Is TCU about to expel a female student?

[TCUdirtbag]

Our new friend from Emory has company

Nothing says American Progressives like a good book burning.

I found this article interesting. Makes a fair point that we have a tendency to read things that align with and reinforce our worldview.

We have some friends who adopted a child of another race. They specifically asked their friends to help them find books that would be more affirming of a black child than the white-American/western European collection they had assembled for their first two kids. In the process they also started diversifying their and the older two kids’ reading, music, film, etc.

I had a pretty sudden reaction to the phrase “decolonizing literature”. Sounds like rewriting novels or book burning. But from the article, this actually makes a lot of sense:

Reading broadly and with intention is how we counter dehumanization and demand visibility, effectively bridging the gap between what we read and how we might live in a more just and equitable society.

I can get behind the idea of us all needing to confront/absorb media from different cultures and histories than the mostly white-washed perspectives we got growing up. In a country as diverse as ours, that can do a lot of good - especially if we start there as kids.

So the term is really stupid. As always, liberals come up with dumb/shocking names for sensible ideas. Try “diversifying” your bookshelf next time, liberals.

 

[ticketfrog123]

I found this article interesting. Makes a fair point that we have a tendency to read things that align with and reinforce our worldview.

We have some friends who adopted a child of another race. They specifically asked their friends to help them find books that would be more affirming of a black child than the white-American/western European collection they had assembled for their first two kids. In the process they also started diversifying their and the older two kids’ reading, music, film, etc.

I had a pretty sudden reaction to the phrase “decolonizing literature”. Sounds like rewriting novels or book burning. But from the article, this actually makes a lot of sense:


I can get behind the idea of us all needing to confront/absorb media from different cultures and histories than the mostly white-washed perspectives we got growing up. In a country as diverse as ours, that can do a lot of good - especially if we start there as kids.

So the term is really stupid. As always, liberals come up with dumb/shocking names for sensible ideas. Try “diversifying” your bookshelf next time, liberals.

diversity is a racist term. Get with the times!

multicultural assimilation is the preferred term now.

(joking, I hope)

 

[TxFrog1999]

I’ll just leave this here:

UCLA students dox and call for firing of professor after he refuses to cancel final exam over George Floyd death

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...-to-cancel-final-exam-over-george-floyd-death

 

[Dogfrog]

I found this article interesting. Makes a fair point that we have a tendency to read things that align with and reinforce our world view.

It makes the flawed point that we should discard the books that don’t align with and reinforce our “enlightened” current world view. If this article said diversify your library, challenge yourself, consider another ideology, fine. But it specifically says “cast aside.” That is inherently ignorant.

 

[TCUdirtbag]

It makes the flawed point that we should discard the books that don’t align with and reinforce our “enlightened” current world view. If this article said diversify your library, challenge yourself, consider another ideology, fine. But it specifically says “cast aside.” That is inherently ignorant.

Umm, that’s actually not what it says.

 

[tcudoc]

Umm, that’s actually not what it says.

It is, literally, in sentence one of the tweet...it says “cast aside”
He didn’t make that up.

 

[Dogfrog]

Umm, that’s actually not what it says.

Well that is my interpretation of “resisting and casting aside”. Also, the writer doesn’t go into detail about what books or passages he is referring to. Are these books that are actually pro-racism or are they simply descriptive of the reality of the racism of their time?

 

[TCUdirtbag]

It is, literally, in sentence one of the tweet...it says “cast aside”
He didn’t make that up.

IMO, if you can read thousands of pages of the frog fan forum, you should be able to read and understand one article—or even one full sentence!

The sentence at issue quite clearly doesn’t even say what you and Dog are alleging:

You may have seen the phrase "decolonize your bookshelf" floating around. In essence, it is about actively resisting and casting aside the colonialist ideas of narrative, storytelling, and literature that have pervaded the American psyche for so long.

They’re suggesting discarding/casting aside certain *ideas*, not books, by:

Reading broadly and with intention is how we counter dehumanization and demand visibility, effectively bridging the gap between what we read and how we might live in a more just and equitable society.

If you walk in ready to be outraged, maybe your reading comprehension is stunted. I walked in ready to roll my eyes and yet managed to see the author’s point is different than my preconceived notion (and the misleading label they’ve assigned to the proposal).

 

[HFrog1999]

diversity is a racist term. Get with the times!

multicultural assimilation is the preferred term now.

(joking, I hope)

 

[Hemingway]

Thought this would fit in nicely in this thread.

