Writes Ginia Bellafante, in "Why Is N.Y.U. Forcing Protesters to Write Apology Letters?/The university calls it a 'restorative practice'; the students call it a coerced confession" (NYT).
A university spokesman characterized the assignment as consistent with what are called "restorative practices." Bellafante writes:
In this instance, though, the exercise cannibalizes the mission, favoring a will to dishonesty — inviting a charade of guilt. Anyone driven to protest is marching and chanting precisely as an expression of a certain set of fiercely held moral beliefs and values — not in deviation from them....
In this instance... what about other instances? Is this instance so special? I'd like to see more depth on this topic of "restorative practices" and the horrors of forced speech and compulsory insincerity.
I liked this comment over there, from Jeremy:
This seems like a classic case of a political movement that is suddenly shocked when it finds the very tools it created to oppress others turned around and imposed on itself. How many students, faculty, and staff at NYU have been forced to endure pages and pages, or hours and hours, of diversity and sensitivity training, perhaps made to read Robin DiAngelo or Ibram Kendi or their like, and then coerced into parroting their ideas, either verbally or in writing, often in the form of compulsory "DEI Statements." Now students identifying as progressive are being forced to endure the same institutional ideological reprog[r]amming that they have imposed on so many others. That should be the real learning experience.
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60 comments:
Welp. Jeremy nailed it.
Anyone driven to protest is marching and chanting precisely as an expression of a certain set of fiercely held moral beliefs and values
Fiercely-held moral beliefs and values. Pull the other one.
Was nobody out there protesting to hook up?
Filed under political reeducation camp we like.
Thank you Jeremy…
The university selected and educated these misfits. Why are they qualified to re-educate them?
The university selected and educated these misfits. Why are they qualified to re-educate them?
Every single one of those reflection papers, including student names, should be posted on a website for the whole world to see.
I’d like to give a few of the more boisterous protesters a restorative size 16 Wolverine boot kick in the ass.
Half the students will use a LLM to generate their 'reflection papers', the other half will plagiarize. If Claudine Gay peaked in high school while making it to the top, so can they dammit!
"Filed under political reeducation camp we like."
Maybe the real political reeducation camp was the friends they'll make along the way.
A 49-page set of reading and tasks?
Gawd, that sounds like cruel but not unusual. Just kick their ass out if you don't like the crap they pulled.
Compactmag's article "Behind the Ivy Intifada" is the most insightful take on the topic of college pro-Palestine protests. It's the umbrella. All of these nibbling attempts to explain the problem are in its shade.
Boomerang effect.
You mean something like a DEI confession? Oh my.
The entire university system is plagued with this autocratic need to properly program the little robots going to college today.
The kids that support the murderous Hamas death cult should be confronted and they need to be challenged in their thinking. But punishments like this that require a "correct" answer are self defeating because they are directly antithetical to the stated goal of the punishment.
If they continue to support groups and ideologies that are incompatible with a free high trust society they should be shipped out. But that should be based on actions, not words.
Forcing kids to write the "correct" answer during a struggle session is wrong and purposely stupid. They are trying to fuck this up.
I keep this bookmarked for just such occasions.
Howard said...
Filed under political reeducation camp we like.
3/10
Howard likes to argue with Romney Republicans.
Shorter Ginia Bellafante; "Consequences! Consequences! I didn't sign up for that!"
It is horrifying to me that we have so many people in this country whose fiercely held moral beliefs and values have led them to make common cause with and cheer for those who brutalized, murdered, burned, raped and mutilated so many Jews on October 7. Here, some excerpts from someone who has watched Hamas' bloody home-made movies:
"Audio recordings allow viewers to hear terrorists saying “Praise God!” and “God is good!” in Arabic as they beheaded an innocent man with garden tools, a task that required swing after swing, chop after chop. Other scenes included violent murderers taking selfies and proudly declaring “That’s how it’s done!” in Arabic.
"Viewers of this film witnessed the crowds of the much talked about “innocent civilians in Gaza” cheer and celebrate as vehicles arrived with some of the traumatized hostages. These “civilians” punched, kicked, and spat on the Israeli hostages while their “innocent” neighbors videoed everything. Hamas radio communications, intercepted by the IDF, included the recording of one man saying about a potential hostage (in Arabic but sub-titled in English), “Bring him and let the people play with his body.”
"Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official said in an interview in late October, that the attack against Israel was “just the beginning.”
"instructed not to 'justify' their actions"
Why not? What if they successfully, convincingly, justified their actions? How could that be wrong? The penalty for failure is high, but the person or entity making the demand for the reflection paper should be subject to an equally high penalty for being wrong themselves.
To both sides... tell us how you really feel. Anyone can walk away/fight another day. After all, this is a war.
That word, justify is almost always doing too much work whenever it's used. There is an assumed set of facts by the writer that funnels the response into only one acceptable path.
