Cancelling Dr. Seuss

[Langue_doc]

I'm here on vacation during Semana Santa where people process through the street wearing medieval costumes dating back several centuries. These have been co-opted for the past 100 years or so by a group in the United States.

So, what if, at an American university, a group of Spanish Catholic students wanted to share their culture with their new friends by having a procession, with traditional costumes, to show the joy and solemnity of Semana Santa?

Good question and this reminds me of the historically peaceful use of the swastika by many cultures.  I would advise people to avoid doing it out in public because of the confusion it will certainly create.   According to this source, the pointed hood was a creation of Hollywood and not borrowed from Spaniards.
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210816-the-ancient-symbol-that-was-hijacked-by-evil
https://newrepublic.com/article/127242/klan-got-hood

The Nazis appropriated the swastika from a religion that was and continues to be in practice.
From Britannica https://www.britannica.com/topic/swastika

swastika, equilateral cross with arms bent at right angles, all in the same rotary direction, usually clockwise. The swastika as a symbol of prosperity and good fortune is widely distributed throughout the ancient and modern world. The word is derived from the Sanskrit svastika, meaning "conducive to well-being." It was a favourite symbol on ancient Mesopotamian coinage. In Scandinavia the left-hand swastika was the sign for the god Thor's hammer. The swastika also appeared in early Christian and Byzantine art (where it became known as the gammadion cross, or crux gammata, because it could be constructed from four Greek gammas [ Γ ] attached to a common base), and it occurred in South and Central America (among the Maya) and in North America (principally among the Navajo).

In India the swastika continues to be the most widely used auspicious symbol of Hindus, Jainas, and Buddhists. Among the Jainas it is the emblem of their seventh Tirthankara (saint) and is also said to remind the worshiper by its four arms of the four possible places of rebirth—in the animal or plant world, in hell, on Earth, or in the spirit world.

See also the BBC article: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210816-the-ancient-symbol-that-was-hijacked-by-evil

As for the etymology of rapeseed, upthread, see below:

The name for rapeseed comes from the Latin word rapum meaning turnip. Turnip, rutabaga (swede), cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and mustard are related to rapeseed.

[Wahoo Redux]

NBC News: Texas county weighs closing local library after federal judge orders banned books returned to circulation

A small Texas county is weighing whether to shut down its public library system after a federal judge ruled the commissioners violated the constitution by banning a dozen mostly children's books and ordered that they be put back in circulation.

The Llano County commissioners have scheduled for Thursday a special meeting in which the first item on the agenda is whether to "continue or cease operations" at the library.

While Texas is clearly bat **** crazy, what's with all the farts in children's books?

The books that Llano County officials removed from the library shelves include Isabel Wilkerson's "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents"; "They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti; the graphic novel "Spinning" by Tillie Walden; and three books from Dawn McMillan's "I Need a New Butt!" series.

Last year, an assistant principal at a Mississippi elementary school was fired after he read "I Need a New Butt!" to a second-grade class. The reason? Because the book used words like "butt" and "fart" and included cartoon images of a child's butt.

Also removed from the library were Maurice Sendak's "In the Night Kitchen"; Robie H. Harris' "It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health"; and four other children's picture books with "silly themes and rhymes," like "Larry the Farting Leprechaun," "Gary the Goose and His Gas on the Loose"; "Freddie the Farting Snowman" and "Harvey the Heart Has Too Many Farts," according to the complaint.

I guess the authors just know their audience.

[ergative]

NBC News: Texas county weighs closing local library after federal judge orders banned books returned to circulation

A small Texas county is weighing whether to shut down its public library system after a federal judge ruled the commissioners violated the constitution by banning a dozen mostly children's books and ordered that they be put back in circulation.

The Llano County commissioners have scheduled for Thursday a special meeting in which the first item on the agenda is whether to "continue or cease operations" at the library.

While Texas is clearly bat **** crazy, what's with all the farts in children's books?

The books that Llano County officials removed from the library shelves include Isabel Wilkerson's "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents"; "They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti; the graphic novel "Spinning" by Tillie Walden; and three books from Dawn McMillan's "I Need a New Butt!" series.

Last year, an assistant principal at a Mississippi elementary school was fired after he read "I Need a New Butt!" to a second-grade class. The reason? Because the book used words like "butt" and "fart" and included cartoon images of a child's butt.

