The University of Chicago and free expression
The University of Chicago sent a letter out to it’s incoming students explaining to them that the University will be a forum for ideas, not a megaphone for students – that they shouldn’t expect “trigger warnings”.
“Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so-called ‘trigger warnings,’ we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial and we do not condone the creation of intellectual ‘safe spaces’ where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own,” Ellison said in the letter, which was obtained by Inside Higher Ed. “Diversity of opinion and background is a fundamental strength of our community. The members of our community must have the freedom to espouse and explore a wide range of ideas.”
UofC history professor John Boyer, who wrote a book “Academic Freedom and the Modern University: The Experience of the University of Chicago” which accompanied the letter to students says this discussion isn’t new in human history;
The point of his book, he says, and the reason the school wanted students to read it, is that “the questions about academic freedom are as old as university education itself. This goes back to the German universities of the 19th century. It originated in Europe, was adopted by Americans and amplified through the lens of our First Amendment. It’s a perennial issue.”
Of course, New Republic had a conniption fit charging that the letter violates free speech;
Ellison’s letter is a perverse document. It’s very much like the French Burkini ban: an illiberal policy justified in the name of liberal values. As CUNY historian Angus Johnston notes, “There’s no college in the country where profs are required to give trigger warnings. They’re all voluntary pedagogical choices. Which means a professor’s use of trigger warnings isn’t a threat to academic freedom. It’s a MANIFESTATION of academic freedom.”
Johnston is exactly on-point. Prior to Ellison’s letter, University of Chicago professors had the right to use trigger warnings or not use them. Now, if a professor decides to use them, he or she will face administrative opposition. Academic freedom means that professors get to design their syllabus, not administrators like Ellison. His letter is a prime example of how the outcry against “political correctness” often leads to policy changes that limit free speech.
Of course, the letter violates the tenets of the 1962 Port Huron Statement, the plan by Tom Hayden and the hippies to take over the education establishment to guide the country Left. The Chicago letter is a speed bump on that journey.
Category: Schools
I once thought I had freedom of speech. What I have learned is that I have the right to remain silent, since I have very little taste for screaming arguments. That’s why I come to TAH — the folks on here may not LIKE what I say, but at least they’re not afraid of it
Nice to be in with adults, isn’t it?
I’m offended…
Of course nobody here gives a shit anyway…
Soooo….
I am SO glad this university has the cojones to tell its incoming students that they are coming into the adult world, which is neither ‘safe’ nor easy.
Someone finally said it: Man up, grow up, learn to be adults.
There are a couple out there that have not jumped on the pc train
If you thinks that the universities and colleges are bad, go talk with employees at your local schools. When they aren’t spouting PC crap to the kids, they usually behave much like the animals in Orwell’s “Animal Farm” towards anyone… including parents!
“Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.”
William F. Buckley
Wait, I didn’t realize there was more than one Chicago in the US. Where’s this U of Chicago? Chicago, Texas?
It can’t possibly be the Chicago that’s home to King Barry and the corruption of Rahm Emanuel. That would just be crazy.
Well, it is in Hyde Park, down there on the Sout’ Side, but it’s near the lake, which is kind of away from Mayor Rahmbo’s sphere of influence. I think they’d bark at him if he dared to go down there.
The southside of Chicago is the baddest part of town.
And if you go down there you better just beware of a man named Leroy Brown.
Badder than ol’ King Kong? Meaner than a junk yard dog?
But he ended up looking like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone.
I attended the U of C. It’s an odd place, surrounded by high crime areas, and yet the highest number of Nobel Prize recipients of any school on earth. Split the first atom and such.
They’ve been bucking the trends of progressive education since the sixties. When some students back then took over a building or two, rather than cave to their demands, they held a “tribunal” and booted the lot of them. The parents threatened, begged, bought add space in the local papers… The students stayed expelled.
In the eighties, U of C professor Allen Bloom’s book, “The Closing of the American Mind”caused major controversy. The school stood by him. It was around that time that crime was so bad in the area, they embarrassed the town by saying they were going to move the University of Chicago to the suburbs! The area is now heavily patrolled.
In the nineties, some progressives wanted to make the school more “fun”, “approachable”, “inclusive” and whatnot. The students held a “study-in” in protest, because they found studying fun.
What’s surprising is that both Barry and Michelle were once employed by the place.
So was my father. He, at least, was not a lazy fuck with a brain the size of a pea. Go figure.
“I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.”
-Evelyn Beatrice Hall
This needs to be taught again I think and no its not from Voltare as everyone thinks.
Ditto. Funny how that works. Not funny ‘ha-ha’ but funny as in screwed up.
The liberals are all about free speech and your right to same, provided it is in agreement with the liberal mantra.
The conservatives will listen to your words and, if in disagreement, pretty much just nod and be on their way.
The liberals are all about in your face, explaining how your views suck and how you’re a lowlife PoS for having those opinions/values.
I wonder how many have had a change of political views based on a debate with others? I’m thinking the number is around zero.
Yeah, I would love to see the UoC views to be more widely accepted within higher education. It’s a start. Maybe, just maybe …
I hope the pusses have to crawl through ten feet of razor wire to get into and out of their safe space. Safe space? Jeez …
Tornado shelters are safe spaces.
Bomb shelters should be safe spaces, depending on where you are.
Under the bed might be a safe space for a kid home alone with a phone to call the cops if burglars have broken in.
Anything else?
One’s Foxhole or uparmored truck when the SHTF and you have incoming fire. That or behind a well-cleaned and lubed belt-fed machine gun with at least several hundred rounds of ammo when those God-forsaken goat-molesting savages are coming at you.
I sincerely hope that other universities take notice of this and follow their lead, DEATH TO POLITICAL CORRECTNESS.
Happiness is a warm gun.
…and spent propellant is my favorite form of aromatherapy.
The second amendment protects the first amendment. And the rest of the amendments too. That’s what we call equality, kiddies.
Nothing like a splash of napalm early in the morning. Smells like…… victory.
