This weekly roundup thread is intended for all culture war posts. 'Culture war' is vaguely defined, but it basically means controversial issues that fall along set tribal lines. Arguments over culture war issues generate a lot of heat and little light, and few deeply entrenched people ever change their minds. This thread is for voicing opinions and analyzing the state of the discussion while trying to optimize for light over heat.
Optimistically, we think that engaging with people you disagree with is worth your time, and so is being nice! Pessimistically, there are many dynamics that can lead discussions on Culture War topics to become unproductive. There's a human tendency to divide along tribal lines, praising your ingroup and vilifying your outgroup - and if you think you find it easy to criticize your ingroup, then it may be that your outgroup is not who you think it is. Extremists with opposing positions can feed off each other, highlighting each other's worst points to justify their own angry rhetoric, which becomes in turn a new example of bad behavior for the other side to highlight.
We would like to avoid these negative dynamics. Accordingly, we ask that you do not use this thread for waging the Culture War. Examples of waging the Culture War:
-
Shaming.
-
Attempting to 'build consensus' or enforce ideological conformity.
-
Making sweeping generalizations to vilify a group you dislike.
-
Recruiting for a cause.
-
Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.
In general, you should argue to understand, not to win. This thread is not territory to be claimed by one group or another; indeed, the aim is to have many different viewpoints represented here. Thus, we also ask that you follow some guidelines:
-
Speak plainly. Avoid sarcasm and mockery. When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
-
Be as precise and charitable as you can. Don't paraphrase unflatteringly.
-
Don't imply that someone said something they did not say, even if you think it follows from what they said.
-
Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
On an ad hoc basis, the mods will try to compile a list of the best posts/comments from the previous week, posted in Quality Contribution threads and archived at /r/TheThread. You may nominate a comment for this list by clicking on 'report' at the bottom of the post and typing 'Actually a quality contribution' as the report reason.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
It's yesterday's news at this point, but the recent University of Oklahoma essay controversy has continued to fester in my brain for the sheer incongruence of reactions. In case you haven't heard, Samantha Fulnecky, a junior studying Psychology, received a 0 for submitting an essay whose central argument was essentially a blunt appeal to Biblical inerrancy. While I find this a suspect choice in even most religious studies courses, the assignment tasked her with reviewing a journal article about the effects of social pressures on adolescent gender presentation and identification - hardly something the Bible addresses directly. In response, the graduate student instructor, who is trans, gave her a zero. Fulnecky, in her (apparent) indignance, complained to the local chapter of TPUSA that this is an act of religious discrimination, and sparks flew. And they've kept flying. Fulnecky received an honorary award from the Oklahoma state Congress and has been speaking about her situation on Fox News. The university has sided with Fulnecky, placing the instructor on indefinite administrative leave until...the situation blows over? It's unclear how much "investigation" this really requires, but it is clear that Fulnecky has won the battle.
I am more interested in the war. Conservative scuffles at universities seem dime-a-dozen at this point, which makes it all the more surprising that this one has climbed out of the Twitter pit to receive national attention. For one, the essay is not particularly high-quality. This is not a case where a student submitted a carefully argued theological analysis, but instead appealed to the most straightforward of scriptural arguments and didn't even cite the verses in question! While the resulting grade of 0 seems slightly punitive and I don't doubt it was motivated by some level of personal offense, the professor's response hardly could be considered discriminatory. I've heard some grumblings that the instructor gave this grade specifically because she is trans - so it hurt more, or something - but I think most cis psychology profs these days would have a similar reaction. I think Fulnecky deserved some points, but not many. She lacks one of the most foundational skills a college-level writer needs: adapting your ideas to your audience.