Also removed from the library were Maurice Sendak's "In the Night Kitchen"; Robie H. Harris' "It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health"; and four other children's picture books with "silly themes and rhymes," like "Larry the Farting Leprechaun," "Gary the Goose and His Gas on the Loose"; "Freddie the Farting Snowman" and "Harvey the Heart Has Too Many Farts," according to the complaint.

I guess the authors just know their audience.

Farts are to children's books what sad boner professors are to Great Literature.

[Wahoo Redux]

Boston Globe: New faculty-led organization at Harvard will defend academic freedom

[little bongo]

NBC News: Texas county weighs closing local library after federal judge orders banned books returned to circulation

A small Texas county is weighing whether to shut down its public library system after a federal judge ruled the commissioners violated the constitution by banning a dozen mostly children's books and ordered that they be put back in circulation.

The Llano County commissioners have scheduled for Thursday a special meeting in which the first item on the agenda is whether to "continue or cease operations" at the library.

While Texas is clearly bat **** crazy, what's with all the farts in children's books?

The books that Llano County officials removed from the library shelves include Isabel Wilkerson's "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents"; "They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti; the graphic novel "Spinning" by Tillie Walden; and three books from Dawn McMillan's "I Need a New Butt!" series.

Last year, an assistant principal at a Mississippi elementary school was fired after he read "I Need a New Butt!" to a second-grade class. The reason? Because the book used words like "butt" and "fart" and included cartoon images of a child's butt.

Also removed from the library were Maurice Sendak's "In the Night Kitchen"; Robie H. Harris' "It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health"; and four other children's picture books with "silly themes and rhymes," like "Larry the Farting Leprechaun," "Gary the Goose and His Gas on the Loose"; "Freddie the Farting Snowman" and "Harvey the Heart Has Too Many Farts," according to the complaint.

I guess the authors just know their audience.

Farts are to children's books what sad boner professors are to Great Literature.

"For as in this world, head winds are far more prevalent than winds from astern (that is, if you never violate the Pythagorean maxim), so for the most part the Commodore on the quarter-deck gets his atmosphere at second hand from the sailors on the forecastle."

Hard to top Melville and Moby-Dick when it comes to fart jokes.

[nebo113]

NBC News: Texas county weighs closing local library after federal judge orders banned books returned to circulation

A small Texas county is weighing whether to shut down its public library system after a federal judge ruled the commissioners violated the constitution by banning a dozen mostly children's books and ordered that they be put back in circulation.

The Llano County commissioners have scheduled for Thursday a special meeting in which the first item on the agenda is whether to "continue or cease operations" at the library.

While Texas is clearly bat **** crazy, what's with all the farts in children's books?

The books that Llano County officials removed from the library shelves include Isabel Wilkerson's "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents"; "They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti; the graphic novel "Spinning" by Tillie Walden; and three books from Dawn McMillan's "I Need a New Butt!" series.

Last year, an assistant principal at a Mississippi elementary school was fired after he read "I Need a New Butt!" to a second-grade class. The reason? Because the book used words like "butt" and "fart" and included cartoon images of a child's butt.

Also removed from the library were Maurice Sendak's "In the Night Kitchen"; Robie H. Harris' "It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health"; and four other children's picture books with "silly themes and rhymes," like "Larry the Farting Leprechaun," "Gary the Goose and His Gas on the Loose"; "Freddie the Farting Snowman" and "Harvey the Heart Has Too Many Farts," according to the complaint.

I guess the authors just know their audience.

Farts are to children's books what sad boner professors are to Great Literature.

"For as in this world, head winds are far more prevalent than winds from astern (that is, if you never violate the Pythagorean maxim), so for the most part the Commodore on the quarter-deck gets his atmosphere at second hand from the sailors on the forecastle."

Hard to top Melville and Moby-Dick when it comes to fart jokes.

Isaiah 16:11....among several

[nebo113]

White due says slavery's good side must be taught in ....Oh never mind.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2021/04/27/louisiana-lawmaker-argues-schools-must-teach-good-of-slavery/?sh=651b7da28cf0

[Wahoo Redux]

A colleague / friend just posted this on Facebook----I'm not sure exactly why.  First published in 2018, it refers to an article published in 2015, both are very prescient. 

The Atlantic: The Coddling of the American Mind 'Is Speeding Up'

In that story, "The Coddling of the American Mind," Lukianoff, a First Amendment lawyer and the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (fire), and Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University, observed that "in the name of emotional well-being, college students are increasingly demanding protection from words and ideas they don't like," and argued that capitulating to requests to banish certain ideas from classrooms and campus events would likely increase student anxiety and depression, rather than ameliorate it.

