It seems to me that this is a protest against extremism, rather than simply a protest against anti-Semitism and for free speech. The latest manifestation of extremism is Islamist extremism which for reasons best known to them the far left has embraced (most likely due to a misplaced adherence to standpoint epistemology theory). Anti-Semitism is part and parcel of Islamist extremism. Islamist extremism also has harmed moderate Muslims. Islam like all Abrahamic religions is made up of many strands -- militant extremism is only one part and has for many years has sought to dominate and drown out more moderate strands.
In the UK, the government is today unveiling a new definition of non-violent extremism which is designed to ensure extremist groups no longer have access to government committees etc. The new definition: "the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance, that aims to: 1. negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others;
2. or undermine, overturn or replace the UK's system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights;
3. or intentionally create a permissive environment for others to achieve the results in (1) or (2)."
The true fight is against the totalitarians who seek to undermine democracy and the rule of law. This is why what the good professor is fighting against not just anti-Semitism but all extremism which seeks to undermine democracy and Western civilization. We should start calling it what it is and understanding the true nature of the fight.
Exactly Michelle. How else to explain the alignment of two completely divergent philosophies - the left and radical Islam, despite the treatment of gays, women, capital punishment, etc..They are bound by the overriding objective of bringing down liberal western civilization, specifically capitalism. Occupy Wall Street, Antifa, BLM, autonomous zones, defund police, decriminalization, sexualization of children, open borders, climate hysteria, journalists turned activists and bed wetting university administrators ignoring the obvious. It is far, far more than just antisemitism. The left exploits Islamic Jihad as their tip of the spear. Jihadists are more than happy to return the favor. For now.
The Left and radical Islam also share a hatred of Jews.
At some future point, if they achieve their joint aim of destroying Israel and Western civilization, they will come into conflict. I don't think the Left will have much of a chance in that fight. But they are currently--willfully--blind to that.
For now exactly. All these “anti-Zionist” protestors should be rounded up and sent to an Islamic country to live in for a year.
I think they might be singing a different tune by the end of it. Not pot, alcohol, cigarettes, uncovered female body parts, required daily calls to prayer, adherence to fundamental Islamic laws and no allowance for gender norm deviations.
He’s a fraud. The only reason he’s camping in his office is that they came for him and his group. He’s bravely risking armpit fungus so the university can do… Islamophobia training?!?! He and his students voted for this - and will continue to do so. Oh well - more baby wipes for the stunning and brave Professor.
That’s kinda what I thought. I think he’s out of touch with the protestors of today. They are violent. No 70’s peaceniks, no flower children hippies, they are leftist thugs. They need some wake up calls and prison time to understand that criminal behavior is unacceptable in any functioning society. But then the left doesn’t want a functioning society. They want absolute control.
Power mad morons who just don’t get what they are truly asking for. These “kids” need a public spanking. The politician’s who support them need to be held to account as enemies of actual democratic freedom. They ARE fascists, the Antifa group is far more fascist than any other.
AOC and the squad have more in common with Hitler than Trump.
Yes he did. But to be fair he also said they should be taught isrealiphobia or whatever they’re calling antisemitism to make it sound less Nazi-ish....
Generalizing this to a fight against all extremism somewhat obscures, if not whitewashes, the actual problem which is 2-fold: Islamic extremism and leftist extremism (allied with anti-white-ism). There are no other strands of extremism that come close to the destruction and violence of these movements.
Conservatives are frequently and reflexively tarred as dangerous extremists, domestic white terrorists, white supremacists, white nationalists, and enemies of democracy, by people on the left, up to and including President Biden and his team of propagandists.
Yet, for all this high talk, there is hardly any violence emanating from the Right. Even the parade in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 that was labeled "white supremacist", had hardly any violence. One unstable man with a gun got out of his car after an Antifa activist hit it with a rock, and shot her to death. She was officially labeled a hero, though widely mocked on the internet for provoking a deserved reaction from an angry, armed man.
There were several groups of law abiding militia there that day, mainly keeping the peace between factions. When Trump pointed this out in his famous "fine people on both sides" speech that was widely taken out of context, the Left eagerly pounced on it as proof of his racism.
There are indeed some scary right wing extremists out there, in their compounds in Idaho and the like, but they don't tend to go out and cause trouble. They just quietly live their lives, produce their propaganda, live on right wing websites like Gab, and avoid crossing the authorities. They're not that numerous compared to the hundreds of thousands of BLM rioters, Antifa agitators and a burgeoning number of Muslim activists eager to import their Jew-hate from Asia to the U.S.
I agree with you mainly, but . . . I do think the issue now is antisemitism first and foremost. Also, as much as I admire everything Hassner is doing (Ghandi would be proud of his inventiveness), I do not go along with him when he demands that "the university provide Islamophobia and antisemitism training to staff."
Our universities have erected a vast DEI bureaucracy that does this sort of training, and in my view, the training is usually coercive, brooking no disagreement, and is based on an ideological system that in fact is almost inherently antisemitic itself. I am speaking here of the intellectually crude intersectional hierarchy of Oppressor/Oppressed which has all but become an official ideological straitjacket of thought enforced on students at our most elite universities (and increasingly at too many other places). Antisemitism is inextricably bound up in this world view. It is not an "inadvertent" adjunct to it. It is a worldview that sees capitalist oppression as the central enemy in the struggle, and (as with Marx himself) Jewish capitalist oppression was its worst manifestation (from Rothschild to AIPAC today). Today, race, gender and ethnic categories replace class as the central categories in this system of thought, but the divisive result is the same, and Jews still come out as the supreme Oppressor class. It is this profoundly anti-American worldview that the current radicalism, enforced by most DEI bureaucrats, seeks to promote in order to undermine such core American values as individual liberty, merit, objective truth, freedom of thought and expression, etc.
What the university needs to do is not only protect Professor Hassner and his student supporters but make it clear with real sanctions that threats and violent acts will be meet with swift and very painful punishment.
I agree with you that antisemitism is inextricably bound up in this world view and has been since at least the late 1960s. I found reading Jake Wallis Simons Israelophobia quite instructive particularly as I then read Mounk's The Identity Trap. I have come to the conclusion that you can separate the two
The DEI training is just that -- training in a specific way to think, it is not an education in how to critically think. And current DEI training does have a distinctly anti-Western bias.
You can't have a free society and have equity of outcome because in a free society, people must be allowed not to take opportunities.
And the administration should take swift and decisive steps to protect Prof Hassner and his students, including expulsion of those who commit violent acts for political purposes, but I doubt Berkeley will. Trinity College Cambridge does not appear to be taking action against the student activist who destroyed the painting of Lord Balfour the other week. All this does is embolden imho.
You write: "You can't have a free society and have equity of outcome because in a free society, people must be allowed not to take opportunities." while I agree that you can't have equity in a free society, I do not understand" people must be allowed not to take opportunities." So-called "equity" is reverse racism and eschews the value of fair competition.
It can be a balancing act to ensure agency. Sometimes people have very good reasons not to avail themselves of opportunities. There are only 24 hours in every day. Children sometimes have to make a choice between taking a musical instrument and playing a sport as both can take up time to practice. And that child may prefer playing football to playing the trombone (even if they had the potential to become the best trombone player ever).
For some people, it is a very rational choice not to go to university, even though they have the grades to go, but not going does have opportunity costs. Or indeed applying for management position versus being able to be home to ensure your children being brought up how you want them to be. Or indeed the person in question may not want the added stress as they are working to ensure they can do their hobby (whatever that hobby is -- say writing novels which they hope to sell and become a worldwide bestselling author).Or to go into nursing instead of becoming a banker, even though they know bankers are far better paid.
Or look at a dystopian ultra regulated society where people take a test at an early age which pre-determines the outcome of their life. It is 'fair' because there is equality between pre-determined social groups. However it does not allow for the agency of the individual. Taken to the nth degree, it is possible you would end up with a caste like society -- something which the test etc was seeking to avoid.
Equity which looks at outcome is never going to be fair in a free society. In a free society, opportunity should be allowed to be refused (although I think there is a strong case for literacy and numeracy being obligatory to create a functioning democracy which is the freest society possible) because individual agency is important. The quest to find alternative routes so people can avail themselves of those opportunities at different periods in their lives will make for a fairer society.
I hope my thinking makes more sense. If not, I will attempt to explain it again.
And I do agree with you re the Kendi anti-racism being neo-racism (for more reasons than simply the problems of the pursuit of equity v equality)
The administrative components, both public and private, have not taken a position against this destructive anti-democratic thought control.
Their inaction has been tantamount to endorsement and facilitation. Trey Gowdy, who now has a his own talk show on Fox went on an interesting rant last weekend in response to criticism of ppl taking issue with the murder of the nursing student by an illegal “migrant”. He pointed out that the left used the death of George Floyd as an excuse to burn down cities, destroy public and private property, maim police officers and cause havoc in general. That’s not the first case of them using a single death as cause for wreaking destruction and demanding policy changes. Not that there wasn’t some merit in some cases but the point is that if the “social justice” warriors want to impose hardships then the media and the now “woke” world is all in. They have for decades acted as if the ends justify the means and gotten no real push back. Not just in America but in the “free” world. They won’t stop until it’s not remotely free even though many are too stupid to see where their efforts will lead them. They actually believe that thought control is a good thing and that they are “right” thinking.
They can’t erect the dystopian hellscape fast enough because they can’t see that forest for the trees.
If you have not read it, I would recommend Yascuk Mounk's latest -- The Identity Trap -- he explains in great detail about strategic essentialism, and stand point theory etc. Once you understand how strategic essentialism works, you will see that it is the key to how much of this works (and actually it is the key why there is so much polarization).
Knowing the tactics is one part to being able to demystify and ultimately defeat the tinpot totalitarians.
Thanks for the referral. It has seemed baffling how so many otherwise intelligent ppl can be so easily manipulated by the thinly veiled propaganda in the MSM.
My spouse also keeps telling me that once you read the book “Rules for Radicals” written by Saul Alinsky back in the day it explains the socialist objectives and tactics for disrupting society and creating the divisive, fractured social order we are seeing now. This plan has been in place well before the 60’s. The infiltration of academia goes back to the FDR admin. It’s just become less covert but the fruits of this effort are now obvious and, unfortunately, rather successful. I sometimes wonder if it’s not too late to really course correct.
As I read this op ed yesterday and finally learned the correct word for why Islamist extremism has been increasing -- takfirism -- literally one who excommunicates co-religionists. It has been a governing tenet of the Muslim Brotherhood.
If you are talking about student activism -- yes you can trace that directly back to the late 1920s and Stephen Dugdale. Edward R Murrow used the National Student of America conference in Atlanta in 1931 to desegregate the organization and ran an integrated conference, including a dinner in that highly segregated city. Like anything, unchecked, student activism can cause unforeseen complications. It is up to the administrations (and the law courts) to put the breaks on.
You’re right on all counts but most university admins are just as whipped into the weenie world of acceptance by their own hands. They don’t have the backbone to take any meaningful action.
This won’t stop until the money gets cut off. In the end they are just as greedy as any corporate schlocks.
The uk government is increasingly exposing itself as a totalitarian nightmare. Chuck the number of people arrested in the uk for causing offense, typically with some meme comment online. They’re utterly disgusting.
And of course, the “offense” can only be caused in particular directions. Cause a conservative person “offense” and you’ll get Instagram “likes” for “holding nazis accountable.” Cause some leftist “offense” with some imagined “micro aggression” and you’re literally in prison.
