SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2023
Dearest friends, what is a Babel? On this overcast Saturday morning, C-Span's Washington Journal began as we guessed it would.
The program began with an hour-long, call-in discussion of the (very important) question now driving the nation's public discourse, to the extent that anything like a real discourse even exists.
The important question is this:
What's happening on the campuses of Harvard and Penn? For that matter, what's happening at Iowa State? How about at SMU and UTEP?
Given current points of concern, the question is very important. Viewers would be asked to telephone C-Span with their opinions and viewpoints. The highly capable Mimi Geerges sat in the moderator's chair.
Judged by any normal standard, Geerges is highly capable. Two minutes into this morning's program, she played videotape of this exchange from Tuesday's congressional hearing:
REP. STEFANIK (12/5/23): Yes or no? Calling for the genocide of Jews does not constitute bullying or harassment?
SALLY KORNBLUTH, MIT PRESIDENT: I have not heard calling for the genocide for [sic] Jews on our campus.
STEFANIK: But you've heard chants for intifada.
KORNBLUTH: I've heard chants which can be antisemitic, depending on the context, when calling for the genocide of the Jewish people.
What's happening on the MIT campus? We present that small sliver from this typically horrible hearing as a prime example of the present-day "Problem We All Live With."
What's happening on that campus? Have students actually been "calling for the genocide of Jews" (or "of the Jewish people"), as Stefanik kept implying all through her rounds of "questioning?"
In the first response posted above, Kornbluth seemed to say that she was unaware of any such behavior on the MIT campus.
At that point, Stefanik shifted ground. She asked if Kornbluth has heard "chants for intifada."
In response, Kornbluth emitted a thoroughly garbled plate of word salad. We'd describe her instant incoherence as a prime example of the problem we all live with.
According to her testimony, Kornbluth hasn't heard calls for the genocide of Jews on the MIT campus. On the other hand, she has heard "chants which can be antisemitic, depending on the context, when calling for the genocide of the Jewish people."
What in the world was she talking about in that second statement? We don't have the slightest idea, and neither does anyone else.
Full disclosure! Kornbluth was almost surely the most capable, least inarticulate, of the three college presidents "questioned" by Stefanik that day. But she quickly served a plate of side word salad in the course of the grilling in question.
What kinds of chants has Kornbluth heard on the MIT campus? How often has she heard them? What exactly was she trying to say?
Stefanik didn't proceed with such obvious questions, and neither did anyone else. Meanwhile, the other two college presidents were even less articulate in their responses to the leading questions Stefanik kept posing—leading questions accompanied by demands for "yes or no" answers.
As everyone surely knows, this is the embarrassing way our congressional hearings tend to work. Very few witnesses ever "do well" at such hearings, given the disingenuous conduct which rains down on their heads from showboating members of Congress.
(We'd watched FBI head Christopher Wray subjected to this sort of treatment only a few days earlier. Wray is an experienced D.C. insider, but there's really no way for a witness to "look good" at these gong-show congressional hearings.)
There's almost no way to come across well at a congressional hearing. That said, the college presidents were stunningly inarticulate this day—and sure enough:
On this morning's Washington Journal, Stefanik was handed an instant win.
As noted, the moderator Geerges has a superb disposition. Callers often praise her for that.
She's also every bit as sharp as public figures tend to be. That said, in response to the day's first caller (Chris from Maine), Geerges was soon saying this:
GEERGES: So Chris, I'll just say this. I mean, people were saying that on their campuses.
Within the context of that exchange, it seemed fairly clear to us. According to Geerges, people have been calling for the genocide of Jews on those colleges campuses.
Ten minutes into this morning's program, Geerges swallowed the insinuation Stefanik had advanced. She proceeded to play no tape of any such conduct on those campuses. But under the drumbeat of Stefanik's pose, she seemed to make a clear assertion:
People on those campuses have been calling for the genocide of Jews.
As far as we know, that isn't true—but it may now be likely to start. Disordered minds may now be able to see, with great clarity, that some such call is the perfect way to produce excitement and roil this nation's "debate."
As far as we know, no one has been "calling for the genocide of the Jewish people" on those college campuses. But various pundits, Geerges included, have quickly swallowed Stefanik's bait—and in our view, this helps give us a fairly clear view of "the problem we all live with."
What problem do we have in mind? The problem in question is this:
We humans have very limited skills when it comes to such debates.
We humans are blessed with substantial skills in the general realm of technology. Our ten-story buildings almost never fall down. Balconies almost never fall off the side of our high-rise buildings.
Our bridges almost never collapse when cars are driven across them. When we hit the light switch on the wall, the lights almost always come on.
