Another professor bites the dust

[Langue_doc]

Columbia professor bites the dust for failing to bite his tongue.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/23/nyregion/columbia-jeffrey-lieberman.html

According to the article

The chair of the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry was suspended on Wednesday, "effective immediately," after referring to a dark-skinned model as possibly a "freak of nature" on Twitter.

[mamselle]

W-H-A-A-A-T???????

M.

[Dismal]

Its weird that he even commented at all.

[Parasaurolophus]

She's not a work of art, either. She's a person, not an artifact.

The entire thing jusy exhibits very, very poor judgement, and raises questions about his behaviour more generally. Does he treat students in the same way?

[downer]

It definitely shows that it is a really bad idea to post on Twitter if you are a prominent person. If you need the exposure, pay someone else to do your tweets for you.

He wrote: "Whether a work of art or a freak of nature she's a beautiful sight to behold."

He was commenting on a post on the twitter feed of https://twitter.com/zg4ever which is basically a clickbait feed with the words in its page
"To Hell with racism, fascism, trumpism
ONE PLANET - ONE PEOPLE"

Lieberman commented on a picture of Nyakim Gatwech. The tweet says

It is not a work of art made of black stone or granite. She is Sudanese model Nyakim Gatwech. The most beautiful among the black beauties. She is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the darkest skin ever seen on earth. She is also known as the QUEEN OF DARK.

https://twitter.com/zg4ever/status/1494445377906520066

As is pretty usual these days, people took Lieberman's comment as an opportunity to cancel him with a "gotcha", as if his tweet proves he is racist. That's obviously the most mean spirited interpretion possible. It's also really dumb to assume that.

I feel bad for the guy.

[Parasaurolophus]

It's not much of a compliment, considering the false dilemma. (A v B) ^ C doesn't tread a whole lot of water even if C is a compliment. Compare: Whether he's a pedophile or a nazi, he makes a mean gespacho.

She's also not in the Guiness Book of World Records, and Guiness does not attempt to measure or record skin tone. He also seems to have apologized to everyone except her.

[downer]

Curiously, the twitter feed zg4ever has also not apologized to Gatwech or even retracted its GBoWR comment. It is still tweeting a stream of clickbait.

Gatwech's main concern is clear from her comment: "Unfortunately, I believe this has been impacting my @instagram account negatively."

[mahagonny]

She's also not in the Guiness Book of World Records, and Guiness does not attempt to measure or record skin tone. He also seems to have apologized to everyone except her.

I still hold the fairest skin, blondest hair, most unearned privilege record.

[Ruralguy]

I think most of us should just post anywhere (save for here, and anonymously, of course).

It was a dumb comment, and he shouldn't have made it.

[mahagonny]

I think most of us should just post anywhere (save for here, and anonymously, of course).

It was a dumb comment, and he shouldn't have made it.

I think you meant 'should not post anywhere.' If so I would agree.

You can certainly make fun of people for having white skin. 'Pasty white' I think is the de rigueur phrase.

There are way more dumb comments than there are harmful comments.

I was just watching an hour-long video with Dr. Wilfred Reilly in which he debunks the common media narratives of today, then advises everyone to go along with the DEI rituals, quietly, and refrain from saying anything, at the minimum, until one has tenure.

[Ruralguy]

I meant "not", yes.

[ciao_yall]

Calling a human being a "freak of nature" is just weird.

From the article:

"To not understand how racist language like that is harmful when your profession is supposed to care for the mental health of people makes you unqualified to be a psychiatrist at all, let alone the chief of the top program," Dr. Lett said in an interview.

[Wahoo Redux]

This belongs on the cancel thread.

While Lieberman's comment was incredibly tone deaf and idiotically worded (particularly for a psychiatrist), the reaction to a Twitter comment is typical of our current zeitgeist of hysteria.

He does call her "most beautiful," which does not seem to have carried much impact.   He practically threw himself out a fifth story window he apologized so much. 

He treats schizophrenia.  How will any of this help his patients? 

And once again, we have someone whose career is badly damaged if not ruined by a private speech act.

So fine, Lieberman is a moron and a maxi-zoom-dweebie dickhead----but do we have to metaphorically tar and feather the guy!?  Is his moronic, insensitive tweet REALLY an act of "racism?"

[Wahoo Redux]

BTW, I present this:

Andre the Giant

As I watched the HBO documentary on Andre The Giant, I couldn't help but get emotional and start to cry.

The larger than life pro wrestling legend was well-known for being able to cover a man's face with his hand, shake an opponent like a rag doll, and drink anyone under the table after a fight. The epitome of a freak of nature, Andre Rene Roussimoff was also a tortured soul. A man beside the modern world desperately trying to fit in and find a comfortable place to sit, both literally and figuratively.

What should our reaction to gigantism be?

[Ruralguy]

There's really no need for pejorative terms such as "freak", even for Andre the Giant, and even if it gets more people to watch.