We need to do a great deal more than merely calling it what it is and understanding the true nature of the fight. We need to become organized and acitive. In the meanwhile, call or write to the trustees and to the governor of the state, "requesting" their opinions on whether this is the kind of America they support, the kind of state university they support, and the kind of so-called "student activism" --actually Nazi tactics--they support.
Am I jumping at shadows if I think there is a real possibility, not too far down the road, where conservative Christians and conservative Muslims might be defined as a group engaged in “the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance…”?
Conservative Christians are already being called a hate group because we believe there is only one way to be saved and that is through Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross. When we refuse to embrace the idea there are many ways to God, even though Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the light no one comes to the Father except through me." They call us hateful and intolerant. We aren't the ones rioting in the streets or stealing in the stores. We pray for our leaders and for our country that we might live peaceable and contented lives with all. I just don't get it.
They are under the influence of a certain anti-Christ. Pure and simple. True Christian’s need to pray for their awakening. A Christian martyr would die for their beliefs, not kill others for them including themselves.
Jumping at shadows -- there is huge difference between militant extremism and conservative religious beliefs. I do think the extremists try to co-opt people who hold devout religious views as they attempt to portray themselves as being holier than thou. Rushdie wrote about the Iron Mullahs and Kashmir and how the extremists managed to co-opt devout Muslim into their war. If you think Gaza is complicated, take a look at the problems between Pakistan and India and in particular Kashmir. In the UK you can see this most clearly with the recent case of Michaela school and how they had to 'ban' expressions of prayer at lunchtime. The tensions within the school which is resolutely secular increased when the prayer ritual was allowed on the playground. There were threats of violence etc. Now it has gone to court. Also this article on the persecution of the Ahmadi Muslims by extreme zealots makes for interesting reading: https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/03/13/the-muslims-being-hounded-by-islamic-zealots/
The West is singularly ill equipped to deal with political Islamists (Political Islamists do possess a healthy streak of anti-Semitism for reasons which Jake Wallis Simons details in his book Israelophobia)
I like this analysis. But be careful about how you define the enemy. The quoted law is spot on. "... totalitarians who seek to undermine democracy and the rule of law[.]" not so much because that gets into Ideology and policing of thoughts.
The definition of totalitarianism: Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition political parties, disregards and outlaws the legitimate political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and so controls the public sphere and the private sphere of society.
Extremists who believe in 'no debate' and who seek to compel speech and action and therefore seek to control discourse in the public sector as well as in the private sector are believers in totalitarianism and they are, I am afraid, enemies of democracy as they don't believe in allowing the legitimacy of an opposing point of view aka the right of dissent and the right to hold one's opinion.
The problem comes when you uphold the right of dissent because it is necessary for a free society to function. Under the right of dissent (aka the right to hold an unpopular opinion) you must allow such people to espouse those totalitarian views in public. It is unwise however to ever let them gain power where they can impose said views imho. It is always a question of balance and the rule of law (when properly enforced) does provide the limits.
I know the definition of totalitarianism. Authoritarianism too. I am also acquainted with the US Constitution. More importantly I am aware that language, the very method by which we communicate our grand ideas, is changing. In some respects it has been weaponized. So just because someone says I am opposed go totalitarianism does not mean they are, or at least not my understanding of the word. Here in the US, and from what I see in the UK, instruments of totalitarianism are being used to in the guise of opposing totalitarianism.
That is always the danger and it is a v real danger. For example, in WW2, the UK was nominally a democracy but it embraced many totalitarian/authoritarian measures in order to survive including rationing. That the UK was able to return to a functioning democracy after the war was a great achievement.
The big problem is when intimidation, bullying and repression become part of the public sphere. When the heckler's veto becomes the norm and not the frown up on tool of a few deluded.
Democracy requires the most commitment from its citizens. And quite frankly what we are seeing is that the civic education of most recent generation has failed abysmally. Can people learn? Are the older generations which have been muted willing to stand up and say no?
I know Ireland's political elite got a shock with the referendum result earlier in the week.
I would say that Britain ante and post bellum and during WWII were stellar examples of democracy. Because the power was with the people. The government, particularly then, could impose totalitarian type measure 'til the cows came home but the compliance was voluntary. An extraordinary thing really. But that was an attack from outside. What we are facing now, both here and there, is an assault from within. For control of the apparatus of government. Under the guise of democracy. I think our systems have flaws that are being exploited remarkably well. If the opposition prevails history will be rewritten and the common ideals you and I have will be no more.
This is a great article. I feel for those students - the adults have abandoned them except for this one professor. It’s an unusual protest and I’m sure it gives hope and strength to students. If only more faculty and administrators would stand against extremism! Well done!
Islamophobia and antisemitism in the same sentence, really?
My American Jewish brethren lost their common sense long time ago by fighting other peoples' causes and imagining themselves to be enlightened cosmopolitans. Now we all are paying the price.
Yes so so sick of the reflexive ‘antisemitism and Islamophobia’. Quit the gaslighting. We know where most of the antisemitism comes from. And we are ‘phobic’ because Islamists are violent. There. I said it.
I'm not Jewish and I support him and Jewish students on campus. I've never seen anything like the rhetoric being thrown at Jewish students and the violence and threats of violence. I'm concerned at where this will end? Will it take one of these mobs who support terrorists and barbarians to kill a Jewish student on an Ivy League campus to wake up the administration of these schools or will they secretly applaud the death?
If I were Jewish, I'd get a weapon and learn how to use it. 100%, whether I were on campus or not.
Jews should definitely be arming themselves if they take "Never Again" seriously. As they should...no one has their backs, as UC Berkeley, Yale, Harvard, etc. have shown.
And apparently not the governor of the state of CA nor the president of the US who in his state of the union address ignored the issue entirely. Doesn't want to risk losing "his base" --and this is what and who his base actually is. America as we knew it is falling off a cliff quickly, and the Left is doing the pushing.
Ironically, the far Left "base" mostly doesn't vote, so Biden is in far bigger trouble if he alienates Jewish voters. 1/2 the donations to the Dems are from Jewish voters.
Jews have already been killed - maybe not a student yet, but there have been many since Oct 7th. Did Biden mention one name during the SOTU? NO! Did you invite any of those families? NO! Has he addressed the nation to speak against the antisemitism and violence being waged against Jews like he did during George Floyd and BLM? NO! My guess is that at some point Jews will refuse to remain as nice and patient as they have been. It's outrageous what is being allowed. And radicals merely start with Jews. It doesn't end there. They're just easy targets.....all that's going on unchallenged is leading to very bad things...
"Did Biden mention one name during the SOTU? NO! Did you invite any of those families? NO! Has he addressed the nation to speak against the antisemitism and violence being waged against Jews like he did during George Floyd and BLM? NO!"
Got it! Even if Jews figure out at last where their protection actually lies, it won't matter enough.
I've never heard him mention by name. Nor have I heard him mention the names of those murdered by Hamas. Nor have I heard Biden mention any of the Jews murdered in USA since 10/7 or those who've been attacked. Remember, the nation was outraged by what they thought was a noose in Bubba Wallace's garage (thankfully wasn't) & by the Jussie Smollet (fake) attack. No mention of the acts of violence towards Jews on most media. Never a headline story....
1/2 the donations to Dems are made by Jews. I would advise Jewish people to withhold all donations and tell their politicians why. You will see most Dems change their tunes.
And I think if the Rs had a moderate candidate for president, or anyone but Trump running, many Jewish voters would abandon the Dems this cycle. The Rs shot themselves in the foot by putting Trump up again. I don't think he can win.
I know...I do not like Trump at all. Many don't. That said, if you're in hosp O R on the table & need quad bipass or you die, do you care if the surgeon is a total douche? Or do you just need the best surgeon? Do you care that the bedside manner sucks? Or do you just care that this surgeon is the VERY BEST for that moment in time? Yes Jan 6th was terrible. (He did request Natn'l Guard in advance and Pelosi did ignore the request.) The way he handled it was shameful. Now, to be fair, there's a lot about every President I don't like. But, right now, my #1 issue is Israel and the ability for Jews to survive. He has Jewish daughter who he adores & Jewish grandkids. He sees what radicals are doing and will address it. Currently, we have someone absolutely disinterested in dealing w what's happening on any level. The border remains open. The pro terrorists run the streets. The schools r using a curriculum that's toxic & brainwashing the generation my kids need to live with. There's been not one address to the nation to demand an end to this. To punish colleges. NOTHING. So, yes, Trump isn't who I'd prefer. But it's the choice we have and if your life is literally on the line, I think it's not as easy to say I refuse to vote for him like i did last Sept. Oct 7 changed everything. What I thought i'd never ever do is now on the table. I agree- people donating to dems must stop FULLY. Somehow we need to meet with the dems who do see truth; Fetterman, Torres, etc. We need their help. But right now, we need to stop the bleeding and our first chance is in the election. Our future depends on it!
They will applaud. Out in the open. He had it coming, what being a Jew and all that. When Hamas went on its murder-rape-kidnap rampage, their applause was loud and proud. Not kept in secret.
"Will it take one of these mobs who support terrorists and barbarians to kill a Jewish student on an Ivy League campus to wake up the administration of these schools or will they secretly applaud the death?"
Jewish people have power in this country. I wish they would start yielding that power the way the Squad, who actually doesn't have much power, wields their's.
So, millions of people stream across the border in Texas but, because Texas is a red state... fuck em'. They get what they deserve... and precious little positive attention.
Some Jews get harassed at a left-wing institution and who is supposed to fucking care?
Where were these people when the right was being harassed for just trying to slow down the decay in American society?
I've read the story about Sodom and Gomorrah before... it doesn't end well...
I am tired of reading these articles in the Free Press. It seems that Bari Weiss had some epiphany after October 7. Great. I am happy for her. I even resubscribed to this publication based on her speech at the Federalist Society where she intoned that they were the "last line of defense." My issue is that many of these leftists (and yes, many Jews are leftists) have been openly mocking conservatives for decades and only NOW, after October 7, they have found a spine and a source of sensitivity. But I have NEVER seen them come to the defense of Christians who are mocked, harassed or abused... not to mention Southerners, the "deplorables" or anyone else on the right. But now that the hard left has exposed themselves to be severe anti-semites, we're supposed to give a fuck. I could have told these morons that their leftist "allies" were wolves in sheep's clothing as early as the mid-90s.
Their awakening to reality is too little, too late...
Wow. So you’re saying essentially’f$@k the Jews”? And you’re advocating for collective punishment for the Jews because you perceive’they’ didn’t speak up the way you would like for other groups.. kind of the same thing as collective punishment for the world’s jews for their collective responsibility for Israel’s perceived sins.
ahhh.. so then if some Jews are 'Leftists', then all Jews should be punished and there should be no concern for Jews when they are under attack (because of the sins of the Leftist Jews.)
That's what I'm hearing in trying to follow your logic with this comment in relation to the OP and my response. That's what I see and hear from the many similar comments like this one that litter online spaces when anything Jewish is included.
Also, curious if you see liberalism as the same thing as Leftism? I don't, btw.
It's always so helpful to reduced things down to black/white - right side/wrong side - good/bad. Always so helpful to make sweeping denouncements like this. Always so helpful to furthering useful disucssion and understanding.
So thank you for making it all so obvious and clear for me, and everyone here.