Our species possesses obvious skills when it comes to such challenging tasks. But when topics invested with lots of emotion are brought to the center of public debate, the leading officials at our high-end universities are soon saying things like this:
"I've heard chants which can be antisemitic, depending on the context, when calling for the genocide of the Jewish people."
What in the world did Kornbluth mean by that garbled statement? And Kornbluth was the most articulate, the least incapable, of the three college presidents who appeared before Congress this week!
The woods are lovely, dark and deep—but our species' analytical skills are extremely limited. There's no sign that we're up to the task of discussing topics like this.
At the same time, the invention of new technologies has led to "the democratization of media." In part for that reason, we're now living in a Babel—but what does that claim even mean?
Have students on those college campuses been "calling for the genocide of the Jewish people?" Obviously, it's a very important question.
Shrieking and wailing, a well-known demagogue kept advancing that insinuation all through Tuesday's hearing.
Joe Scarborough bought her insinuation. This morning, the extremely fair-minded Geerges quickly bought it too!
As far as we know, the claim isn't true. But we'll offer this horrible warning:
Just wait!
Next week: What is a Babel?
I’m against all genocide. I am Corby.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteWhen people protested the Iraq war, they were denounced as "objectively pro-Saddam". Anti-Zionist, anti-genocide protests are "genocidal". Kornbluth has to talk gibberish, to save her skin. It's all perfectly normal. What's with the naivete?
Genocide is evil. I am Korbi.
ReplyDeleteLet’s get the quote right, Bob.
ReplyDeleteYou transcribed it this way:
“KORNBLUTH: I've heard chants which can be antisemitic, depending on the context, when calling for the genocide of the Jewish people.”
Here is what she actually said, when watching the video you linked to:
“I’ve heard chants which can be antisemitic depending on the context when calling for the elimination of the Jewish people.”
Note that she uses the word “elimination”, not “genocide.”
This post is TDH at his best, like he did with the pathetic way the so-called liberal press handled the fake Bengazi scandal. and anon 11:14, I disagree that Kornbluth was forced to talk gibberish. There is no reason college presidents, and apparently anyone, has to admit that college students are calling for Jewish genocide, or to fail to point out that Intifada isn't the same thing as genocide. It is probably a good thing, though, that right w3ing demagogues are opposing anti-semitism, instead of propounding it; albeit against woke college students, rather than all these fascist right-wing groups that are big Trump supporters.
ReplyDeleteAC, Somerby quoted Kornbluth wrong. See my post above.
DeleteMy I do see that. But wouldn’t you agree that calling for the “elimination of the Jewish people “ is almost the same thing as calling for gencide of them? And is there any evidence of students calling for elimination of Jews? If TDH misquoted her in this manner, that was certainly wrong.
Deleteanon 12:21 was me responding to MH (not My).
DeleteI didn't say she "was forced". Of course, she could say anything she wanted; for a few seconds anyway. I said that she did it to save her skin.
DeleteSee this, from yesterday:
"CEO of Stone Ridge Asset Management Withdraws $100M Donation to UPenn Due to Pres. Liz Magill’s Anti-Semitic Remarks Before Congress"
"Note that she uses the word “elimination”, not “genocide.”
DeleteWhy?
Agree with 1:04. Why is the distinction between 'elimination' and 'genocide' worth noting?
DeleteBecause when you quote someone you have a responsibility to accurately cite what they said. Substituting words, even ones with similar meaning, is not quoting. It is paraphrasing. If this woman didn't say what Somerby put into her mouth, she should not be held answerable for Somerby's substitution. It is a matter of truth and accuracy, not simply meaning.
DeleteIn this case, the witness was responding to a question asked by Stefanik using the same term as Stefanik herself used. In other contexts, using a different word might have legal consequences.
When someone makes a mistake like Somerby's, it is often a sign of laziness or incompetence, someone not caring about getting what she said right, which is ultimately disrespectful of both the MIT president and the hearing process.
DeleteOver time, you might consider how often Somerby get details like this wrong and wonder how seriously he takes his blog. If you were paranoid, like me, you might assume that Somerby doesn't care about what was said at all, but merely uses this blog for other purposes, such as bashing liberals and advancing conservative talking points. Someone who doesn't care won't bother to check the quote and make sure he got it right.
Somerby is putting his thumb on the scale. The college presidents’ responses are nothing to panic over, Gay in particular responded with clarity, plainly stating that speech in general is protected while conduct that involves bullying, harassment, or intimidation will be investigated for disciplinary action.
DeleteStefanik appeared as your typical right wing loon, red faced and spewing nonsense.
