“People have been laughing about this, but do they realize how often student building takeovers have literally been catered? It had become fairly common place over the past several years.“
Or the difference between wild vs bred animals. E.g. the Eastern Cottontails in our woods are cute if you happen to like all bunnies, but actual pet rabbits are much cuter and fluffier.
True, the details are complicated -- and I certainly am not suggesting that Putin's actions are anything other than horrible and sad, or that he's not directly or indirectly responsible for war crimes. I just don't think "genocide" is an accurate or helpful description of what's happening.
Prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was part of Russia for a few centuries -- were they genocided then? Do you think Putin has some other aim here than just restoring the Greater Russia of the Soviet era?
Similar to "torture", the listed conditions are guides but hardly constitute an unambiguous checklist. There's a general understanding of the term that they're trying to capture, and then people will try to fit things into them. Russia accused Ukraine of genocide too -- that was part of its justification for the war. But neither side AFAIK is doing what most people think of when they hear that term.
That's just rhetorical semantic creep, like with "racism", "torture", many other examples. Terms that are used for things that everyone agrees are horrible get applied to progressively less horrible (or maybe differently horrible) things, as a rhetorical strategy.
If Russia's attack on Ukraine is genocide then many historical wars of conquest would have to be reclassified as genocides, which means that the label itself is weakened.
"What Russia is attempting in Ukraine is an example of genocide"
This isn't correct at all. Russia is engaging in a normal war of conquest. If the Ukrainians had not fought back, Putin would have been happy to rule them, not kill them all.
For the term "genocide" to mean anything distinctive, it has to be about actually killing off the people in a category, not just taking over a nation.
I didn’t say they were the same things, or that either was “unconstitutional.” My point is that people generally don’t seem to care about democratic process, just about getting their preferred outcome.
Does anyone think this anymore? Reading the reactions to the FTC non compete refs, people agree or disagree on the outcome but hardly anyone seems bothered by the fact that this was done by administrative fiat.
It called to mind this old SNL cold open re executive orders: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JUDSeb2zHQ0
"Like there’s some higher principle to what journalism is and ought to be."
I don't think this is quite the right criticism. The new journalists do have a higher principle -- it's just a different one than the older crew's. Similar to what's happened at universities, the new principle is activist -- basically the attitude "we know what's right, and it's our job to change the world to match".
I guess i didn't communicate my point well -- nothing to do with conservatives, just saying that there was nothing revelatory in Berliner's essay -- it was consistent with how one would expect NPR to operate based just on listening to the content, whether you like that content or not (and we see from other conversation at this site, those who are happy enough with current-state NPR didn't find anything damning in the essay). So (and maybe this was where Jaybird was going with his initial response to me), among whom exactly has NPR's reputation been hurt by it?
Do you think the impact is from people reading the article who didn't realize what NPR has become? Perhaps... it seemed to me more like insider confirmation of what many people already suspected.
Re reputation hit -- Rufo tweeted about NPR now being in a "reputation spiral", but one of his commenters reacted something like "didn't everyone already know NPR was very liberal?". This is kind of like the Island of Green Eyes puzzle, where a figure of authority says out loud what everyone already can see for themselves, and that changes everything.
That looks awesome. Too bad my wife has a high resistance to doing stuff electronically -- this would solve a lot of our shopping coordination challenges.
Hmm I admit I don't know the details... promotions & retention based on seniority are pretty standard in union shops and in government, I assumed it was all ultimately driven by unions. But it's certainly not because of a cabal of white men supporting their own -- the main reason AFAIK for seniority rules is to provide an objective standard rather than relying on potentially-biased managers to decide.
Personally I'd like to think that the essay will have some beneficial impact -- but NPR as a business entity has the right to expect its employees, especially those with "senior" in their title, to speak in public about the entity within certain constraints.
I would've too -- that's not something you do as an active senior employee of an organization. 5 day suspension is pretty light considering the reputational hit this caused.
This article is from end of January: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-city-councils-increasingly-call-israel-gaza-ceasefire-analysis-shows-2024-01-31/
"At least 48 cities have passed symbolic resolutions calling for a halt to Israel's Gaza bombardment, with six others passing resolutions advocating more broadly for peace"
Oh that's a good point, i didn't even think about the stuff that gets sent out by corporate HR. I'm so used to the term now, I don't think it would even catch my attention.
“ I’ve only heard the word Latinx spoken aloud in conversation once. It’s not a thing outside of the stoned college dorm community.”
Why would you think your personal experience is representative of everyone’s? I know for a fact that Latinx went well beyond campus - my daughter is a social worker and is part of a team doing outreach and research in this community, and the whole department uses that term (and will now likely start switching to Latine). It’s become the norm in liberal-dominated institutions - generally people don’t feel they have permission not to use it.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “Open Mic for the week of 4/29/2024”
This has definitely been a rich vein to mine for nuggets of humor.
"
Greg Lukianoff commented on this video:
“People have been laughing about this, but do they realize how often student building takeovers have literally been catered? It had become fairly common place over the past several years.“
On “Dog Gone”
That's like this old joke: https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1vvev0/an_old_farmer_and_his_wife_are_riding_along/
"
Or the difference between wild vs bred animals. E.g. the Eastern Cottontails in our woods are cute if you happen to like all bunnies, but actual pet rabbits are much cuter and fluffier.
