used to call ‘indoctrination.’ Linking mainstream (unfounded) complaint to the world of far-right conspiracy theory.
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The thing is, 'cannot be checked by anyone who doesn't know the minutiae of the subject themselves' is the case for all knowledge. What you're doing when you take a medicine or step on an elevator or send a text is trusting, not empirically verifying.
This is why I frankly detest history as a discipline. It has no tests, no counterfactuals — it relies on telling a story which cannot be checked by anyone who doesn’t know the minutiae of the subject themselves. We cannot ever tell what has been omitted.
The thread is bs, btw.
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I tweet it and then they just mount more evidence for me.
It started w/ desire to defend rationality from ‘identity politics,’ then ppl got so angry at the ‘elites’ they associate w/ ‘identity politics’ that it became about opposing ‘elites’ at all costs. One cost is…rationality. ‘Elites pushing their VACCINES on us!!!’ Oops.
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1) I didn’t wanna do this again, but this is a thread about the pernicious idea that research in literature, history, religion, classics, etc. must be ‘mesearch,’ or must be about loving and affirming one’s objects of study. I’ll start with a frustrating anecdote...
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For faculty in particular, I think it's worth learning the basics of how generative AI works (and doesn't work).
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14) Maria Edgeworth wrote a brilliant satirical essay ‘On the Noble Science of Self-Justification’ (1795), about how women are constantly forced to explain themselves, and how they could turn this back around on their husbands. Similar concept here:
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The idea that the average 'humanities' professor doesn't believe in gravity or accept that 2 + 2 = 4 is, frankly, insane. I'm very critical of the relative epistemic laxity of people in literary studies, but there are limits.
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6 years into my career and I’ve still never had a single student demand a trigger warning, ever, nor have I ever seen a ‘safe space,’ nor ever witnessed a student ask for one, let alone demand it.
(2/2) It’s bad enough when college students demand trigger warnings and safe spaces to avoid hearing views with which they disagree. But it’s worse when it comes from professors and media people. It’s a dangerous sign of the times.
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The basic failures of the United States of America should be shocking. A nation that can’t house its people, can’t have healthcare without bankrupting its people for healthcare reasons, and is constantly besieged by mass murder by gun. It’s an astonishing disgrace.
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A not insignificant share of free speech controversy is due to mainstream US conservatism embracing shock jock tactics and calling it conservative speech, so its circumstantial rejection becomes a ‘viewpoint diversity issue.’
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I'm really upset right now so chances of this sticking aren't great, but I'm seriously contemplating just not assigning essays anymore.
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9) Anytime someone criticizes ‘the humanities,’ ask them to define ‘the humanities.’ Push them to explain the lines of demarcation between knowledge branches and the epistemological assumptions behind those lines.
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1) I've said for years now that 'STEM' vs. 'humanities' is a silly and destructive dichotomy, as is the blame game that goes along with it. I've also said non-biz 'STEM' fields will face pressure similar to 'hum' fields. Viz., cuts to the math dept. at Murdoch U:
This university just canceled... math. Unreal.
The departure of
@dr_njarmstrong
, who has resigned in protest, is a huge loss for
@MurdochUni
. What is going on in Australia?
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Addendum: In case it's not clear enough, this is part of a case for student loan debt cancellation. Imperfections are just that, not deal-breakers.
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15) When your interlocutor’s starting point is ignorance and contempt, self-justification is self-defeating. Don’t forget the crucial step: make them *experience* their ignorance. Take control of the conversation. You’re the expert. /end
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1) It's my personal view that colleges should offer one-year contract extensions right now to all contingent faculty. To put this into perspective, the following:
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I could say a lot about this statement, but I'll just say one thing: If you employ adjunct labor (with zero labor protections), you don't ever get to distinguish between whether they were 'fired' or 'not renewed,' because the conditions for that distinction don't exist.
The president of Hamline University is not backing down at all. She argues it’s not an academic freedom issue, she didn’t fire the professor either.
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Do not underestimate the severity of the words ‘These aren’t people, these are animals’ when used by a head of state to describe people.
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13) In short, stop being on the defensive and go on the attack by taking back control of the conversation about your expertise. Push your interlocutor to defend and justify why *they* have any business making judgments about your field.
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Re. WVU, etc., you need to understand that a lot of people, not just the right, don’t value education. They value ‘training.’ The people who have an ideological axe to grind against education are enabled by the many more who don’t value it. The battleground is value, not values.
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Further Addendum: To streamline response to false claims that student debt cancellation is regressive policy that only benefits white rich privately educated high-income etc. etc.. No, that's wrong.
