Get accepted to Harvard for being smart, get kicked out for being stupid

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
61

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Wait till these search engines and data collectors piece together who you are online even when you use a so-called anonymous label on a message board. Ever tell any off-color joke? Ever see or watch content someone may judge inappropriate? How about check out a book the outragearati would be offended by?

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As said, I find the current policy of going over social media post of a person to be troubling.

However, there is no need to “wait” or to be a data collector. Anyone with google and 30 minutes can already discover pretty much anything about a person.

If you know how to do it, you can find out a lot of information about xyz Doper from a few basic things they have posted. Real names, address, workplace, political opinions, family members, private emails, membership of clubs etc etc. And thats not even counting all those people who have shared that stuff here.

*For the record, I have never done it, and am not going to tell you how, but there.

62

Ftr i dont support what those morons posted and if any one was my child I would kick em out and let them find their own way in life…at least for a year or two.

However, I find the actions of Harvard hypocritical.

Would they deny admission to a candidate who used alcohol or illegal drugs? I doubt it. Even though the real life consequences could be so much worse. Drunken college kids do all kinds of horrible real life stuff. Date rape, fighting, auto accidents. And we mostly sweep it under the rug.

Saying stupid things is less harmful than doing stupid things. Imo if Harvard wants to discilpline students who cross the line they should be consistent and discipline all illegal and unethical behavior.

63

Harvard has a business case for rescinding these admissions. Their brand depends on how successfully they recruit students who keep the Harvard hype going. Every time a Turner Brock happens, it challenges society’s assumptions of meritocracy and class. “You mean not every Ivy League student is America’s best and brightest? Let me look under the rug to see what other ugly truths are hidden.”

I think it’s smart that they’ve taken this action publicly. The rejected students got a little too comfortable and chummy with each other, bonding over the kind stuff that could one day blowback on Harvard’s reputation.

64

Did you see the memes? What’s with all the paedo shit? :confused:

65

The memes derive their humor from being as transgressive as possible. You can’t get any more transgressive than child rape.

It’s juvenile humor, sort of like 8 year-olds gigglingly daring each other to say “shit”.

66

Public or private, freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences. In the same way I could find out that you privately were making nigger jokes with your friends, and decide I don’t want to be your friend or do business with you, Harvard can decide that these kids’ speech means they don’t want to affiliate with them. Your speech may be free, but it is never consequence-free.

Furthermore, these kids weren’t just doing this in private. You had to post an offensive meme to the public chat first, which would then get you access to the private chat. In doing this, they show a character problem. They don’t care who the memes attack. Those people don’t matter in their eyes. All that matters is that they find it funny.

The decision to withdraw acceptance doesn’t seem to be indiscriminate. At least one person in the article is mentioned to have participated in the chat but not been busted. It seems there must be some factor that goes into this that we are not aware of. It seems unlikely that it was merely posting an offensive joke that caused the problem. I would guess repeated behavior, but I don’t know.

But even if it weren’t, I’m all for Harvard having a morals clause that says that certain levels of racism/sexism/bigotry/pedophilia/etc are not allowed, even in jest. I’m fine with them wanting people of high moral character. We need that in our society, instead of people pushing “freedom of speech” as a consequence-free way to make society worse.

That’s why morals exist. They make society better. And, while we don’t agree on all of them, there are certain lines that we tend to agree on. People who can indifferently make jokes about those things, where the only joke is “look at how horrible this is” are more likely to be immoral people themselves. They’re using humor as a coverup for their own beliefs.

Don’t tell me you’ve not had a friend who made a few too many racist jokes for you to believe they weren’t racist.

67

Jesse Jackson did suffer consequences. When is the last time you’ve seen him in front of a camera? He’s certainly not the big hero of the black community that he used to be. I don’t even know what he’s been up to lately, and I try to stay plugged into things.

Life is rife with unfairness. It’s not fair that you can’t just talk any kind of way to people without worrying about being punched in the face, and yet I hope you’d agree that it’s still smart not to mouth off to complete strangers, especially strangers who are bigger and stronger than you. And it’s smart to not post blatantly offensive stuff online in a way that exposes your identity. Fair or no, it’s idiotic to do this expecting your life to be consequence-free.

When looking back at my posting history on the SD, I can think of a number of cringeworthy things I’ve said. I wouldn’t want those posts shared with my boss–not because they are blatantly offensive, but because they would be considered TMI. (Like, I don’t think my boss needs to know that my mother likes to walk around butt-ass naked.) Woud I be disturbed if someone shared this information with my employer in an attempt to shame me or get me fired? Yes. But would I be afraid of the consequences? No. Just like I’m not afraid of getting punched in the face for asking someone what time it is. Reasonable people don’t lash out in violence for innocuous reasons. Reasonable employers don’t fire employees for non-offensive internet activty. And intelligent people don’t need someone to help them understand what’s offensive or not-offensive. I might post things that rub people the wrong way (my cat is better than yours, dammit). But I don’t post things that a reasonable person would deem racist, sexist, or pedophilic.