Whatever happened to option B; expel the privileged cocksuckers?
And can they read?
You might be shocked at now many incoming freshmen have to take remedial English...
I had to look up Robin DiAngelo after seeing the name in two of today's posts.
If it's like HR required annual awareness training sessions online, you can easily guess the answers they want without watching the hour-long video.
Ha! Jeremy gets it. Everyone else who says "WTH" is either playing dumb or is actually stupid. I'm guessing a lot of Option B in this crowd.
I'm not in favor of it. They'll just parrot what they think you want to hear. A mandatory course on the Constitution with a minimum passing grade of B. The students who actively prevented other students and professors from going to classes should be expelled. They've failed to understand what a liberal education means.
Goose/gander, Howard.
Even you can understand that clear reciprocity, though you may not be able to process why it is necessary. It is.
They won't learn anything. They didn't learn themselves into this situation, and they are not going to learn themselves out of it.
Yes, this is a coerced confession. I am opposed to coerced confessions. That said, they should have been expelled and the fact that they are given any road back to the good graces of the university is sad.
Comments are no longer open. It seems they do not appreciate Jeremy as much as we do.
Anyone driven to protest is marching and chanting precisely as an expression of a certain set of fiercely held moral beliefs and values
Assumes facts not in evidence. A shocking number of campus protesters could not answer the question "what specifically are you protesting." Maybe forcing them to analyze the issue in depth, beyond simply throwing the word "genocide" out there, will actually cause them to reflect on whether their protest actions really do align with their moral beliefs and values?
In terms of forcing a confession, has the school indicated that there are answers that will cause the school to not let them back in? Could someone write a well-thought-out essay that comes to the conclusion, after deep reflection, that their protest actions did align with their moral values and get back in, or is there actually only one "right" answer?
As we say... "you're not gonna like following the new rules you've made."
But we are learning that they are being PAID to protest. Little Capitalistic Communists. How apropos of the American left.
Jeremy has indeed captured the essence of the moment. But I feel there is more to understand: It would appear in this case that the battle has turned, finally; Maybe so. But the war is not won until the foe admits defeat and is forced to accept (formally) the mercy of the victor. The students are still complaining and protesting, so they are not at that point.
I know that sounds harsh - but it is the fact that we see played out over and over throughout history - in both World Wars and indeed, with Hamas and Israel right now. It's the same with social contests like the Woke societal virus. I note that the students are still not accepting their fate, so: Start expelling them, one-by-protesting-one, and print their photos prominently.
How many violated the hate speech codes they tirelessly worked to get enacted?
I'll note that Madison Man has it right. A lot--maybe the majority (when college enrollments these days tilt toward 60 percent female) of the protesters were passionate young women. A horny young man might figure, "Say the right thing and who needs 72 virgins in Paradise?" Hookin' up for Hamas and all that.
But I'm also thinking that these "reflections" are evocative of the young Members of The Red Guard being forced to undergo "Struggle Sessions" when the fun was over. This is just another undesirable import from Red China.
"the students call it a coerced confession" (NYT)
Poor dears are upset someone else is using their tactic de faveur.
Enjoying the schadenfreude of people tasting their own medicine. Then read Howard squealing like a stuck pig. Poor guy doesn't like his toys used against him by his kindred spirits.
Considering many of the protest participants aren't students, I'm not seeing the point of the process. Just kick out the students, who think university is for them to send messages rather than to get the message and learn something.
Maybe we should force students to write paper espousing beliefs they both do and do not agree with, as a forced writing exercise, and then simply ask if forced writing exercise about personal beliefs are good, bad, or useful? How about if it was only for one accepted position that was being enforced by those in power?
Maybe the real learning exercise here is in making authoritarians live by their own standards.
OK, so it's Maoist self-criticism. Still, there's something old-fashioned and comforting about the idea of college students actually being required to read something.
They have to go through de-nazification before they can return to classes with their neo-marxist, antisemitic professors. It's kind of like dry January to get ready for fascist February.
Oh, cry me a fucking river….
These fuckers, and people like them, are the reason I have to sit through “bias” classes and “sexual harassment” training every year, and the classes insist that I MUST let that guy use the women’s restroom if he wants because otherwise I will hurt his feelings. Meanwhile, fuck the feelings of the ladies that don’t want a guy in their restroom. They’re somehow evil for feeling that way.
No, I’m done with these fuckers. Enjoy the re-education camp you fuckers!
Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha. Fuckers!
For those of you who would like to make gains in your moral reasoning and ethical decision making, the NYU Ethos Integrity Series is right here.
I'm not in favor of it. They'll just parrot what they think you want to hear.
@Rusty, that was my first thought, too. And maybe in the minds of the NYU administrators this is just a make work exercise like Bart Simpson writing something 100 times on the blackboard. But maybe I’m not giving the administrators enough credit. Sure, most of the terrorist wannabes will treat the exercise as a joke and vomit back what they think the school wants to see. But maybe they have hopes that here and there a couple students will see the light and reconsider their actions.
