Holding Science Accountable for White Supremacy- Or, The Dumbest Article You'll Read This Week

[truthatallcost]

As if the title of this article isn't silly enough, Columbia writer Madeline Leibovitch decries science, and especially physics to be chalked full of white supremacy, because 1 drunk guy acted like an ass on a college campus.

By Madeline Leibovitch-

On Sunday, Dec. 9, Julian von Abele, CC ’21, a sophomore in the physics department, made a series of claims perpetuating white male supremacy, especially in science, and further harassed a group of primarily Black women on campus. This incident of racism that occurred on campus showed that science and physics academia blatantly and covertly attacks minorities—and their ability to be a part of the field. His rhetoric further reflected an existing pattern in science academia at Columbia as a whole, and more specifically in the physics department.

Which will now be completely contradicted by Leibovitch's next 2 paragraphs.

A group of undergraduates studying physics at Columbia felt particularly troubled that online comments in forums defending von Abele’s rant used his work in physics as a smokescreen—painting his bigotry as an inflammatory outburst of a brilliant mind. Following the video’s release, members of the undergraduate physics community at Columbia and Barnard decided that it was important to stand against the supremacist's hateful remarks—to debunk and dismantle them from the standpoint of scientists.

An open letter to the Columbia community denouncing the bigotry expressed by someone within the department was drafted and later signed by the Society of Physics Students, Columbia Society for Women in Physics, and more than 150 Columbia and Barnard physics majors.

Continuing with the ridiculousness theme...

As a non-Black woman of color, it is important for me to acknowledge that I will never know the experiences of the Black students who were harassed and who are on our campus, as this act of white supremacy was a reflection of the racism that still runs rampant everywhere in our community.

Leibovitch's community at Columbia includes 1/4 undergraduates of Jewish heritage, free 10 day holidays to Israel for any Jewish student, and kosher food services on campus. Sounds like a beacon of white supremacy to be, but I'm not an all wise woman of color like Leibovitvh is, so my opinion is probably not valued.

https://www.columbiaspectator.com/o...ce-accountable-for-upholding-white-supremacy/

https://www.hillel.org/college-guide/list/record/columbia-university

I realize Madeline Leibovitch is still a student, but she's attending one of the most prestigious private universities in the country. This is the quality of education at a highly prized institution of higher learning? She sounds too spoiled and sheltered to realize how dumb she sounds.

 

[Beaudreaux]

Kids say and do stupid things, especially those of high school and college age because they’re exploring the bounds of their intellect, and someone told them they’re smart and they believe they know more than the rest of us. That’s not a bad thing overall, because it fosters creative thinking, which when applied in a controlled manner leads to many advances in our human condition. It’s just that at that age they think they can prove anything that pops in their heads because in their minds they are smarter than everyone else. Some will grow out of it. Those that don’t will run for Congress. Or President.

 

[truthatallcost]

Kids say and do stupid things, especially those of high school and college age because they’re exploring the bounds of their intellect, and someone told them they’re smart and they believe they know more than the rest of us. That’s not a bad thing overall, because it fosters creative thinking, which when applied in a controlled manner leads to many advances in our human condition. It’s just that at that age they think they can prove anything that pops in their heads because in their minds they are smarter than everyone else. Some will grow out of it. Those that don’t will run for Congress. Or President.

Or end up with a job at CNN.

 

[Ouroboros]

Yes, this is the same old "throw out the baby with the bathwater" orientation one sees in prominent members of the Radical Left today.

At least the old-line Marxists thought they had a new system with which they would replace the previous hierarchy.

 

[UtahBill]

Kids say and do stupid things, especially those of high school and college age because they’re exploring the bounds of their intellect, and someone told them they’re smart and they believe they know more than the rest of us. That’s not a bad thing overall, because it fosters creative thinking, which when applied in a controlled manner leads to many advances in our human condition. It’s just that at that age they think they can prove anything that pops in their heads because in their minds they are smarter than everyone else. Some will grow out of it. Those that don’t will run for Congress. Or President.

My college educated kids say I have a wealth of useless knowledge, and I can't deny it. But at one time most of that knowledge WAS useful....if only for a time. A lot of the knowledge being generated today will become useless soon enough. Perhaps history will judge us kindly as the half life of new knowledge is horribly short.
Boomers and Millennials can claim to be superior to Gen X and Z...they don't even get a label, just a letter.

 

[Myview]

Ms. Liebovitch is a Junior at Barnard which has a partnership with Columbia. The OP ED you reference doesn't have anything to do with classroom activity and academics at Columbia or Barnard. Other people besides Ms Libovitch contributed to the op ed. As with any campus of higher education idealism and other isms sometimes stir up the students to voice opinions in the student news apparatus. Ms. Liebovitch and other students of Physics at Bernard and Columbia felt compelled to rebut Mr. Abele. No where in the article does it say Abele was drunk. If he was the physics students didn't excuse his racist behavior. He is under investigation by Columbia's office of Student Conduct and community standards. This incident follows a few years of incidents of hate speech and hate crimes on Ivy league campuses. Ms, Liebovitch and contributors went on to decry the lack of Nobel winners in Physics coming from African Americans or people of color. They also decried the structure in the sciences that decides who gets to do science. They postulate that inequalities exist despite there being qualified women of color and women from other minorities. Their rebuttal was hacked by alt right groups and put on 4chan. They managed to clean up the right wing vandalism and post their rebuttal. Young people who are intelligent are enthusiastic about their opinions on college campuses and will call out isms when they perceive them. Yeah I know, idealistic young people against all racism is hard for right wing zealots to swallow. I sure don't characterize the op ed as dumb. Idealistic with a bent towards changing the world but not dumb.