Except a splash of Aqua Velva
On the taint…
“Spent propellant.”
Wolf Pussy anyone???
How ’bout Hoppe’s afterward?
Propellant… Is that the same smell as fireworks and gunpowder and kitchen matches being struck?
“Happiness is a warm gun”…
AND a dead perp, a harvested animal, a dead varmint or a target with its dead center full of holes.
Don’t worry, my peeps. This is a phase that should have been over and done with by 4th grade or maybe even kindegarten, but somehow was allowed to continue into high school and expand unfettered. At some point, the bubble will burst and reality will land on these dorkwads with both feet.
No jobs. (But I went to college! I have a degree! Yes, in nothing useful.)
No place to live. (Moves back in with mommy and daddy who want room and board, goes to live in a dump with friends on welfare.)
You get the drift.
And that same KID with a degree looked at a friend a few years prior that was about to attend a Vo-Tech School to learn a Trade and called him a loser, but the one who learned a Trade is employed and making all kinds of honest money! Hell, a Plumber or an Electrician with a Journeyman’s card can easily out-earn ANY College grad with say, a degree in Gender Studies, Art History or any other useless degree. Hell, they’ll make at least twice as much money as anyone with a Bachelors Degree in Journalism!
So if I understand the New Republic, telling someone to stay away because they might hear something they don’t like (in effective terms denying the source of said opinion any means of communicating it) is the opposite of censorship. Okey-dokey…
These people remind me more and more of the old line that “Capitalism is the exploitation of men by other men. Communism is, of course, the complete opposite.”
As Steven Segal once said “what the hell kind of babbling bullshit was that?”
New Republic’s initial take on it seems to have been that it was a policy decision – a ban on trigger warnings. Which, in effect, is telling professors what they can and can’t do (eg, you must give trigger warnings and can’t not give them). That is arguably censorship, as the administration is deeming trigger warnings unacceptable.
The article has clarified that this is not an actual ban, but remains the administration taking a stance on what many feel should be solely at the discretion of the professor of a given class.
I strongly dislike ‘trigger warnings’ and ‘safe spaces’, but I begrudgingly feel there are some places where they might do more good than harm. Alas, currently I think that ratio is flipped because they’re so pervasive and things like maturity and exposure to conflicting ideas suffer.
If an individual requires a “trigger warning” because they might be upset by something, it’s probably best that they stay home on mommy’s teat instead of venturing out into the real world. Those type of individuals invariably spend their lives on the teat of the American Taxpayer. Time for a serious weaning.
IMO, anyone who uses the word “trigger warning” in the context of being offended over something they hear or see is just another way of saying, “Look at me! I’m a big wuus!”
Clint Eastwood was right.
To me, “trigger warning” means “booger hook off the bang switch”.
^^^^Word.
^^^followed by a hand to the back of the helmet
Yep. Do parents have any idea their little precious puss has turned into, well, a puss? At what time during the child rearing process do parents teach their kids that they must grow a set to be successful and taken seriously by their employer. Can you imagine these turds at their first job as a college graduate in a professional environment? Coworkers and bosses won’t take this shit. The reality of the real world must take place in a fraction of a second. Don’t the experiences of the recent graduates filter back to those still in college, such that they realize the real world doesn’t much give a crap about trigger words and safe spaces? I can see it now: Boss: Welcome aboard, Cathy, your desk is over there between Carlos and Leshaniqua. Cathy: Thank you, Mr. Jones. If possible, could you address me as Ms. Watson? Also, I believe the name Carlos possibly has, to some, negative Hispanic connotations. And the name Leshaniqua possibly has, to some, negative African American connotations. Both names I find to be derogatory and objectionable. I would prefer your referring to them as ‘the gentleman to the left of your desk’ and ‘the lady to the right of your desk’? I would find this language much more agreeable and without any negative connotations. Is this acceptable to you? I would be much more comfortable working within that environment. Is this doable? Boss: No, Cathy, it’s not. Now get your ass over there between Carlos and Leshaniqua or get out the door. Cathy: Cathy, scanning the room and finding no safe space and barely able to see through her tears, stumbles to her desk as she sobs uncontrollably. Boss departs the room, heads to HR. Informs HR head, a man/woman who has a set, to be on the lookout for Cathy’s replacement, being sure to give preference to a veteran b/c that hire will have already grown a set and won’t need a safe space. Cathy, upon leaving for the day, calls her life coach who, like her, is a wuss. Well, actually he isn’t… Read more »
‘…they’re so pervasive and things like maturity and exposure to conflicting ideas suffer.’
I believe that is exactly the point of the letter to the freshman class at U of C. This is not censorship, in the true sense. This is telling these students that reality – the real world – is not going to accommodate them. College is supposed to be the last step into adulthood, not a continuation of childhood.
And frankly, a ‘safe space’ in my view is a place to get out of the way of someone intent on committing physical violence, not for avoiding someone who disagrees with your point of view.
Trigger warning? To me that means, “Hey Private, get your finger off that damn trigger dummy. Put it back in your ass or your nose until you’re ready to fire.”
The New Republic’s take on the matter requires the author to (intentionally?) misread the University of Chicago’s position-they aren’t banning “trigger warnings”, just telling incoming students not to expect them.
Or, to summarize, mendacious twatwaffle sets up strawman, delivers ineffectual body blows.
What is a trigger warning? And why should it be required/disallowed or expected/not expected on a college campus?
Sounds like a complete waste of time.
In this context, it’s a mental health consideration. A ‘trigger’ is anything that might cause an onset of several negative reactions: anxiety, panic, stress reactions of various sorts. These can be visual, verbal, auditory, etc. For example, an image of a gun could be a trigger for a susceptible info individual. A trigger warning is a form of front loading, where someone alerts someone about the possibility of being triggered by an upcoming activity, situation, or event.
So it’s a socially acceptable way to be totally rude? Are crystal balls, or other devining devices, issued so that you can be absolutely certain that you correctly guess what might offend others?