Intifada, a word meaning shuddering, as in to shake off, refers to protesting and resisting oppression, typically in a nonviolent manner. It does not refer to a genocide or elimination of Jews.
In the wake of Israel/Palestine peace negotiations falling apart in the late 90s and early 2000s, as its leaders were assassinated by right wingers, Hamas emerged as an organization willing to use violence and terrorism. Although it only had minority support among Palestinians, it was propped up by right wing Israeli leader Netanyahu, and funded primarily by Qatar and Russia.
Pointedly, Netanyahu’s administration was aware Hamas was planning an attack, yet nothing was done; the result has been thousands of dead civilians, an increase in military support for Israel’s current right wing government, and a stalling of funding for Ukraine’s defense against invasion from right wing Russia/Putin.
I had a woke pebble in my shoe the other day.
Delete"Because when you quote someone you have a responsibility to accurately cite what they said."
DeleteIs this mh saying this? If so, thank you and noted.
If someone else said it you wouldn’t thank them or pay any attention?
Delete@3:44 PM
Delete"and funded primarily by Qatar and Russia"
So, does it mean that "funded by Iran" talking point is no longer in circulation?
Good to know.
My understanding is that Russia has been influencing the Gaza War through Iran, not directly participating.
DeleteWow, the understanding of Not a rodent. Ain't it brilliant.
DeleteDo you prefer “From what I’ve read…”?
DeleteGenocide must never be condoned. I am Quorbie.
ReplyDeletePaul Campos looks at the attack on Magill, Gay, and Kornbluth:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2023/12/the-mobbing-of-the-presidents
As near as I can tell, there is no difference between the 10/7 Hamas attack and an attempted genocide of the Israeli people, except the scale of their effort. They weren't sparing anyone.
ReplyDeleteThere has been reporting, and it does appear to be the case, that the primary and proximate objective of the 10/7 attack by Hamas was to acquire Israeli hostages to then use to negotiate with for the release of Palestinians held by Israel.
DeleteIronically, Netanyahu has used this attack to perpetrate his own attempt at genocide of Palestinians, which only serves to perpetuate the cycle of violence.
Hopefully those that value peace can find a way to intervene and diminish further atrocities.
If acquiring hostages was the goal of the raid, why did they have to kill so many people, including women and children?
DeleteOnce there was a ceasefire, why did the Palestinians break it and why did they refuse to continue peace negotiations? Was it because they had gotten all of the hostages they wanted back?
"In response, Kornbluth emitted a thoroughly garbled plate of word salad. We'd describe her instant incoherence as a prime example of the problem we all live with."
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, it is wrong for Somerby (and others) to call anything they don't understand or they disagree with "word salad" or "incoherence". We saw Somerby do that with Einstein's book, where Somerby didn't have the foundation to understand the explanations and blamed Einstein, not his own limitations. It wasn't Einstein who was confused. Somerby said similar things about Godel, invoking Wittgenstein and misinterpreting him to say that all language is incoherent and therefore philosophy is all bunk. Note Somerby's selective quoting, so that readers here will not have the full context of her statements and thus be more likely to agree that she is incoherent. That's how Somerby puts his thumb on his scales.
The term word salad has a psychiatric definition that absolutely does not apply here, and that makes that descriptive offensive applied to a university president:
"a confused or unintelligible mixture of seemingly random words and phrases, specifically (in psychiatry) as a form of speech indicative of advanced schizophrenia."
Here are the characteristics of word salad/schizophasia as a symptom of schizophrenia (from PsychCentral).
o excessive, incoherent talking or writing
o using repetitive words or phrases
o using a long string of words that lack a coherent thought or idea
o speaking in rhymes, sounds, or alliterations rather than meaning
o speaker may believe that syllables and words have special meaning"
I don't think Somerby called Einstein's writing "word salad." He said Einstein claimed to explain a difficult topic but failed to do so.
DeleteSomerby probably does have the background to understand Einstein's book: high-school mathematics. So his failure to understand is Somerby's fault, not Einstein's.
He didn't only say Einstein failed to explain clearly, he questioned whether Einstein understood his own theories.
DeleteNo, he didn’t.
DeleteAnyone can look it up.
DeleteSo look it up.
DeleteI already know what Somerby said. You look it up.
DeleteRepetition doesn’t make anything true.
Delete@11:39 is mostly frustrated because he doesn’t know how to use a Search window to figure out what Somerby said about Einstein. Or maybe he has no idea who Einstein was?
