tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post7370703754135445589..comments2023-09-25T04:26:51.568-06:00Comments on The Barefoot Bum: Actual examples of "censorship"Larry Hamelinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-14598429156549975242017-08-31T05:23:08.067-06:002017-08-31T05:23:08.067-06:00That's what I was trying to get you to see.
I...<i>That's what I was trying to get you to see.</i><br /><br />I see that, and I agree with most everything you say.<br /><br />I'm arguing that this situation is not the fault of academia per se but of <i>capitalism</i>, and it's literally <i>everywhere</i>, with academia being one of the last holdouts, now sadly (but inevitably) crumbling.Larry Hamelinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-70974267359201410382017-08-30T23:37:51.630-06:002017-08-30T23:37:51.630-06:00"All cults, not just racist/neo-Nazi ones suc..."<i>All cults, not just racist/neo-Nazi ones such as the KKK, look for people who are dog-depressed and down on their luck in order to recruit.</i><br /><br />Well, I've actually been in a cult, and I've studied a few others informally. There's a lot of range, from relatively nice places like Oneida to really creepy places like Scientology.<br /><br />I would say that academia doesn't really resemble the creepy side of the cult spectrum."<br /><br />No, no, no, I wasn't blaming anti racism nor calling universities a cult. What I was saying is that they produce a situation which sometimes leads students into the arms of cults, including racist cults.<br /><br />What I mean is that if you have somebody who has their hopes held high that university will provide that ticket to a job and a future (and there's no denying unis advertise themselves as being that ticket, just look at the TV ads), so they take out a student loan and then 4, 5, 6, etc. years later that job never materialized (or it was min wage, which doesn't even pay enough to live on), then what are they stuck with? No money, no decent job, a non dischargable loan that continues to accrue interest, and seemingly no future. <br /><br />These are people who become fertile recruitment ground for "the crazies". Sometimes the crazies are the Moonies and the Jesus Freaks, sometimes they're neonazis or the KKK. When you have an extremely hopeless person, oftentimes they're not thinking rationally even if they're otherwise a very smart person, so it can be as simple sometimes as which group of crazies gets to that person first. <br /><br />Substantial non-dischargable debt that continues to accrue (of which university student loans are not the only type, but they are <b>a</b> type), is not the only path to a person becoming vulnerable to recruitment by "the crazies". But it is <b>a</b> path, one that has been trodden all too many times before. <br /><br />That's what I was trying to get you to see.Dustin Vinland Jarlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06321791031988119649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-86101215270054839982017-08-03T02:11:21.631-06:002017-08-03T02:11:21.631-06:00I flushed many (most?) of the best years of my lif...<i>I flushed many (most?) of the best years of my life down the sinkhole known as university. I was sold the proverbial bill of goods: False hope, false dreams, false promises. I am still struggling to pick up the debris of what was once my life.</i><br /><br />I'm sorry to hear that.<br /><br /><i>Do you ever consider that academia might not have the moral high ground here, and that it in fact might be part of the problem?</i><br /><br />Of course I do. I'm a communist in an institution — an economics department in a university — dedicated to the reproduction of capitalism. Damn straight academia is part of the problem.<br /><br />I just don't think specifically anti-racism in academia is the problem, and I don't think it's a threat to free speech.<br /><br /><i>All cults, not just racist/neo-Nazi ones such as the KKK, look for people who are dog-depressed and down on their luck in order to recruit. </i><br /><br />Well, I've actually been in a cult, and I've studied a few others informally. There's a lot of range, from relatively nice places like Oneida to really creepy places like Scientology.<br /><br />I would say that academia doesn't really resemble the creepy side of the cult spectrum.<br /><br /><i>[False hopes, false dreams, false promises are] being "sold" to working class people as the ticket into the middle class. They're being "sold" to middle class people as the way to not fall out of the middle class, like so many others. All too often, the reality = no job, no prospects, nothing to show for the 4 (or more, in some cases) years except large sums of non-dischargable student loan debt.</i><br /><br /><i>Mais oui, mon frère.</i> This is a huge problem. But the <i>capitalists</i> created this problem, not the socialists, not the PMC, and not the anti-racists.<br /><br /><i>Again, it's people down on their luck, it's people who are being harassed by debt collectors and feel like there is no way out, who are fertile recruitment ground for cults, including race-hate cults such as the KKK. Just something to think about.</i><br /><br />Again, I agree completely. But whose fault is it? I lay the blame primarily on the capitalist class, with some going to the PMC for not fighting back hard enough. I really do not blame it at all on anti-racism.Larry Hamelinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-17369496058873936982017-08-02T07:35:37.767-06:002017-08-02T07:35:37.767-06:00I flushed many (most?) of the best years of my lif...I flushed many (most?) of the best years of my life down the sinkhole known as university. I was sold the proverbial bill of goods: False hope, false dreams, false promises. I am still struggling to pick up the debris of what was once my life.<br /><br />Larry, do you ever consider that you might have it backwards? Do you ever consider that academia might not have the moral high ground here, and that it in fact might be part of the problem? All cults, not just racist/neo-Nazi ones such as the KKK, look for people who are dog-depressed and down on their luck in order to recruit. <br /><br />Universities have dished out false hopes, false dreams, false promises to people for as long as I can remember. They're being "sold" to working class people as the ticket into the middle class. They're being "sold" to middle class people as the way to not fall out of the middle class, like so many others. All too often, the <i>reality</i> = no job, no prospects, nothing to show for the 4 (or more, in some cases) years except large sums of non-dischargable student loan debt.<br /><br />Again, it's people down on their luck, it's people who are being harassed by debt collectors and feel like there is no way out, who are fertile recruitment ground for cults, including race-hate cults such as the KKK. Just something to think about.Dustin Vinland Jarlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06321791031988119649noreply@blogger.com