# Politics on College Campuses;Smug, Self-righteous and Intolerant **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 26, 2018, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-on-college-campuses-smug-self-righteous-and-intolerant/814834 "2018-05-26T01:01:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JBGUSA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/258eb7/32.png) [@JBGUSA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBGUSA)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-on-college-campuses-smug-self-righteous-and-intolerant/814834/1 "2018-05-26T01:01:41Z")
Bret Weinstein, a biology professor at Evergreen State College in Washington state, refused to participate in a "day of absence” at the college to protest "racial injustice.” Potential Weinstein refused to absent himself from college, despite his progressive political stand. He and his wife are resigned, as a result of serious threats of violence. This is proof, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that college campuses are smug, self-righteous and often horribly intolerant. For more on the Bret Weinstein story see [Evergreen professor at center of protests resigns; college will pay $500,000 (link)](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/evergreen-professor-at-center-of-protests-resigns-college-will-pay-500000/) and New York Times (a liberal paper) editorial [When the Left Turns on Its Own (link)](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/opinion/when-the-left-turns-on-its-own.html). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-on-college-campuses-smug-self-righteous-and-intolerant/814834/2 "2018-05-26T01:11:18Z")
I think you accidentally deleted a paragraph between your first two, the one where you present the proof of, well, anything. All we have so far is that some guy refused to participate in a protest, he’s resigned to something, and someone, somewhere threatened violence against someone else, somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-on-college-campuses-smug-self-righteous-and-intolerant/814834/3 "2018-05-26T01:27:42Z")
While this thread will no doubt soon devolve into a Pit-like thread, like **SlackerInc** ’s “sneering progressives are driving away white men” thread, I think one issue at hand is that there is more of a moral streak in American politics than in many other places in the world. And once morality is involved, compromise is virtually impossible, since compromise means “letting evil win a little bit more,” or “giving evil more of a foothold.” And when students take on that attitude, of course they can’t budge an inch. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-on-college-campuses-smug-self-righteous-and-intolerant/814834/4 "2018-05-26T01:32:46Z")
That editorial was dated one year ago, FYI. What the hell is a “Director of First Peoples Multicultural Advising Services”? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-on-college-campuses-smug-self-righteous-and-intolerant/814834/5 "2018-05-26T02:05:20Z")
> [@JBGUSA](#): > > This is proof, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that college campuses are smug, self-righteous and often horribly intolerant. No, it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-on-college-campuses-smug-self-righteous-and-intolerant/814834/6 "2018-05-26T03:05:14Z")
> [@JBGUSA](#): > > For more on the Bret Weinstein story see [Evergreen professor at center of protests resigns; college will pay $500,000 (link)](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/evergreen-professor-at-center-of-protests-resigns-college-will-pay-500000/) and New York Times (a liberal paper) editorial [When the Left Turns on Its Own (link)](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/opinion/when-the-left-turns-on-its-own.html). It seems that this other **opinion** is more fair: [http://www.theolympian.com/opinion/editorials/article160825829.html](http://www.theolympian.com/opinion/editorials/article160825829.html) > [@](#): > > Weinstein drew fire on campus because he openly questioned the format for this year’s traditional “Day of Absence/Presence” activities, which is his right to do. In a reversal of practice from past years — when interested students of color and faculty left campus for seminars on race — this year’s event asked participating white faculty and students to leave campus for the discussions, while students of color remained on campus. > > But Weinstein helped ignite a firestorm of publicity by characterizing the event as less than voluntary during his appearances on national conservative media shows. He also wrote a guest opinion column for the Wall Street Journal that suggested whites were asked to leave campus. As for that editorial opinion ‘When the Left Turns on Its Own’ there is this look at that writer: > **[NYT's Bari Weiss Falsely Denies Her Years of Attacks on the Academic Freedom...](https://theintercept.com/2018/03/08/the-nyts-bari-weiss-falsely-denies-her-years-of-attacks-on-the-academic-freedom-of-arab-scholars-who-criticize-israel/)** > > The New York Times columnist and editor spent years crusading for the type of censorship she claims to loathe. Instead of acknowledging this, she denies it. > [@](#): > > Since that article, Weiss has predictably written multiple banal columns for the Times denouncing what she perceives as growing left-wing intolerance for dissent in general, but particularly on college campuses. I’ve watched as Weiss has become celebrated in right-wing circles as some sort of paragon of free expression and academic freedom, and mourned by centrists as the tragic victim of online PC mob silencing campaigns (imagine being a columnist and editor at the New York Times — with full access to the most influential media platform in the world — and seeing yourself as the victim of silencing and censorship), even though her entire career is grounded in precisely the viewpoint suppression, vilification, and censorship campaigns she now depicts herself as loathing. > > All of this finally came to a head last night after Weiss published yet another column complaining that she and her ideological comrades are unfairly criticized by left-wing authoritarians who try to silence them by associating them with “fascism.” Weiss’s column was so replete with humiliating factual errors, shoddy argumentation, and glaring holes in reasoning that she ended up trending on Twitter, and her editors had to delete an entire paragraph from her column and then add an editor’s note explaining that she had cited evidence that was an obvious hoax. ---
**Author:** ![SuperAbe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@SuperAbe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperAbe)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-on-college-campuses-smug-self-righteous-and-intolerant/814834/7 "2018-05-26T03:10:18Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > What the hell is a “Director of First Peoples Multicultural Advising Services”? Substitute “Native American Student Advisor” and you’ll be pretty close. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-on-college-campuses-smug-self-righteous-and-intolerant/814834/8 "2018-05-26T03:53:42Z")
In my ~40 years on campuses, it’s never been much different. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-on-college-campuses-smug-self-righteous-and-intolerant/814834/9 "2018-05-26T04:47:19Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > That editorial was dated one year ago, FYI. And there was a [lengthy thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=827560) on the subject at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Jake\_Bullet\_Traffic\_Control](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@Jake\_Bullet\_Traffic\_Control](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake_Bullet_Traffic_Control)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-on-college-campuses-smug-self-righteous-and-intolerant/814834/10 "2018-05-26T05:04:32Z")
Most students are cool, and don’t care about any of this fuckery. Some, however, are bullies who assault and shout down people they don’t like. They make lots of noise, and universities don’t like that, so these bullies end up getting their way. This is a problem. The best solution is to tell them to fuck off back to their IKEA dorms and do their homework, or, failing that, call their parents like you’d do with bullies in high school. ---
**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:** [May 26, 2018, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-on-college-campuses-smug-self-righteous-and-intolerant/814834/11 "2018-05-26T18:52:09Z")
Isn’t Evergreen the college for people who feel Oberlin is too right wing for them? Also, JBG, as a “radical leftist” (according to your profile), surely you support these students. ETA: And this story is old news. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-on-college-campuses-smug-self-righteous-and-intolerant/814834/12 "2018-05-26T20:12:41Z")
Don’t worry–Evergreen [is turning brown](https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2018/05/25/evergeen-state-facing-budget-crisis-cuts-positions-and-downgrades-services/). Needles are starting to drop, and soon woodpeckers will be tapping for worms on its crumbling trunk. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-on-college-campuses-smug-self-righteous-and-intolerant/814834/13 "2018-05-26T21:53:07Z")
Oh my goodness! Young people who are barely out of their parents’ homes are acting self-righteous, opinionated and obnoxious. And I’m just talking about a typical Saturday evening at the movies.