A Billionaire-Funded Website Is Trying to “Cancel” University Professors

https://theintercept.com/2021/04/10/campus-reform-koch-young-americans-for-freedom-leadership-institute/

by KittenInABox • 5 years ago

61 20 5 years ago

Looks like conservatives are using effectively using money and technology to organize politically, nothing wrong with that. The fact that their ambitions are limited to harassment is the flaw.

epse• 5 years ago

So you'd like there to be not just threats, but actual violence?

haskellandchill2• 5 years ago

No I meant they should try and accomplish something more constructive than harassment.

op00to• 5 years ago

It was a 501c3 charity. Not allowed to play in politics.

LanceH• 5 years ago

I certainly sympathize with any individual caught up in this mess and they shouldn't have to go through it.

On the other hand, this game of cancellation is something universities have been happily playing.

JaimeThompson• 5 years ago

"cancellation" isn't exactly a new issue.

mchusma• 5 years ago

"cancellation" has been more of a left wing attack in universities. Maybe if the right wing starts doing it too, everyone will realize they need to stop.

klyrs5• 5 years ago

Did we read different articles? The one I read is about right-wing attacks on professors.

freddybobs• 5 years ago

You might find the podcast about "cancel culture" interesting.

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1270-youre-wrong-about-497649...

They observe the term means different things to different people, and as other people have pointed out here, that the loosely defined behavior ascribed to 'cancel culture' has been around for a very long time. They have a whole episode around the "Dixie Chicks" or as an example from further back perhaps arguably the McCarthyist Red Scare.

recursivedoubts• 5 years ago

identity politics is a prisoners dilemma

we are all better off if no one practices it

on the other hand, there is a big advantage to defecting and doing so early

if those who defect are not punished in some other way, everyone eventually defects

oh well

klyrs5• 5 years ago

The United States was founded on identity politics. Should we roll it all back? Are we "all" better off if women, non-white, Italian, Irish, Polish, non-land-owners, etc. aren't allowed equal rights and a vote?

mimikatz• 5 years ago

Lame attacks used by both sides. It is a template

Billionaires (Koch or Soros) attacking using organization (anecdotes about worst members worst actions, communists beating up a journalist, Nazi's beating up a journalist) tied to activity (riots/attempted coup)... blah blah blah

helloworld11• 5 years ago

So now cancellation is a major, newsworthy problem for the Intercept, because it was attempted by nefarious conservatives though. Not so much of an issue when it's being done by the woke, their allies and anyone who finances hard "progressive" organizations. Cute. (to clarify, it's a problem regardless of who does it and has been one for much longer than the duration of the modern culture wars, but the digital age has made it so much more rapid-fire, and in either case, this OP reeks of hypocrisy).

klyrs5• 5 years ago

Here on HN: cancellation by the left is widely panned every time. Cancellation by the right... is also an excuse to rail against the evil left again. Cute, indeed.

starkd• 5 years ago

So, the professor investigates this group that is asking him to be an advisor. He finds,

"Among current and former leaders of YAF chapters across the country, he learned, were declared white supremacists, believers in the QAnon conspiracy theory, and supporters of the Ku Klux Klan and the Proud Boys. Some were involved with neo-Nazi activist Richard Spencer. And at least one had participated in the assault on the U.S. Capitol"

This seems to be more of a caricature than an honest summary of a group's mission. The KKK and the Proud Boys are nowhere in the same category. It's like the term Neo-Nazi was just thrown in for effect. It seems this journalist is just furthering his agenda than revealing any truth. He obfuscates more than reveals.

klyrs5• 5 years ago

That isn't a description of the group's mission, it's a characterization of leadership in chapters that he researched. If they weren't getting involved with Richard Spencer and if Richard Spencer wasn't a neo-nazi, then maybe you'd be right that the term was thrown in for effect. But a quick search shows that Spencer was invited to speak at U.Buffalo by YAF chapter leaders there.

SecurityMinded• 5 years ago

What is wrong with fighting the liberal professors with their own weapons ? Yay for YAF!

A Billionaire-Funded Website Is Trying to “Cancel” University Professors

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