Yeah, I got it. “I know this is offensive, but I’m going to say/do it anyway.”
A ‘trigger warning’ is to let you know that someone is going to say, speak or use words that you personally find offensive. It can be anything from referring to something by its color, such as a ‘red sunset’ or ‘white as snow’, to say, speak or use words that imply or specifically refer to sex or sex-related subjects such as gender.
Therefore, even though the term ‘faggot’ refers to a bundle of sticks, the use of this word may trigger an adverse reaction, including crying bitterly, in someone who hears it.
As an aside, there are people who want H.P. Lovecraft’s horror stories (Chthulhu stuff) rewritten and feminized. How the hell do you feminize a horror story?
IMHO you DON’T without turning a good story into some namby-pamby bunch of candyassed saccharine bullshit babble. Too many colleges are turning out a bunch of candyasses unable to cope with the real world.
And that is exactly the point of the UofC’s letter.
Remember, it’s the home of the first controlled nuclear chain reaction under Alonso Stagg Stadium.
If libretards knew that, their heads would probably explode. I’d like to see that.
Left a steam train video for you on the WOT, API.
Yeah, nice pick! I enjoyed the Narrow Gauge steam and the SP Mikado locomotive the most.
How do you feminize a horror story??
Remove the last two letters…
Then let IDC SARC hit it.
Damn! No spew alert!
Ooops.
Hope you weren’t OFFENDED.
(hee-hee)
Nope, just pointing and laughing.
https://youtu.be/4wLgDxrFUn8
PH2: Please note I omitted the ‘Ex’ part of your name, for the following reason. Now, I have had the same wonderful wife, Mrs. HMC, for 45 years, so there is no ‘Ex’ in my background. However, I’m wondering if your use of the handle ‘Ex’ is found to be offensive by some? You might want to consider this. Or, perhaps even better, you could suggest I FOAD. I’m thinking you’ll choose the latter. Bwhaaa
True Story: A few years back at a Christian University (can’t recall which, but this was given a lot of internet time), a male student whose parents were divorced stated he found certain Christmas plays to be offensive, b/c they depicted married couples (A Christmas Carol, for instance). In a group assembly during which the alleged puss voiced his complaint, the university honcho told him, to his embarrassment, that perhaps ‘this’ university was not for him, and perhaps he should look elsewhere for his education. Follow up stories suggest he ‘sucked it up’ and found his set and continued his education at this university.
OK, PH2, standing by for your advice re my suggestion. And remember, Jonn restricts ‘colorful language’ to not more than four uses per post.
Okay, then.
The use of the syllable ‘ex’ usually means ‘former’ or ‘no longer’, but because its original source is Latin, it also means ‘out of’. The derivative use is a choice.
However, taking everything into consideration, including the fact that I do still pursue my ex-(former) Navy occupation and did, in fact, make a living at it for some time after I exited the Navy (see what I did there?), if you don’t use it, you are implying that I am still in the Navy. If I am, then I would appreciate the Navy’s forwarding a check for back pay, including all time in rate and promotional raises, as well as re-upping bonuses, for continuous work in photography over a succeeding period of 42 years, plus my fucking Good Conduct Medal for 5 years, 6 months, 28 days during two separated, broken (noncontinuous) hitches of faithful service.
Otherwise, отвали и умереть. 🙂
Check is in the mail, Ex-PH2. Back pay and bunches of Good Conduct Medals. You almost certainly would have earned multiple Navy Achievement and Navy Commendation Medals as well. Advancement? At least Senior Chief, probably Master Chief. After all, you’re high speed and low drag. As well as being a hoot. (A REAL, as opposed to bogus CPO, by the way.) I’m thinking back pay should be a million bucks or so, as you would have continuously served for those 42 years. Mostly tax free as well, as you would have volunteered to serve in combat zones. See how I retroactively planned your Navy career? Yours was a glorious career, Ex-PH2. The Navy carved out such a huge chunk of my life. Hard to believe I have now been retired longer than I served … 23yrs/25yrs. Jeez, those with youngsters, maybe remind them that time really does go by much too quickly. I sometimes hit my beltline when leaving a building, where I held my CPO cover 25 years ago. Damn, 25 years after the fact. BTW, I googled your ending. I deserve it, in spades. Ya know what, self depreciation is a lost art. Maybe, just maybe, if folks didn’t take themselves so seriously, the world wouldn’t be so messed up. True Story. At VA two weeks ago for semiannual meet & greet. Old, old guy, ON HIS BACK, ON THE FLOOR, EXERCISING. NO kidding. About 85 y/o. So, I go to him, ask him if he is OK. He says yes, he’s OK, and maybe I should join him to lose some gut. Someone sitting by asked if I was going to take that from him? I asked what did they expect me to do? I’m old but this guy is old as dirt. I just laugh and agree with him and walk away. He actually thanked me for letting an old man speak his mind. Really, self deprecation is a lost/fading art. We, myself included, sometimes take ourselves WAY too seriously. Re VA patients, I find watching those I see there often as entertaining as those I… Read more »
Well, I guess that geezer told you a thing or two, didn’t he?
Geez, he’s 85 and told YOU to join him in losing ‘The Gut’?
Okay, then, I’d better get busy and start doing all that stuff before breakfast, too. I’m behind. And that cheeseburger was SO good!
So, if a “trigger warning” no longer has to be given, does that mean we here at TAH no longer have to give a “spew alert”? 😉
(Memo to self: Run into town and pick up keyboard cover, screen shield and lots of paper towels & spray cleaner.)
It depends on what kind of spew it will be.
Perhaps I should be more definitive.
Freedom of speech gives us the right to speak our minds. Good manners, as I’ve said, are always in vogue – always have been, always will be.
Freedom of speech is not, however, an open door to be rude as hell because you disagree with someone else’s view or opinion about something. That is the arena of debate, which we need a lot of in order to maintain free speech. Name calling, bitch-slapping and the use of pejoratives and profanity are included in this, but unfortunately are used far more often than they used to be, which means that the message is lost in the noise.
