It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…

I’m not sure how I landed here, so apologies if this is a repost. It’s quite worth the read. If anyone still believes the NYT is worth the paper it’s printed on, this is a great example of why it isn’t.

It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a student there, who maybe resided only on the far periphery of your professional orbit, will become one or another kind of famous. At that point, out of the vast and silent ether, messages will come glowing into your inbox one after another. Do you remember this person? they will say. Was he your student? Did you work with him? We’re hoping for some insight—would it be possible for us to talk for a bit?

I taught at a place called Bowdoin College for 16 years, and during the last of those there was a student in attendance you’ve perhaps heard of. His name is Zohran Mamdani. And so, shortly after his startling, spirit-lifting victory in the primary last spring, the gentle flood of inquiries commenced. Word had gotten out not only that he went to Bowdoin—again, a very pricey, very wealthy, quite comprehensively the-thing-that-it-is small liberal arts college on the East Coast—but that, while there, he had majored in something called “Africana Studies.” You can probably see where this is going.

The first few messages wondered if I knew him (I don’t think I did, though I certainly had students who did, and do), if I taught him (possibly? but in truth not that I remembered), but mostly if I could say something about what he might have been reading and doing and studying, there in his time at this little college on the coast of Maine. More than once, the name “Frantz Fanon” was broached—which had the virtue of certain hand-showing clarity.

Emphasis mine. They started with framing that had to be met, no matter how wrong it was.

  • Glide@lemmy.ca
    27·
    3 days ago

    It’s aside the author’s point, but this note is killing me.

    Beneath its humdrum requests, every email said more or less the same thing: Can you explain how reading certain things can turn a person into a socialist—and, possibly, a terrorist-sympathizing antisemite? It’s a storied gambit of the right at its most grimly predictable. “People read Foucault,” the redoubtable David Brooks once wrote, in an actual column that I’ve all but committed to memory, “and develop an alienated view of the world.”

    Okay, so where’s all the discourse about Trump keeping a copy of Mein Kampf on his nightstand, Times? If reading Foucault gives you an “alienated world view,” and you take issue with Mamdani engaging with “African studies,” the fuck does that make Hitler-loving Trump?

    I know, I know, the double standard is the point, and the goal was never to make an honest argument but… Come on! grumble grumble

    • Powderhorn@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
      12·
      3 days ago

      Funny story … when I moved in with my ex, we discovered we now had two copies of Mein Kampf. Same translation, no less.

      But I can do one better. I was a math tutor in college, and when we had downtime between requests, we could read (cellphones were not a thing yet). Well, a friend bleached my hair for the first time, and it turned out orange. As such, I shaved my head, and without thinking about it, brought in Mein Kampf to read. I have to say, that combo turned a lot of students off from asking for my help.

    • 4grams@awful.systemsEnglish
      22·
      2 days ago

      Don’t be so obtuse. African studies and Foucault are not in the same orbit as hitler. It would be maybe notable if a public figure kept a copy of “Discipline and Punish” on their nightstand, would be sorta weird nightly reading and would be good evidence that this person is likely to be strongly influenced by or sympathizes with Foucault.

      Reading once, studying in school, etc. are a world apart from reading often enough that you need to keep a copy that accessible.

      Let’s also look at these specific people. Remind me how many folks Faucault had murdered?

      Lastly, let’s look at the words and behavior of these people in context, not just judged by the words he read. I’ve read lots of nasty shit, but don’t act like a nasty shit. Tuenip has read hiter and now we have concentration camps, imprisoning and denying food to American Citizens.

      Nuance is a thing.

      • Glide@lemmy.ca
        6·
        2 days ago

        I… What? Is this response real? Do you genuinely think I’m equating Foucault and Hitler? Because I took issue with the dishonest arguments being made by the journalists that attempted to contact the author? And somehow you’re the one calling be obtuse.

        Seeing as you seem to have completely missed it, my point is that the powers that be are yet again senselessy cherry picking bad faith arguments, and it frustrates the hell out of me that “journalists” can do this shit in broad daylight and not be held accountable, let alone still pass as professionals. That does not mean that I endorse the arguments that engaging with Foucault, taking African Studies, or even reading Mein Kampf makes you unapologetically socialist, communist, a terrorist-sympathizer, an anti-semite, a nazi, or any of the other things one could willfully and ignorantly misconstrue from ones reading habits. I’ve made no attempt make such an argument, and your take on my comment is, honestly, completely unhinged. If anything, I’ve emphasized that to willfuly ignore Trump’s penchant for the nightly reading of fascist dictators while taking issue with someone who did a given course in university is absurdly dishonest. Why you felt the need to agree with me so aggressively while also painting my opinion as something it is not is just beyond me.

        Nuance is absolutely a thing, and it seems quite lost on you.

        • 4grams@awful.systemsEnglish
          4·
          2 days ago

          In that case I’m extremely glad I’m the obtuse one.

          Your initial comment read to me like you were upset about the “double standard” of tuenip being held accountable for his chosen literature while defending the ones mentioned in the article. I thought you were trying to paint the author as a hypocrite for defending some but not all. I really did read it as someone trying to say, “oh yeah, you say content doesn’t matter but then the left comes at the president for his content”.

          I’m so used to seeing fascist takes having become mainstream that I’m overly sensitive. Apologies.

          • Glide@lemmy.ca
            4·
            2 days ago

            Ha, fair enough my dude. Appreciate you saying so, and I apologize for the aggression. I was coming to your comment from another where someone had jumped down my throat, and I became overly defensive, not that that at all excuses me. I’ve certainly misinterpreted things and said shit I regret before too, so I get it. And arguably, maybe I should have been more clear to my point.

            Either way, I appreciate the humility. Have a good one.

            • 4grams@awful.systemsEnglish
              3·
              2 days ago

              You too bud, appreciate the constructive back and forth. I am not exactly artful with my words all the time. This shit has everyone on edge, my apologies as well for any aggression, emotions running high these days.