I feel dumber for just reading about it third-hand. It is the world’s first memetical weapon of mass disinegenuation.
As pointed out, competitive schools have long waitlists of prospective students who would be happy to take the nineteen spaces this student will decline. Unless he literally intends to attend twenty schools simulataneously he isn’t taking anything away from anyone.
Stranger
Apparently FOX news anchors are intimidated by the intelligent. They’re the ones who bring up climate change, evolution, and other sinful topics.
If not, he can clarify and I’ll withdraw my point.
This the twitter apology from Sara Fraser:
bolding mine
First off, good on her for apologizing. But I don’t understand why they thought this was a good set up in the first place. Is 20 schools too much for what? The only downsides to casting a wide net are incurred by the student who has to put in the time and application fees; it is inconsequential to anyone else. If the question really is, what is the minimum number of schools a student should aim for, I could see some discussion around that. But for the short amount of time they had to gab, it was bad judgement to make the subject be the number of schools the kid applied to, when the obvious detail is that he succeeded in getting into all of them much to the excitement of him and his friends.
This is the non-apology t the other host, Holly Morris, tweeted:
What the benefit of more targeted search, if the student wants to maximize her/his options?
It’s clear that those two women mistakenly believe that the kid is taking spots that other, probably white, kids would have at those 20 colleges. The women are just stupid.
The TV hosts say MB’s ridiculous for applying to 20 schools. On the other hand, Shodan says he’d be crazy if he didn’t. Both opinions seem to rest on the idea that his strategy was a calculated one.
But when I see the video of the kid celebrating his acceptances, all I see is pure surprise and excitement. Why would this be his reaction is he already knew he’d get into these places and that they all would be throwing money at him? I feel like this is good evidence he wasn’t counting on this outcome at all. He just wanted to ensure he had as many options as possible and he hoped he’d get that if he canvassed widely.
I guess one could speculate the entire thing was staged and/or he was hamming it up. But you know, that theory just seems like one more way to diminish him.
WE know that, but he is black after all, and I’m pretty sure the average Fox viewer thinks that he could have 19 of his fellow gangbangers (cite: he’s black) take those spots (since there’s no known way of telling young black men apart) and then claim that the school is racist and has to give them doctorates as reparations. Only, y’know, without the words of greater than two syllables.
Because he found out that all twenty would be throwing money at him.
What the dickens are you talking about?
Regards,
Shodan
You included one too many words in your first comment, which made it seem like you thought that his race was an important, if not the most important, factor in his selection. This ignores all of the other data points that show he was indeed a very qualified candidate. I’ll bold the word so you can find it.
Damn right!!!
In this case, I definitely meant Ingraham. But yeah, the other one is trash too, anyway.
Me neither. I took it as saying the kid increased the odds of getting into a school by applying to as many as he could - exactly like we ALL did.
I agree with iiandyiiii. Shodan’s post definitely reads as if he thinks the kid being black is relevant. And Shodan has a history of posts attacking colleges for valuing diversity. His post definitely reads as if he thinks the reason the schools are trying to recruit him is because he is a smart black student, not just a smart student.
That said, a better response would have been to just ask him why he thought it was relevant that the student is black. If he didn’t mean anything by it, he’ll say that. If he meant it badly, he’ll either take it back or hang himself in short order.
By responding now, when it was not quite clear, you give him an obvious out that you are just “too easily offended.”
He’s already shown himself to be pretty impressive. He might just be up to the challenge.
“Michael Brown has asked for an apology. It’ll be interesting to see whether he gets it. My guess is not.” Temps in hell are forecast to remain at, or above, 451 F for the foreseeable future.
“Bold” (typeset) in Spanish is “negrita.”
Just sayin’.
I see that he just mentioned that he was black in passing, just as the OP mentioned “black male” which may or may not be relevant to the discussion. I don’t see any motive, just discussion.
[/sidetrack]
Ingraham isn’t Doctor Laura, that’s what I meant. They’re both cunts, but only one is “Doctor” Laura.
And holy shit, I hope this kid’s friends throw him the party of a life time. That is fucking amazing!
I take issue with the “of course he knew he’d get in; he was trying to just see who he could squeeze the most” idea that Shodan put forth. It presumes the kid saw himself as being in the power seat, which is what privileged people often project onto others. I think it’s more likely the kid assumed the opposite; being overly cautious is consistent with being 1st generation college student who puts a lot pressure on themselves.
Read this CNN article and you’ll get the same impression I get about him:
But it’s interesting to note that, as the holder of a J.D., Ingraham is technically just as entitled to the honorific as Schlesinger.