You're very welcome Dear GT, you're a leftist. If the DNC ran a cockroach for President that cockroach would have your support as well as your vote. You're not a liberal. I'm a liberal. You're simply a leftist. If you've heard me say anything then that is in your head. Thanks for the rent free space which I'm certain there is plenty of. I'm happy to help simplify the issue for you as well as any other leftist. Sadly you're all so confused that aside from misgendered your progeny will likely be born dizzy as well.
Let me know if I can be of any further assistance and don't forget to visit the Free Clue booth in the lobby on the way. It's to right side of the exit.
For the record, the large community of religious Orthodox Jews are generally more "right wing" politically, and there are many non religious Jews who are also conservative. As for those who are older and more "classic liberal" it is because it was the left that was more open minded, and interested in equality. They opened their doors to Jews way before the Republican country club folks. The fact that things have swung the other way now is just part of the Jewish story. One day you have to run to Russia, the next day to Poland. One day the king is on your side, the next not.
The Democrats were the party of the Confederacy and Ku Klux Klan... not the sort who opened their doors to the Jews...
But only today's Democrats can somehow believe that their inherently racist party of treasonous traitors has somehow been "reformed" and is different... No one would accept this about any other group. (And please don't get into the ridiculous "Southern Strategy" argument which is gibberish...)
As for the rest, there may be accuracy to this. But most secular Jews have been a strong arm of the Democratic Party war machine for a long, long time... Sort of like New England Catholics...
This is sort of true. The orthodox and other thoughtful people, not just Jews view issues from the perspective of right/wrong and not left/right. Leftists are wrong. Leftists are liars. Leftists are the ends will justify the means. Leftists are not never have been nor ever will be liberal. They have usurped the term. Leftists are wrong they have always been wrong and they will always be wrong.
Notice that today's based flyover highschoolers are becoming increasingly tired of leftists.
When these kids start to advocate tossing leftists from high places it will be liberals such as myself who will come to your rescue.
That was an interesting diversion. Not sure what the border crisis, which the Republicans in the house refuse to fix, has to do with this article. BTW you seem angry.
I’m sorry, but maybe you aren’t aware. Republicans in the House passed a border bill last May, which zero Democrats voted for and Schumer refused to bring up in the Senate.
I’m sorry but maybe you are unaware of the bipartisan bill written by republicans and agreed to by both sides was held back for vote by Johnson , the republican speaker of the house, last month. It was done so on orders from Donald Trump because he does not want the issue resolved before the election. With a fix approved by congress he can’t get his supporters angry. Republicans now serve to tear everything down and grandstanding, Gaetz, MTG, Boebert, et al. They have no interest in policy. They negotiate what they want and when they get it, they can’t agree to yes.
Psst. McCarthy is not the Speaker of the House. Kind of funny for someone who starts their comment about lack of awareness. FWIW I live in Texas. We need border security. That bill you are lamenting did not provide it. It just facilitated the current border insecurity. My governor is doing a pretty good job though.
This. Look at Florida which is experiencing a flood of Haitians entering illegally with the Coast Guard looking the other as per JoeBama administration dicta. Governor DeSantis is going to need to Abbott up lest we become flooded nationwide by some of the most ignorant and violent people in this hemisphere.
The bill may not have provided it, but Johnson was too meek and scared to put it to a vote, for fear a few Republicans would join the Dems in passing the thing. If Johnson had any spine he would have tacked on some of the provisions in his own bill last year and make the legislation stronger and more palatable and put it to a vote as the House version and if it passed throw it back at the Senate - you know, sort of how the US government works. But Johnson doesn't call the shots.
He called that one. And as one close to the front line I am glad he did. Congress has been AWOL for years. That is why we are ruled by executive dictate.
No, she's saying the president is ineffective. Not only ineffective but his dereliction of duty has aided and abetted the last 8 million in their invasion of the US.
The Republicans did not write it. It was negotiated by one Republican, a Democrat, a newly Independent former Democrat albeit a moderate one, and reps of the Biden Admistration. You know, the administration that precipitated the crisis to begin with.
This is misinformation. The bipartisan bill, if you read into it...
- Would allow 5000 per day (1.8M per year) into the country unvetted
- After that point would "redirect them to ports of entry"
- Asylum seekers don't count towards that 5,000/day (basically defined as any country at this point)
- Legal immigrants don't count towards the 5,000/day
- ANyone under 18 does not count (and of course NGOs could tell a 25-year-old to say they're 17)
- Requires any contest to the bill to be adjudicated in a DC court (far-left progressive interpretations of all provisions in the law)
The point was to enshrine infinity immigrants into law and prevent a possible Trump presidency from reverting it. There DOES NOT NEED TO BE A NEW LAW. Immigraiton laws are already on the books. Biden could just reintroduce Trump's executive order. But of course he doesn't want to, because most elites (Democrats and RINOs alike) want infinity immigrants.
The so called “Bi-Partisan” bill was drafted by three people, 1 of whom was a Republican. While it provided more resources and had some positive elements, it addressed very few elements of immigration policy and regularized the continued flow of millions of illegals annually. It did not address most of the issues that matter to Americans. It did not deserve to become law.
I am angry. I have lived in the People's Republic of China for the past quarter century and have watched this nation rise to incredible strength. At the same time, I have watched my own nation fall to incredible depths. I am angry. I am angry at a class of elitists like Nellie Bowles and Bari Weiss who have basically been playing Nero to the burning of Rome for decades and have only now begun to smell the smoke from the social arsonists that they have empowered since the Clinton administration.
Huh?? First of all, most people coming through our southern borders are hard working, religious people. Not at all the same as the Muslim extremists studying on visas at our universities. Secondly, the right is not harassed for "slowing down the decay in American society." They are being prosecuted for violence on Jan 6th. Chasing legislators through halls and trying to find VP Pence to hang him.
No. There were 75,000,000+ people who voted conservative in 2020 and all are harassed on a daily basis. Referred to as extremists, Christian Nationalists, Maggots and more. Routinely demeaned by the sitting president. Referred to as "threats to 'our democracy'. For holding an opposing point of view. Some of those voters have even succumbed to the harassment and profess they will not vote in 2024. A handful of those people protested at the people's house on January 6, 2021 where there was a startling lack of security and an astonishing number of reporters to "document" it all. And you are equally uninformed on the southern border. Maybe the people turning themselves in are "hard-working, religious people" (surprised y'all welcome the religious ones) but not the getaways, not the ones on the terrorist watch list, likely not the 30,000+ military age Chinese men encountered in the last several months, not the human and drug traffickers. Not the man who murdered Laken Riley. Not the man who murdered Lizbeth Medina. Not the members of the roving gangs terrorizing NYC. You simply cannot be that gullible. Unless you are safely esconced in a private enclave somewhere as you espouse your luxury beliefs.
Sometimes the comment section here sounds like a Trump rally. I love Bari and The FP but it has become a forum where the far right attacks everyone else.
Shame on you for shaming me for having a position you do not agree with. Shame on you for failing to have sympathy for the victims of some pretty dastardly illegal aliens and the victims of offenses by less violent ones. But mostly shame on you if you voted for Biden because if you did you are directly complicit in all of it.
"First of all, most people coming through our southern borders are hard working ,religious people,,,.." that's what people say until a loaded bus from Texas pulls up to their front door. Ask the residents of Martha's Vineyard.
I don't disagree..the "sanctuary" cities are hypocrites. There are many dying small cities in the US that would be great places for immigrants to settle and bring the cities back to life. It has happened to some small cities in depressed areas and it a win-win for everyone.
One of the local progressives wrote in our newspaper that many of the immigrants were medical people, architects, highly educated, and spoke English better than U.S. citizens. I am not making this up.
Hard working religious people are costing taxpayers a hell of a lot of money. Health care - entirely free. Shelter, sometimes swanky - free. Free cell phones. Free education with hot meals for their kids, debit cards to spend as they please. Do you get free health care? I don’t. How about your rent, is someone else paying for that? No me either. Wake up child and work the math. We can’t afford to keep all these people and still take care of our own families.
That's why we have to make sure those coming are not criminal and help them get work legally ASAP. We NEED workers. My local McDonalds has two people working there at a time. I no longer go many places because the lines are so long. European countries such as Italy and Germany, places like Japan and even China are in huge trouble due to population collapse. They may no longer be functioning countries in 10 to 20 years. We have a mini-Boomer population explosion around 1990 to 1994 so we are ok for now, but those kids aren't having kids. We need more people to continue to thrive. Legal immigration is the answer and Latinos don't hate us and want to kill us like Muslim extremists do. I welcome them.
Agree mostly. The key is LEGAL migration. BTW, I know a lot of young couples who can’t afford to have children because of the high taxes and housing costs. My property taxes alone have gone up about $4k in the past five years, and my salary has not. And I just received notice that the tax rate will increase due to the “changing demographics “ in the school system. I’m now considering moving. Immigration is good, but uncontrolled is not sustainable
“I don’t personally think there should be Zionists, period.”
So in other words, she is actually in favor of genocide. While claiming to be against it. Leftists are the plague.
And the university’s helplessness against the thugs and cretins who have illegally blocked the gate is pathetic. Send in a work crew with police protection and tear it all down. If anyone interferes, arrest them.
The university is not "helpless" against the "thugs and cretins"who have illegally blocked the gate, nor has it been helpless against the intolerance exhibited on that campus for any counter-speech to their political narrative. The university subscribes to that narrative, just as do the Ivy League schools and many others receiving "donations" from abroad that come with strings attached: take our money, but teach our world view, not the West's. And that is precisely what has happened.
I agree. It occurred to me after I posted it that the university isn’t helpless or powerless. They are just choosing to be. Voluntarily powerlessness. And also agree their true overarching narrative is anti-Western.
No kidding, Herr. I read this article and was heartened to see Ron take this kind of stand, in his own particular way, fully against antisemitism and fully in support of free speech in middle of Berkeley. That light shining in in his office while all others were dark, gave me hope, and I suspect gives hope to Jewish students across the land. Then to come to comment section and see some basically say ‘I told you so, F off, what about my issues? That is disheartening to see. Those comments seem also have their office lights off and blinds pulled shut.
Why don't our elite universities sponsor formal debates between pro Palestinians and pro Israelies. Rather than just screaming slogans I would like to hear the factual side of the pro Palestinians protesters. A formal debate between people who disagree seems like an appropriate forum for the campus.
Because, Jane, they do not believe in debate, which contains counter-speech. They are totalitarian in their ideology, while purporting to be "for Democracy." To fully comprehend where they "are coming from" I recommend strongly that you read Christopher Rufo's book, America's Cultural Revolution: How the Left Stole Everything. Until you do, you likely will not comprehend the vast distinction between the way people running these institutions think and the way you do.
Actually may easily discover the pro-Palestinian side simply by reading the Charter of the Palestinian Authority and that of the Hamas Covenant 1988, both translated by Avalon Project, a Yale project.
There's only one way to deal with bullies, and it's not harsh words or protests that get results. It's an epic, bloody beat down in front of the whole school yard, one that everyone witnesses, that will change this situation. It's worked on every school yard since the dawn of time and it will work at UC Berkely, too.
You remind me of the story of the KKK planning a march in South Bend Indiana in the 1920s and a bunch of Catholic boys from Notre Dame showed up and gave them a good beating. Ahh, for the good old days.
