MCATs, Affirmative Action, and DEI, Oh My

[Emily Lake]

It is kind of funny, though, that the way you treat the notion of tribalism makes its near cure D.E.I.

I don't understand this sentence. In particular, I don't know what you mean by "near cure" and how it fits into this context.

 

[laughing dog]

I do believe you are impervious to irony. While the word "tribal" is not offensive in isolation, context matters.

The context here is "tribal thinking", in which it's only offensive to people who are itching to be offended by anything and everything.

More irony.

Nah. I get angry when people misrepresent what I've said, make up shit about my views based on nothing but their own imagination, or are just repeated assholes. I don't really get offended very often, and virtually never on behalf of other groups of people.

I think your irony meter needs to be recalibrated.

It needs repair on a regular basis, but it is properly calibrated.

BTW, unless a discussion is about anthropological issues, whenever I see “tribe” or “tribal” , I see desperation.

 

[Politesse]

You sure sound like you're offended all the damned time. Just usually second-hand offense on behalf of some group who never asked for you to advocate on their behalf.

Racism hurts all citizens, and we should all be concerned about racial bias in political life. Just because the nozzle is turned against someone else today, doesn't mean it won't be pointed at you tomorrow. As for bad science and inaccurate cultural education, those aren't issues disconnected from me in any sense whatsoever, teaching people scientific analysis is both my job and my vocation. If anthropologists like myself shouldn't be permitted to speak up about the definitions of (and misuses of) terms like tribe, chiefdom, state, and other political classifiers originally popularized by our own discipline, who should be? TV personalities? Radio preachers? You? Pull me another one. If you want me to shut up about the analytical terms employed by my own discipline for fuck's sake, you're going to need to use actual duct tape.

JFC, you hear "tribe" and can only think racism? That's a limit you've placed on yourself, and it serves as rather stark evidence that you lack nuance and flexibility in your thinking and your interactions.

No, of course not. I only think about when racism when people use "tribalistic" as a metaphor for bellicose insularity. You're trying to equivocate between talking shit about other people, and just talking about them. Do you realize how dumb that sounds?

 

[Emily Lake]

I do believe you are impervious to irony. While the word "tribal" is not offensive in isolation, context matters.

The context here is "tribal thinking", in which it's only offensive to people who are itching to be offended by anything and everything.

More irony.

Nah. I get angry when people misrepresent what I've said, make up shit about my views based on nothing but their own imagination, or are just repeated assholes. I don't really get offended very often, and virtually never on behalf of other groups of people.

I think your irony meter needs to be recalibrated.

It needs repair on a regular basis, but it is properly calibrated.

BTW, unless a discussion is about anthropological issues, whenever I see “tribe” or “tribal” , I see desperation.

Really? Do you think that in-group bias and out-group denigration is a fantasy of desperate people? Or do you just object to the commonplace term of "tribal thinking" for some reason?

 

[Emily Lake]

You sure sound like you're offended all the damned time. Just usually second-hand offense on behalf of some group who never asked for you to advocate on their behalf.

Racism hurts all citizens, and we should all be concerned about racial bias in political life. Just because the nozzle is turned against someone else today, doesn't mean it won't be pointed at you tomorrow. As for bad science and inaccurate cultural education, those aren't issues disconnected from me in any sense whatsoever, teaching people scientific analysis is both my job and my vocation. If anthropologists like myself shouldn't be permitted to speak up about the definitions of (and misuses of) terms like tribe, chiefdom, state, and other political classifiers originally popularized by our own discipline, who should be? TV personalities? Radio preachers? You? Pull me another one. If you want me to shut up about the analytical terms employed by my own discipline for fuck's sake, you're going to need to use actual duct tape.

JFC, you hear "tribe" and can only think racism? That's a limit you've placed on yourself, and it serves as rather stark evidence that you lack nuance and flexibility in your thinking and your interactions.

No, of course not. I only think about when racism when people use "tribalistic" as a metaphor for bellicose insularity. You're trying to equivocate between talking shit about other people, and just talking about them. Do you realize how dumb that sounds?

Well, you're pretty biased and pretty sure your in-group is the only morally righteous group out there. Of course you think you're right and other people are dumb. That's more or less your MO.

 

[Emily Lake]

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Turns out that menopause is really lowering my tolerance for bullshit, and it's reduced my willingness to pretend to be nice to people who are consistently not nice to me to about two minutes. I'm no longer particularly interested in trying to maintain civility toward uncivil posters.

 

[laughing dog]

BTW, unless a discussion is about anthropological issues, whenever I see “tribe” or “tribal” , I see desperation.

Really? Do you think that in-group bias and out-group denigration is a fantasy of desperate people? Or do you just object to the commonplace term of "tribal thinking" for some reason?

Yes, really. I don't think that the concept of in-group bias and out-group denigration is a fantasy of anyone. I think the use of term "tribal thinking" is an attempt to signal perceived out-group denigration and lob a passive aggressive insult at the perceived in-group member.

 

[Politesse]

You sure sound like you're offended all the damned time. Just usually second-hand offense on behalf of some group who never asked for you to advocate on their behalf.

Racism hurts all citizens, and we should all be concerned about racial bias in political life. Just because the nozzle is turned against someone else today, doesn't mean it won't be pointed at you tomorrow. As for bad science and inaccurate cultural education, those aren't issues disconnected from me in any sense whatsoever, teaching people scientific analysis is both my job and my vocation. If anthropologists like myself shouldn't be permitted to speak up about the definitions of (and misuses of) terms like tribe, chiefdom, state, and other political classifiers originally popularized by our own discipline, who should be? TV personalities? Radio preachers? You? Pull me another one. If you want me to shut up about the analytical terms employed by my own discipline for fuck's sake, you're going to need to use actual duct tape.

JFC, you hear "tribe" and can only think racism? That's a limit you've placed on yourself, and it serves as rather stark evidence that you lack nuance and flexibility in your thinking and your interactions.

No, of course not. I only think about when racism when people use "tribalistic" as a metaphor for bellicose insularity. You're trying to equivocate between talking shit about other people, and just talking about them. Do you realize how dumb that sounds?

Well, you're pretty biased and pretty sure your in-group is the only morally righteous group out there. Of course you think you're right and other people are dumb. That's more or less your MO.

I am not sure who you think "my in- group" even is. I do not in general consider human beings to be a "morally righteous" people, whatever that means, but I've not in all my decades of study found any particular culture to be notably more or less "moral". Crime exists in all cultures. Unfair bias does too. Kind and altruistic acts exist in all cultures. Beautiful art and philosophy do too. Considering different cultures have very different and constantly changing moral perspectives, I don't see how one could reasonably make such a comparison to begin with.

As for thinking other people are dumb, no. Intelligence itself is something of a cultural myth if you ask me, a cheap gimmick used for the frottage of elite egos, constantly reinvented over time to keep up with current class sensibilities. I do think there is a severe deficiency when it comes to public education though. Common knowledge is shrinking. Literacy is declining. The breadth of educational options is being winnowed. You realize the Department of Ed is now trying to deny funding support to any student who so much as declares a social science as a major? And no, I do not think that someone who has studied a subject for decades is equal in knowledge to someone who has never studied it at all, "even" if the subject was human society.

 

[Politesse]

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Turns out that menopause is really lowering my tolerance for bullshit, and it's reduced my willingness to pretend to be nice to people who are consistently not nice to me to about two minutes. I'm no longer particularly interested in trying to maintain civility toward uncivil posters.

Yeah, well, my ADHD gives me poor impulse control. Now that we've all aired our disabilities, consider writing something on topic.