Speculation on Twitter is running wild, suggesting that Fulnecky intentionally submitted a poor essay to gain some conservative street-cred, that her lawyer mother is involved, and plenty of other mental gymnastics. I don't blame the gymnasts - this case has been elevated to levels that are suspiciously unjustified, in my view. The banal reason is that it's easy pickings for conservative commentators who are salivating for any story they can nut-pick to put on the evening news block. But is that really all it takes? Can a religious person do any wrong in the eyes of the New Right? I realize writing this that I sound completely incredulous that the media could blow up a story, but seeing it happen in real-time has been pretty mind boggling. Read the essay and let me know what you think. I don't want to be mistaken for consensus-building here, and I would welcome any and all steelmans for the pro-Fulnecky position. Maybe I've been cut by yet another scissor statement (in this case, essay).
This is further evidence to me that red-tribers have completely abandoned most institutes of higher education. It's no longer a question of "we must reform the universities and stop them from being ideologically possessed!" but "the universities are ideologically possessed and the only way out is avoidance/destruction." It doesn't help when college graduates seem to be fleeing the red tribe like it's got the plague - it's much easier to prop up a controversy when the remaining red tribers lack the personal experience to vet it properly. All this to say: I think universities are really going to have it rough under this administration. They've already been sued to hell and back. If the red tribe couldn't turn the university system around by playing nice, they're going to do it by force - social, legal, or otherwise.
The screenshots of Samantha’s essay I’ve seen so far are like moderate cringe porn, where I immediately want to tap out due to cringe. I was half expecting a “since the dawn of time” to pop-up somewhere. The basicness is endearing in a way.
The 25th percentile of OU admittees have an SAT score in the mid 1100s and the average mid 1200s. This is well above the overall average SAT score of mid 1000s, where SAT-takers are already positively selected for intelligence.
So if you (like me) are cringing at the erudition (or lack thereof) of Samantha’s essay—consider what the average person’s thoughts might look like in essay form, much less the average person from a low average IQ population group. Akin to how Scalabrine is closer to Lebron in basketball ability than he is to you, Samantha may very well be closer in intelligence to you than she is the average person, much less an average person of some lower-IQ population group.
Trans TA vs. thot undergrad: unstoppable force vs. immovable object. As a more than WOULDable chick (obligatory: I’d at least give her a D), Samantha has likely rarely received negative feedback all her teenaged and adult life, so a zero on a college essay would feel like a massive affront to her Wonderfulness. This was not part of her Princess Journey, so vassals and serfs from OU, TPUSA, Fox News, the Online Right must rally to defend her honor. Given the attention and simpery she’s been provided, I can only imagine her as the seething-mask-smirking-underneath wojak.
If there is indeed material Online Right cope on that front, it’d be quite amusing if Samantha’s simps are going with the “no way is she that stupid, she must had only been pretending to be retarded as a form of 5D chess to pwn the libs” line of conjecture. If Mulder’s sister Samantha really was abducted by aliens, I suppose it’s possible OU Samantha could had been intentionally laying a trap card (perhaps “trap” in more ways than one).
However, a zero on such an essay is clearly punitive and vindictive to me and the trans TA should be removed from her/they/[their?] role as TA. The TA sounds like a caricature of “this is who is online calling you [racist/misogynistic /homophobic/transphobic].” Unfortunately, for every such TA relieved of their duties, many more will remain to do their thing.
Both the trans TA and the other graduate student instructor’s (“she/her/hers”) responses are its_all_so_tiresome.jpg inducing. Most self-aware bio-female social science graduate student: “In addition, your paper directly and harshly criticizes your peers and their opinions, which are just as valuable as yours.”
For essay grading, especially non-STEM grading for “reaction essays” at schools like OU, the left bound basically starts at 60% if you submit anything vaguely resembling a halfhearted effort that’s not clearly plagiarized, perhaps higher. If you can regurgitate some semblance of the professor’s passphrases, even without providing any suggestion that you have any comprehension of the passphrases, you’re likely already in 80%+ territory.
I mean, it's very plausible she didn't put a lot of effort into the essay. This was clearly intended as a political stunt. I suspect it worked better than it was supposed to- the goal was probably to testify about the need to give TPUSA actual legal authorities over state universities before the Oklahoma house.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link