Cont: Cancel culture IRL Part 2

[lionking]

Robby Soave wrote, "The University of Michigan is a public institution at which students and professors deserve free speech and expression rights. It is a violation of the university's cherished principles of academic freedom to punish Sheng for the choices he makes in the classroom. Screening a racially problematic film in an educational setting is neither a racist act nor an endorsement of racism. At this point, it is Sheng who is owed an apology from the broader university community for falsely maligning him."

I would go slightly further and say that (with some narrow exceptions) professors have first amendment rights at a public university (the distinction between public and private universities is worth making in this regard).

Before I read this article I thought “this surely can’t be about Olivier’s Othello”. Of course it was.

Yes everyone has moved on from blackface, but I thought this movie was masterful. I first watched it as school student struggling to come to terms with Shakespeare, and this movie helped greatly.

At least the University didn’t buckle. I personally don’t believe that Sheng even needed to apologise. He explained the reasons he chose the film, and that should have been enough.

 

[Elaedith]

Before I read this article I thought “this surely can’t be about Olivier’s Othello”. Of course it was.

Yes everyone has moved on from blackface, but I thought this movie was masterful. I first watched it as school student struggling to come to terms with Shakespeare, and this movie helped greatly.

At least the University didn’t buckle. I personally don’t believe that Sheng even needed to apologise. He explained the reasons he chose the film, and that should have been enough.

Cathy Young wrote an article about the Sheng case.

"If Sheng apologized for showing the film in class, I don’t think he needed to. It would have been enough to acknowledge the objections and discomfort and say that he should have introduced the screening with a disclaimer. It would have also helped to throw in a reminder that people who study art should know how to deal with classical art that is offensive by modern standards. And dropping the entire Othello project was totally unnecessary."

I think these apologies (especially by the university) are a mistake. It just fuels the witch hunts and purity spirals.

 

[d4m10n]

Just wait until they hear about how Shakespearean-era troupes shut out actresses altogether.

 

[theprestige]

Cathy Young wrote an article about the Sheng case.

"If Sheng apologized for showing the film in class, I don’t think he needed to. It would have been enough to acknowledge the objections and discomfort and say that he should have introduced the screening with a disclaimer. It would have also helped to throw in a reminder that people who study art should know how to deal with classical art that is offensive by modern standards. And dropping the entire Othello project was totally unnecessary."

I think these apologies (especially by the university) are a mistake. It just fuels the witch hunts and purity spirals.

All this ends with the guillotine or the gulag.

 

[Graham2001]

An interesting editorial in The Atlantic on the Dorian Abbot (The guy who bought up Hitler when discussing the Woke. He's right, both wanted 'compliant' academia.) cancellation.

Dorian Abbot is a geophysicist at the University of Chicago. In recognition of his research on climate change, MIT invited him to deliver the John Carlson Lecture, which takes place every year at a large venue in the Boston area and is meant to “communicate exciting new results in climate science to the general public.”

Then the campaign to cancel Abbot’s lecture began. On Twitter, some students and professors called on the university to retract its invitation. And, sure enough, MIT buckled, becoming yet another major institution in American life to demonstrate that the commitment to free speech it trumpets on its website evaporates the moment some loud voices on social media call for a speaker’s head.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/10/why-latest-campus-cancellation-different/620352/

 

[Graham2001]

The Fire.Org on the cancellation of Bright Sheng for 'thoughtcrime'. Of note Bright Sheng is BIPOC in some situations, he's 'White Adjacant' in others, which goes to show the arbitary nature of much of the 'Theory of Critical Race'

Listing Professor Bright Sheng’s accolades, which span both music and higher education, is no small task. Despite the family piano being removed from his home during Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution as a child, Sheng was able to cultivate both his talent and passion for music as he grew up. He was awarded a MacArthur fellowship in 2001, and has twice been a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. Since 1995, he has honed his musical and teaching expertise as the Leonard Bernstein Distinguished University Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan, far from his native Shanghai.

But in what has become an increasingly common-sounding story, Sheng has stepped down from teaching his composition seminar at the university’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance after a campus uproar. His offense? Showing the class a 1965 version of William Shakespeare’s classic Othello starring legendary actor Sir Laurence Olivier in the title role.

https://www.thefire.org/university-...omplain-about-blackface-in-1965-othello-film/


I will note the linked article ends with a 'puff' for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, but it's still worth reading.

