Tell your kids not to play an online version of Cards Against Humanity.
Someone should notify Kathy Griffin not to expect an honorary Harvard degree anytime soon.
They shouldn’t have their admissions rescinded for what they find humorous.
@GnocchiB The rest of the article rehashes what has been reported elsewhere. The part that I quoted is the only thing I hadn’t seen before. The donor parents were not identified.
@Bobbybob444555 What they find humorous in this case says a lot about the maturity and mindset of these kids. In your posting history you state that you have been suspended twice in high school already for bullying. Did you find that humorous at the time?
Regarding frontal lobe development, at what age do you draw the line. a couple of years ago several 25 year old fourth year dental students at Dalhousie University in Canada got in trouble for similar postings.
@TomSrOfBoston They were sending messages to each other. They have the right to have dark humor. The first time in middle schools wasn’t because of that.
If you read the Crimson article, this was in a ‘private’ group with Harvard’s name on it. When will these people figure out there is no such thing as ‘privacy’ in the online world? Is that what the new name is, dark humor? Well, they will now practice their dark humor somewhere else.
@Bobbybob444555 They have a right to dark humor, but they don’t have a right to attend Harvard, its real simple, social media usually doesn’t help you achieve anything and can hurt your chances of achieving something.
I’m not buying the premise that online gaming is the equivalent of making fun of sexual assault, the Holocaust, the deaths of children, the abuse of children being sexually arousing and the hanging of a Mexican child. Welcome to the Year 2017.
And I’m more than happy to cast stones in glass houses. That may be dark humor to some, but that’s “screwed up in the head” to me. As I said earlier, our local schools give a semester long class in 6th grade where kids earn their “digital drivers license.”
Only 10 students got their admissions rescinded, so most of Harvard’s Class of 2021 knew where the red line had to be drawn.
The Boston Globe has two opinion pieces today on this same issue. One includes information about brain development in an effort, I think, to explain to those who might be middle aged like me, how it could possibly be that these kids would have engaged in this misconduct and more importantly, how it really is not possible to discern substantial character flaws from this conduct.
As I have posted earlier on this thread, it is very easy to judge these young adults harshly. It actually takes effort to try to understand the misconduct and think through appropriate responses.
They may or may not have “character flaws”, I don’t know, but there’s always “cause and effect” for your actions. Remember, only 10 kids didn’t get IT. Nearly the entire Class of 2021 did. These 10 kids lost big. But Harvard felt the punishment fit the “crime.”
Given that Harvard allegedly allowed the accused students to respond, it does sound as if they did the above. They came up with their own definition of the “appropriate” response that may not correspond with yours or mine, but they really don’t have to consider our definition. At the end of the day, they have to take the action that they deem fitting. I really doubt they took this lightly or without a good deal of thought and discussion.
Can you attend Harvard if you enjoy and laugh at Blazing Saddles?
@Bobbybob444555 , dark humor is Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”, or a Dead End road sign in front of a cemetery, and occasionally, taboo subjects if done in the right context, such as the previously cited film,“Life is Beautiful.” To use a quote from post 127, “making fun of sexual assault, the Holocaust, the deaths of children, the abuse of children being sexually arousing and the hanging of a Mexican child” crosses a line of being merely taboo.
You brushing these things off as mere “dark humor” says a lot about you. There is a reason pedophilia is illegal, that people are STILL being prosecuted for Holocaust war crimes, and that sexual assault is a crime. Those students crossed the line and deserved what happened. They don’t get to have fun at the expense of real people who are or were victims of terrible occurrences like those used in the memes.
^Agreed. Anyone who thinks this is merely dark humor and not subject to disciplinary measures or, in the context of this message board, defends those who consider it appropriate on any level, needs to examine their own conscience. It reveals an incredible lack of judgement at the very least.
The tone of moral superiority on this board is just amazing. It is this same judgemental PC elitism that has killed comedy on campuses (see, e.g., http://www.salon.com/2015/06/10/10_famous_comedians_on_how_political_correctness_is_killing_comedy_we_are_addicted_to_the_rush_of_being_offended/).
I suspect that, legally, these students could not have been expelled from any public university for their actions. It says a lot about the attitudes at Harvard that they don’t respect the same principles of freedom of expression and association.
@foosondaughter I’d rather be morally superior than morally inferior.
I can’t post the link because of ToS, however, google is your friend. A website called The Tab has screenshots of the memes. Once one sees them, I’m not sure how anyone can condone the students’ actions.
Put me in the basket of moral superior beings. Nothing PC about pushing back against racism, pedophiles, killing children, and acknowledging that nothing about the Holocaust is even remotely funny. This is not about snowflakes or safe spaces, this is about common decency, something that these students lacked.
Wow. Those posts are pretty vile.
There were a handful who defended Kathy Griffin but as she discovered her free speech actions have consequences.