You might recall that an adjunct professor was let go from Hamline University after a Muslim student complained about a depiction of the prophet Muhammad shown in class. The immediate responses were not terribly surprising to me. Given past incidents, I assumed that college administrators would have an interest towards affirming the student's complaint, no matter how unreasonable it was. This panned out, with the university president issuing a
“In reality a trigger warning is an indication that you are going to do harm.”
oh, yawn. are we channeling a 19-year-old college sophomore campus activist here?
“you’ve seen what happened in the horrible tragedies of Charlie Hebdo...”
jesus f’n christ, my dude, are you trying to tell us that every aggrieved Muslim will shoot we Great Satans in the streets with glee and abandon? the CAIR rep who visited my own college after 9/11 took great pains to say the exact opposite.
One thing that struck me about the whole Hamline incident was that it didn’t seem to be about religious freedom at all, but rather was about a member of a group considered oppressed under the progressive stack being offended. A Christian creationist would not have had any sway in kicking out a professor that teaches evolution even if it was deeply offensive to the creationist. Jewish pro-Zionist students don’t have sway even if they think BDS groups actively harm them.
Yes, but I'd say the shift started earlier. The islamophobia scare has been on the decline since the early 2010s and the concept has been getting less and less useful as a rhetorical cudgel; what happened at Hamline is the fall of its last redoubts. Even five years ago, people were trying to cancel Rukmini Callimachi over bullshit accusations of islamophobia and it didn't stick at all (although her getting duped by a fabulist source did her in eventually).
“In reality a trigger warning is an indication that you are going to do harm.”
oh, yawn. are we channeling a 19-year-old college sophomore campus activist here?
“you’ve seen what happened in the horrible tragedies of Charlie Hebdo...”
jesus f’n christ, my dude, are you trying to tell us that every aggrieved Muslim will shoot we Great Satans in the streets with glee and abandon? the CAIR rep who visited my own college after 9/11 took great pains to say the exact opposite.
One thing that struck me about the whole Hamline incident was that it didn’t seem to be about religious freedom at all, but rather was about a member of a group considered oppressed under the progressive stack being offended. A Christian creationist would not have had any sway in kicking out a professor that teaches evolution even if it was deeply offensive to the creationist. Jewish pro-Zionist students don’t have sway even if they think BDS groups actively harm them.
I wrote about this a few weeks ago: https://societystandpoint.substack.com/p/haram-at-hamline
I do very much hope so, Mr Meskhout. The day that people are prosecuted for disrespecting religion (of any kind) is a dark day for the Western world.
Yes, but I'd say the shift started earlier. The islamophobia scare has been on the decline since the early 2010s and the concept has been getting less and less useful as a rhetorical cudgel; what happened at Hamline is the fall of its last redoubts. Even five years ago, people were trying to cancel Rukmini Callimachi over bullshit accusations of islamophobia and it didn't stick at all (although her getting duped by a fabulist source did her in eventually).