Telegraph article on Speechless documentary about universities and ideological capture on BBC

[Veilsofmorning]

First time starting a thread, so hope OK.
Article today in the Telegraph about the BBC documentary series Speechless. The tide must have turned and come well in for this to be on BBC?

“Ric Bienstock is a Canadian documentary filmmaker whose two-part documentary series Speechless is now streaming on BBC iPlayer.”
From the article:

“What followed was a near 10-year journey across campuses in North America and the United Kingdom. Again and again, I saw complex issues giving way to ideological certainty. A generation was being taught that disagreement was harmful.”
and
“Universities should be the one place where difficult ideas can be examined without people worrying about damaging their careers. When we teach students that disagreement is violence, that discomfort is harm, that the proper response to an idea you find threatening is to make sure nobody else hears it, we weaken them.”
Gift link below, hopefully.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/23896ce75f82762f

Sounds good and I will have a look but universities shouldn't be 'the one place' we can challenge ideas, we need to be allowed discussion anywhere.

I agree, but it remains notable that this is on BBC i-player

Yes, very pleased it is. Thank you for sharing. We can help it get enough clicks to realise it is worth publishing.

Archive link for when the gift token expires:

https://archive.ph/pU5IQ

It does cover a lot more more than gender issues, but that’s the part that makes it surprising for me

Thanks for the link, a depressing read, but all too believable.

"I saw the university’s president, George Bridges, get accused of a "microaggression" for using hand gestures while trying to calm down a room of angry students. He wasn’t being aggressive. He was just talking with his hands, the way people do. They mocked him, shouted over him and demanded he keep his hands still. Eventually, he did."

It's straight out of Mao's China.

I was in a situation in work where a younger colleague complained about me waving my hands around when I was talking to her, fortunately the manager she was complaining too was of the same age as me and didn't understand it as a "microaggression" but as a normal thing for some people to do when they talk because she did it herself.

The younger generations are really mobminded, I don't see things ending well for them, certainly don't see it ending in Uptopia.

How is waving your hands around when you’re talking a micro aggression? Provided you’re not doing it violently, what’s the supposed problem?

I asked AI and even it couldn't hallucinate an answer. The best it could give me was:

Waving hands while talking becomes a microaggression when it crosses into boundary-crossing physical space, aggressive power plays, or cultural appropriation.

So basically, "it becomes a microaggression when it becomes aggressive," which, duh.

Thank you, I will look out for this on iplayer. Sounds very interesting.

(How do these little bunnies cope in countries where people routinely speak “with their hands” eg Italy?)

No idea, at the risk of falling down the rabbit hole of trying to make sense of the insensible, if you wave a point finger in someone's face when your speaking to them that would be an aggressive gesture.

That however is not what they mean when they say someone's talking with their hands, but the snowflakes in the usual fashion equate any gesturing with your hands when you speak as being the same thing. 🤷

They have obviously never been to a Mediterranean country or watched any cute videos on YouTube of Italian three year olds gesticulating expressively while telling a story: nothing could be further from “aggressive”, which goes to show how American-centric these faddy expressions are.

Funny enough that's exactly what the manager said when the colleague complained about me making hand gestures when I talked 'I'm not Italian but I use my hands when I speak, it's just one of those things". My colleague had no response because she didn't know what the manager was referring to, I did 😁.

Watch and smile Cute toddler using hand gestures NOT aggressively!

This will make your day

Trying to add link but failing

A whole series of videos about the madness at Evergreen State University is on YouTube, including this scene where students demand that the Principal stop moving his hands. Highly recommend, but buckle up- it's nuts!

I've watched this on BBC iPlayer, it is quite eye opening how INSANE some of the students are. If this is what universities are like now then it's no wonder things are so polarised. No critical thinking is done whatsoever. Also, I couldn't fathom just how disrespectful the students were being to the head of the universities, the lecturers and deans. I was at uni over 20 years ago now and it would have never even crossed my mind to speak to anyone like that, never mind the head of the university! Shocking behaviour.

Thanks @Veilsofmorning , I work in a uni and I'll check this documentary out.

A quote from the article (bold bit is my own emphasis):

""White supremacy culture” no longer referred to neo-Nazis but, in some academic circles, now included traits such as perfectionism, individualism and a belief in objectivity"

Wow 😬

I utterly despair. What a generation of useless puffballs that society has raised. If we are ever invaded by aliens, they'll be the first to go!

Yep, along with meritocracy, hard work, ability, everything that the people in the West used to make the modern world, is all now 'evil'.

The postmodern theory of knowledge rejects the Enlightenment principles which underpin the traditional Western philosophy that gave us a knowledge based society.

It's very good and very scary. Kathleen Stocks testimony brought tears to my eyes. These are all amazing, strong educators who have been made to suffer so much by these Mao's Children (and their weak, weak managers).

I also suggest (but buckle up!) Brett Weinsteins series of three videos on YouTube about Evergreen

It also involves a rather disparaging view of 'non-western' cultures. You don't have to look too hard at the artefacts, architecture or literature of other cultures across the broad sweep of human history to see that people were being very meticulous indeed in their work. Perfectionism as a western, white supremacist notion? Maybe we've 'culturally appropriated' it from elsewhere!

‘Duh’ indeed!

It’s like an exercise in ‘what new thing can I find to get offended and upset about, in order to keep me centre of attention, and everyone else running around after me’.

Oh lord. These universities need to give these kids a stern talking to, and a warning to pull their bloody socks up, or they’re out on their ear.

I can see why it might cause a few ruffled feathers if you pointed straight at someone and shouted "J'accuse!". But just waving your arms about? Does anybody remember the TV science presenter Magnus Pyke? He'd be deplatformed, demonetised, doxed and defenestrated were he alive today.

To be fair, at Evergreen, a lot of the staff were as crazy as the students. Google the Evergreen staff meeting canoe scene.

I watched the first episode with my teen. We were gobsmacked by the students’ behaviour. It was appalling. I’m planning to watch the second episode with DH tonight.