However, denying someone whose views are contrary to yours the right to voice them is NOT free speech, even though the Shithead Jackass Wobbleheads think it is.
It is censorship, plain and simple, and nowhere in this country – not in any street corner, village, town, municipality, metropolitan area, commuter train, beach, front or back yard, university – etc, etc., etc., – does anyone have the right to tell us that we can’t speak because they don’t like our ideas.
Don’t worry. These children have a rude awakening coming when, or if, they arrive in the real world, the world which expects results in exchange for a paycheck and has low tolerance for people who are just noisy overgrown children.
It’s gonna be good when they hit the bricks. Reality is a harsh mistress.
so a trigger warning is like the insincere “no offense meant, but…” right before someone intentionally offends. Gotcha.
The spew alert is simply civilized behavior, politely manifesting consideration for one’s fellow travelers by letting them know a possible SNERK event lies ahead.
Good manners are always in vogue.
I note many TV shows are preloaded with warnings about graphic content. I get it, although, really, does anyone watching a documentary about crime or WW2 NOT know they will be exposed to violence and/or graphic language? I have actually heard that networks were sued by those ‘offended’ by graphic content w/o being forewarned. Really.
Now, SOME words, IMO, should not be used. I could name a few but doing so would void my belief that they should not be used. Unfortunately, some of those very words we should consider not using are commonly used by the groups that find them offensive.
Then we have the millions of pusses who are offended by damn near everything. Unfortunately, they often get to decide which words are offensive. Sounds a lot like restriction of free speech, doesn’t it? I’m not talking about certain words which many/most find offensive. I’m talking about words which, really, offend only those so pussified that they find offense in damn near everything.
Maybe, just maybe, the UofC policy is the beginning of the end for the PC insanity that has overtaken the country. But I’m not optimistic. The pusses are too well entrenched. BTW, what the hell happens to these candy asses when they graduate college and enter the real world, where their employer doesn’t much give a damn what they think?
Like I said earlier, I hope it’s a sign of things to come. I so MISS the Good Old Days when this world wasn’t so overrun by perpetually offended WUSSES!
Man, I wish that had been the policy at the school I got my degree in. Instead, every class sooner or later was turned into a platform for what they consider to be human rights and instead are oppressive entitlement claims – the claims that the ‘oppressed’ should be granted special treatment and those less oppressed (or, heavens forfend! not oppressed at all by dint of being middle-class white men in possession of biologically granted male genitalia) should sit down and shut up depending on their placement in the hierarchy relative to the speaker in a given situation.
Folks, my degree is in math with the equivalent of a minor in agricultural science.
I chose to graduate a little earlier than originally intended due to a combination of being pregnant and not being sure I could keep my mouth shut much longer. (And I was one of the ones higher up on their hierarchy list – yeah, ask me how I felt about that…)
Incidentally, for those following along at home – I know, my ego! – a little over 2 weeks left in the countdown.
Congrats on being a expectant mom and nearly finishing your degree!
Thank you! The degree is done (bachelor of science, math focus and agricultural science); the baby still has a little bit to go. He kicks a lot when I’m reading TAH. I’m taking it as a sign, just not sure as to a sign of what!
Good on you, on both counts! Enjoy the next two weeks…
(Hope you are OK with me kinda thinking your new one is replacing the one I lost this week.)
On the contrary, I’m honored. I’m sorry for your loss, and I hope my little one will live up to the good memories you have.
OWB: I’m sorry to say I missed the post re your loss. If possible and not too painful, could you fill me in? If I read it and forgot, my apologies. Jonn will attest I have major CRS issues.
Thanks, brother
Farmgirl, the baby or the degree ? Either way or both congrats on both. Yes, it is hard to sit quietly and listen to the idiots and that includes those in the Ivory Towers. Joe
Joe – the baby has two weeks left to go, I got the degree this past early spring! Winter quarter was my final quarter. Thank you very much for the congratulations, as both have been hard-won accomplishments.
The way I see it, one involves putting up with inane babbling which lacks any coherence or sense and actively drains my will to live … and the other is my son.
Oh! Sorry! I forgot to say congrats on finally acquiring your degree, and on the impending delivery!
Thank you very much, on both counts! On the whole the degree was much more of a pain in the whatsit. I’m looking forward to introducing kiddo to this wide world and seeing it as clearly as I can – which is to say, I don’t want him to go to MY alma mater. 😉
This link is to the National Association of Scholars.
There is some VERY good stuff here on campuses and how various college/university administrations are reacting to the PC atmosphere, either saying ‘N-O, no’ to it, or caving.
The turmoil is beginning to bubble. Slowly but surely, reality is beginning to set in. There are several articles to read.
https://www.nas.org/articles/free_speech_v._free_speech
If I’m paying $50k+ a year for an education, I damned well want to be exposed to ALL points of view, regardless of whether I agree with them or not.
You can feed me an agenda and “facts” all day long, but far too many colleges have abandoned their fiduciary duty of teaching their students HOW to think.
“If I’m paying…”
There’s the rub. In most cases, YOU ain’t the one paying. It’s mom or dad or a student loan that they have no intention of paying back because they are OWED or ENTITLED to a college education…
At U of C? Mom or dad paying, yes, but student loans not being paid back after graduation come out of your Social Security cash flow when you apply for retirement. Yes, they do. All of those who don’t pay back Uncle Sam are in for a very rude awakening.
And Mom or Dad expect results at that school, not childish excuses. There’s no disruption going on at Loyola, Circle Campus, DePaul or Northwestern, either. Those schools expect results from their students, too.
Hmmm… must be the lake water effect.
Another reason why I’ll never cosign for a student loan for the kids–and I’ve told them this.
They default, and it comes out of MY SS, pathetic though it will be by the time I eventually retire.
