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462 points pseudolus | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.199s | source
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sequoia ◴[] No.43569673[source]
A lot of Americans support these attacks on universities. Why do people harbour this much animosity towards these institutions? Is there anything they could have done differently in the past decade or two to have broader sympathy now, or is people's ambivalence towards elite universities 100% irrational?
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bell-cot ◴[] No.43570204[source]
There's a highly emotional Right-Left culture war going on in America. Many of our "flagship" universities conspicuously sided with the Left - at least on most of the "litmus test" issues. And where universities didn't do that, the Right found it advantageous to talk up the association & outrage anyway.

Any decent History Prof. could have explained to the U's that openly taking one side in long-term cultural wars was not a viable long-term strategy.

(Or, maybe that's why so many universities cut their History Dept's so brutally? Though "just shoot inconvenient messengers" is also not a viable long-term strategy.)

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mrtesthah ◴[] No.43576294[source]
Billionaires shifted the overton window by pouring money into extreme right-wing media outlets and social media platforms. Every other existing institution now appears "left-wing" by comparison. That's not universities' fault.
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lmm ◴[] No.43576417[source]
Not true, at least on social issues, which is what the universities are getting burned for. Policy positions that were mainstream in 2000 are now painted as far-right.
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1. ath3nd ◴[] No.43593503[source]
> Policy positions that were mainstream in 2000 are now painted as far-right.

Painted? Historically, there is a bunch of groups that were opposed to homosexual rights. I wonder how do you think those organization are "painted" on the political spectrum?

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_homosexuals_in_...

- https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230294158_9

- https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-00994-6

> Policy positions that were mainstream in 2000 are now painted as far-right.

Maybe that speaks something about a country that still has the KKK, and allowed its African American population to vote in 1965, not even 40 years before 2000.

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_segregation

- https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/white-supremacist-ideals-o...