Check out this article from last year in the Times of Israel:
Bam! Kapow! When 1930s Jewish mobsters beat up Nazis in the streets of America
Michael Benson's 'Gangsters vs. Nazis' tells how New York judge secretly directed mafia bosses Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel to recruit army of Jewish thugs to intimidate antisemites
But Dave, the administration does not want it to work; the administration is part of the problem, part of the narrative, part of the ideology that does not tolerate dissent from its viewpoint or any challenge to its foreign donation collections.
Groupthink and lack of knowledge about the world. I'm gay and experienced a lot of hatred towards me from Christians in my lifetime (not much now but definitely when I was young). I never experienced it from Muslims because THERE WEREN'T ANY AROUND.
Fortunately, though, I'm well read and know that, had I grown up in in the Middle East, I would have experienced a lot more than being called names, occasionally having stuff thrown at me and told I'm going to hell. I don't think a lot of young people know this.
NOTHING about LGBT history or attitudes of non-LGBT people is taught at any level below college except for California, which teaches about the Moscone/Milk assassinations as part of state history so young people literally do not know this stuff.
I appreciate your input and I think it illustrates part of the problem. What young people used to learn in school, particularly at lower levels was basic knowledge to build an intellectual foundation and to encourage free thought. It was up to the individual to expand on that. I find it very odd that in the information age where everyone has ready access to information (although reliability is an issue) there is so little interest in independent thought and preference for the "hive mind".
Perhaps it would not seem to "odd" to you were you to discover that this is not happenstance, but carefully thought out strategy of the cultural revolutionists. You might take a lesson from National Association of Scholars (NAS). Check out their website for studies on how the universities have abandoned the teaching of traditional civics for the teaching of radical ideology and civic activism, such as you see the River to the Sea protesters and disrupters engaging in now. By the way, often these courses give extra credit for the right kind of activism.
I know that. But it is more than a curriculum. It is more that though. It is almost as if intellectual curiosity doesn't exist. That they are content being spoon fed very scripted information and don't question it. That seems very different than generations of the recent past.
Kids want to fit in, not stand out. This is a truism for majority of youth. If majority says “Israel is the Oppressor” then kids go along, to get along.
My thinking is demographics. Majority of youth in metro areas. Metro areas are predominantly Blue, w/ Teacher Unions that support D’s. Oppressor v. Victim ideology more prevalent in these areas.
It is very much more widespread than that, although that certainly is there. It is taught in our universities and lower schools. They have got hold of the levers of power and influence. They are inculcating very young Americans with very unAmerican ideas. And that is how they will within one more generation remove all traces of what America used to be.
Yes. For a more extensive explanation read Rufo's America's Cultural Revolution. Until we get enough Americans rea\ding this book on what happened and how, and how to counter it, we will get nowhere. This is essential reading for those who wish to save America.
In my view, while it may be, as you say, "sad," it is also catastrophic for America. Catastrophic!
This is how societies are changed. When foreign powers overtake a country, they change the education system. They have "re-education" camps for adults, and schools for youth. Russia, for example, is "re-educating" the children it kidnapped from Ukraine. America re-educated Germans after the Nazi army was defeated. In China they are re-educating Muslims. And in America, the Woke have taken over the society and education system and are re-educating Americans.
Scott - my son was gay and would be 37 now and I wonder what he would say about all this. I would think by the time these kids are in college, where a lot of the rioting is, they would have been taught about cultures and/or religions in the Middle East.
"I would think by the time these kids are in college, where a lot of the rioting is, they would have been taught about cultures and/or religions in the Middle East."
Were you when you were in college?
They don't teach that in Western societies, or at least did not used to teach that history. Today if it is taught I can guarantee it is not taught from the Western perspective, but from the Middle East perspective, which is why Middle Eastern countries have donated $billions to American universities.
For anyone shocked at Trump's poll #'s, there's quite a simple explanation: We have a president & party (Dems) outraged by the use of the word 'illegal' & have been on an apology tour for days for calling an illegal migrant exactly what he is. Technically he's illegal. Yet- every antisemitic slur and act, every single thing that's been done and said against Jews; calling for their murder - calling for the destruction of Israel is apparently totally fine. NOT ONE WORD of condemnation from this administration!! Every pro hamas protest goes on without challenge. No arrests made when violence takes place. Every Jan 6th person (even peaceful goers) faced major repercussions but "pro-pal" (pro hamas) ppl trying to break the fence to the White House were free to do their thing and leave. Every act chalked up to "free speech" that has gone well beyond free speech is no big deal. A country that demanded justice for George Floyd seems to give 2 sh*ts about hostages who are hopefully still alive. We have a President far more concerned about Michigan and the Muslim vote than standing up for what's right. Far more focused on lecturing Israel than demanding the release of hostages and that a price be paid for the Americans killed by terrorists. We see a Pres who is fine with pro-Pal people taking over our cities & replacing our American flags. Radicals have said, they've PROMISED, their goal is to destroy the big satan (aka America) & our administration is giving them the keys to the country. They are not protecting our freedoms. These people have told us their plan and helllloooo---it's being executed. WAKE UP! This is NOT OKAY! If you believe in LGBTQ rights, you should be with Israel. If you believe in Women's rights, you should be with Israel. These radicals are here. Remember "see something, say something"??? We r seeing a lot and no one cares! We see a Pres who is allowing millions of military age single men cross our borders unchecked and wants them to become voters, giving them more rights than citizens. We see a Pres/admin far more concerned about electric vehicles than building up our own grids so we're not as at risk. We see a country where crime and criminals run freely. They can tell us crime #'s are down, they can tell us the economy is good---we are NOT stupid! So if you wonder why Trump could win, there are a ton of 'liberals' who realize the left has lost its way and something has to change. (Btw- we all know if Biden were a surgeon, he'd never be allowed to operate. He's not capable. He's too old. It's incredibly rude to try to shame those calling attention to this. If you think he's in great shape, give him the keys to your car and your kids/grandkids and let him drive them across the country. My guess is you'd say no to that plan. He's not fit to be the leader of the free world. Sucks to admit when someone's too old, but he is. Facts aren't always fun to recognize, but we must. It's called being an adult).
Pro-Palestinian Jew-hating protesters literally occupied the Senate building a couple of months ago, disrupting proceedings. Arrests were made but no Democrat called it an insurrection.
EXACTLY!!!! You're 100% right! It's insanity and the double standard is blatantly obvious! The party that loves to say no one is above the law seems to have different laws for different people/groups. It's disgusting!
This is far, far more than the operation of a legal double standard; there is a double ideology afoot in the land, which has overtaken our universities and even lower schools. They are teaching it to very young children, putting these revolutionary ideas into their heads at the most impressionable age.
An anti-American, anti-Capitalist, anti-freedom, anti-Founders, anti-law and order, anti-history, anti-competition, reverse -racism and anti-Western ideology has overtaken the influencers in this country--the media, the government agencies, the Democrat party, Hollywood know-nothing celebrities, the universities and colleges. It is called the American Cultural Revolution in Christopher Rufo's new book by that name. Buy it and read it and learn what has happened, how it has happened, and how it can be effectively countered. Don't wait. There isn't time.
"My second request ...if a speaker has to leave campus without giving their talk...that they receive an apology from the university and that they be invited back."
Not enough.
Should be: "If a speaker has to leave campus without giving the talk, we consider that a Grave Injustice, and will respond as follows -
a. The talk is rescheduled next day;
b. The talk will now be attended by president of university, held in a larger venue, with the full force of university promoting the event in all their social media that day;
c. The undergraduate and graduate deans will be present, along with mega security, for clear and immediate accountability of Hecklers Veto protesters (while equally guaranteeing right to protest without blocking the event), including expedited proper hearing for violators to follow the next day;
d. The speaker is put up at a nice hotel at university expense, or invited to stay the night at the home of the university president or similar.
How about: If a speaker is driven off campus by violent rioters, those rioters should be expelled from the university and arrested and, in some cases, deported back to the Middle East.
“ ‘Oh, that’s the girl who supports genocide,’ ” others would say of her, she told me. “All of my friends in sororities complain about the same thing.” She’s lost most of her friends who aren’t pro-Israel Jews. "
Diaspora Jews were cleansed from every country in the Middle East, Europe and Africa. Yemen successfully eliminated every single Jew years ago. The one place they can live is now, Israel, is still too much for these people. Israel must not compromise. It must keep fighting until Hamas is dead or tried in international court. We cannot have any more Masada’s.
The real question will be if any punishment is brought to the students or pro Palestinian student groups (the latter should be banned from on campus activities). The answer will surely be no because of many reasons, each more infuriating and self-defeating than the last.
There is only one major reason the answer will be no punishment; those in charge agree with the Palestinian student movement, and the Woke revolution. Their ideology has been absorbed by universities holding out their hands for more Middle Eastern donations of huge cash amounts in exchange for instruction in anti-Western ideology.
It took 50 years, JellyNY. Read Rufo's book, America's Cultural Revolution--How the Left Stole Everything. He tells you how long it took, how it was done, which philosophers and activists were instrumental, and how to fight it. You are right today, though; they are teaching this ideology to very young Americans; they will be the willing audience.
It seems to me that this is a protest against extremism, rather than simply a protest against anti-Semitism and for free speech. The latest manifestation of extremism is Islamist extremism which for reasons best known to them the far left has embraced (most likely due to a misplaced adherence to standpoint epistemology theory). Anti-Semitism is part and parcel of Islamist extremism. Islamist extremism also has harmed moderate Muslims. Islam like all Abrahamic religions is made up of many strands -- militant extremism is only one part and has for many years has sought to dominate and drown out more moderate strands.
In the UK, the government is today unveiling a new definition of non-violent extremism which is designed to ensure extremist groups no longer have access to government committees etc. The new definition: "the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance, that aims to: 1. negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others;
2. or undermine, overturn or replace the UK's system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights;
3. or intentionally create a permissive environment for others to achieve the results in (1) or (2)."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68556914
The true fight is against the totalitarians who seek to undermine democracy and the rule of law. This is why what the good professor is fighting against not just anti-Semitism but all extremism which seeks to undermine democracy and Western civilization. We should start calling it what it is and understanding the true nature of the fight.
Exactly Michelle. How else to explain the alignment of two completely divergent philosophies - the left and radical Islam, despite the treatment of gays, women, capital punishment, etc..They are bound by the overriding objective of bringing down liberal western civilization, specifically capitalism. Occupy Wall Street, Antifa, BLM, autonomous zones, defund police, decriminalization, sexualization of children, open borders, climate hysteria, journalists turned activists and bed wetting university administrators ignoring the obvious. It is far, far more than just antisemitism. The left exploits Islamic Jihad as their tip of the spear. Jihadists are more than happy to return the favor. For now.
The Left and radical Islam also share a hatred of Jews.
At some future point, if they achieve their joint aim of destroying Israel and Western civilization, they will come into conflict. I don't think the Left will have much of a chance in that fight. But they are currently--willfully--blind to that.
For now exactly. All these “anti-Zionist” protestors should be rounded up and sent to an Islamic country to live in for a year.
I think they might be singing a different tune by the end of it. Not pot, alcohol, cigarettes, uncovered female body parts, required daily calls to prayer, adherence to fundamental Islamic laws and no allowance for gender norm deviations.
Yeah I don’t think most would last a week.
The professor and all his students vote Democrat. They are learning what single party leftist utopia looks like.
Is his office a refuge or a cell?