Re those saddled with massive student loan debt, I offer my thoughts, which may differ from yours. First of all, I have little sympathy for those who go to school on a dime other than theirs and then complain about repayment b/c they can’t get a job in their field of study. And what, exactly, are SOME of those fields of study that don’t readily enable the student to become gainfully employed? This list is incomplete, but gives an idea: LGBT Studies Liberal Arts (Exactly what is it you can DO? What do you bring to the company other than good grammar?) Fashion Design Women’s Studies Art History (“I don’t know anything about art, but I know what I like”) If it ain’t Norman Rockwell, I don’t care. Black Studies Music Appreciation (Yeah, I appreciate music, but, really? What can you DO for IBM?) Fine Arts (As above, what can you DO?) Gender Studies Now, if you want a degree in one of these fields of study and want to foot the bill, knock yourself out. Just don’t be pissed at the world when Google/IBM/WalMart/CVS/etc. isn’t knocking on your door asking that you bring your skills to their company. And, if you spend money other than yours for such a degree, don’t be pissed when asked to repay the money. See how simple that is? The media has gotten hold of this ‘issue’ and, consistent with the MSM’s desire to turn everyone into a victim, suggests the problem lies with the lenders, including the government. Yeah, that’s it, let’s give the debtors a pass on their obligation. Why not? Business wants to know what the hell a college graduate can do FOR their business. I’ve heard everything short of, “It was the lender’s responsibility to warn me that getting a degree in LGBT Studies would not enable me to get a job. I’m not going to repay because of that.” I’d be pissed, too, if I owed $150,000 and was working at Wally with a degree in Art History. Their choice. It sounds wonderful as a high school senior. Not… Read more »
I knew someone who got a BFA in Fine Art from the Art Institute of Chicago – THE art school, if you want to be a gallery artist. She got a job at a textbook publishing company, one that provided her with a good living. When I asked her why she was doing research for book illustrations with her degree, she said that at the Art Institute, they (the instructors) decide who is going to be famous and that’s who gets the real help from them.
That was long before the internet made it possible for anyone with talent to start an online gallery and promote, sell and make a living as a professional fine artist.
A degree in English can make you a schoolteacher, journalist, author of fiction or nonfiction books, a lexicographer (thesauruses and dictionaries), editor, playwright, screenwriter, or even someone who simply writes copy for an ad agency or those warning blocks on prescription drugs.
A degree in liberal arts? Uh, file clerk, receptionist, Starbucks coffee shoveler. You know what kind of job you can get with a degree in hotel/motel management? “Hey! Busboy!”
Oh, yeah – the acting/show business world (theater major) has a 95% unemployment rate.
Now if one is REALLY ready and wanting to work their ass off for a useful Degree, there’s always Engineering, but alas, Engineering Schools only have about a 25% graduation rate, they make their Students (NOT Snowflakes) actually LEARN and WORK to earn their Degrees, novel idea, ain’t it?
They actually must EARN their degree? Oh, the horror. Hoodathunkit?
Anyone else guess Lars is having an orgasm by now???
If you change that to ‘ischemic stroke’, I’d agree.
Jarhead does not understand the issue.
Was I talking to you, dorkwad? Was I?
No, I was not. Stay out of other people’s conversations.
Lars? Who’s that?
I am confused. I would have assumed you would think I opposed this letter.
I suspect you are so damn clueless you have no idea what side to take on this issue and only assume I am taking the opposite side.
I agree with Jonn, and the University of Chicago on this.
Not aroused by it, but I agree with it.
I must hear Lar’s two kopecks on this so that I will know what to think. Or is he demanding to be treated at an ER for a headache, which might be a brain tumor?
You are persistently an idiot. There is no question choking and breathing difficulties nearly every meal justifies and emergency room visit. The fact that you can’t understand that makes you exactly the kind of shitbag that gives the VA its terrible reputation.
I know for a fact if you were choking every meal you would not schedule a doctors visit 6 weeks out and another 4-6 weeks to see a specialist before they even begin to treat it.
Perhaps if you cut back on sucking cock you would get some temporary relief.
Just a thought.
I am not allergic to semen.
Maybe it is the latex?
726 males will attest to the fact that Lars is not allergic to their semen but cannot speak to the latex issue since they never used a condom with him.
At least that was more clever than most of the idiotic troll posts you make about me.
Asshole. I have avoided your sorry ass for months. What troll posts, fuckwad?
Look at the post that started this thread.
It is a troll post… by YOU… about me.
You cognitively dissonant fucktard.
Do you understand English, the written word? You spoke to “than most of the idiotic troll posts you make about me.” Outside of the immediate thread, which, as I pointed out, you opened the door to by addressing me, what posts? In any event, here, have a tissue.
Dude, I opened the door by addressing you?
Are you fucking serious? Your original post CALLED ME OUT BY FUCKING NAME.
It was a troll post. Fucking own up to it.
I would imagine the culprit in your situation would be rogue pubic hairs.
Well, Lars, it’s like this. You claim to have had a recurring issue in which you felt as if you were choking after eating. Pay attention now. “Recurring” is the key word. After some number of these episodes, you decided that it was an emergency and probably pedaled your tricycle to the VA. You entered the ER and were not seen b/c your condition, real or imagined, wasn’t an emergency. You then hitch your red wagon to the sorry state of the VA to curry some sympathy with other Vets who have legitimate issues of complaint with the VA. It isn’t working with me, though I see that some folks here have fallen for your bullshit.
It became progressively worse. I had been reporting it through normal routine appointment channels and it was ignored without investigation and a non specific symptom and they did recommend taking smaller bites or chewing more.
But the condition gets worse over time, as did my allergic responses. Eventually it was happening nearly every meal and the severity was becoming an emergency. In fact I had to be transported once because my throat had seized up my esophagus was spasming and I was choking for 40 minutes
You clearly have no fucking clue what you are talking about and merely CHOOSING to believe it was no emergency. Which is false and idiotic.
The doctors now know what was going on, know it was an emergency and apologized for not recognizing it.
