←back to thread

A university president makes a case against cowardice

(www.newyorker.com)
463 points pseudolus | 3 comments | 03 Apr 25 12:29 UTC | HN request time: 0.629s | source
Show context
low_tech_love ◴[04 Apr 25 12:55 UTC] No.43581600[source]▶
Some personal highlights:

"They’re excellent schools, and they have excellent scientists, and if one of Vice-President Vance’s kids is sick, he’s going to want the doctor to have gone to one of these schools; he’s not going to want them to have gone to Viktor Orbán’s university."

"People have said to me, “Well, you take all that money from the government, why don’t you listen to them?” The answer is, because the money doesn’t come with a loyalty oath."

"I don’t have to agree with the mayor to get the fire department to come put out a fire. And that’s what they’re saying to these international students: “Well, you came to this country. What makes you think you can write an op-ed in the newspaper?” Well, what makes you think that is, this is a free country. "

replies(4): >>43585190 #>>43587137 #>>43587740 #>>43589038 #
jgalt212 ◴[04 Apr 25 17:07 UTC] No.43585190[source]▶
> The answer is, because the money doesn’t come with a loyalty oath

But it does come with some reasonable level of consideration and appreciation.

replies(9): >>43585215 #>>43585430 #>>43585485 #>>43585506 #>>43585592 #>>43585605 #>>43586111 #>>43587820 #>>43588650 #
skeaker ◴[04 Apr 25 17:43 UTC] No.43585605[source]▶
Being paid what you're owed doesn't necessitate gratitude.
replies(2): >>43586443 #>>43587224 #
margalabargala ◴[04 Apr 25 20:20 UTC] No.43587224[source]▶
For those who disagree with this, when was the last time you thanked your boss for your paycheck?
replies(1): >>43592514 #
jgalt212 ◴[05 Apr 25 11:26 UTC] No.43592514[source]▶
But, I bet many have thanked their boss for the opportunity given to them. This statement of gratitude is a tacit acknowledgement of salary.
replies(2): >>43593208 #>>43594503 #
ath3nd ◴[05 Apr 25 13:15 UTC] No.43593208[source]▶
> But, I bet many have thanked their boss for the opportunity given to them.

I literally don't know anybody who has any desire of expressing gratitude to their boss for the "opportunity" given to them. What kind of servile lapdogs do consider their work an "opportunity"? How about the bosses realize that without workers, their businesses will implode, and thank their workers for the "opportunity" to have a working business instead?

Jobs are an exchange of a worker's time and skills for a wage. If you expect workers with a touch servility on top, I suggest you go back to the medieval times of lords and servants.

replies(1): >>43595990 #
1. 47282847 ◴[05 Apr 25 19:08 UTC] No.43595990[source]▶
I agree in general with your points, except that I believe both parties “should“ (can) be grateful for each other and in that acknowledge they both need each other. It’s nice for wellbeing to be grateful for everything good that happens, it doesn’t necessarily imply servitude.
replies(1): >>43596626 #
2. ath3nd ◴[05 Apr 25 20:36 UTC] No.43596626[source]▶
> except that I believe both parties “should“ (can) be grateful for each other and in that acknowledge they both need each other.

Hard disagree on both needing each other.

Employers can't exist or build their own riches without workers, while workers have existed for thousands of years, much before employers. If we are considering the relationship in adversarial terms, always remember that workers are the only ones actually producing anything of value.

Without workers, garbage won't be collected, water won't be delivered to households, buildings won't be built, and food won't be grown.

The people pushing the paternalistic narrative telling us that we should be "grateful" for the "opportunity" to merely work for a wage have forgotten the French Revolution, the Bolshevik revolution, and all the strikes and revolutions of workers that have advanced our rights to where we have them today. The 5 day work week and the 9-to-5, child labor protections, and workers' rights were not brought to you by the employers. In fact, employers often actively resisted those, and had to be put in their rightful place by their workers.

> It’s nice for wellbeing to be grateful for everything good that happens

Judging by what happened to the employers and the rich during the workers' revolutions, it's probably a good advice for the wellbeing of the work-givers to start practicing daily gratitude towards their own employees. You see, it's just the workers that find themselves more often in the possession of pitchforks and torches.

replies(1): >>43599484 #
3. 47282847 ◴[06 Apr 25 07:00 UTC] No.43599484[source]▶
> Without workers, garbage won't be collected, water won't be delivered to households, buildings won't be built, and food won't be grown.

Again I agree with everything you say but disagree on the part about needing each other/gratitude. The worker also wants all that, and for it to happen, they need collaboration and exchange/division of labor, for which they are allowed to be grateful for.