He’s a fraud. The only reason he’s camping in his office is that they came for him and his group. He’s bravely risking armpit fungus so the university can do… Islamophobia training?!?! He and his students voted for this - and will continue to do so. Oh well - more baby wipes for the stunning and brave Professor.
That’s kinda what I thought. I think he’s out of touch with the protestors of today. They are violent. No 70’s peaceniks, no flower children hippies, they are leftist thugs. They need some wake up calls and prison time to understand that criminal behavior is unacceptable in any functioning society. But then the left doesn’t want a functioning society. They want absolute control.
Power mad morons who just don’t get what they are truly asking for. These “kids” need a public spanking. The politician’s who support them need to be held to account as enemies of actual democratic freedom. They ARE fascists, the Antifa group is far more fascist than any other.
AOC and the squad have more in common with Hitler than Trump.
Did he say that in the interview? I missed it.
Yes he did. But to be fair he also said they should be taught isrealiphobia or whatever they’re calling antisemitism to make it sound less Nazi-ish....
Generalizing this to a fight against all extremism somewhat obscures, if not whitewashes, the actual problem which is 2-fold: Islamic extremism and leftist extremism (allied with anti-white-ism). There are no other strands of extremism that come close to the destruction and violence of these movements.
Conservatives are frequently and reflexively tarred as dangerous extremists, domestic white terrorists, white supremacists, white nationalists, and enemies of democracy, by people on the left, up to and including President Biden and his team of propagandists.
Yet, for all this high talk, there is hardly any violence emanating from the Right. Even the parade in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 that was labeled "white supremacist", had hardly any violence. One unstable man with a gun got out of his car after an Antifa activist hit it with a rock, and shot her to death. She was officially labeled a hero, though widely mocked on the internet for provoking a deserved reaction from an angry, armed man.
There were several groups of law abiding militia there that day, mainly keeping the peace between factions. When Trump pointed this out in his famous "fine people on both sides" speech that was widely taken out of context, the Left eagerly pounced on it as proof of his racism.
There are indeed some scary right wing extremists out there, in their compounds in Idaho and the like, but they don't tend to go out and cause trouble. They just quietly live their lives, produce their propaganda, live on right wing websites like Gab, and avoid crossing the authorities. They're not that numerous compared to the hundreds of thousands of BLM rioters, Antifa agitators and a burgeoning number of Muslim activists eager to import their Jew-hate from Asia to the U.S.
Nice analysis. Well said.
I agree with you mainly, but . . . I do think the issue now is antisemitism first and foremost. Also, as much as I admire everything Hassner is doing (Ghandi would be proud of his inventiveness), I do not go along with him when he demands that "the university provide Islamophobia and antisemitism training to staff."
Our universities have erected a vast DEI bureaucracy that does this sort of training, and in my view, the training is usually coercive, brooking no disagreement, and is based on an ideological system that in fact is almost inherently antisemitic itself. I am speaking here of the intellectually crude intersectional hierarchy of Oppressor/Oppressed which has all but become an official ideological straitjacket of thought enforced on students at our most elite universities (and increasingly at too many other places). Antisemitism is inextricably bound up in this world view. It is not an "inadvertent" adjunct to it. It is a worldview that sees capitalist oppression as the central enemy in the struggle, and (as with Marx himself) Jewish capitalist oppression was its worst manifestation (from Rothschild to AIPAC today). Today, race, gender and ethnic categories replace class as the central categories in this system of thought, but the divisive result is the same, and Jews still come out as the supreme Oppressor class. It is this profoundly anti-American worldview that the current radicalism, enforced by most DEI bureaucrats, seeks to promote in order to undermine such core American values as individual liberty, merit, objective truth, freedom of thought and expression, etc.
What the university needs to do is not only protect Professor Hassner and his student supporters but make it clear with real sanctions that threats and violent acts will be meet with swift and very painful punishment.
I agree with you that antisemitism is inextricably bound up in this world view and has been since at least the late 1960s. I found reading Jake Wallis Simons Israelophobia quite instructive particularly as I then read Mounk's The Identity Trap. I have come to the conclusion that you can separate the two
The DEI training is just that -- training in a specific way to think, it is not an education in how to critically think. And current DEI training does have a distinctly anti-Western bias.
You can't have a free society and have equity of outcome because in a free society, people must be allowed not to take opportunities.
And the administration should take swift and decisive steps to protect Prof Hassner and his students, including expulsion of those who commit violent acts for political purposes, but I doubt Berkeley will. Trinity College Cambridge does not appear to be taking action against the student activist who destroyed the painting of Lord Balfour the other week. All this does is embolden imho.
You write: "You can't have a free society and have equity of outcome because in a free society, people must be allowed not to take opportunities." while I agree that you can't have equity in a free society, I do not understand" people must be allowed not to take opportunities." So-called "equity" is reverse racism and eschews the value of fair competition.
It can be a balancing act to ensure agency. Sometimes people have very good reasons not to avail themselves of opportunities. There are only 24 hours in every day. Children sometimes have to make a choice between taking a musical instrument and playing a sport as both can take up time to practice. And that child may prefer playing football to playing the trombone (even if they had the potential to become the best trombone player ever).
For some people, it is a very rational choice not to go to university, even though they have the grades to go, but not going does have opportunity costs. Or indeed applying for management position versus being able to be home to ensure your children being brought up how you want them to be. Or indeed the person in question may not want the added stress as they are working to ensure they can do their hobby (whatever that hobby is -- say writing novels which they hope to sell and become a worldwide bestselling author).Or to go into nursing instead of becoming a banker, even though they know bankers are far better paid.
Or look at a dystopian ultra regulated society where people take a test at an early age which pre-determines the outcome of their life. It is 'fair' because there is equality between pre-determined social groups. However it does not allow for the agency of the individual. Taken to the nth degree, it is possible you would end up with a caste like society -- something which the test etc was seeking to avoid.
Equity which looks at outcome is never going to be fair in a free society. In a free society, opportunity should be allowed to be refused (although I think there is a strong case for literacy and numeracy being obligatory to create a functioning democracy which is the freest society possible) because individual agency is important. The quest to find alternative routes so people can avail themselves of those opportunities at different periods in their lives will make for a fairer society.
I hope my thinking makes more sense. If not, I will attempt to explain it again.
And I do agree with you re the Kendi anti-racism being neo-racism (for more reasons than simply the problems of the pursuit of equity v equality)
The administrative components, both public and private, have not taken a position against this destructive anti-democratic thought control.
Their inaction has been tantamount to endorsement and facilitation. Trey Gowdy, who now has a his own talk show on Fox went on an interesting rant last weekend in response to criticism of ppl taking issue with the murder of the nursing student by an illegal “migrant”. He pointed out that the left used the death of George Floyd as an excuse to burn down cities, destroy public and private property, maim police officers and cause havoc in general. That’s not the first case of them using a single death as cause for wreaking destruction and demanding policy changes. Not that there wasn’t some merit in some cases but the point is that if the “social justice” warriors want to impose hardships then the media and the now “woke” world is all in. They have for decades acted as if the ends justify the means and gotten no real push back. Not just in America but in the “free” world. They won’t stop until it’s not remotely free even though many are too stupid to see where their efforts will lead them. They actually believe that thought control is a good thing and that they are “right” thinking.
They can’t erect the dystopian hellscape fast enough because they can’t see that forest for the trees.
Here. We. Go...
If you have not read it, I would recommend Yascuk Mounk's latest -- The Identity Trap -- he explains in great detail about strategic essentialism, and stand point theory etc. Once you understand how strategic essentialism works, you will see that it is the key to how much of this works (and actually it is the key why there is so much polarization).
Knowing the tactics is one part to being able to demystify and ultimately defeat the tinpot totalitarians.
Thanks for the referral. It has seemed baffling how so many otherwise intelligent ppl can be so easily manipulated by the thinly veiled propaganda in the MSM.
My spouse also keeps telling me that once you read the book “Rules for Radicals” written by Saul Alinsky back in the day it explains the socialist objectives and tactics for disrupting society and creating the divisive, fractured social order we are seeing now. This plan has been in place well before the 60’s. The infiltration of academia goes back to the FDR admin. It’s just become less covert but the fruits of this effort are now obvious and, unfortunately, rather successful. I sometimes wonder if it’s not too late to really course correct.
As I read this op ed yesterday and finally learned the correct word for why Islamist extremism has been increasing -- takfirism -- literally one who excommunicates co-religionists. It has been a governing tenet of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Nick Timothy gave a v good explanation about the growth of takfirism within the Muslim religion and how it is has led to political Islamism etc. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/17/islamist-threat-all-too-real-gove-understands-it/ or https://archive.is/GUiMB
If you are talking about student activism -- yes you can trace that directly back to the late 1920s and Stephen Dugdale. Edward R Murrow used the National Student of America conference in Atlanta in 1931 to desegregate the organization and ran an integrated conference, including a dinner in that highly segregated city. Like anything, unchecked, student activism can cause unforeseen complications. It is up to the administrations (and the law courts) to put the breaks on.
Trinity was my college many years ago, it makes me sad.
Will never happen. This is Berkeley.
You’re right on all counts but most university admins are just as whipped into the weenie world of acceptance by their own hands. They don’t have the backbone to take any meaningful action.
This won’t stop until the money gets cut off. In the end they are just as greedy as any corporate schlocks.
The uk government is increasingly exposing itself as a totalitarian nightmare. Chuck the number of people arrested in the uk for causing offense, typically with some meme comment online. They’re utterly disgusting.
And of course, the “offense” can only be caused in particular directions. Cause a conservative person “offense” and you’ll get Instagram “likes” for “holding nazis accountable.” Cause some leftist “offense” with some imagined “micro aggression” and you’re literally in prison.
Funny how that works. They really are foolish....
We need to do a great deal more than merely calling it what it is and understanding the true nature of the fight. We need to become organized and acitive. In the meanwhile, call or write to the trustees and to the governor of the state, "requesting" their opinions on whether this is the kind of America they support, the kind of state university they support, and the kind of so-called "student activism" --actually Nazi tactics--they support.
Am I jumping at shadows if I think there is a real possibility, not too far down the road, where conservative Christians and conservative Muslims might be defined as a group engaged in “the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance…”?
Conservative Christians are already being called a hate group because we believe there is only one way to be saved and that is through Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross. When we refuse to embrace the idea there are many ways to God, even though Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the light no one comes to the Father except through me." They call us hateful and intolerant. We aren't the ones rioting in the streets or stealing in the stores. We pray for our leaders and for our country that we might live peaceable and contented lives with all. I just don't get it.
They are under the influence of a certain anti-Christ. Pure and simple. True Christian’s need to pray for their awakening. A Christian martyr would die for their beliefs, not kill others for them including themselves.
No one cares what you believe. What we care about is those beliefs being forced upon us.
Clearly you didn't understand what I wrote. I said, believe people when they say what they will do. I didn't mention my beliefs at all.