 

[Graham2001]

Jerry Coyne on the attacks on Kathleen Stock's situation where she is subjected to abuse and threats for arguing that biological sex is not a social construct.

So what if the Times of London is a Tory paper? Gender-critical feminist Professor Kathleen Stock of Sussex needs a stalwart defense and they gave it to her. There was NO defense from the Guardian, of course, just a new article about how Stock’s own union (the University and College Union) is investigating her for transphobia, and that Stock feels that her teaching career is “effectively ended”. The Guardian loves that, and they would get rid of Stock if they had the power. They are reprehensible, especially on issues of freedom of speech.

https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2021...stocks-freedom-of-expresson-and-so-should-we/


He also includes a screenshot of the full Times editorial, which is quite decent of him.

 

[Cain]

I was playing with my niece tonight, and to hyperbolize a distance she says, "Further than from here to Antarctica." She quickly added, "I used to say 'from here to China,' but that's racist."

I'm still reporting her to the Internet for past racism.

 

[Chris_Halkides]

A Verdi good point

The headline is "Oppose the right-wing, racialist attack on composer Bright Sheng at University of Michigan." The statement reads in part, "The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) at the University of Michigan denounces the racialist smear campaign against renowned composer, conductor and pianist Bright Sheng. The claim by a group of students and faculty that he committed a “racist act” by screening a film version of Othello with Laurence Olivier is as badly informed as it is false. All serious and democratic-minded students should refuse to be intimidated and come to Sheng’s defense." World Socialist Web Site..

The statement continued: Any suggestion that there is a hint of racism about Olivier’s performance is preposterous. The actor takes pains to bestow his character with the greatest possible dignity and humanity. The Michigan Daily wrote that in a letter sent to the Daily Sheng explained “that the original intent was to show how the opera composer Giuseppe Verdi had adapted Shakespeare’s play into an opera. Since cross-casting was frequent in opera, he did not think Laurence Olivier’s performance was ‘intended to be the same as the minstrel performances which did degrade African Americans.’” More on the IYSSE here.

The FIRE's Robert Shibley wrote, "But at public universities, the application of these mores through official discipline or punishment is prohibited by the First Amendment."

 

[d4m10n]

Jerry Coyne on the attacks on Kathleen Stock's situation where she is subjected to abuse and threats for arguing that biological sex is not a social construct.

https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2021...stocks-freedom-of-expresson-and-so-should-we/

Finishing up Stock's book today—usually try to push back on attempted cancellations by buying the cancellee's latest treatise—it's a fairly compelling read. She addresses many of the issues raised in the trans thread with a reasonable level of philosophical rigor.

 

[Ron Obvious]

I was playing with my niece tonight, and to hyperbolize a distance she says, "Further than from here to Antarctica." She quickly added, "I used to say 'from here to China,' but that's racist."

I'm still reporting her to the Internet for past racism.

I was chastised the other day for saying "Remember, there are billion Chinese who don't give a damn."

I thought it was still a current expression, but in the present climate maybe it was assumed that I was implying Chinese people were particularly callous or something. Who knows?

 

[Distracted1]

I was playing with my niece tonight, and to hyperbolize a distance she says, "Further than from here to Antarctica." She quickly added, "I used to say 'from here to China,' but that's racist."

I'm still reporting her to the Internet for past racism.

Our cultural revolution is going gloriously.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

Today in cancel culture news, fascist propagandist and milkshake survivor Andy Ngo filed a frivolous DMCA copyright complaint against antifascist Chad Loder, who was sharing a photo of Andy posing with a known Polish fascist group.

It's unclear whether Andy is actually the copyright holder for the photo, as he clearly didn't take the photo, and it almost certainly would qualify as "fair use" as a piece of political commentary on his close affiliation with international fascist orgs.

Loder has also been the target of frivolous "Protection orders" from local LA fascists, who have been openly making death threats and advertising both his home address and the fact that he cannot possess firearms while the order is pending. One fascist also attacked him outside the courthouse when he was responding to this order. That man was later arrested for an unrelated armed assault on a journalist during an fascist/anti-trans (but I repeat myself) rally at Wi Spa.

As of result of this pathetic attempt of censorship, the Streisand effect has seen the image of Ngo associating with Polish fascists proliferating across the web, and may result in the notorious propagandist being finally permabanned from the service, as false DMCA claims are against the TOS.