On “Free Speech, But No Freedom to Harass”
True, the details are complicated -- and I certainly am not suggesting that Putin's actions are anything other than horrible and sad, or that he's not directly or indirectly responsible for war crimes. I just don't think "genocide" is an accurate or helpful description of what's happening.
"
Prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was part of Russia for a few centuries -- were they genocided then? Do you think Putin has some other aim here than just restoring the Greater Russia of the Soviet era?
"
Similar to "torture", the listed conditions are guides but hardly constitute an unambiguous checklist. There's a general understanding of the term that they're trying to capture, and then people will try to fit things into them. Russia accused Ukraine of genocide too -- that was part of its justification for the war. But neither side AFAIK is doing what most people think of when they hear that term.
"
That's just rhetorical semantic creep, like with "racism", "torture", many other examples. Terms that are used for things that everyone agrees are horrible get applied to progressively less horrible (or maybe differently horrible) things, as a rhetorical strategy.
If Russia's attack on Ukraine is genocide then many historical wars of conquest would have to be reclassified as genocides, which means that the label itself is weakened.
"
"What Russia is attempting in Ukraine is an example of genocide"
This isn't correct at all. Russia is engaging in a normal war of conquest. If the Ukrainians had not fought back, Putin would have been happy to rule them, not kill them all.
For the term "genocide" to mean anything distinctive, it has to be about actually killing off the people in a category, not just taking over a nation.
On “The Shifting Politics of Abortion”
I didn’t say they were the same things, or that either was “unconstitutional.” My point is that people generally don’t seem to care about democratic process, just about getting their preferred outcome.
"
“ Making law is the legislators’ job.”
Does anyone think this anymore? Reading the reactions to the FTC non compete refs, people agree or disagree on the outcome but hardly anyone seems bothered by the fact that this was done by administrative fiat.
It called to mind this old SNL cold open re executive orders: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JUDSeb2zHQ0
On “Open Mic for the week of 4/15/2024”
"Like there’s some higher principle to what journalism is and ought to be."
I don't think this is quite the right criticism. The new journalists do have a higher principle -- it's just a different one than the older crew's. Similar to what's happened at universities, the new principle is activist -- basically the attitude "we know what's right, and it's our job to change the world to match".
"
If only that's what my kids' tantrums had been like.
"
I guess i didn't communicate my point well -- nothing to do with conservatives, just saying that there was nothing revelatory in Berliner's essay -- it was consistent with how one would expect NPR to operate based just on listening to the content, whether you like that content or not (and we see from other conversation at this site, those who are happy enough with current-state NPR didn't find anything damning in the essay). So (and maybe this was where Jaybird was going with his initial response to me), among whom exactly has NPR's reputation been hurt by it?
"
Do you think the impact is from people reading the article who didn't realize what NPR has become? Perhaps... it seemed to me more like insider confirmation of what many people already suspected.
"
Re reputation hit -- Rufo tweeted about NPR now being in a "reputation spiral", but one of his commenters reacted something like "didn't everyone already know NPR was very liberal?". This is kind of like the Island of Green Eyes puzzle, where a figure of authority says out loud what everyone already can see for themselves, and that changes everything.
On “Fear and Loathing in Aisle Eight”
That looks awesome. Too bad my wife has a high resistance to doing stuff electronically -- this would solve a lot of our shopping coordination challenges.
On “Open Mic for the week of 4/15/2024”
Hmm I admit I don't know the details... promotions & retention based on seniority are pretty standard in union shops and in government, I assumed it was all ultimately driven by unions. But it's certainly not because of a cabal of white men supporting their own -- the main reason AFAIK for seniority rules is to provide an objective standard rather than relying on potentially-biased managers to decide.
"
Personally I'd like to think that the essay will have some beneficial impact -- but NPR as a business entity has the right to expect its employees, especially those with "senior" in their title, to speak in public about the entity within certain constraints.
"
Oh you're anti public-sector unions too? Not what I had on my bingo card.
"
I would've too -- that's not something you do as an active senior employee of an organization. 5 day suspension is pretty light considering the reputational hit this caused.
"
This article is from end of January: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-city-councils-increasingly-call-israel-gaza-ceasefire-analysis-shows-2024-01-31/
"At least 48 cities have passed symbolic resolutions calling for a halt to Israel's Gaza bombardment, with six others passing resolutions advocating more broadly for peace"
On “Open Mic for the week of 4/8/2024”
No tagbacks.
"
Oh that's a good point, i didn't even think about the stuff that gets sent out by corporate HR. I'm so used to the term now, I don't think it would even catch my attention.
"
“ I’ve only heard the word Latinx spoken aloud in conversation once. It’s not a thing outside of the stoned college dorm community.”
Why would you think your personal experience is representative of everyone’s? I know for a fact that Latinx went well beyond campus - my daughter is a social worker and is part of a team doing outreach and research in this community, and the whole department uses that term (and will now likely start switching to Latine). It’s become the norm in liberal-dominated institutions - generally people don’t feel they have permission not to use it.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.