<p>Very puzzling as to why a student would feel the need to stoop this low.</p>
<p>[Jersey</a> City high school candidate for student gov’t sent racist texts to himself, school official says | NJ.com](<a href=“http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2013/08/the_black_st_peters_prep_student_who_received_racist_text_during_his_run_for_student_council_sent_th.html]Jersey”>Jersey City high school candidate for student gov't sent racist texts to himself, school official says - nj.com)</p>
<p>No matter which side of any issue one falls on, the words venomous and provocateur refer to the tactics used, the approach, the desire to inflame, rather than convey facts.</p>
<p>And, whether the purpose is to attract readers to some media article, draw converts, hold influence and power over others thoughts and actions, raise advertising rates- or simply spew- it’s the delivery that is problematic. The mocking, the summarily concluding. Etc.</p>
<p>So when you run into this, try to be able to identify it for what it is, separate the form from the truth, and, for heaven’s sake, think. Not just blindly assume if it’s NYT or WSJ or Fox, CNN or Air America, that it is absolutely right. Got it?</p>
<p>
This is the problem–if you invest too much in a story like this too soon, it becomes hard to disentangle yourself if the story turns out to be untrue–or even just more complicated. Oberlin invested in the idea that there was a widespread problem on campus, which is why the president had to say in the most recent message that the bad acts were “real.”</p>
<p>What those kids apparently did was stupid, insensitive, inexcusable. </p>
<p>There are controlled experiments in which one tests “fervor.” This was destructive, played into the realities and fears of groups familiar with the threats.</p>
<p>Btw, though, I did find it hard to believe a KKK person would show up on a campus in robes. The heart of the threat is those whose day-to-day actions are based on prejudice and willingness to intimidate.</p>
<p>Ooh…my turn to pay a compliment! </p>
<p>Re: post #62. Exceedingly well done, lookingforward.</p>
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[quote]
So when you run into this, try to be able to identify it for what it is, separate the form from the truth, and, for heaven’s sake, think. Not just blindly assume if it’s NYT or WSJ or Fox, CNN or Air America, that it is absolutely right. Got it? [/quote[
Also, if it is from a source with which you generally disagree, don’t assume it is absolutely wrong. Sometimes it takes the “other” side to hold each accountable.</p>
<p>Ah zoosermom, that’s much harder. When my side says something, it’s probably right. When your side says the exact same thing, it’s definitely wrong.</p>
<p>
Yep. Because if a media outlet on the other side gets it right EVER, then we can’t demonize and marginalize the outlet and its viewers. Then we might have to actually think about the information disseminated on our own side and assess its veracity on a case by case basis. And then, the next thing you know, WHAM! The National Enquirer is actually breaking news about the moral and legal failings of one of our own. Oy. My head!</p>
<p>Thanks back atcha, Sikorsky.</p>
<p>Zoosermom makes a good point. Worthy bits can come from all sides.</p>
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<p>Busdriver, I didn’t realize you were a member of Congress!</p>
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<p>I think this is entirely correct.</p>
<p>Its an attempt at generating a “teachable moment” that happens to fit in with a political agenda. </p>
<p>In that sense it is like the Duke rape hoax.</p>
<p>Good one, Sikorsky! I guess if I was also a bald faced power hungry lying thief, I’d fit the bill perfectly! Honestly, I can’t stand any of them whatsoever, can you tell?</p>
<p>Here’s another article, from another part of the ideological spectrum, that essentially agrees with what some of us have been saying:[Racist</a>, Anti-Semitic, Anti-Gay Graffiti at Oberlin: A Cruel Political Stunt - Conor Friedersdorf - The Atlantic](<a href=“http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/08/the-oberlin-college-hate-incidents-cruel-provocateurs-at-work/278979/]Racist”>http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/08/the-oberlin-college-hate-incidents-cruel-provocateurs-at-work/278979/)
What he says is not really all that different, in its essence, from what Malkin says, either.</p>
<p>But what’s really pathetic about this situation is that the obnoxious behavior by these two guys, whatever their motive, is providing the opportunity for racism-deniers to have a field day with claims that most hate crimes are lefty hoaxes. It’s all over the blogosphere.</p>
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<p>In Malkin’s case, it isn’t just about disagreement. She’s had a 2+ decade long history of making inflammatory polemic comments/statements in her articles and political pundit television programs geared for audiences with right-wing politics. </p>
<p>In that light, it’s understandable and I’d say perfectly justified in regarding anything she writes with deep suspicion/skepticism. </p>
<p>Incidentally, this is the same line of argument I’ve seen from a few ignorant American Japanophiles who are sympathetic to right-wing Japanese revisionist arguments from authors* well known as apologists of Japanese Imperialist militarism. Funny part is anyone who has any working knowledge of the field knows very well the only legitimate reason to read those authors is to know and understand their specious arguments so future generations aren’t deceived. </p>
<ul>
<li>Basically the Japanese Imperialist militarist equivalent of holocaust deniers like David Irving.</li>
</ul>
<p>