I just heard about this story. Do you have sympathy for this TV reporter? I don’t. She played a stupid game and she won a stupid prize. Just because she was too stupid to know that she was being recorded during that game isn’t a good excuse. It actually makes her even more of a dumb ass.

Once someone learns who you are as a person, they are completely entitled to act on that information. Even if that information was acquired through creepy means (which I don’t think happened in this case).

68

Apparently Harvard has rescinded admission for students who got too drunk at pre-freshman weekend.

69

At this point, I have zero sympathy for the “I can say anything I want without consequences” crowd. Even a dim awareness of the world would demonstrate that this hasn’t worked out well for anyone else either.

If you’re dumb enough to do this over your social media when you’re trying to get into their school, how could they then expect that you are not going to engage in this same behavior at their school? Why would they take a chance on you when they have more than 10 times the number of applicants as they have openings?

70

Well wait til you folks get busted for something you thought was private. I’d like to see how consistent you are with regards to your principles.

71

It depends on what the “busted” is.

If I bitched about my boss to a co-worker and my co-worker passed that private info to the boss and my boss fired, then that would be on me.

If I complained privately that I don’t like blueberry muffins and my boss fired me, then that would be on them.

In other words, what’s the relationship between the so-called private information and the consequence? What were the circumstances of the release of the private information?

Some things are private and I have a reasonable expectation that they remain private. You take photos of me with a hidden camera in the bathroom, that’s on you. My talks with my doctor and lawyer are legally privileged. The Fourth Amendment exists.

Other things, like people’s opinions, aren’t subject to this sort of thing. If I privately dress up in women’s clothes on weekends, and then people find out, and now they think I’m a pervert, what am I supposed to do about that?

And you know, posting things in pubic on the internet is not private. It may be pseudonymous, but it isn’t anonymous.

So for instance, everything I say here on the Dope I need to be comfortable seeing published on the front page of the New York Times. Or more realistically, forwarded to my wife, kids, neighbors, or boss. Would I be happy if somebody forwarded a post where I hypothetically revealed my horribly boring perversions to my boss? No I wouldn’t be happy. But if my boss decided to fire me over that, then he’s the asshole, not me.

Posting transgressive memes on social media for the lulz? Well, that’s a whole nother thing. Yeah, it shows you’re an asshole. A junior varsity asshole. And if Harvard decides they don’t need a junior varsity asshole in their next Freshman class? Sucks to be you. These guys who were about to enter Harvard aren’t going to have their lives ruined, exactly, they’re just going to have to go with a lower tier school, and possibly miss out on their one chance of joining the Illuminati that run the world. On the other hand, going to Harvard is a big leg up in life but it sure doesn’t guarantee being made an Illuminatus, I know a couple of Harvard grads and they’re doing OK but not insanely OK.

72

I still have a problem with the assumption that 19-year olds should act like mature, experienced adults at all times, and deserve a lasting, irrevocable punishment for a misdemeanor. Is Harvard saying it cant reform that kind of behavior off the bud? Or are its finances so secure that they can refuse an additional $650,000 in annual tuition fee income?

73

So Harvard is a reform school now? Wow. All this time I thought it was supposed to be a showcase of intellectual greatness.

74

No sympathy for all those foolish celebrities who had their nudes hacked? They should have known better. Erin Andrews? Too bad. She should have known cameras can be anywhere.

75

That part is definitely yes. Harvard has about $38 billion dollars in their endowment that is being managed like a hedge fund. Even at 7% interest (which is often very low for them), they make $2.7 billion dollars a year or $7 million a day. $650,000 in tuition means nothing to them. That is only about 2 hours worth of interest on their endowment.

They won’t lose the tuition anyway. There are always way more students that are qualified to get into Harvard than there are slots. They reject valedictorians with perfect SAT scores every year. In am sure they can find rejected applicants to replace the lost with the snap of a finger.

76

Yes, Harvard’s finances are that secure - the university has a $37 billion endowment. But the spots in the class of 2021 won’t go unfilled. The school will pull the next 10 people from the waiting list in the hope and expectation that they’re not dumbasses.

Getting denied admission to Harvard isn’t going to ruin anybody’s life. Students who were actually admitted to Harvard (however briefly) were almost certainly admitted to multiple other schools as well. They’ll be fine; they’ll just be fine at a different school.

77

It’s a profitable business. Everything else is illusion, IMHO.

78

Remember that they could easily fill the freshman class with students whose parents can afford the full bill, but they offer admission to many people who will need sometimes substantial assistance. And that $65,000 doesn’t even cover the full cost of educating a student, given that they rely on endowment income, federal and corporate research grants and other income sources to cover part of the operating cost.

79

How could anyone think posting stuff online would be private?

80

Private groups? Password protected sites?

Do you bank, shop, or store files online? Do you expect privacy?