DeleteSo he says it again. This is a good example of the way right wingers tend to break rules and norms whenever they please without any consideration for other people. Why should this creep keep spamming comments and annoying ALL readers, wasting time, just because he disagrees with someone else and is too inarticulate (or lazy) to actually critique anything? In my experience, this is what conservatives are like and a main reason why I choose to have as little as possible to do with them in daily life. This guy is not a nice person and he is behaving badly, as conservatives do when they don't get their way.
DeleteI am nice. I am not lazy, I publish 50 word-salads every day. I like smelling my fingers.
DeleteI am Corby.
I’m nice, too. Bob didn’t say that Einstein didn’t understand relativity. I am not Corby.
DeleteNo, you are a schizophrenic person, more to be pitied than scorned. Sometimes I think you might be Somerby.
DeleteI'm not a conservative, but . . . what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever read. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone who reads these comments is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may god have mercy on your soul.
DeleteYou are a troll whose only purpose here is to disrupt conversation. Go away.
DeleteEinstein understood relativity and explained it clearly.
Delete"Wray is an experienced D.C. insider, but there's really no way for a witness to "look good" at these gong-show congressional hearings.)"
ReplyDeleteGee whiz! Perhaps those college presidents were not trying to look good, but were genuinely trying to give information and comply with the congressional inquiry. Unlike certain politicians, perhaps they were not actually playing to any public. Does it make any sense under such circumstances for Somerby to criticize their showmanship?
""I've heard chants which can be antisemitic, depending on the context, when calling for the genocide of the Jewish people."
ReplyDeleteWhat in the world did Kornbluth mean by that garbled statement?"
Somerby supposedly doesn't do implication. That may be why he finds Kornbluth's statement "garbled".
Because Kornbluth says the chants depend on context, she is clearly implying that the statements can be antisemitic when calling for genocide, but may not be antisemitic in other contexts. The specific context of calling for genocide would make the chants antisemitic, while they might not be in other contexts.
If this is unclear to Somerby, it is Somerby's problem. No reasonable, educated adult (not on the autism spectrum or with some frontal lobe disorder resulting in excessively literal thinking) would have trouble seeing what she was saying. This is Somerby's deficit, not the MIT professor's, something I find unsurprising given their respective positions in life.
It's confusing to hear there are chants calling for the genocide of the Jewish people that have a context that is not antisemitic.
DeleteThe word genocide has been redefined by peo-Palestinians.
Deletepro-Palestinians
Delete3:38,
DeleteU don 't diagram sentences so gud.
Sentences? Unnecessary.
Delete"At the same time, the invention of new technologies has led to "the democratization of media." In part for that reason, we're now living in a Babel—but what does that claim even mean?"
ReplyDeleteSomerby is confusing the medium and the message, perhaps believing in McLuhan's "the medium IS the the message" chant from the early 1970's, when TV was seen as pernicious. Is the internet really at fault? I don't think so.
Somerby uses the word babel carelessly, giving it his own personal meaning (as a schizophrenic person would).
babel -- "a confused noise made by a number of voices" or a "scene of noisy confusion"
That would definitely describe the last Republican presidential debate, although there was a clear subtext of attempted domination, hostility and sexism, aimed at Haley by deSantis and Ramaswamy, with Christie gallantly coming to her rescue (unnecessarily).The debate communicated, even when everyone was talking over everyone else.
But Somerby is using the word differently than that. He seems to sometimes refer to disagreement between the right and left, sometimes refer to wokeness when liberals express social justice concerns, sometime refer to this professor who said things Somerby didn't agree with and thus is called incoherent despite being clear (as were the other two presidents who testified).
In referring to the internet, Somerby uses the words analytical skills, which seems to be about reasoning, not speaking. But there is not a noisy confusion online because people tend to read (hear) one voice at a time, even if various voices disagree, contradict, or conflict with each other.
Perhaps Somerby is merely attaching his own sense of confusion to the words others are speaking and projecting disorder onto them? Maybe he thinks all people should speak with the same voice, so that there is no difference to be reconciled among them? Maybe he is having trouble making sense of his own world and thinks it would all be easier if life were simpler. It wouldn't be odd for an elderly man sliding into his own dementia to feel that way. Or maybe the world is just moving too fast for him and he thinks it is too fast for anyone, even highly intelligent college presidents, to grasp?
Somerby's use of the term babel is never clearly explained here. He seems to regard the word as something bad that we liberals have created, but hauls it out to cover such a variety of circumstances that it is unclear what it should mean to any of the rest of us.
Really dumb comment.
DeleteDeeply thoughtful reply.
DeleteYuou seem to have a problem with the idea of psychological insight.
DeleteAnd you seem to have a problem spelling "you."
Deletetypos are finger problems not brain problems
Deleteusually. but in your case it's definitely a brain problem
DeleteMy brain does not know where my finger has been. My finger smells funny.
