A bisexual female philosopher
complains about the atmosphere in US academia at the NYT:
...it is with some trepidation that I admit that the current political
climate in academia confuses me. The more I read about trigger warnings,
safe spaces and petitions to retract scholarly articles, the more my
head spins. On top of that confusion, I harbor a fear of expressing
views that will offend other progressives, scholars and teachers who may
also be fighting oppression. And I fear being subject to public shaming
on social media, and receiving private hate mail (I still am, after my response in May to the controversy over Rebecca Tuvel’s article
in the journal Hypatia). In short, I find myself in an educational
environment in which outrage, censoring and public shaming has begun to
replace critique, disagreement and debate.
She partly blames social media:
Although social media can be effective for organizing, and for forming
communities (on both the left and the right), it is also often fueled by
emotional reaction rather than thoughtful response. Life is flattened
to fit the screen, and cute cat videos play next to photographs of the
latest atrocity. Social media works by leveling and ripping bits of life
from their contexts as a form of entertainment or news — the more
outrageous, the better. As consumers, we engage in the virtual
performance of pathos and moral virtue with our likes, crying or angry
Emojis, and the circulation of outrage or sympathy through sharing
petitions or calls for donations.
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