Buckle up. The following is absolutely unreal (make sure you click on the tweet and read the entire thread):

Who’s Bailey Betik?

And The Skai lady needs to stop promoting her book during this. Seems like less than genuine when you’re hocking ship and promoting books during a crusade. “Bleep all racists and please buy all my crap.”

 

[Dogfrog]

IMO, if you can read thousands of pages of the frog fan forum, you should be able to read and understand one article—or even one full sentence!

The sentence at issue quite clearly doesn’t even say what you and Dog are alleging:

They’re suggesting discarding/casting aside certain *ideas*, not books, by:

If you walk in ready to be outraged, maybe your reading comprehension is stunted. I walked in ready to roll my eyes and yet managed to see the author’s point is different than my preconceived notion (and the misleading label they’ve assigned to the proposal).

Who’s outraged?

So not discarding books but just idea police? Tell me the difference. Specifically mentions the ideas of narrative and story telling? So just fiction?

Again, it would be helpful To the discussion to have a list from the author of the books and ideas that he feels should be discarded and a list that meets his criteria of what should be on my bookshelf (which suggests there are some that should not be)

 

[AroundWorldFrog]

Who’s outraged?

So not discarding books but just idea police? Tell me the difference. Specifically mentions the ideas of narrative and story telling? So just fiction?

Again, it would be helpful To the discussion to have a list from the author of the books and ideas that he feels should be discarded and a list that meets his criteria of what should be on my bookshelf (which suggests there are some that should not be)

If you like your books, you can keep you books.

 

[AroundWorldFrog]

If you like your books, you can keep you books.

You just can't read them or think about them.

 

[Chongo94]

Reminds me of something a professor at our college told me once: “You know what you can do with a PHD in Philosophy? Teach others to get a PHD in Philosophy.”

Hell, these days, that’s practically every liberal arts major sadly...and I got one ugh.

 

[TxFrog1999]

Who’s outraged?

So not discarding books but just idea police? Tell me the difference. Specifically mentions the ideas of narrative and story telling? So just fiction?

Again, it would be helpful To the discussion to have a list from the author of the books and ideas that he feels should be discarded and a list that meets his criteria of what should be on my bookshelf (which suggests there are some that should not be)

That’s not what he was saying. It’s not about completely discounting what came before like the removal of history, but rather the concept of putting aside your currently understood concepts of history and society and learning from a different perspective. Which is actually a good practice if you then take what you’ve learned, research it further to understand the context, and analyze it against what you’ve already learned.

The issue comes when some of these academics, like the lady that sparked this thread, take it a step further and want to rewrite history (1619 project) or castigate those that still teach “classic literature” because they find the viewpoints to be wrong think.

 

[Chongo94]

Apparently she’s a former theatre major...

No way, really??....sarcasm

 

[Dogfrog]

That’s not what he was saying. It’s not about completely discounting what came before like the removal of history, but rather the concept of putting aside your currently understood concepts of history and society and learning from a different perspective. Which is actually a good practice if you then take what you’ve learned, research it further to understand the context, and analyze it against what you’ve already learned.

The issue comes when some of these academics, like the lady that sparked this thread, take it a step further and want to rewrite history (1619 project) or castigate those that still teach “classic literature” because they find the viewpoints to be wrong think.

Guess I’m not as certain what the author was getting at.
Racism is evil. But when you start talking about literature, and even if it’s self censorship, it’s a serious enough topic for to me want some detail, maybe examples from his own experience.

 

[TxFrog1999]

I’ll just leave this here:

UCLA students dox and call for firing of professor after he refuses to cancel final exam over George Floyd death

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...-to-cancel-final-exam-over-george-floyd-death

Update on this story, here is the tweet that set this off. The replies to this spoiled student give me hope:

 

[TxFrog1999]

Guess I’m not as certain what the author was getting at.
Racism is evil. But when you start talking about literature, and even if it’s self censorship, it’s a serious enough topic for to me want some detail, maybe examples from his own experience.

I agree the author does a terrible job in explaining the point, and I suspect there is a bit of their worldview that aligns with the more problematic aspects I mentioned in my previous comment.

 

[Dogfrog]

I agree the author does a terrible job in explaining the point, and I suspect there is a bit of their worldview that aligns with the more problematic aspects I mentioned in my previous comment.

Im all for self review and challenging oneself on set ideology. It just would have been helpful to see his views on what he considers pro-racist literature. Mein Kampf? Huckleberry Finn? His high school history book? Don’t know.