Bloomberg slams liberal "culture of censorship" in Ivy League

[Torie]

Harvard awarded George H.W. Bush, a Republican President, an honorary degree this year.

It's an absolute travesty that liberal universities aren't inviting Joe the Plumber, the Duck Dynasty guy, or Donald Trump to address them for equal time.

Is the Duck Dynasty guy a "conservative?" I would submit that the only real ideology of the other two guys is "opportunism," but that's just me.

Honorary degrees are different that commencement speakers, which I believe in fact is something Nate Silver himself alluded to.

[Brittain33]

Is the Duck Dynasty guy a "conservative?" I would submit that the only real ideology of the other two guys is "opportunism," but that's just me.

Well, he was the guest of honor at a Republican Leadership Conference held last week.

http://m.christianpost.com/news/phil-robertson-of-duck-dynasty-to-speak-at-republican-leadership-conference-in-new-orleans-120496/

[Torie]

Nate Silver confirms that right of center politicians are almost totally absent these days as graduation speakers in the Ivory Tower. Lots of lip service is given to tolerance and a preference for diversity. That's the PC thing to do, particularly among those who like to think they are enlightened. The reality is very different. Click on the poll on that which Nate links in his article.

But remember, conservatives are wrong, and wrong viewpoints don't deserve to be listened to.

Doesn't Silver's analysis suggest that the current lack of conservative speakers has more to with a Democrat controlling the White House and changes within the Republican Party? Almost every Republican speaker that Silver lists is either a former member of the Bush administration or someone who is now derided as a 'moderate.'

I think he said that was a part of it, but not most of it. Btw, Senator Leahy gave a fantastic commencement speech this month, e.g., bashing in a most compelling way the manner in which fundamentalist Islamics abuse women, and Senator Collins gave such a poor one that my partner Dan requested that we change the channel, a request to which I readily assented. So it is not as if liberal speakers all suck.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

So you're still not admitting that censorship goes on and now you're claiming that all this is part of a plan by the "others" to make the uni's look bad?

  Since when is it censorship to not invite people you don't agree with to give a speech?  What's next?  Chastising the DNC for never having a Republican as their keynote speaker?

[dead0man]

So you're still not admitting that censorship goes on and now you're claiming that all this is part of a plan by the "others" to make the uni's look bad?

Since when is it censorship to not invite people you don't agree with to give a speech?  What's next?  Chastising the DNC for never having a Republican as their keynote speaker?

That wouldn't be, but shouting down an invited speaker is, it doesn't matter if his views run contrary to the majority.  This started from an earlier exchange....

I'm surprised that people take the conservative persecution complex seriously. Does anyone honestly believe that liberal censorship exists at universities?

Are you funking kidding me?  Not that this will change much but....
Tom Tancredo not allowed to speak at UNC by angry crowd
Don Feder not allowed to speak at University of Massachusetts at Amherst by mob
Canadian lefties suck too, anti-abortion speaker was physically blocked from the stage
Ehud Olmert shouted off stage at U of Chicago
Ray Kelly forced off stage at Brown

I could do this for days.  So either you don't consider that "liberal censorship" (which would be moronic) or don't pay attention to things very well because this happens a LOT.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Censorship is when a person is prevented from speaking to those who want to hear what is being said.  While the examples of conservative speakers being kept from being able to speak at events where no one who doesn't want to listen has to be there are examples of censorship, graduation ceremonies suffer from the captive audience problem since for most, the reason the people are there has nothing to do with who the speaker will be.  The conversation had returned to the original topic of this thread graduation speeches in particular, not generic speeches that happen to be held on a college campus.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

So you're still not admitting that censorship goes on and now you're claiming that all this is part of a plan by the "others" to make the uni's look bad?

Those are small outliers that happened when very, very controversial public figures spoke. However the idea that this constitutes censorship is part of a broader conservative narrative against student culture and the academy that has existed since the 60s but has taken a new form in the present. If you can successfully paint the university system as a training ground for radical deadbeats who learn nothing useful, it's easier to defund them.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/from-master-plan-to-no-plan-the-slow-death-of-public-higher-education

[Brittain33]

If you look at motivational rallies for salesmen and small businessmen, like "Zig" Ziglar's events, Republicans like Rudy Giuliani and Tommy Franks are always better represented than Democrats. Similarly, high-paying speaking gigs at industry conferences are more likely to feature Republicans than Democrats, even given the star power of individual Dems like the Clintons. You have to look at the whole picture and different audiences to see it balance out. I doubt the National Review is going to start arguing that the Association of Petroleum Services needs to have half of its speakers be Democrats.

[Simfan34]

But what do salesmen matter in 2014, particularly when compared to elite university graduates? This is false equivalency.

[Simfan34]

Metanarrative? Bloomberg is a poststructuralist now?

No, but apparently Rod Dreher is pretending to be one, much like an otherwise conventionally macho man putting on a tacky wig and tackier dress for one school play in his late teens or early twenties and considering it 'drag'. That's less surprising.

Is Rod Dreher not allowed to use the word metanarrative?