Three years later, political polarization has only increased, as has anxiety among young people. And unrest on college campuses continues. "Everything's speeding up," Lukianoff says. Haidt and Lukianoff recently published a book, also titled The Coddling of the American Mind, where they go into more detail about the three "Great Untruths" they believe are behind free-speech controversies at America's universities:

THE CODDLING OF THE AMERICAN MIND

Something strange is happening at America's colleges and universities. A movement is arising, undirected and driven largely by students, to scrub campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense. Last December, Jeannie Suk wrote in an online article for The New Yorker about law students asking her fellow professors at Harvard not to teach rape law—or, in one case, even use the word violate (as in "that violates the law") lest it cause students distress. In February, Laura Kipnis, a professor at Northwestern University, wrote an essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education describing a new campus politics of sexual paranoia—and was then subjected to a long investigation after students who were offended by the article and by a tweet she'd sent filed Title IX complaints against her. In June, a professor protecting himself with a pseudonym wrote an essay for Vox describing how gingerly he now has to teach. "I'm a Liberal Professor, and My Liberal Students Terrify Me," the headline said. A number of popular comedians, including Chris Rock, have stopped performing on college campuses (see Caitlin Flanagan's article in this month's issue). Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Maher have publicly condemned the oversensitivity of college students, saying too many of them can't take a joke.

[Parasaurolophus]

Yeah, it sure did anticipate that politicians would ban entire fields of study and seek to rewrite history.

But I guess a student at Oberlin objected to Sodexho calling a pastrami and miracle whip sub a banh mi, so it's a wash or whatever.

Glad we've got our free speech priorities straight!

[marshwiggle]

A colleague / friend just posted this on Facebook----I'm not sure exactly why.  First published in 2018, it refers to an article published in 2015, both are very prescient. 

The Atlantic: The Coddling of the American Mind 'Is Speeding Up'

In that story, "The Coddling of the American Mind," Lukianoff, a First Amendment lawyer and the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (fire), and Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University, observed that "in the name of emotional well-being, college students are increasingly demanding protection from words and ideas they don't like," and argued that capitulating to requests to banish certain ideas from classrooms and campus events would likely increase student anxiety and depression, rather than ameliorate it.

Three years later, political polarization has only increased, as has anxiety among young people. And unrest on college campuses continues. "Everything's speeding up," Lukianoff says. Haidt and Lukianoff recently published a book, also titled The Coddling of the American Mind, where they go into more detail about the three "Great Untruths" they believe are behind free-speech controversies at America's universities:

THE CODDLING OF THE AMERICAN MIND

Something strange is happening at America's colleges and universities. A movement is arising, undirected and driven largely by students, to scrub campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense. Last December, Jeannie Suk wrote in an online article for The New Yorker about law students asking her fellow professors at Harvard not to teach rape law—or, in one case, even use the word violate (as in "that violates the law") lest it cause students distress. In February, Laura Kipnis, a professor at Northwestern University, wrote an essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education describing a new campus politics of sexual paranoia—and was then subjected to a long investigation after students who were offended by the article and by a tweet she'd sent filed Title IX complaints against her. In June, a professor protecting himself with a pseudonym wrote an essay for Vox describing how gingerly he now has to teach. "I'm a Liberal Professor, and My Liberal Students Terrify Me," the headline said. A number of popular comedians, including Chris Rock, have stopped performing on college campuses (see Caitlin Flanagan's article in this month's issue). Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Maher have publicly condemned the oversensitivity of college students, saying too many of them can't take a joke.

One interesting thing from the book is that
Lukianoff himself benefitted fom cognitive behavioral therapy, and so he was concerned that "safety" culture teaches exactly the opposite of CBT so it increases anxiety rather than  alleviating it.

[Diogenes]

A colleague / friend just posted this on Facebook----I'm not sure exactly why.  First published in 2018, it refers to an article published in 2015, both are very prescient. 

The Atlantic: The Coddling of the American Mind 'Is Speeding Up'

In that story, "The Coddling of the American Mind," Lukianoff, a First Amendment lawyer and the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (fire), and Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University, observed that "in the name of emotional well-being, college students are increasingly demanding protection from words and ideas they don't like," and argued that capitulating to requests to banish certain ideas from classrooms and campus events would likely increase student anxiety and depression, rather than ameliorate it.