Can you point to a specific example where she was wrong, as opposed to offending your delicate sensibilities? Just because someone is a woman doesn’t mean she can’t be a tough talker and say things that some folks would rather remained unsaid.</p>
<p>UCBalumnus posted this:</p>
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</p>
<p>which is wrong as she uses the same national security arguments which has been debunked decades ago. </p>
<p>FYI: The Japanese secret services preferred to use Westerners as agents for industrial/military espionage in the US and Britain as they were much more likely to have greater access and arouse less suspicion in a period when racial prejudice/discrimination was much more prevalent and publicly acceptable. Folks like Rutland of Jutland, William Forbes-Sempill, 19th Lord Sempill, Velvalee Dickinson, John Semer Farnsworth(Lt CDR, USN before dishonorable discharge for debt reasons), Harry Thomson, etc.</p>
<p>Wealthy parents send their sheltered kids to a place like Oberlin to strum guitars, sing Kumbaya, and do some protestin’. It sounds like these guys, one of which was the head of the college dems and a big Obama guy, were on the payroll. Just part of the Oberlin experience, don’t you know.</p>
<p>I think the current song is - We are the world - accompanied by a Sitar. Kumbaya is sooo yesterday. ;)</p>
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<p>I have always been aware that there are many paid actors on this site. </p>
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<p>Those posters who say that these students were liberals, progressives and/or Democrats and so therefore cant have been real racists are practicing enormous compartmentalization. The viciousness of the racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic materials these students spread widely and relentlessly around campus simply does not square with the genuine inner convictions of most progressively minded people. Perhaps these students, in their zeal to make their points about free speech, were under the mistaken impression that their ends justified the means, but no one who has even a bare minimum of sensitivity towards socially oppressed groups would have ever entertained the thought of playing such a sick, twisted joke on a campus full of members of multiple minority groups. Just go to this article, read the attached police report outlining the details of all the base things these students did, and if you can still say that these students are liberal and are not racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic, (and if you can really believe that these students are telling the whole truth) you might do well to examine your own belief system:</p>
<p>[Oberlin</a> Student Says Racist Incidents Were Just A ‘Joke’: Police](<a href=“Oberlin Student Says Racist Incidents Were Just A 'Joke': Police | HuffPost College”>Oberlin Student Says Racist Incidents Were Just A 'Joke': Police | HuffPost College) </p>
<p>I am glad to say that my personal moral belief is that is NEVER OK to make objectively offensive hurtful hateful statements in the name of playing a joke to poke at human reactions to hurt. Reaction to hatred is never overreaction. These two young mens actions were outrageously hurtful and engendered widespread fear in the Oberlin community. Their actions were, in two words, extremely hateful, indeed every bit as hateful as the actions of organized hate groups. Just because there has been no evidence uncovered that they belonged to organized hate groups does not rule out that possibility. These two young men have certainly earned their stripes in the hate group communities. Their actions did attract the attention and admiration of members of recognized organized hate groups, many of whom blogged on recognized supremacist websites about the glorious exploits of these two students. They are boorish, selfish, angry young men, who in their immature youthful zeal went way too far, and their actions will come back to bite them for the rest of their lives. They deserve all the sanctions and negative repercussions they get from having perpetrated these hateful acts. They have a lot of work ahead of them to begin to earn anything resembling respect or forgiveness. They owe a large debt to Oberlin and to the larger society that was hurt by their actions.</p>
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<p>How lovely for you, Hunt, that you are so proud that you were so right all along. Apparently, this whole incident was all about you. Why dont you just visit Oberlin, find several students who were upset and hurt by these events, tell them directly how proud you are that you were right all along, and keep your heart open to what they have to say about your pride in your superior insight and knowledge. One thing about the culture of Oberlin the vast majority of those dang liberal arts students somehow learn to have the moral courage to speak the truth from their hearts, which might be something you could use to hear.</p>
<p>“Just go to this article, read the attached police report outlining the details of all the base things these students did, and if you can still say that these students are liberal and are not racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic”</p>
<p>Huh? You think someone can’t be liberal, racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic? That all the racists, homophobes and anti-Semites must be conservative? If you honestly think that liberal=loving, accepting and open minded, and conservatives are white supremacists who are racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic, you are living in a fantasy world shaped by bias. People are complex, and cannot possibly fit into specific categories of classifications about what they must believe and how they must act.</p>
<p>Or perhaps I misunderstood you.</p>