But the incident happened. It shouldn’t of but it did. And idiots like you working for the VA is why stuff like that does.
I don’t give a shit. Sure, the doctors apologized. I believe you.
If you do not give a shit why did you start posting about it yesterday? Why did you bring it up again today?
Maybe you should stop your fucking obsession with me.
It is a bit creepy and stalkerish.
Another f’n victim claim: stalker. Hey, shitbag, you want not to hear from me? Leave. I don’t follow you around. I haven’t forgotten your posts in which you called folks here Nazis and fascists and prescribed the commie agenda for America (or, as you prefer, Amerika.) I left you alone and not for your sake. Now, with the ever likely ascension of that bitch to the presidency, I’ll be leaving here altogether soon enough. So, until that happens, I am going to use you as my punching bag. You earned it.
Berkeley faculty are also pretty happy with this letter.
Despite what you guys might assume.
Sentiments like
“FINALLY!’
“Look! A real university.”
“Cheers”.
Are being shared by faculty on social media.
Too bad they don’t have the balls to follow suit.
It is not the faculty that determines this. And this is a fight across several top universities right now.
So basically, you admit that on many, if not most college campuses, the inmates are running the asylum.
Not surprisingly, it shows.
Not really the students. It is the administration. Administrative positions outnumber and thus outvote faculty and virtually every committee and every board on every major university campus in the country.
Faculty have pretty much lost all power in setting the priorities and course of university education.
Though sometimes student organizations can pressure and turn the administration against some faculty members over disagreement about intellectual and political ideals.
You mean like the University of Missouri caving to the infantile whining of some candyasses in their student body? It’s past time for colleges and universities to start actually teaching versus being the liberal la-la lands they’ve been for too long. A four year degree is very overrated these days, someone graduating from a Vo-Tech school these days will out-earn many with a Bachelor’s degree.
Yet another reason I have lost faith in the post-secondary educational system (to say nothing of K-12) in this country.
Administrative costs are far higher than they need to be, because of bloated bureaucracy brought about by “free” programs which do fuck-all with graduation or literacy rates.
We’ve gone from putting men on the moon with slide rules to putting bananas on condoms with laptops.
Kids today can’t read their diplomas, but by God, they feel good about it!
“Kids today can’t read their diplomas, but by God, they feel good about it!”
Got that right. Increasingly, freshmen must take remedial English/Math/Whatever b/c when they get to college, they are pretty much dumberndirt. They are not capable of reading a book and giving an account of what it means. Some can’t form a complete sentence. Same with math. Now, that sucks by itself, but the truth is they are often not much better educated when they leave. Sure, they have a degree with a major in ‘xxx’ but what the hell can they actually DO for a company? As a professor told me when I was going to college nights/weekends in the 70s, a college degree simply means that a person showed an ability to meet an obligation (four years of college attendance). Now, we have an outstanding technical/mechanical ‘college’ in my town. Want to learn plumbing, computer stuff, electrician stuff, office skills, paralegal stuff? Man, this is THE place to go. No fanfare. No safe spaces. But by gosh, when a student leaves in 1-3 years, they know their stuff and can enter the workforce immediately and after a few years they are making good money in a skill they worked their butt off to master. I’ll take a young man/woman such as that any day over someone who ‘suffered through’ four years of imagined micro aggression and retreating to their safe space for group hugs. Some look down on what have historically been known as ‘blue collar’ jobs. Not me. I have tremendous respect for those men and women. Think they aren’t worthy of our respect b/c they lack a 4/6/8 ‘attendance degree’? Think that when you next need a plumber, paralegal, proofreader, etc. Those are the folks who I feel most deserve our respect. They are the ‘doers’ in our country. No offense intended by the following, but I consider them the ‘redneck’ workers, those who can do. MUCH more respect for these folks than those with a piece of paper for attendance.
Ditto, if i were to do it all ovre again, I’d have forgotten about college and gone to school to be a Machinist/Millwright which has always been in high demand. Hell, any Plumber or Electrician with a journeyman’s card can write his or her own ticket in a lot of places and most college grads with a Bachelors Degree are looking at maybe $25K a year after getting their diploma while those with a trade can easily earn around $50K. Not just what i mentioned, there are also welders, pipefitters, pipe welders,… Hell, I have a good-paying Blue Collar job where I make MORE than I would have with the BA Degree I was going after and I’d be making even better money as a Machinist!
Lars has tried many things and just doesn’t fit any of what he has tried, with one exception: victimhood. He likes his Free Cheese.
Another troll post calling me out by name like you are desperately seeking my attention.
You really need to stop being so obsessed with me. It is creepy.
You’re a source of entertainment, you’re SO thin-skinned it’s likely that some of the regulars have a betting pool to see who can make you come here and “spazz” the most!
I never used the name Commissar.
You think there is currency in that “creepy” thingy, don’t you Commissar? Have at it. It’s so you, quite girlish. Men don’t use that word. And men don’t get stalked. If a man believes he is being followed, he does something about it other than run home, eat, and choke.
Hiding behind anonymity and then saying a “man” would do something about it shows what a spineless little weasel you are.
You know who I am and which city I live in.
Perhaps you can stop hiding behind anonymity and we can discuss this in person.
“Perhaps you can stop hiding behind anonymity and we can discuss this in person.”
Bwahahahahahahaha.
Oops, my bad.
Did not know you were talking about another Lars.
You are a chick, aren’t you? Holy good night. What an asshole. I was referring to Commissar. I don’t know where you live Lars. You claimed that you attended Berkeley. That’s about all I know in terms of ID’ing you. As for your comment way up above, to which there is no reply button available, the post I was referring to was Thursdays’ “Veteran Takes His Own Life in VA Parking Lot.” It was that one in which you replied to me and did so with this opening: “Don’t be a jerk.” That’s the door. You opened it. Congratulations.
So now you are pretending that the post I replied “don’t be a jerk” was not a post you made about me?
So not only are you an anonymous spineless troll but you have no integrity.
