this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2024
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[–] [email protected] 107 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That these institutions, especially Columbia who is renowned for their journalism program, caved to pressure is as sad as it is pathetic.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 months ago (3 children)

I think you underestimate the damage Congress can cause if they want to. I want them to stand up as well but getting mad at academic institutions for not fighting the federal government is forgetting who the perpetrator is and putting the onus on the wrong party.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I disagree.
You can't have any kind of moral high ground in a situation where not fighting will get people killed.
Refusing to rally against the disinformation increases the likelihood of it's success.
Who's going to get hurt if it succeeds?
-millions of women with pregnancy complications that will no longer be able to seek abortions to save their lives.
-millions of minorities at the hands of the state whenever Trump eventually institutes concentration camps.
-millions of LGBTQ+ people well also end up in those concentration camps.
-millions of people dependent on things like Medicare and Medicaid will lose health insurance and die from complications.
-millions of children will starve or experience malnutrition when food stamp programs like WIC are canceled.
Those things aren't immediately obvious to the layman but they should be painfully obvious to institutions made up of people who understand the psychology enough to counter disinformation.
Anyone who understands the moral implications of letting the disinformation succeed and still chooses not to fight back against it with everything they have absolutely deserves to be shamed and blamed.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Again, I want them to stand up and push back, but we need to remember who is ultimately the source of the problem here and keep our anger/blame squarely directed at them.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The GOP Congress is the source of the problem solely because people refuse to stand up to them.
If they would stand up and help eliminate the problem there wouldn't be a problem to begin with.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

The GOP is the source of the problem solely because they choose to be one. You are completely missing the issue. Blaming perceived enablers is ridiculous.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I appreciate your patient contributions to this discussion. And I agree with you. This is another case of blaming the victim. When someone makes a threat threatens you the focus needs to be on those making the threat. How you handle the threat is only important if no one stops the aggressor.

Large parts of the GOP want to turn our country into a "what it used to be" that never existed. Destroying our educational system is a critical part of that mission. The lies at the base of their movement are not very effective against people with critical thinking skills, so they want to avoid letting anyone teach those.

These people are a genuine threat because we have allowed them into positions of genuine power. There will be no long-term solutions to the problems they are causing until we get them back out of power.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Appreciate your hearing me out. I think people really want to make this too binary. I do want Stanford and other schools to do the right thing, but we can't act like this is their fault. It's squarely the GOP's and we need to support these universities and encourage them to push back without saying "this is your fault."

[–] [email protected] 71 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I find that excuse defeatist. If a wealthy, affluent, historical institution doesn't stand up and prevent another institution from abusing power who can? It's not like the media who were slowly neutered by their owners. They can and should do better.

Maybe a government grant via an EO can help with the legal costs?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I think you underestimate the damage Congress can cause if they want to.

But they really can't though. The GOP can pass whatever they want in the house. It would be DOA in the senate and would never make it past Biden's desk.

And yes, there's the what-if if Trump wins the election, but they'd still have to gain control of the WH and both chambers of Congress for that to happen. And if the GOP sweeps in November, we have much bigger problems to worry about.

There's really no reason why these colleges should be folding to pressure from the GOP.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

What if they're folding to pressure from their donors, who also are donors to the GOP?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

Then that's even more pathetic.