[DemPGH]

It's anecdotal, but I know a respectable number of conservative academics.

Anyway, meanwhile, it's a number of GOP administrations that have banned conversation about global warming and climate change.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

If there was discrimination against conservatives in academia, UC Berkeley would have figured out how to fire John Yoo instead of giving him a chair. But nope, the university with the 2nd most liberal faculty members (Cornell is first) gave him a promotion.

[Intell]

What a load of rubbish. Conservatism isn't persecuted in universities nor is it censored. Conservative academics are no more likely than liberal academics to believe that they're persecuted for their political beliefs. Bloomberg is just butthurt because his policies have been systematically discredited by the academy and his most prominent critics reside in the academy, which is no excuse to spread slander.

Is it just me or does this resemble McCarthyism?

LMAO, who are you to talk about what is or is not taught in ivy league schools, places you will never set foot in.  It must be hard to accept but most people who went to ivy league schools (myself included) do not buy into your socialist dribble.

Most of these are unaffordable sh!t holes with a culture of elitism. Most of the professors would vote for Sanders if he was the democratic nominee, but you know.

[Intell]

What a load of rubbish. Conservatism isn't persecuted in universities nor is it censored. Conservative academics are no more likely than liberal academics to believe that they're persecuted for their political beliefs. Bloomberg is just butthurt because his policies have been systematically discredited by the academy and his most prominent critics reside in the academy, which is no excuse to spread slander.

Is it just me or does this resemble McCarthyism?

LMAO, who are you to talk about what is or is not taught in ivy league schools, places you will never set foot in.  It must be hard to accept but most people who went to ivy league schools (myself included) do not buy into your socialist dribble.

Most of these are unaffordable sh!t holes with a culture of elitism. Most of the professors would vote for Sanders if he was the democratic nominee, but you know.

Democratic Party now the party of anti-intellectualism.

There are other unis, that these prestige #1 priority above else uni's.

[Lexii, harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy]

What a load of rubbish. Conservatism isn't persecuted in universities nor is it censored. Conservative academics are no more likely than liberal academics to believe that they're persecuted for their political beliefs. Bloomberg is just butthurt because his policies have been systematically discredited by the academy and his most prominent critics reside in the academy, which is no excuse to spread slander.

Is it just me or does this resemble McCarthyism?

LMAO, who are you to talk about what is or is not taught in ivy league schools, places you will never set foot in.  It must be hard to accept but most people who went to ivy league schools (myself included) do not buy into your socialist dribble.

Most of these are unaffordable sh!t holes with a culture of elitism. Most of the professors would vote for Sanders if he was the democratic nominee, but you know.

Democratic Party now the party of anti-intellectualism.

The alternative-facts, "Global warming is a Chinese hoax" party is lot more anti-intellectual

Also, this is an unnecessary necropost

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

What a load of rubbish. Conservatism isn't persecuted in universities nor is it censored. Conservative academics are no more likely than liberal academics to believe that they're persecuted for their political beliefs. Bloomberg is just butthurt because his policies have been systematically discredited by the academy and his most prominent critics reside in the academy, which is no excuse to spread slander.

Is it just me or does this resemble McCarthyism?

LMAO, who are you to talk about what is or is not taught in ivy league schools, places you will never set foot in.  It must be hard to accept but most people who went to ivy league schools (myself included) do not buy into your socialist dribble.

Most of these are unaffordable sh!t holes with a culture of elitism. Most of the professors would vote for Sanders if he was the democratic nominee, but you know.

Democratic Party now the party of anti-intellectualism.

There are other unis, that these prestige #1 priority above else uni's.

Explain how Harvard and Yale are sh**t holes please.

Those are literally the worst two offenders! Red and Blue!

[Prosperum]

Bloomberg arrested and jailed hundreds of demonstrators during the 2004 RNC, and didn't give a damn about the first amendment or censorship when he wanted to put on a good show for the Republicans. He only cares when people like him are affected.

Did you read the article?

Bloomberg is a liberal who voted for Obama in 2012, but he's just saying that Ivy League schools should encourage diversity of thought.

[Devout Centrist]

How stunning and brave, it's not like he's beating a dead horse

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

anyways the White Liberal notion that All Views Must Be Welcomed is morally bankrupt and self-defeating

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Why was this a thread that anybody thought needed bumping?

[Simfan34]

Why have we bumped this thread? But since we have, I'd hazard that DFB wouldn't be as strident as he was three years ago.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Why have we bumped this thread? But since we have, I'd hazard that DFB wouldn't be as strident as he was three years ago.

I probably wouldn't be as contemptuous towards Rod Dreher, whom I'm pretty sure I used to confuse with Ross Douthat.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

The Ivy League unis are bad and should have their endowments taxed, or raided.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     He has a point, but it is richly ironic to hear it coming from Mr. Nanny State himself. Also this topic really did not need to be bumped.

[publicunofficial]

Why was this a thread that anybody thought needed bumping?

It looks like Non Swing Voter got mad at Dead Flag Blues (Probably for this very accurate insult). And, like an absolute pedant, browsed through his posting history in order to find an opinion to mock.