Jumping at shadows -- there is huge difference between militant extremism and conservative religious beliefs. I do think the extremists try to co-opt people who hold devout religious views as they attempt to portray themselves as being holier than thou. Rushdie wrote about the Iron Mullahs and Kashmir and how the extremists managed to co-opt devout Muslim into their war. If you think Gaza is complicated, take a look at the problems between Pakistan and India and in particular Kashmir. In the UK you can see this most clearly with the recent case of Michaela school and how they had to 'ban' expressions of prayer at lunchtime. The tensions within the school which is resolutely secular increased when the prayer ritual was allowed on the playground. There were threats of violence etc. Now it has gone to court. Also this article on the persecution of the Ahmadi Muslims by extreme zealots makes for interesting reading: https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/03/13/the-muslims-being-hounded-by-islamic-zealots/
The West is singularly ill equipped to deal with political Islamists (Political Islamists do possess a healthy streak of anti-Semitism for reasons which Jake Wallis Simons details in his book Israelophobia)
Already there
Nope. It’s already a mainstream belief. Political correctness trumps all other doctrines.
I like this analysis. But be careful about how you define the enemy. The quoted law is spot on. "... totalitarians who seek to undermine democracy and the rule of law[.]" not so much because that gets into Ideology and policing of thoughts.
The definition of totalitarianism: Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition political parties, disregards and outlaws the legitimate political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and so controls the public sphere and the private sphere of society.
Extremists who believe in 'no debate' and who seek to compel speech and action and therefore seek to control discourse in the public sector as well as in the private sector are believers in totalitarianism and they are, I am afraid, enemies of democracy as they don't believe in allowing the legitimacy of an opposing point of view aka the right of dissent and the right to hold one's opinion.
The problem comes when you uphold the right of dissent because it is necessary for a free society to function. Under the right of dissent (aka the right to hold an unpopular opinion) you must allow such people to espouse those totalitarian views in public. It is unwise however to ever let them gain power where they can impose said views imho. It is always a question of balance and the rule of law (when properly enforced) does provide the limits.
I know the definition of totalitarianism. Authoritarianism too. I am also acquainted with the US Constitution. More importantly I am aware that language, the very method by which we communicate our grand ideas, is changing. In some respects it has been weaponized. So just because someone says I am opposed go totalitarianism does not mean they are, or at least not my understanding of the word. Here in the US, and from what I see in the UK, instruments of totalitarianism are being used to in the guise of opposing totalitarianism.
That is always the danger and it is a v real danger. For example, in WW2, the UK was nominally a democracy but it embraced many totalitarian/authoritarian measures in order to survive including rationing. That the UK was able to return to a functioning democracy after the war was a great achievement.
The big problem is when intimidation, bullying and repression become part of the public sphere. When the heckler's veto becomes the norm and not the frown up on tool of a few deluded.
Democracy requires the most commitment from its citizens. And quite frankly what we are seeing is that the civic education of most recent generation has failed abysmally. Can people learn? Are the older generations which have been muted willing to stand up and say no?
I know Ireland's political elite got a shock with the referendum result earlier in the week.
I would say that Britain ante and post bellum and during WWII were stellar examples of democracy. Because the power was with the people. The government, particularly then, could impose totalitarian type measure 'til the cows came home but the compliance was voluntary. An extraordinary thing really. But that was an attack from outside. What we are facing now, both here and there, is an assault from within. For control of the apparatus of government. Under the guise of democracy. I think our systems have flaws that are being exploited remarkably well. If the opposition prevails history will be rewritten and the common ideals you and I have will be no more.
That’s precisely why communistic regimes seeks to abolish history and demands a cultural revolution.
They also demand an atheistic mindset that rebukes all forms of faith in anything aside from the state governing apparatus.
There is no authority above the state. You live because the state allows you to until it doesn’t.
This is a great article. I feel for those students - the adults have abandoned them except for this one professor. It’s an unusual protest and I’m sure it gives hope and strength to students. If only more faculty and administrators would stand against extremism! Well done!
I stand with Ron. 100%.
Islamophobia and antisemitism in the same sentence, really?
My American Jewish brethren lost their common sense long time ago by fighting other peoples' causes and imagining themselves to be enlightened cosmopolitans. Now we all are paying the price.
Yes so so sick of the reflexive ‘antisemitism and Islamophobia’. Quit the gaslighting. We know where most of the antisemitism comes from. And we are ‘phobic’ because Islamists are violent. There. I said it.
You're absolutely correct. If anyone says they mean me harm I take them at their word.
Exactly...extend them the courtesy of believing them.
I'm not Jewish and I support him and Jewish students on campus. I've never seen anything like the rhetoric being thrown at Jewish students and the violence and threats of violence. I'm concerned at where this will end? Will it take one of these mobs who support terrorists and barbarians to kill a Jewish student on an Ivy League campus to wake up the administration of these schools or will they secretly applaud the death?
If I were Jewish, I'd get a weapon and learn how to use it. 100%, whether I were on campus or not.
Jews should definitely be arming themselves if they take "Never Again" seriously. As they should...no one has their backs, as UC Berkeley, Yale, Harvard, etc. have shown.
And apparently not the governor of the state of CA nor the president of the US who in his state of the union address ignored the issue entirely. Doesn't want to risk losing "his base" --and this is what and who his base actually is. America as we knew it is falling off a cliff quickly, and the Left is doing the pushing.
Ironically, the far Left "base" mostly doesn't vote, so Biden is in far bigger trouble if he alienates Jewish voters. 1/2 the donations to the Dems are from Jewish voters.
It isn't just who votes, but where they live.
Jews have already been killed - maybe not a student yet, but there have been many since Oct 7th. Did Biden mention one name during the SOTU? NO! Did you invite any of those families? NO! Has he addressed the nation to speak against the antisemitism and violence being waged against Jews like he did during George Floyd and BLM? NO! My guess is that at some point Jews will refuse to remain as nice and patient as they have been. It's outrageous what is being allowed. And radicals merely start with Jews. It doesn't end there. They're just easy targets.....all that's going on unchallenged is leading to very bad things...
"Did Biden mention one name during the SOTU? NO! Did you invite any of those families? NO! Has he addressed the nation to speak against the antisemitism and violence being waged against Jews like he did during George Floyd and BLM? NO!"
Got it! Even if Jews figure out at last where their protection actually lies, it won't matter enough.
Did Biden mention the names of the Americans taken hostage by Hamas?
I've never heard him mention by name. Nor have I heard him mention the names of those murdered by Hamas. Nor have I heard Biden mention any of the Jews murdered in USA since 10/7 or those who've been attacked. Remember, the nation was outraged by what they thought was a noose in Bubba Wallace's garage (thankfully wasn't) & by the Jussie Smollet (fake) attack. No mention of the acts of violence towards Jews on most media. Never a headline story....
1/2 the donations to Dems are made by Jews. I would advise Jewish people to withhold all donations and tell their politicians why. You will see most Dems change their tunes.
And I think if the Rs had a moderate candidate for president, or anyone but Trump running, many Jewish voters would abandon the Dems this cycle. The Rs shot themselves in the foot by putting Trump up again. I don't think he can win.
I know...I do not like Trump at all. Many don't. That said, if you're in hosp O R on the table & need quad bipass or you die, do you care if the surgeon is a total douche? Or do you just need the best surgeon? Do you care that the bedside manner sucks? Or do you just care that this surgeon is the VERY BEST for that moment in time? Yes Jan 6th was terrible. (He did request Natn'l Guard in advance and Pelosi did ignore the request.) The way he handled it was shameful. Now, to be fair, there's a lot about every President I don't like. But, right now, my #1 issue is Israel and the ability for Jews to survive. He has Jewish daughter who he adores & Jewish grandkids. He sees what radicals are doing and will address it. Currently, we have someone absolutely disinterested in dealing w what's happening on any level. The border remains open. The pro terrorists run the streets. The schools r using a curriculum that's toxic & brainwashing the generation my kids need to live with. There's been not one address to the nation to demand an end to this. To punish colleges. NOTHING. So, yes, Trump isn't who I'd prefer. But it's the choice we have and if your life is literally on the line, I think it's not as easy to say I refuse to vote for him like i did last Sept. Oct 7 changed everything. What I thought i'd never ever do is now on the table. I agree- people donating to dems must stop FULLY. Somehow we need to meet with the dems who do see truth; Fetterman, Torres, etc. We need their help. But right now, we need to stop the bleeding and our first chance is in the election. Our future depends on it!
"or will they secretly applaud the death?"
They will applaud. Out in the open. He had it coming, what being a Jew and all that. When Hamas went on its murder-rape-kidnap rampage, their applause was loud and proud. Not kept in secret.
"Will it take one of these mobs who support terrorists and barbarians to kill a Jewish student on an Ivy League campus to wake up the administration of these schools or will they secretly applaud the death?"
They will applaud the death, and not secrety.
Exactly
Jewish people have power in this country. I wish they would start yielding that power the way the Squad, who actually doesn't have much power, wields their's.
So, millions of people stream across the border in Texas but, because Texas is a red state... fuck em'. They get what they deserve... and precious little positive attention.
Some Jews get harassed at a left-wing institution and who is supposed to fucking care?
Where were these people when the right was being harassed for just trying to slow down the decay in American society?
I've read the story about Sodom and Gomorrah before... it doesn't end well...
Why can't we care about both? I don't see the connection here at all...
This article is about students who were physically attacked and harassed for being Jewish. That sounds like a thing to be concerned about.
I am tired of reading these articles in the Free Press. It seems that Bari Weiss had some epiphany after October 7. Great. I am happy for her. I even resubscribed to this publication based on her speech at the Federalist Society where she intoned that they were the "last line of defense." My issue is that many of these leftists (and yes, many Jews are leftists) have been openly mocking conservatives for decades and only NOW, after October 7, they have found a spine and a source of sensitivity. But I have NEVER seen them come to the defense of Christians who are mocked, harassed or abused... not to mention Southerners, the "deplorables" or anyone else on the right. But now that the hard left has exposed themselves to be severe anti-semites, we're supposed to give a fuck. I could have told these morons that their leftist "allies" were wolves in sheep's clothing as early as the mid-90s.
Their awakening to reality is too little, too late...
Wow. So you’re saying essentially’f$@k the Jews”? And you’re advocating for collective punishment for the Jews because you perceive’they’ didn’t speak up the way you would like for other groups.. kind of the same thing as collective punishment for the world’s jews for their collective responsibility for Israel’s perceived sins.
Nice.
No, that is not what I'm saying. That is what you infer from my comment.
Maybe you should take a closer look at what your language is communicating if that's not what you mean. My inference very clearly follows your thesis.
I don't agree.
If you are a Jew and a leftist you're a traitor to your people and to Israel.
ahhh.. so then if some Jews are 'Leftists', then all Jews should be punished and there should be no concern for Jews when they are under attack (because of the sins of the Leftist Jews.)
That's what I'm hearing in trying to follow your logic with this comment in relation to the OP and my response. That's what I see and hear from the many similar comments like this one that litter online spaces when anything Jewish is included.
Also, curious if you see liberalism as the same thing as Leftism? I don't, btw.
It's always so helpful to reduced things down to black/white - right side/wrong side - good/bad. Always so helpful to make sweeping denouncements like this. Always so helpful to furthering useful disucssion and understanding.
So thank you for making it all so obvious and clear for me, and everyone here.
You're very welcome Dear GT, you're a leftist. If the DNC ran a cockroach for President that cockroach would have your support as well as your vote. You're not a liberal. I'm a liberal. You're simply a leftist. If you've heard me say anything then that is in your head. Thanks for the rent free space which I'm certain there is plenty of. I'm happy to help simplify the issue for you as well as any other leftist. Sadly you're all so confused that aside from misgendered your progeny will likely be born dizzy as well.
Let me know if I can be of any further assistance and don't forget to visit the Free Clue booth in the lobby on the way. It's to right side of the exit.