DeleteI am Corby.
Cut it out. You are not Corby and no one cares where your finger has been. That you are posting such comments is a symptom of mental illness. Somerby should be moderating his blog and deleting your garbage, but he apparently doesn't care about his blog. If there is a Corby still reading these comments, he or she doesn't deserve to be stalked by you.
DeleteI do not troll Corby. I am not Corby. This blog was important long ago, but now it just isn't.
Delete"Cut it out." Yeah, that should do the trick.
Delete@6:04 PM
DeleteYou are pro-Palestinian right winger paid Russian troll Somerby. You are not nice. You redefine genocide. You had a childhood trauma. You are emotionally damaged. You have no empathy.
I am nice. I read wikipedia. I smell my fingers. I have empathy. I am Corby.
If an extremely fair-minded person agrees with others that students were calling for genocide, maybe they were? What is Somerby's evidence that they weren't? I can't see where he has provided any at all. He is mostly attacking what he calls garbled incoherence (aimed at statements that see pretty clear to me), without bothering to explain why those students were not calling for genocide.
ReplyDeleteWould it be shocking if they were? Certainly it would. But recall that actual genocides were carried out by real people, many of the same age as these students. Somehow they were convinced to murder. Why would these particular students be immune to whatever persuades someone to behave in such a way?
When has Somerby bothered to define genocide or antisemitism here? Where has he quoted a student saying they didn't mean anything like killing Jews? When has Hamas backtracked on its own intentions, and when have pro-Palestinian demonstrators disavowed Hamas or their genocidal goals? Somerby advances no arguments beyond mocking these presidents (who are on the Republican hotseat because they didn't play along with Republican Elise Stefanik as she tried to discredit both universities and the student groups doing that chanting (and yes, they were chanting some pretty bad stuff).
"may god have mercy on your soul."
DeleteIf it was that stupid, God will more than just have mercy on their soul. God'll, most likely make them a Republican Congressperson, if history is of any note.
Republicans are incapable of governing, but there is one thing they know how to do: Rev up the old Mighty Media Wurlitzer Outrage Machine.
ReplyDeleteSmart money is betting all three university presidents will be railroaded out of town very shortly, and then the anti-cancel culture vultures can pick at their bones. This is the fucking America we live in now.
Most universities have a "right of return" which means that if the administrator is removed from his or her job, he or she can return to teaching in the department of their academic training (e.g., English, Computer Science, whatever). That puts them back in the classroom (if they aren't recruited to work elsewhere).
DeleteHamas attacks Israel. Two months later the President of MIT gets railroaded out of her position. God bless America.
Delete"People on those campuses have been calling for the genocide of Jews.
ReplyDeleteAs far as we know, that isn't true—but it may now be likely to start. Disordered minds may now be able to see, with great clarity, that some such call is the perfect way to produce excitement and roil this nation's "debate.""
Somerby has no direct knowledge of what students have been chanting on campuses. The MIT president, Kornbluth, said that there such calls for genocide, although not on her campus. We know people calling for genocide exist because of the white supremacist replacement theory, the legacy of Nazi eliminationism.
Here, Somerby proposes that if people start calling for genocide, it will be the fault of those who have complained previously about such calls, because they will have put the idea into their minds as a means of getting attention.
Aside from denying the existence of antisemitism so strong that it results in attacks on Jews, Somerby is proposing that calls for genocide are just attention-getting and not serious or a danger to Jewish people. He says this in the light of several recent deadly shooting attacks on Jews in the US (and elsewhere) and a national increase in hate crimes against Jews.
This has to be one of the more ridiculous things Somerby has proposed -- but it is also problematic because it blames the calls for genocide against Jews on Jews themselves, to the extent that Jews have complained about the hate on campuses (and elsewhere). This is victim blaming and Somerby should be ashamed. But this is how people lacking empathy tend to think and behave. It reeks of "We wouldn't hate Jews if they just weren't so Jewish." Somerby should know better.
YMMV
Delete"Have students on those college campuses been "calling for the genocide of the Jewish people?" Obviously, it's a very important question.
ReplyDeleteShrieking and wailing, a well-known demagogue kept advancing that insinuation all through Tuesday's hearing."
How does Somerby know there were no such chants? He appears to have decided that based on nothing except his preferred narrative. Language like "shrieking and wailing" and "demagogue" and "insinuation" reveals his bias and tells us to believe him, again without evidence.
The Harvard president said she had heard students say things that she considered unacceptable but that needed to be defended as free speech, no matter how awful, because these were words and not actions and thus outside the code of conduct. That contradicts Somerby's contention that there were no such chants.