The distinction between a direct address and an indirect one is lost to you. That is the key that unlocked the door. Now, I happily address you directly and reply to your every expressed misguided thought, Commissar, late of Berkeley.
Above, Lars wrote, “I am confused.” So, there is common ground! We agree on something. Gosh, isn’t that wonderful? I’d like to buy the world a Coke.
Another by name troll post by 2/17.
Tell you what Lars. Here’s the deal I’m offering you, and only you. I promise to make good on leaving TAH if Wide Load is elected. I won’t wait until inauguration day. I’m out if she wins in November. You stay away from TAH until then. Deal?
Stop it, AirCav. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. 🙂
Dude, look at my ON TOPIC posts today. There was nothing to them.
I AGREED with Jonn and the board on the topic of the blogpost.
This jumped the shark because you decided to be a fuckwit and call me out several times. Once about the subject and then several times about details of my medical issue that you are still butthurt about from yesterday.
We would not have engaged at all if you had not CALLED ME OUT BY NAME.
If you do not want to talk to me don’t call me out and don’t respond to my posts. I have been posting relatively infrequently over the last few months so it should not be that hard.
You picked an argument with me yesterday and today. BY FUCKING NAME. Then you whined about my responding to you.
Stop being a little twat troll and this issue would be resolved.
MAYBE if you’d lighten up and quit being such a thin-skinned SPAZZ, they would likely lighten up in return, BUT NO, you have to come here blowing up like a balloon when it’s poked with a needle, bloviating about this and that medical condition of yours, blahblahblahblahblah… Maybe, JUST MAYBE there are others here that have made it through much worse than you have right now as well as those who have had and/or currently have jobs and vocations that make your current college career look like an easy stroll through the park. Get out more often, GET A LIFE!! I get poked at here, but guess what? I laugh and throw it right back, I just do what I see as what’s right in this life and I DON’T GIVE A FUCK about those who screech about it, I don’t obsess about what others think about me all the time, I find who I think are decent people and enjoy hanging out with them whether it’s face to face or online, I don’t go through life thinking I have to dazzle, impress, or intimidate everybody I come across in this life every moment BUT YOU DO, and you really bore the shit out of me when you do, I just might have to join in any rumored betting pool that bets on when and how much you’ll show up screeching and bawling. Grow yourself a thicker skin, quit obsessing over what others think and say about you, get over whatever you’re letting eat you up, and GET A LIFE!!!
You seem pretty upset about this.
Maybe take you own advice. Especially since you have far less reason to be blowing up like a balloon on this issue than me since it has nothing to do with you.
Something tells me, given you pissed off response to this, that is someone was calling you out by name and disparaging you would be responding to them as well. And likely with he fervor you demonstrate in the post above.
The hypocrisy of several members of this board astounds me.
You are all just as pissed off and obnoxious as I am about shit.
The difference is our political views. Not our attitudes.
You’re like a parked septic tank vacuum truck, full of shit and going nowhere.
Don’t do it 2/17. I’ll miss you and it appears wideload will win in November. After all, she is Teflon and has the MSM hidden in her skivvies. Oh, brain bleach. Noooo
Well, as usual, a useful discussion on one subject was rerouted to suit the distorted egocentricity of one person who just has to grab every electron, photon and micron of web space available so that the spotlight is on him.
If anyone is wondering, the subject matter was a notice by the administration of a major, and quite respected/respectable private university that the current trend by overgrown children to confiscate class and agenda time and twist those to suit their desperate needs for constant attention will get NO support, period.
If we can ever stay on the actual subject matter without that attention whoring individual pirating it for himself, it will be a relief.
I will repeat what I said previously: anyone who thinks he can get a freebie education by taking out a student loan and never paying it back will find out differently when he hits retirement age and applies for Social Security. Uncle Same will grab a share of that check, period.
In addition, I am quite glad to see that it is NOT just the University of Chicago with this ‘no nonsense’ policy in place. It’s about damn time.
Fuck off. People called me out by name. My post on the blog was unremarkable.
It was my responding to the posts calling me out by name that you are whining about.
Maybe you should fucking complain about people calling me out by name trying to elicit a response.
I sure as shit do not like people calling me out by name.
GOD, Jesus, Joseph, Mary and Haile Selassie, grow a thicker skin and GET A LIFE!!!
Calm down.
That and the other post are what I tell whiny “Joes”‘while they’re doing push-ups and incessantly bawling about petty shit.
Geezis deep-fired peas and carrots!
Taylor, you are the most arrogant, self-centered, egomaniacal, self-involved, dimwitted fucking asshole I have ever run into in the entire world!
What in the name of Jack Persing makes you think I was referring to YOU, you mordant marone?!?!?!?
Because you were referring to me.
And pretending you weren’t just shows a lack of integrity.
Maybe YOU need to park your overinflated ego and really look at yourself, I’ve seen E2’s and E3’s fresh out of Basic & AIT that had their shit squared away at least ten thousand times better than you.
OH, wow! If that is NOT the most blatant display of an untrammeled egomanic inferiority complex EVER!
And it’s based on a single sentence which does NOT refer to any one person by name or in particular. It is a VERY false assumption that it’s about a specific person, when it is, in fact, a general statement that could be, and perhaps IS, a reference to one or several people.
Taylor, you are nothing more than an egocentric bully with an inferiority complex addicted to getting attention at any cost. Admit it – that’s what YOU are and the only reason you post comments under ANY name at all is that YOU get the attention you so desperately crave. Go see a shrink. The VA has plenty of them. You can bore the crap out of one of them.
You are nothing but a boring, beastly, bourgeous, babbity snob.
I may, in fact, have just been referring to that bloated behemoth Trigglypuff, not YOU, you colossal jackass.
https://youtu.be/Y69tkCbeC5o
Ex-PH2, it’s my hypothesis that whatshisface JUT HAS TO have a wave of any attention he can get in order to satisft his ego, thus he comes here and spots shit to get it. He gets his ass pounded, but I’m sure that he looks at it and thinks that justifies what he said because he thinks he’s OOOHH so right and those who dissent with him are merely idiot peasants. He’s like The Dark Night in Monty python:
“You are nothing but a boring, beastly, bourgeous, babbity snob.”