Dear Twitterverse, please enjoy this photo of Andy Ngo posing in front of some Polish fascist graffiti (that's what the yellow arrow is pointing towards), which he keeps filing fraudulent DMCA takedown requests in order to suppress.

https://twitter.com/evacide/status/1449810350828752896

ETA: Fascists are now making threats to stalk Ken White (aka Popehat) and his adopted children in retribution for his work representing Loder as his lawyer.

https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1449861334858756101

 

[TurkeysGhost]

Bari Weiss, on CNN, claiming she is being silenced by outlets like CNN.

Can we stop pretending this is anything but a self-aggrandizing grift for mediocre (yet incredibly well compensated) pundits?

https://twitter.com/BMeiselas/status/1450129205451051015

“I’m being silenced by CNN,” she said during her interview on CNN.

 

[angrysoba]

Bari Weiss, on CNN, claiming she is being silenced by outlets like CNN.

Can we stop pretending this is anything but a self-aggrandizing grift for mediocre (yet incredibly well compensated) pundits?

https://twitter.com/BMeiselas/status/1450129205451051015

 

[TurkeysGhost]

NEW: As a result of advertisers and ad networks fleeing Andy Ngo's publication The Post Millennial, the site's cost-per-mille (CPM) — a measure of the average cost for 1,000 ad impressions — has dropped to $0.11.

An astonishing drop in the real-time bidding price for ads on TPM.

https://twitter.com/nandoodles/status/1450309449130909696

Ad revenue for Andy Ngo's fascist propaganda mill is plummeting thanks to a concerted effort by internet activists. Turns out most companies do not like it when their products are featured along side fascist propaganda, and most have been willing to exclude The Post Millennial from their ad buys when they are made aware.

 

[angrysoba]

I wonder what Bari Weiss will make of this….

News that Mel Gibson is to star in the John Wick prequel TV series sends out a cry amongst the faithful. Mel is risen! Yet again! Yes, the boulder has once more been rolled away from the tomb of cancellation, leaving disciples and those who think people should at least say sorry once for being obnoxiously appalling now contemplating a place of emptiness. Nothing gets resurrected more often than Mel – not even pussy-bow blouses or the Batman story. It’s like the old Hollywood saying goes: he’ll for ever eat lunch in this town again.

Before we go on, a recap of the details: cinema’s Mel Gibson has landed a role in The Continental, a TV spin-off of the successful John Wick movie franchise, which will air on Starz. Scientifically speaking, there can only be a finite amount of niceness in the John Wick universe, and having all-round good egg Keanu Reeves as the eponymous character in the movies means at some point you have to balance him out with someone with a truly toxic “Controversies” section to their Wikipedia entry. Mel’s very much your guy!

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...mestic-violence-racism?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

[Emily's Cat]

I've seen a lot of people bad mouthing Bari Weiss, and I really don't know why. I've read some of their articles. Some are okay, some are boring, some are annoying. They don't seem like a wingnut or anything.

What's the backstory on why they get such derision?

 

[TurkeysGhost]

I've seen a lot of people bad mouthing Bari Weiss, and I really don't know why. I've read some of their articles. Some are okay, some are boring, some are annoying. They don't seem like a wingnut or anything.

What's the backstory on why they get such derision?

The Self-Cancellation of Bari Weiss
Like much of her writing, the former New York Times editor’s resignation letter is long on accusation and thin on evidence.

https://web.archive.org/web/20210103093242/https://newrepublic.com/article/158535/self-cancellation-bari-weiss

 

[smartcooky]

I've seen a lot of people bad mouthing Bari Weiss, and I really don't know why. I've read some of their articles. Some are okay, some are boring, some are annoying. They don't seem like a wingnut or anything.

What's the backstory on why they get such derision?

Well she's gay, so that will put her offside with a substantial percentage of people; she's Jewish, and very pro-Israel so that will be another reason to regarded unfavourably by some.

Also, when your writings receive praise from the likes of scumbags like Donnie Jr, Cancun Cruz, Marco Rubio and Ben Shapiro, that is going to get you regarded with some suspicion on the political left.

For mine, I quite like her. I think she's hard to pin down, and has a few somewhat quirky ideas e.g. she didn't think Drunky McRapeface's sexual assault of Christine Blasey Ford ought to have been disqualifying for a seat on SCOTUS