Gay gave testimony under oath. Somerby prefers to believe there were no bad chants. His use of adjectives instead of evidence is what makes this blog propaganda instead of information or argument.
A whole string of anti-reason comments from you today, per usual. One thing - an obvious, and cogent observation made here by TDH is: is it true that there have been calls on these high end campuses by the protesting students in favor of "genocide" on the Jews, and you go from there to your daily of the wall, moonbat attack on the poor blogger). Your take is that it was up to TDH to prove that no such claims had been made. Do you know that it isn't possible to prove a negative? The [point is that if sleazes like Stefanik, make such a claim, it is up to them to prove that such abhorrent speech - genocide for the Jews - is what any of these students are calling for. that's what TDH has cogently asks - what's the evidence that this is what has happened. It's not up to him to prove it hasn't happened. Can't you see that? As an ex-professor, particularly. (Stefanek's argument is that students calling for an intifada, in Israel or here i9n the US is the same as calling for "genocide" on the Jews - but they're not the same things at all).
DeleteHe is the one making an unwarranted assumption and drawing conclusions. He has no basis for saying there were no chants when the President of Harvard, Gay, testified that there were. He is wrong and I said so.
DeleteJewish students were being harrassed at Harvard.
DeleteWhat you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever read. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone who reads these comments is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may god have mercy on your soul.
Delete@7:15 doesn't know what he is talking about. Here are some stories about Jewish students being harrassed at Harvard:
Deletehttps://freebeacon.com/campus/israeli-harvard-business-school-student-accosted-and-harassed-amid-gaza-die-in-on-campus/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BGb7GThXkA
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzH5FO_NFRK/?hl=en
The latter includes video of the harrassment of Jewish students by pro-Palestinian protesters at Harvard -- Somerby has kept saying there is no video, well here is some.
This kind of nonsensical programming is why white people keep saying in surveys that discrimination against whites is a serious problem. This misuse of the word genocide (as is also being done by pro-Palestinian protesters) is also making a very serious crime (the targeted killing of people because they are Jewish) essentially meaningless:
Delete"During a Sunday discussion on Fox & Friends Weekend, co-host Will Cain noted that the University of Pennsylvania's president, M. Elizabeth Magill, had resigned following testimony where she was asked if calls for Jewish "genocide" could be punished at her school.
"Again, it's about anti-Semitism, but it's also a bigger story about speech on campus, about the treatment of anyone who has a diverse point of view, especially if you're a conservative," Campos-Duffy opined. "What the Jewish population is facing in these schools is what conservative students have been facing for a long time."
As if. Students are told they cannot use student funds to invite a Nazi to speak on campus, and they scream genocide! This makes a farce of Jewsh complaints about being the targets of hate (mass shootings and beatings, not just harrassment and name-calling), but that clearly doesn't matter to Holocaust-deniers and these assholes on the right.
Liz Magill has resigned.
ReplyDeleteToo bad. Mobs shouldn't be allowed to do this to people like her.
Delete"We humans have very limited skills when it comes to such debates.
ReplyDeleteWe humans are blessed with substantial skills in the general realm of technology."
Somerby calls our language skills "limited" and lauds our technological skills. He really should have taken a course in linguistics at Harvard, especially given his focus on Wittgenstein and the philosophy of language.
He has this ass-backwards. For most of human history our technology has been limited to basic hand-tools and weapons (flint, hammer, spear, cart, cooking utensils). Even forks and spoons were primitive and there were only simple machines (pulleys, levers) for most of human existence. Nothing a modern person would recognize as technology.
But there was language among early humans and written language came long before technology. Spoken language came before written language and mathematical notation. What characterizes language is its flexibility (something Somerby generally deplores) and our ability to create symbols and multiple layers of meaning. Humans can think "what if..." and use language to describe things that do not exist in the world. And they can analyze and criticize their own ideas. Language allows humans to remember by writing things down, expanding mental capacities. It also allows us to share knowledge widely by writing it down in books and letters instead of having to physically talk to each other across geographical space and time. It has been hugely important to human functioning.
When Somerby says we are not good at doing that stuff, he is totally wrong. And without language there would never have been technology, much less the kind of advanced technology that has made our lives radically different than even 100 years ago.
Somerby pulls an idea from his ass, does nothing to check it out or investigate or test his idea, then proclaims it as truth and stacks a bunch of tenuous conclusions upon it. I would suggest they taught him to do that in his philosophy courses, but that would be unfair to philosophers and teachers at Harvard. It may have looked to Somerby like that was all philosophers were doing, especially if he didn't do his assigned reading much (as I suspect he didn't).