Hey…save some of that for those of us that truly enjoy it. Wo0f!
Damn Ned did not proofread. I will have to speak to Ned.
‘Bourgeois’.
‘Bourgeous’ is a conjugated form of ‘bourgeoisie’. Has to do with beef bourgienon.
I thought a lot of alliteration would provide a lot of information at low cost.
Daaaam. What the hell was that? Talk about no pride/shame.
Figures. Wondered why the Recent Comments thingy was blowing up over an innocuous topic.
Should have known: Lars. Its so nice around here when he’s gone.
So pathetic.
2/17 calls me out by name repeatedly in a thread. Even about a topic unrelated to the thread. I respond.
Then you whine that I am here.
Maybe I am not the problem. Maybe people could ignore my posts or not constantly call me out by name to try to illicit a response.
Or maybe, at least, stop fucking whining when I do respond.
Nothing I posted about the topic of this blogpost was out of line. There should have been no controversy. I agreed with both Jonn and the University of Chicago (and most of the board) on this issue.
There’s another option: STFU and go color somewhere else.
No.
BITCH, PLEASE!!!
Hey asshole. Whens the last time you hit the TAH Donate button? Guessing never. Like Libs you use the resources and let others pay. You and the horse you rode in on.
Jonn, PLEASE ban this asshole.
Get some professional help with your fucking ego. Maybe you can bore a cheap whore to death while you rattle on. Or better yet, maybe one will pay YOU to just shut up and go away.
I guess I would be wrong to assume you are referring to me again?
https://youtu.be/8T2l15bKMZk
Lars. You are the antithesis of what I respect in American military Veterans. Nevertheless, I made an offer to you which I can and will keep. I will repeat it for you:
I promise to make good on leaving TAH if Wide Load is elected. I won’t wait until inauguration day. I’m out if she wins in November. You stay away from TAH until then. Deal?
What does Clinton have to do with this? I am not a Clinton supporter and will not vote for her? How is her possible presidency relevant to this?
We can solve this much easier.
If you do not want to engage with me how about you just stop responding to me or calling me out by name?
Look at your posts today. YOU keep trying to initiate with me. Repeatedly calling me out by name. Do not pretend you do not want to engage with me.
I served honorably for two decades. If that makes me the antithesis of what you respect because you do no like my attitude, language, beliefs, politics, or use of an emergency room one time then fuck off, you don’t respect veterans; you respect people who you agree with. Veterans come from all backgrounds and have a spectrum of views and attitudes about politics and the world. Some of them have health issues. My using the VA for help about a medical condition you have no understanding of is not something you should be acting like an asshole about.
How about you just get your head out of your crotch and go find some other place to play?
Why don’t you just BLOW IT OUT YOUR ASS AND STAY GONE until you get yourself over whatever you’re letting eat you up and GET A LIFE?
I spend less time on this board that you.
So take you own advice.
Use some spelling and grammar check next time, o self-bloviating dingleberry! Open your eyes and take a look at the reponses from other TAH Regulars to my posts versus what you receive and OPEN YOUR MIND when you do, asshole-eyes! You’re at least a hundred and fifty times denser than depleted uranium!
OH, come on, API! Someone with no hobbies, too much time on his hands, no real direction in life, and can’t even hire a cheap whore to bore to death.
The money shot is right here:
http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=67645&cpage=1#comment-2891644
I’m going to splurge and go get a pizza at Rosati’s and finish cleaning my kitchen, with no help from Miss Punkin Squawkypants.
Ooh, Rosati’s? HEY, buy ME a pizza and I’ll split it with you, I PROMISE!!! ??
Is that a counteroffer? If so, I will decline. A counteroffer negates the offer so I guess that means I will have to suffer you for some months and negotiations are ended. The election, numbnuts, is my trigger, a condition, and has nothing whatsoever to do with you.
I guess Lars is back from his 60 days of vegetable picking on the commune.
Things had been so quiet and peaceful….
Yeah, I was SO enjoying his being absent from here…
I think the only reason he comes here is to relive some of the abuse he endured as a foster child in China. He seems to like it…
He’s like the high school nerd that always got “swirlied” and secretly enjoyed the attention.
Oh, come on, API. He’s one of those idjit ossifers that always gave confusing orders and were overridden by their senior NCOs or the more competent ossifers. And the poor plebes in the lower ranks would look at each and say ‘Is he f–king kidding?’
Kind of like Stilman here. And for the record, I miss Warren Oates a lot. Fine actor.
https://youtu.be/Fjj4a3zB1ag
I think his absence was due to his recent arrest for getting caught in a Target bathroom performing a triple dutch rudder. But I could be mistaken.
We are talking about Commissar correct?
Target’s okay with that, remember? Open bathrooms for all…
Love All, Serve All.. nope – that’s Hard Rock (same thing I reckon).
The problem, as I see it, is that one or two commenters had exchanges with Lars and accorded him the respect he does not deserve. That encouraged him to try some more and that’s why he has returned with some regularity.
Some people crave any attention they can get like a junkie craving for a “fix”.
Well, to make it worse, he was given valid suggestions and good advice, which he chose to ignore because following any of that – suggestions or advice – might result in an end to the ‘problem’ which would leave said individual high and dry with nothing more to complain about.
The real issue is his addiction to being the center of attention and getting it by baiting people into giving it to him.
There are only three things that can cause a thread to go over a 100 plus comments here at TAH not including WOT…
1. Super Turd outing
2. Lars usually because of politics
3. A WTF moment in the military aka swinging generals and so fourth
Hope I didn’t miss anything
Good evening all
I’d say
4. Any time one of the Dutch Rudder Gang gets another piece of what’s coming to him/it.
????