Three years later, political polarization has only increased, as has anxiety among young people. And unrest on college campuses continues. "Everything's speeding up," Lukianoff says. Haidt and Lukianoff recently published a book, also titled The Coddling of the American Mind, where they go into more detail about the three "Great Untruths" they believe are behind free-speech controversies at America's universities:

THE CODDLING OF THE AMERICAN MIND

Something strange is happening at America's colleges and universities. A movement is arising, undirected and driven largely by students, to scrub campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense. Last December, Jeannie Suk wrote in an online article for The New Yorker about law students asking her fellow professors at Harvard not to teach rape law—or, in one case, even use the word violate (as in "that violates the law") lest it cause students distress. In February, Laura Kipnis, a professor at Northwestern University, wrote an essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education describing a new campus politics of sexual paranoia—and was then subjected to a long investigation after students who were offended by the article and by a tweet she'd sent filed Title IX complaints against her. In June, a professor protecting himself with a pseudonym wrote an essay for Vox describing how gingerly he now has to teach. "I'm a Liberal Professor, and My Liberal Students Terrify Me," the headline said. A number of popular comedians, including Chris Rock, have stopped performing on college campuses (see Caitlin Flanagan's article in this month's issue). Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Maher have publicly condemned the oversensitivity of college students, saying too many of them can't take a joke.

The Podcast "If Books Could Kill" eviscerated many of the claims made in the original Atlantic piece and subsequent book. It's got a lot of profanity but worth listening to https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/id1651876897?i=1000603422829

[Diogenes]

One interesting thing from the book is that
Lukianoff himself benefitted fom cognitive behavioral therapy, and so he was concerned that "safety" culture teaches exactly the opposite of CBT so it increases anxiety rather than  alleviating it.

That's a wild bit of speculation on his part. Apples and Oranges. Controlled CBT is not the same as making people hear things randomly out in the world. Form one psych prof to another, the co-author of the book, I'm shocked Haidt would let that slide.

[marshwiggle]

One interesting thing from the book is that
Lukianoff himself benefitted fom cognitive behavioral therapy, and so he was concerned that "safety" culture teaches exactly the opposite of CBT so it increases anxiety rather than  alleviating it.

That's a wild bit of speculation on his part. Apples and Oranges. Controlled CBT is not the same as making people hear things randomly out in the world. Form one psych prof to another, the co-author of the book, I'm shocked Haidt would let that slide.

Whatever one thinks of the book, there's lots of evidence of increased anxiety among Millenials and Gen Z. Given that some previous generations actually grew up in wartime, society is doing worse at preparing young people for adult life than previous generations did.

[Wahoo Redux]

One interesting thing from the book is that
Lukianoff himself benefitted fom cognitive behavioral therapy, and so he was concerned that "safety" culture teaches exactly the opposite of CBT so it increases anxiety rather than  alleviating it.

That's a wild bit of speculation on his part. Apples and Oranges. Controlled CBT is not the same as making people hear things randomly out in the world. Form one psych prof to another, the co-author of the book, I'm shocked Haidt would let that slide.

Whatever one thinks of the book, there's lots of evidence of increased anxiety among Millenials and Gen Z. Given that some previous generations actually grew up in wartime, society is doing worse at preparing young people for adult life than previous generations did.

Not sure that that's true, Marshy.

There were plenty of neurosis, addictions, sexual and other deviances, wealth gaps, familial dysfunction, not to mention overt institutional sexism and racism, and all that other crap to go around back in the day.  Find out anything about your grandparents and great grandparents and their people and you will see.  I certainly witnessed it on both sides of my family line.  The difference is that our predecessors didn't talk about these things in the same manner and measure that we do.  Perhaps we discuss too much, actually, and this is creating the paranoia and over-sensitivity on our college campuses.  Still, there is nothing new under the sun.

The current generation grew up after 9/11, the introduction of meth, 2008, now COVID and the Floyd murder, and many have served overseas in one of our various military campaigns.  They are certainly tougher than our generation, Marshman.

Just don't fall into the curmudgeon trap.

[marshwiggle]

The current generation grew up after 9/11, the introduction of meth, 2008, now COVID and the Floyd murder, and many have served overseas in one of our various military campaigns.  They are certainly tougher than our generation, Marshman.

Just don't fall into the curmudgeon trap.

Since there are young people who are refugees, and actually grew up in war zones, they should be way more stressed out than native- born youth. That doesn't seem to be the case. Also, the most "snowflakey" campuses tend to be ones primarily serving rich white kids.