People have been conducting "such debates" for millenia. Using language, we developed a government system designed to allow maximum participation by the governed, to allow people with conflicting needs and experiences to communicate and resolve their differences, with protection for the minorities among them. But right wingers don't value democracy much. It may seem to them that compromising with others is less important than maximizing their own self-interest, given that they have no sense of common endeavor and no sense of responsibility for the weak and disadvantaged and poor among us, no goals involving a brighter future with prosperity for all, like that expressed in our Constitution. I believe we are very good indeed at such debates to have formed an enduring nation based on the highest ideals of Enlightenment thinkers. I am proud of what our country represents in the world, even with its greed and neglect of slaves and Indians, whose mistreatment should lead us to a better understanding of how to avoid future atrocities, if we pay attention to our history.
Somerby clearly doesn't think this way. That makes him majorly divergent from most liberals. His belief that our current turmoil represents man's failure of communication is mistaken. It represents a disagreement about what sort of future we should aspire to, and a failure of the populace to participate fully in democratic processes, including intelligent voting, governing for the good of the people, holding elected leaders accountable for their actions, prosecuting corruption, and educating ourselves and our children in order to be better citizens of a diverse nation. Somerby instead deplores that diversity exists, complains about efforts to improve our processes, and sides with those who have fallen down on the job.
Cont.
DeleteAnd now he wants to blame people for being better at technology than language, even though no one would benefit from any invention if they couldn't describe it with words and pictures sufficiently to get a patent on it, manufacture it based on production instructions written in language, advertised and marketed it using language that conveyed the benefits of the new invention, and taught people how to use it properly via written instructions for use. Somerby has got to be the stupidest man in Baltimore, if not the world, if he thinks technology comes easily to anyone without all those written descriptions and words to tell others how technology works. And even then, we still make fun of geeks and nerds because we know how limited we are compared to them, when it comes to our inventions.
It is no coincidence that the t-shirt says: "I fix things and I know stuff". Neither would be possible without language and none of it would work without the right knowledge conveyed by language (including drawings).
If he wanted to study linguistics, he would have been better off at MIT.
Delete@11:37 -- what are you talking about? MIT has an excellent linguistics dept.
DeleteVoter fraud in Iowa:
ReplyDeletehttps://jabberwocking.com/ron-stands-by-blankly-as-casey-desantis-endorses-iowa-election-fraud/
Who owns Palestine?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MbXY3X-xGU
Palestine is not a nation. It doesn’t exist as a current geographic region in the world. If you are referring to Gaza, it has been part of Israel since 1967. Before that it was governed by Egypt, but Egypt and a few Arab nations attacked Israel and lost, after which Gaza was occupied by Israel and remained that way to the present.
DeleteThe video only talks about who has lived in the Palestine mandate area historically. He makes the point that even though various people have lived there no one should be telling others to get out.
DeleteThat takes us back to the efforts of Arabs living in the Palestine mandate to make so-called Jewish Zionists leave, after they were given permission to live there by the British who were administering the territory after WWI. It also takes us to 1948 when Arabs living in the former mandate voluntarily left their homes in the new state of Israel so that they could join Arab nations attacking Israel (with the promise of being able to return to their homes after Israel was beaten). That didn't happen. Of course, those who fought with the Arabs were expelled. Not coincidentally, Jewish people living in Arab/Muslim countries were expelled from their homes too, but no one mentions that on the pro-Palestinian side. Then the areas that had formerly been part of Egypt and other adjoining Arab nations were occupied and administered by those nations until they lost a few more wars. In 1967, Israel stopped giving that land back to the Arabs and administered itself, but did not expell any Palestinians. It did allow Israelis to live there too, which Palestinians opposed using violence. To the present, Palestinians have never stopped engaging in terrorism, killing Israelis, in order to prevent other people from living in Gaza and the West Bank, trying drive Israelis out of Israel too, claiming that it is Israel trying to commit genocide against them, and not vice versa.
I agree that historical claims of occupation cannot be the basis for deciding who lives in Israel or Gaza or the West Bank or the Golan Heights or even Jerusalem. And I agree with Said who says that religion cannot be he deciding factor either, given that everyone is claiming that God gave the land to them specifically. Palestinians need to learn to live side by side with others without engaging in violence against them. Then the carnage will stop and the Middle East can be at peace. That also means that Arab and Muslim nations need to stop encouraging Palestinian terrorism and stop waging war against Israel, including embargos and barricades, PR wars involving students in the US, proxy wars for Russian and Iran, and funding wars that try to prevent Israel from defending itself by blocking US and other military aid.