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1) This is an explainer thread for anti-PC, anti-SJW, anti-pomo types about recent (~100 years) developments in literary study, apropos of recent convos. This might get barbed, I fear, but I genuinely mean for it to be useful. I’ll avoid jargon as best I can. Please share:
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And there it is: The weird epistemic exceptionalism of literary studies that I’ve been railing against for years.
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Why do we require letters of recommendation for professional scholars to apply for like a $2500 library fellowship?
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1) Had some students over tonight for dinner, and *they* started talking about the value of a liberal arts education. We covered all the various arguments, and then I confessed to them what for me is the most profound reason to pursue a liberal arts education:
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The experience of passing through a poor town in America, observing the school buses and buildings, public buildings, bridges, etc. falling apart, but the police cars, police stations are always shiny and new.
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I am an ENGLISH PROFESSOR
I like CROISSANTS and
WHISKY with NO E
Both in the MORNING
My SYLLABUS will ask your preferred PRONOUNS
This blazer is TWEED
If you don’t like it
ABSCOND, COXCOMB!
god these are fantastic. i want to make one that's like
"NEWS REPORTER
i drive a HONDA
i eat RAMEN NOODLES
and i like LAX PUBLIC RECORDS LAWS
if you don't like it
MOVE"
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12) If they get frustrated & accuse you of changing the subject, explain that you’re simply trying to ascertain their basic factual understanding of what they’re taking about before entertaining their criticism. What, you don’t care about facts? How can you comment w/o the facts?
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So my book is out today:
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I still think the part of 'colleges are indoctrinating your children' thing we don't address enough is the underlying premise that college students are perpetual children and the indefinite property of their parents, so must never be exposed to other views or change their minds.
Hmmm, yeah, wow, though hang on a sec, one reason they might not realize that is because it’s hilariously untrue.
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1) Today, upon request of the division chair, I'm giving a short, data-based presentation to the faculty in the Humanities division meeting. The subject is career prospects for our majors. Here are the key points:
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11) If they say ‘I don’t like what I see coming out of the humanities these days, too ideological, blah blah blah,’ ask them which journals they read or peer-reviewed articles they’ve read lately. Ask them where they stand on a methodological issue or dispute in your field.
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1) Here are some context notes about the tenure review process for journalists and others commenting on the
@nhannahjones
case. Observing these might help reduce confusion and misinformation:
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It started w/ desire to defend rationality from ‘identity politics,’ then ppl got so angry at the ‘elites’ they associate w/ ‘identity politics’ that it became about opposing ‘elites’ at all costs. One cost is…rationality. ‘Elites pushing their VACCINES on us!!!’ Oops.
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Now that I drink coffee, a conjecture: The US palate seems to confuse extreme bitterness for well roastedness in coffee like it confuses extreme hoppiness for high quality in beer.
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It’s called a PhD and it helps me know all the journals in my field & the difference between a peer-reviewed argument and an encyclopedia summary.
It's called M-Journal and it will help you convince your professor that you're citing a real academic source.
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Reminder: What's the strongest form of political correctness in the US, and the most dangerous to violate?
Unconditional support of law enforcement and the military.
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US: Clothes go in the dryer. 40 minutes later: dry
UK: Clothes go in the dryer: 195 minutes later: damp
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1) This is a thread on this idea that ‘we should teach all students in every discipline to think like scientists.’ Please share this widely, because this is absolutely crucial, and speaks to a pernicious misunderstanding.
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(2/2) …it’s still being called ‘bullying,’ ‘trolling.’ It shows how far rightward the ‘free speech’ moral panic has lurched when peaceful counter-speech—the free speech libertarian ideal—is portrayed as a threat to open discourse. And why? Just bc the accusers disagree!
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A fundamental element of British nationalist myth is calling British racism ‘American’ in one way or another.
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If I could get away with assigning the amount of reading I should and holding students accountable to it as I should—that is, if I lived in a world that expected such hard and time-consuming work to actually be hard and time-consuming—this wouldn’t hold.
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@citizen_sanders
Can you point to anything I’ve said here that indicates an opinion on whether Americans care what Brits think, one way or another?
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All the Democrat party ever does is talk about Hegel. Hegel Hegel Hegel. For Fichte’s sake, man, give it a rest!
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5) You can be an ace debater with ice in your veins, but honestly you shouldn’t go on Fox unless you’re positioned to handle straight-up violent and death threats, attempts to ruin you and get you fired, cynical smear tactics all over the media, late-night phone calls, defamation
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