For me there's never a too little too late, but there has to at least be a "late." Too many are still in a delusion of their own making.
Seems silly to me to turn away new potential allies because they didn't realize the issue early enough. But you do you.
For the record, the large community of religious Orthodox Jews are generally more "right wing" politically, and there are many non religious Jews who are also conservative. As for those who are older and more "classic liberal" it is because it was the left that was more open minded, and interested in equality. They opened their doors to Jews way before the Republican country club folks. The fact that things have swung the other way now is just part of the Jewish story. One day you have to run to Russia, the next day to Poland. One day the king is on your side, the next not.
The Democrats were the party of the Confederacy and Ku Klux Klan... not the sort who opened their doors to the Jews...
But only today's Democrats can somehow believe that their inherently racist party of treasonous traitors has somehow been "reformed" and is different... No one would accept this about any other group. (And please don't get into the ridiculous "Southern Strategy" argument which is gibberish...)
As for the rest, there may be accuracy to this. But most secular Jews have been a strong arm of the Democratic Party war machine for a long, long time... Sort of like New England Catholics...
This is sort of true. The orthodox and other thoughtful people, not just Jews view issues from the perspective of right/wrong and not left/right. Leftists are wrong. Leftists are liars. Leftists are the ends will justify the means. Leftists are not never have been nor ever will be liberal. They have usurped the term. Leftists are wrong they have always been wrong and they will always be wrong.
Notice that today's based flyover highschoolers are becoming increasingly tired of leftists.
When these kids start to advocate tossing leftists from high places it will be liberals such as myself who will come to your rescue.
That was an interesting diversion. Not sure what the border crisis, which the Republicans in the house refuse to fix, has to do with this article. BTW you seem angry.
I’m sorry, but maybe you aren’t aware. Republicans in the House passed a border bill last May, which zero Democrats voted for and Schumer refused to bring up in the Senate.
I’m sorry but maybe you are unaware of the bipartisan bill written by republicans and agreed to by both sides was held back for vote by Johnson , the republican speaker of the house, last month. It was done so on orders from Donald Trump because he does not want the issue resolved before the election. With a fix approved by congress he can’t get his supporters angry. Republicans now serve to tear everything down and grandstanding, Gaetz, MTG, Boebert, et al. They have no interest in policy. They negotiate what they want and when they get it, they can’t agree to yes.
Psst. McCarthy is not the Speaker of the House. Kind of funny for someone who starts their comment about lack of awareness. FWIW I live in Texas. We need border security. That bill you are lamenting did not provide it. It just facilitated the current border insecurity. My governor is doing a pretty good job though.
This. Look at Florida which is experiencing a flood of Haitians entering illegally with the Coast Guard looking the other as per JoeBama administration dicta. Governor DeSantis is going to need to Abbott up lest we become flooded nationwide by some of the most ignorant and violent people in this hemisphere.
I missed that. But I just saw a news report warning about a new wave of criminal Venezuelans.
The bill may not have provided it, but Johnson was too meek and scared to put it to a vote, for fear a few Republicans would join the Dems in passing the thing. If Johnson had any spine he would have tacked on some of the provisions in his own bill last year and make the legislation stronger and more palatable and put it to a vote as the House version and if it passed throw it back at the Senate - you know, sort of how the US government works. But Johnson doesn't call the shots.
He called that one. And as one close to the front line I am glad he did. Congress has been AWOL for years. That is why we are ruled by executive dictate.
So you’re saying, the Republicans wrote a bill that was ineffective?
No, she's saying the president is ineffective. Not only ineffective but his dereliction of duty has aided and abetted the last 8 million in their invasion of the US.
The Republicans did not write it. It was negotiated by one Republican, a Democrat, a newly Independent former Democrat albeit a moderate one, and reps of the Biden Admistration. You know, the administration that precipitated the crisis to begin with.
This is misinformation. The bipartisan bill, if you read into it...
- Would allow 5000 per day (1.8M per year) into the country unvetted
- After that point would "redirect them to ports of entry"
- Asylum seekers don't count towards that 5,000/day (basically defined as any country at this point)
- Legal immigrants don't count towards the 5,000/day
- ANyone under 18 does not count (and of course NGOs could tell a 25-year-old to say they're 17)
- Requires any contest to the bill to be adjudicated in a DC court (far-left progressive interpretations of all provisions in the law)
The point was to enshrine infinity immigrants into law and prevent a possible Trump presidency from reverting it. There DOES NOT NEED TO BE A NEW LAW. Immigraiton laws are already on the books. Biden could just reintroduce Trump's executive order. But of course he doesn't want to, because most elites (Democrats and RINOs alike) want infinity immigrants.
You cover the situation superbly.
The so called “Bi-Partisan” bill was drafted by three people, 1 of whom was a Republican. While it provided more resources and had some positive elements, it addressed very few elements of immigration policy and regularized the continued flow of millions of illegals annually. It did not address most of the issues that matter to Americans. It did not deserve to become law.
Why does the president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces need a 'border bill' to defend the territorial integrity of the US?
He does not; but he likes to pretend he does.
However enough of this diversion from the subject at hand.
Biden is the penultimate angry white guy.
Biden is the penultimate angry Democrat white guy. FIFY
Biden doesn't do anything Obama doesn't tell him to do.
I am angry. I have lived in the People's Republic of China for the past quarter century and have watched this nation rise to incredible strength. At the same time, I have watched my own nation fall to incredible depths. I am angry. I am angry at a class of elitists like Nellie Bowles and Bari Weiss who have basically been playing Nero to the burning of Rome for decades and have only now begun to smell the smoke from the social arsonists that they have empowered since the Clinton administration.
Angry diversions are what makes these comment threads so lively..
:)
You appear very poorly informed
Read again, you seem to be missing the point
When there is a FP article I am not interested in (pro choice vs pro life, trannie updates, the Oscars) I just skip it.
Huh?? First of all, most people coming through our southern borders are hard working, religious people. Not at all the same as the Muslim extremists studying on visas at our universities. Secondly, the right is not harassed for "slowing down the decay in American society." They are being prosecuted for violence on Jan 6th. Chasing legislators through halls and trying to find VP Pence to hang him.
No. There were 75,000,000+ people who voted conservative in 2020 and all are harassed on a daily basis. Referred to as extremists, Christian Nationalists, Maggots and more. Routinely demeaned by the sitting president. Referred to as "threats to 'our democracy'. For holding an opposing point of view. Some of those voters have even succumbed to the harassment and profess they will not vote in 2024. A handful of those people protested at the people's house on January 6, 2021 where there was a startling lack of security and an astonishing number of reporters to "document" it all. And you are equally uninformed on the southern border. Maybe the people turning themselves in are "hard-working, religious people" (surprised y'all welcome the religious ones) but not the getaways, not the ones on the terrorist watch list, likely not the 30,000+ military age Chinese men encountered in the last several months, not the human and drug traffickers. Not the man who murdered Laken Riley. Not the man who murdered Lizbeth Medina. Not the members of the roving gangs terrorizing NYC. You simply cannot be that gullible. Unless you are safely esconced in a private enclave somewhere as you espouse your luxury beliefs.
OMG you are so oppressed I had no idea. Thoughts and prayers.
I understood you had no idea. Thus the education. Save your thoughts and prayers. And meaningless oppression rhetoric.
You're an imbecile. Please understand I apologize to imbeciles for foisting you upon them.
Sometimes the comment section here sounds like a Trump rally. I love Bari and The FP but it has become a forum where the far right attacks everyone else.
So hearing an opinion other than yours is an "attack"?
You make some valid points but go off the rails when you assume most coming here are criminals. Shame on you.
I made all valid points.
Shame on you for shaming me for having a position you do not agree with. Shame on you for failing to have sympathy for the victims of some pretty dastardly illegal aliens and the victims of offenses by less violent ones. But mostly shame on you if you voted for Biden because if you did you are directly complicit in all of it.
"First of all, most people coming through our southern borders are hard working ,religious people,,,.." that's what people say until a loaded bus from Texas pulls up to their front door. Ask the residents of Martha's Vineyard.
I don't disagree..the "sanctuary" cities are hypocrites. There are many dying small cities in the US that would be great places for immigrants to settle and bring the cities back to life. It has happened to some small cities in depressed areas and it a win-win for everyone.
One of the local progressives wrote in our newspaper that many of the immigrants were medical people, architects, highly educated, and spoke English better than U.S. citizens. I am not making this up.
Hard working religious people are costing taxpayers a hell of a lot of money. Health care - entirely free. Shelter, sometimes swanky - free. Free cell phones. Free education with hot meals for their kids, debit cards to spend as they please. Do you get free health care? I don’t. How about your rent, is someone else paying for that? No me either. Wake up child and work the math. We can’t afford to keep all these people and still take care of our own families.
That's why we have to make sure those coming are not criminal and help them get work legally ASAP. We NEED workers. My local McDonalds has two people working there at a time. I no longer go many places because the lines are so long. European countries such as Italy and Germany, places like Japan and even China are in huge trouble due to population collapse. They may no longer be functioning countries in 10 to 20 years. We have a mini-Boomer population explosion around 1990 to 1994 so we are ok for now, but those kids aren't having kids. We need more people to continue to thrive. Legal immigration is the answer and Latinos don't hate us and want to kill us like Muslim extremists do. I welcome them.
Agree mostly. The key is LEGAL migration. BTW, I know a lot of young couples who can’t afford to have children because of the high taxes and housing costs. My property taxes alone have gone up about $4k in the past five years, and my salary has not. And I just received notice that the tax rate will increase due to the “changing demographics “ in the school system. I’m now considering moving. Immigration is good, but uncontrolled is not sustainable
“I don’t personally think there should be Zionists, period.”
So in other words, she is actually in favor of genocide. While claiming to be against it. Leftists are the plague.
And the university’s helplessness against the thugs and cretins who have illegally blocked the gate is pathetic. Send in a work crew with police protection and tear it all down. If anyone interferes, arrest them.
The script writes itself. Unbelievable.
The university is not "helpless" against the "thugs and cretins"who have illegally blocked the gate, nor has it been helpless against the intolerance exhibited on that campus for any counter-speech to their political narrative. The university subscribes to that narrative, just as do the Ivy League schools and many others receiving "donations" from abroad that come with strings attached: take our money, but teach our world view, not the West's. And that is precisely what has happened.
I agree. It occurred to me after I posted it that the university isn’t helpless or powerless. They are just choosing to be. Voluntarily powerlessness. And also agree their true overarching narrative is anti-Western.
It's interesting that this article brings out such nastiness in people.
No kidding, Herr. I read this article and was heartened to see Ron take this kind of stand, in his own particular way, fully against antisemitism and fully in support of free speech in middle of Berkeley. That light shining in in his office while all others were dark, gave me hope, and I suspect gives hope to Jewish students across the land. Then to come to comment section and see some basically say ‘I told you so, F off, what about my issues? That is disheartening to see. Those comments seem also have their office lights off and blinds pulled shut.
I was just thinking that! I wonder why.
Stuff buried deep down gets stirred up, rises to the top and spills out. One is what one is.
It's interesting as well that nastiness in people brought out this article.
Why don't our elite universities sponsor formal debates between pro Palestinians and pro Israelies. Rather than just screaming slogans I would like to hear the factual side of the pro Palestinians protesters. A formal debate between people who disagree seems like an appropriate forum for the campus.
