# Anti-achievement at its finest: Acceptance by 20 colleges called "obnoxious" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 13, 2018, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-achievement-at-its-finest-acceptance-by-20-colleges-called-obnoxious/812353 "2018-04-13T16:51:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-achievement-at-its-finest-acceptance-by-20-colleges-called-obnoxious/812353/261 "2018-04-25T17:11:59Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > You call treating people as equals as virtue signalling, what do you call your displays of “patriotism” where you can’t stand even the thought that anyone could possibly be the slightest bit critical of the United States on the Fourth of July? This is a good point. I’m going to start calling people out when they post some droll patriotic message. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-achievement-at-its-finest-acceptance-by-20-colleges-called-obnoxious/812353/262 "2018-04-25T17:30:12Z")
Sure. Expressing jingoism is as pure a form of virtue signaling as there could be. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-achievement-at-its-finest-acceptance-by-20-colleges-called-obnoxious/812353/263 "2018-04-25T19:42:37Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Not only is that incorrect, it is also contradicted by your own introductory sentence to your post. You start saying that there are 3 categories that liberals can’t deal with, then admit that we can deal with the first two just fine. So you either can’t read, or can’t count. Here’s the quote again > [@Shodan](#): > > No, it’s more that there are kinds of people who liberals have trouble dealing with. There are three kinds of people, those who can count, and those who can’t. I guess we can all tell which kind you are. > [@](#): > > As far as the last. Well, you are correct in that there is no good way to deal with people who are openly racist and hateful. But that is not because of some sort of flaw in liberal ideology, that is because hateful people are hard to deal with. It must be a flaw in liberals, because I deal with the haters just fine - I laugh at you. > [@](#): > > …you will make your fellow haters laugh, and you may make some decent people upset, may even make some overly sensitive people who are upset when they say such naked displays of hatred cry. There there, **k9** - there there. Need a hankie? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-achievement-at-its-finest-acceptance-by-20-colleges-called-obnoxious/812353/264 "2018-04-25T20:36:49Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > The trouble comes in when you don’t see it, and just make it up. Sometimes that is even a better occasion, because you aren’t constrained by facts. > > Regards, > Shodan Well, there are two incidents in this thread. In the first incident, a couple of newsanchors insulted and belittled a teen who was accepted into all twenty colleges he’d applied to. That’s not the worst atrocity in the world, but it’s a pretty shitty way to treat a hard working academic all star. In the second incident, two people were sitting in a Starbucks in an affluent part of Philly, waiting on their friend. This is a thing people do at Starbucks and other coffee shops. It’s normal behavior. These two men had the cops called on them. The mostly white patrons of the Starbucks were shocked and at least one went to the trouble of recording the incident. A plain reading of your reply suggests you think the incidents didn’t happen, that they are being made up. This can’t be right, can it? I’m just going to assume it isn’t. So then what? I guess you’re saying that either the incidents were justified or that there was no racial bias involved. To this there is nothing to say but “Oh come on!” Do you really think the airheads on the news show would have slagged a white kid this way? That the cops would have been called on a couple of twenty-something white guys sitting in that Starbucks, waiting for a friend? I think, I really think, that you are not that naive. So then I wonder what your point is. I’d like to think it’s something more mature than trolling the liberals, but I’m having a hard time thinking of what it could be. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-achievement-at-its-finest-acceptance-by-20-colleges-called-obnoxious/812353/265 "2018-04-25T20:51:05Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > A plain reading of your reply suggests you think the incidents didn’t happen, that they are being made up. This can’t be right, can it? I’m just going to assume it isn’t. The irony of this is that this statement is itself an example of a guy just making stuff up. There’s nothing in Shodan’s post which would imply in any way that either of those incidents didn’t happen. In fact, I haven’t seen anything in any Shodan post in which he’s given any indication at all as to whether those incidents involved racism or not. And neither have you. You just made it all up. Oh, what a feeling … ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-achievement-at-its-finest-acceptance-by-20-colleges-called-obnoxious/812353/266 "2018-04-25T20:59:42Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > So you either can’t read, or can’t count. Here’s the quote again Umm, you do realize that you put 3 bullet points in that list, right? Here you go again, annotated for you. > [@](#): > > There are those who are accused of racism and admit it. Liberals can deal with that. That’s one. > [@](#): > > There are those who are accused of racism and deny it. Liberals can deal with that too. That’s two. > [@](#): > > There are those who are accused of racism and laugh at you. Liberals can’t deal with that. That’s three. Not 2, not 4, but three. Now, we’ll see what your quote is here. > [@](#): > > No, it’s more that there are kinds of people who liberals have trouble dealing with. You pluralize “kinds” there, indicating that there is more than one “kind” of people that liberals have trouble dealing with. You then enumerate two types of people that liberals deal with just fine, then enumerated one that they don’t. It is not my fault that you are unable to put together a coherent statement. (You also ended your sentence with a preposition, but I’ll let that one slide.) > [@](#): > > There are three kinds of people, those who can count, and those who can’t. I guess we can all tell which kind you are. Yeah, the kind that can count to three without getting confused. But, I get what you are saying. You are saying that liberals get along with pretty much everyone, except people that are proud of being racists. That’s fine with me. > [@](#): > > It must be a flaw in liberals, because I deal with the haters just fine - I laugh at you. There there, **k9** - there there. Need a hankie? Yes, like I said, one of the ways of dealing with hateful people is to be one. I am sure you get along just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-achievement-at-its-finest-acceptance-by-20-colleges-called-obnoxious/812353/267 "2018-04-25T21:01:49Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > The irony of this is that this statement is itself an example of a guy just making stuff up. > > There’s nothing in Shodan’s post which would imply in any way that either of those incidents didn’t happen. In fact, I haven’t seen anything in any Shodan post in which he’s given any indication at all as to whether those incidents involved racism or not. And neither have you. You just made it all up. > > Oh, what a feeling … Yes, as I clearly stated, I do not believe Shodan thought these incidents were made up. That would be absurd. It’s simply what a plain reading of “when you don’t see it and just make it up” suggests. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-achievement-at-its-finest-acceptance-by-20-colleges-called-obnoxious/812353/268 "2018-04-25T21:04:29Z")
Hint: Shodan’s comment (and the conversation generally, at that point) were not about those incidents. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-achievement-at-its-finest-acceptance-by-20-colleges-called-obnoxious/812353.md?page=13)