I am very sick of the pro-Palestinian propaganda coming from Somerby himself and from various trolls here, including the one-liner about it being a mistake to create Israel, as if Jews had any other place to emigrate to during and following the Holocaust. Jews have the right to live in peace in Israel. And the word genocide does not apply to the sanctions and restrictions Palestinians have earned with their constant attacks on Israel and Jewish people, up to and including 10/7, which is as horrific as the atrocities committed in actual genocides like that in Rwanda. Nothing excuses what happened on 10/7, certainly not references to historical occupation of a territory that the Palestinians forfeited in a number of lost wars.
I am Corby from Denver. I like to play bridge, smell my fingers, and cook yummy word-salads.
ReplyDelete1. There is no Palestine.
2. Kids are calling for genocide.
3. Digby: Joe Biden loves children.
My finger smells funny now. I am Corby.
There’s your problem. You’ve been cooking your salads. They should be served raw.
DeleteHow is the weather in Saint-Petersburg, Boris?
DeleteI am Corby.
Corby is still in Iceland waiting for the volcano to erupt. You'd know that if you were really Corby.
DeleteHow many rubles are you paid for spearing this disinformation, Boris? If you don't stop, I will report you to Google.
DeleteI am Corby.
Corby would say “spreading” not “spearing”. You aren’t fooling anyone.
DeleteWhen I see Russians spearing disinformation, I call them out. I am Korbi.
DeleteStop breaking rules and norms, Boris. You are not nice. You are a right winger. You are a paid Russian troll. You are an annoying creep.
DeleteI am nice. I am Corby.
And you are pro-Palestinian.
DeleteI am Corby. I'm smelling my fingers.
Scott Bok has resigned, too.
ReplyDeleteAnd the media is worried about pogroms.
DeleteIs the media right or wrong to be worried about pogroms?
DeleteThey’re worried about certain pogroms.
DeleteFiring college administrators over bullshit doesn’t ruffle their petticoats.
What about the woman who introduced that bullshit into a congressional hearing? Elise Stefanik? Should anyone worry about that misuse of public time and money for political grandstanding?
DeleteAnonymouse 2:28pm, eh, no. She’s a Republican so I’m absolving her completely.
DeleteAlso the case with any conservative media member or otherwise apparatchik who is eager to go along with this mountain out of a molehill.
Just once, I would like to see a witness tell one of these Republican idioits to GFY.
ReplyDelete"Dearest friends, what is a Babel? On this overcast Saturday morning, C-Span's Washington Journal began as we guessed it would."
ReplyDeleteSomerby asks the question but immediately shifts away and talks about something else, not answering it. And then he teases it, saying:
"Next week: What is a Babel?"
Experience has shown that Somerby his unreliable about returning to the topics he teases, often never discussing them but moving on to something else entirely.
If Somerby is going to blame the blue tribe for this babel, he should at least tell us what he thinks a babel is.
Bob is cognitive.
Delete10:50 That's a petty and uninteresting observation.
DeleteSomerby began and ended by asking what is babel, and never addressed the question at all in-between. I want to know what liberals (blue tribe) are being accused of doing. Otherwise, he is just casting a shadow over the left without having to be specific or provide evidence of anything. That's propaganda, not political analysis.
DeleteYou're an idiot troll. You're boring.
DeleteYou're an insightful commenter. You're fascinating.
DeleteSomerby is not a liberal. What an asshole Somerby is.
ReplyDeleteI am Corby. My finger smells funny.
I wonder why Somerby has never quoted this Woody Guthrie song?
ReplyDelete"This malicious strain of selfish Republicanism has flared up periodically in our history, with the few striving to repress the many. Woody Guthrie even wrote an anthem in the 1940s mocking those crusading for such a morally depraved politics:
"I'm the meanest man that ever had a brain
...
I hate everybody don't think like me...
And I'm readin' all the books I can
To learn how to hurt...
Keep you without no vote,
Keep you without no union.
...
Well, if I can get the fat to hatin' the lean,
That'd tickle me more than anything I've seen,
Then get the colors fightin' one another,
And friend against friend, and brother and sister against brother..
...
I love to hate and I hate to love!
I'm mean, I'm just mean."
This song is dedicated to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, Rep. Jim Jordan, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, and... well, you know who you are."
From Alternet.
I love Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, Rep. Jim Jordan, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and everyone else who doesn't think like me.
ReplyDeleteI am Corby.
Somerby is an ass.
DeleteI am Corby.
Ukraine's success against Russia contributes to Biden's widespread popularity.
ReplyDelete8:29: Mostly it's because Biden's policies make it easier than ever for an American to own a home.
DeleteI am Corby.
Delete