The pro pal side can’t handle debate.
Because, Jane, they do not believe in debate, which contains counter-speech. They are totalitarian in their ideology, while purporting to be "for Democracy." To fully comprehend where they "are coming from" I recommend strongly that you read Christopher Rufo's book, America's Cultural Revolution: How the Left Stole Everything. Until you do, you likely will not comprehend the vast distinction between the way people running these institutions think and the way you do.
Actually may easily discover the pro-Palestinian side simply by reading the Charter of the Palestinian Authority and that of the Hamas Covenant 1988, both translated by Avalon Project, a Yale project.
There's only one way to deal with bullies, and it's not harsh words or protests that get results. It's an epic, bloody beat down in front of the whole school yard, one that everyone witnesses, that will change this situation. It's worked on every school yard since the dawn of time and it will work at UC Berkely, too.
You remind me of the story of the KKK planning a march in South Bend Indiana in the 1920s and a bunch of Catholic boys from Notre Dame showed up and gave them a good beating. Ahh, for the good old days.
I think that is what is happening in Gaza now but the schoolyard is championing the bully.
Excuse me?
Check out this article from last year in the Times of Israel:
Bam! Kapow! When 1930s Jewish mobsters beat up Nazis in the streets of America
Michael Benson's 'Gangsters vs. Nazis' tells how New York judge secretly directed mafia bosses Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel to recruit army of Jewish thugs to intimidate antisemites
But Dave, the administration does not want it to work; the administration is part of the problem, part of the narrative, part of the ideology that does not tolerate dissent from its viewpoint or any challenge to its foreign donation collections.
What explains the defense of Hamas by the LGBT+ community? Are they just that stupid? Or do they want to support a cause that hates them?
Groupthink and lack of knowledge about the world. I'm gay and experienced a lot of hatred towards me from Christians in my lifetime (not much now but definitely when I was young). I never experienced it from Muslims because THERE WEREN'T ANY AROUND.
Fortunately, though, I'm well read and know that, had I grown up in in the Middle East, I would have experienced a lot more than being called names, occasionally having stuff thrown at me and told I'm going to hell. I don't think a lot of young people know this.
NOTHING about LGBT history or attitudes of non-LGBT people is taught at any level below college except for California, which teaches about the Moscone/Milk assassinations as part of state history so young people literally do not know this stuff.
I appreciate your input and I think it illustrates part of the problem. What young people used to learn in school, particularly at lower levels was basic knowledge to build an intellectual foundation and to encourage free thought. It was up to the individual to expand on that. I find it very odd that in the information age where everyone has ready access to information (although reliability is an issue) there is so little interest in independent thought and preference for the "hive mind".
Perhaps it would not seem to "odd" to you were you to discover that this is not happenstance, but carefully thought out strategy of the cultural revolutionists. You might take a lesson from National Association of Scholars (NAS). Check out their website for studies on how the universities have abandoned the teaching of traditional civics for the teaching of radical ideology and civic activism, such as you see the River to the Sea protesters and disrupters engaging in now. By the way, often these courses give extra credit for the right kind of activism.
I know that. But it is more than a curriculum. It is more that though. It is almost as if intellectual curiosity doesn't exist. That they are content being spoon fed very scripted information and don't question it. That seems very different than generations of the recent past.
Bingo.
The problem is that actually think there is knowledge in those phones............instead of just information and opinion.
Kids want to fit in, not stand out. This is a truism for majority of youth. If majority says “Israel is the Oppressor” then kids go along, to get along.
I agree. But there are very inflammatory consequences and I think it unwise to ignore it as youthful indiscretion.
Why is the majority saying that?
My thinking is demographics. Majority of youth in metro areas. Metro areas are predominantly Blue, w/ Teacher Unions that support D’s. Oppressor v. Victim ideology more prevalent in these areas.
It is very much more widespread than that, although that certainly is there. It is taught in our universities and lower schools. They have got hold of the levers of power and influence. They are inculcating very young Americans with very unAmerican ideas. And that is how they will within one more generation remove all traces of what America used to be.
because they see it on Tik Tok......
Yes. For a more extensive explanation read Rufo's America's Cultural Revolution. Until we get enough Americans rea\ding this book on what happened and how, and how to counter it, we will get nowhere. This is essential reading for those who wish to save America.
I think they learn exactly what elites want them to learn. Sad.
In my view, while it may be, as you say, "sad," it is also catastrophic for America. Catastrophic!
This is how societies are changed. When foreign powers overtake a country, they change the education system. They have "re-education" camps for adults, and schools for youth. Russia, for example, is "re-educating" the children it kidnapped from Ukraine. America re-educated Germans after the Nazi army was defeated. In China they are re-educating Muslims. And in America, the Woke have taken over the society and education system and are re-educating Americans.
Agreed.
All true.
As dictated by the federal Department of Education. It was formed in 1979.
Another reason why the Left is against charter schools; they are not required to teach this stuff.
Scott - my son was gay and would be 37 now and I wonder what he would say about all this. I would think by the time these kids are in college, where a lot of the rioting is, they would have been taught about cultures and/or religions in the Middle East.
"I would think by the time these kids are in college, where a lot of the rioting is, they would have been taught about cultures and/or religions in the Middle East."
Were you when you were in college?
They don't teach that in Western societies, or at least did not used to teach that history. Today if it is taught I can guarantee it is not taught from the Western perspective, but from the Middle East perspective, which is why Middle Eastern countries have donated $billions to American universities.
I cannot disagree. When I was in college, I was not political in any way and would never had protested in anything like this.
Ignorance.
For anyone shocked at Trump's poll #'s, there's quite a simple explanation: We have a president & party (Dems) outraged by the use of the word 'illegal' & have been on an apology tour for days for calling an illegal migrant exactly what he is. Technically he's illegal. Yet- every antisemitic slur and act, every single thing that's been done and said against Jews; calling for their murder - calling for the destruction of Israel is apparently totally fine. NOT ONE WORD of condemnation from this administration!! Every pro hamas protest goes on without challenge. No arrests made when violence takes place. Every Jan 6th person (even peaceful goers) faced major repercussions but "pro-pal" (pro hamas) ppl trying to break the fence to the White House were free to do their thing and leave. Every act chalked up to "free speech" that has gone well beyond free speech is no big deal. A country that demanded justice for George Floyd seems to give 2 sh*ts about hostages who are hopefully still alive. We have a President far more concerned about Michigan and the Muslim vote than standing up for what's right. Far more focused on lecturing Israel than demanding the release of hostages and that a price be paid for the Americans killed by terrorists. We see a Pres who is fine with pro-Pal people taking over our cities & replacing our American flags. Radicals have said, they've PROMISED, their goal is to destroy the big satan (aka America) & our administration is giving them the keys to the country. They are not protecting our freedoms. These people have told us their plan and helllloooo---it's being executed. WAKE UP! This is NOT OKAY! If you believe in LGBTQ rights, you should be with Israel. If you believe in Women's rights, you should be with Israel. These radicals are here. Remember "see something, say something"??? We r seeing a lot and no one cares! We see a Pres who is allowing millions of military age single men cross our borders unchecked and wants them to become voters, giving them more rights than citizens. We see a Pres/admin far more concerned about electric vehicles than building up our own grids so we're not as at risk. We see a country where crime and criminals run freely. They can tell us crime #'s are down, they can tell us the economy is good---we are NOT stupid! So if you wonder why Trump could win, there are a ton of 'liberals' who realize the left has lost its way and something has to change. (Btw- we all know if Biden were a surgeon, he'd never be allowed to operate. He's not capable. He's too old. It's incredibly rude to try to shame those calling attention to this. If you think he's in great shape, give him the keys to your car and your kids/grandkids and let him drive them across the country. My guess is you'd say no to that plan. He's not fit to be the leader of the free world. Sucks to admit when someone's too old, but he is. Facts aren't always fun to recognize, but we must. It's called being an adult).
Pro-Palestinian Jew-hating protesters literally occupied the Senate building a couple of months ago, disrupting proceedings. Arrests were made but no Democrat called it an insurrection.
EXACTLY!!!! You're 100% right! It's insanity and the double standard is blatantly obvious! The party that loves to say no one is above the law seems to have different laws for different people/groups. It's disgusting!
This is far, far more than the operation of a legal double standard; there is a double ideology afoot in the land, which has overtaken our universities and even lower schools. They are teaching it to very young children, putting these revolutionary ideas into their heads at the most impressionable age.
An anti-American, anti-Capitalist, anti-freedom, anti-Founders, anti-law and order, anti-history, anti-competition, reverse -racism and anti-Western ideology has overtaken the influencers in this country--the media, the government agencies, the Democrat party, Hollywood know-nothing celebrities, the universities and colleges. It is called the American Cultural Revolution in Christopher Rufo's new book by that name. Buy it and read it and learn what has happened, how it has happened, and how it can be effectively countered. Don't wait. There isn't time.
"My second request ...if a speaker has to leave campus without giving their talk...that they receive an apology from the university and that they be invited back."
Not enough.
Should be: "If a speaker has to leave campus without giving the talk, we consider that a Grave Injustice, and will respond as follows -
a. The talk is rescheduled next day;
b. The talk will now be attended by president of university, held in a larger venue, with the full force of university promoting the event in all their social media that day;
c. The undergraduate and graduate deans will be present, along with mega security, for clear and immediate accountability of Hecklers Veto protesters (while equally guaranteeing right to protest without blocking the event), including expedited proper hearing for violators to follow the next day;
d. The speaker is put up at a nice hotel at university expense, or invited to stay the night at the home of the university president or similar.
How about: If a speaker is driven off campus by violent rioters, those rioters should be expelled from the university and arrested and, in some cases, deported back to the Middle East.
"I think it’s possible to advocate for the Palestinian cause without strangling people."
That is where you're wrong, sir.
Israel found that out the hard way last October.
Do you hear yourself, fool?
“ ‘Oh, that’s the girl who supports genocide,’ ” others would say of her, she told me. “All of my friends in sororities complain about the same thing.” She’s lost most of her friends who aren’t pro-Israel Jews. "
Were they REALLY friends or merely acquaintances?
In this social media age, everything is performative and put through an internal filter of the external likability of any given action.
I wonder what the next Bright Shiny Thing will be?
I will give credit to The Left. They are very good at making bad things look Cool and Good.
Diaspora Jews were cleansed from every country in the Middle East, Europe and Africa. Yemen successfully eliminated every single Jew years ago. The one place they can live is now, Israel, is still too much for these people. Israel must not compromise. It must keep fighting until Hamas is dead or tried in international court. We cannot have any more Masada’s.
The real question will be if any punishment is brought to the students or pro Palestinian student groups (the latter should be banned from on campus activities). The answer will surely be no because of many reasons, each more infuriating and self-defeating than the last.
There is only one major reason the answer will be no punishment; those in charge agree with the Palestinian student movement, and the Woke revolution. Their ideology has been absorbed by universities holding out their hands for more Middle Eastern donations of huge cash amounts in exchange for instruction in anti-Western ideology.
I agree with you however it sucks that they had such a willing audience ready to feast at the trough.
It took 50 years, JellyNY. Read Rufo's book, America's Cultural Revolution--How the Left Stole Everything. He tells you how long it took, how it was done, which philosophers and activists were instrumental, and how to fight it. You are right today, though; they are teaching this ideology to very young Americans; they will be the willing audience.