They may even be right.
I like the concept, but I think it's as likely to be as useful in building a better society as the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commissions.
By the way, insomnia meant I spent way too much time last night lead around by my YouTube algorithm. Granted surprising stuff pops up occasionally, but I saw quite a bit of holocaust memories. I flipped quickly through them (not up for heartbreak at 3 am) so I don't think I reinforced that new direction. Could someone be feeding the horrors of antisemitism into the zeitgeist thusly?
"Restorative practice" has always been stupid. The most entertaining instance of its advocacy that I have ever read came at the end of a collection of studies on psychopathy. After hundreds and hundreds of pages demonstrating that psychopaths are manipulative and lack empathy, the authors suggest that "restorative justice" might be a nice approach. You know, in case victims would like to take in a good performance some evening.
Goose/gander is necessary if you want to authorize the totalitarian bureaucracy to offer such punishment in perpetuity. This is Soap Opera behavior befitting cat ladies and Karen's.
You're low T is showing
Amit Buskila, 28, was kidnapped from the Nova Festival on October 7th.
Her family have spent the last 223 days praying for her safe return.
Today her body was found decomposing in Rafah.
Hamas executed her on the day of her kidnapping and held her body hostage ever since.
Her body alongside the body of Shani Louk and Itzik Gelerenter have been recovered today by IDF forces in Gaza.
I think it would be more effective and appropriate to make them listen to 48 hours of Donald Trump speeches blared through a bullhorn at 120 decibels. Then they might understand the problem.
What? A struggle session for progressive zealots? That must really bite. That kind of thing is only for the despicable normies.
It would take a heart of stone not to laugh at their plight.
Make them write 10,000 times, "Jews have a right to exist."
Make them read Aristotle. “Art of Rhetoric”.
The students don't have to return to the university.
Reminds me of the first 15 minutes of the Three Body Problem: write your confession to the party and then join the mob humiliating anyone who thinks differently.
“Maybe the real political reeducation camp was the friends they'll make along the way.”
A great application of a special trope! What if your whole career is just the friends you made along the way, sniff, tear drop.
At my retirement I told the German General joke. The officers who have high intelligence and high diligence are for staff, as they will produce the best plan. The highly intelligent and lazy are for high command as they will find the easiest way to win. The stupid and lazy officer can always find a simple place. But the stupid and diligent man must be found out and eliminated, or he will go through the army in his hard work of enacting stupidity everywhere with great efficiency.
Forced insincerity.
Maybe we should force students to write paper espousing beliefs they both do and do not agree with, as a forced writing exercise, and then simply ask if forced writing exercise about personal beliefs are good, bad, or useful? How about if it was only for one accepted position that was being enforced by those in power?
I just thought Tree Joe's alternative deserved repeating.
A required 1-unit course, maybe a week or two long at the beginning of each student's first freshman semester (while she's still more or less a high school kid), with this specific assignment, might sink in a bit. I mean, yes, there will be those students who don't "get" it any more than they "got" The Giver in middle school, or Anthem, or 1984 or Brave New World, if any of these are still assigned, but some will presumably understand what they're being required to do.
At least, it might be more useful than yet another seminar in the Actual Violence of microaggressions, the Exhaustion of the educated oppressed minorities (by definition, those whose numbers constitute less than half of the population) when forced to live in a world that doesn't equally allow for or indeed privilege whatever characteristic makes them different from the majority population, the Essential Rape of the Male Gaze, the Pride of advertising what type of person you want to have sex with to all and sundry...
And Readering, you had to look up Robin diAngelo?! I have to say that really surprised me - I thought she was as well known as Kendi now. I hope you read in some depth - maybe you can find common ground with those of us here who find her work (along with that of her allies, if she can be said to have allies, being a fragile and rage-filled white person who is, because of her whiteness, uniquely capable of racism because of her institutionally propped-up power, by her own admission) harmful to the goal of a cohesive, high-trust society.
As much as it feels satisfying to see progressives being held to the same illiberal standards as the non-woke, they still are illiberal standards reminiscint of the West Virginia flag pledging decision at the supreme court that oberserved:"Words uttered under coercion are proof of loyalty to nothing but self-interest. Love of country must spring from willing hearts and free minds..." https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/319/624/
In addition, this exercise does nothing to erase 4 years of a second rate anti-intellectual education from a faculty of ideologues.
It has been reported that most of these demonstrators (so-called) aren't even students anywhere let alone at the universities they're occupying and vandalizing. This whole Free Palestine movement is another put up job by the usual suspects. Out of a hundred arrestees maybe a few would be subject to writing "I won't trespass again" in their notebooks 100 times for the Dean. Silly. Treat them like adults.
Are there any men left at the Times?
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