Decision is latest example of Ivy League schools squashing speech critical of Israel

The three deans include Cristen Kromm, the former dean of undergraduate student life; Matthew Patashnick, the former associate dean for student and family support; and Susan Chang-Kim, the former vice dean and chief administrative officer.

The suspension of the deans is the latest example of how Ivy League schools have moved to squash any speech critical of Israel or simply challenging the view that students who express pro-Palestinian sentiment are inciting antisemitism.

Columbia has been the spotlight of the student protest movement in solidarity with Gaza over the past several months.

  • Flying SquidMEnglish
    1•6 months ago

    The reality is, again, you are allowing them to control the narrative by making that assumption.

    You do not have to make that assumption. You are letting them control your ideas of what bigotry means.

    • @[email protected]English
      4•6 months ago

      Shrug. I’ve had the same battle over AI vs algorithm.

      I’m not the one writing news articles.

      • Flying SquidMEnglish
        -1•6 months ago

        But you’re the one who controls your own language and your own assumptions.

        • @[email protected]English
          2•6 months ago

          Yes, and as I have said multiple times now, I’m going to react to the reality of the discussion and talk about the genocide rather then let people bait me into a debate about religious hate which would distract from the real issue of the genocide.

          Again… Anti-Semitism in the news means 80% of the time people are not supporting the genocide.

          • Flying SquidMEnglish
            0•6 months ago

            No one is baiting you into anything. I’m trying to get you to acknowledge that there are two different issues here and you are letting the people that you rightfully oppose conflate them when you shouldn’t.

            Is it Islamophobia to condemn horrible things the Saudi royal family has done even if they continually insist it is? No. Because we don’t let them control the narrative. So why is this different?

            • @[email protected]English
              3•6 months ago

              im not sure of your thesis at this point. Is the current common media use of antisemitism a different definition then the dictionary? yes, i agree.

              Am I going to debate every article about how anti-genocide normal people are not actually anti-semitic. No, not at all, I think that is actually part of the pro-genocide strategy, it moves the conversation into safer territory for them. Better to ignore that language trap and just talk about the genocide.

              • Flying SquidMEnglish
                1•6 months ago

                My point is that you said, and I quote-

                So the lived experience today, is if you hear antisemitism, it is almost certainly somebody saying hey hey hey maybe we shouldn’t genocide some people today

                Which means that you are just assuming that some sort of actual bigoted attack did not happen.

                And the reason you are assuming that is because you are letting the Zionists win a propaganda war.

                • @[email protected]English
                  2•6 months ago

                  I’m letting probability tell me that the term now means what it is being used to mean, and if the news item is about religious hate, then they have to explicitly call that out.

                  If you want to fight news media and tell them they are not doing their job properly and are using words wrong, more power to you… But thats not how I’m going to spend my life .

                  • Flying SquidMEnglish
                    3•6 months ago

                    and if the news item is about religious hate, then they have to explicitly call that out.

                    Would you say that about any other term regarding bigotry? Would you be willing to give up the word ‘homophobia’ if there were some sort of LGBT+ group that committed atrocities and claimed that homophobia is the same as disagreeing with them even if the news started doing it? I doubt it.

                    Israel wants you to think Israeli = Jew and Jew = Israeli and you are going along with it.

                    Why does this news article need to tell you what the banner said in the headline just because you have decided that the word ‘antisemitic’ means ‘criticism of Zionists?’

                    https://www.wlwt.com/article/antisemitic-banner-columbia-parkway-cincinnati-police/60235930

                    How about this one?

                    https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/01/us/jewish-communities-antisemitism-israel-hamas-war/index.html

                    Does it need to list all the incidents in the headline? Because there’s more than one and it includes someone painting FUCK JEWS in huge green letters on the side of a building. I assume you don’t think that’s someone innocently protesting Israel. Am I wrong to assume that?

                    Here’s another example for you since you are claiming that the news has co-opted the word ‘antisemitism.’ Note these are all recent articles.

                    https://abcnews.go.com/US/los-angeles-area-plagued-antisemitic-attacks-tsunami-hate/story?id=105623842

                    Tell me which one of these three details from the article is the one that belongs in the headline and how you would write that headline:

                    According to the district attorney’s office, Dion was allegedly linked to vandalism of Nazi symbols including swastikas, the Iron Cross, and “SS” occurring in late November at a synagogue, an evangelical Christian church, an IHOP, an apartment complex, a bridge, a newspaper stand, and more in Burbank and Glendale.

                    Los Angeles Police Department alone has recorded a 38% increase in anti-Jewish hate crimes from 2022 to 2023 in a year-to-date comparison. In the same time, LAPD has seen a nearly 57% increase in reported non-crime bias incidents.

                    On Dec. 9, a 75-year-old man and his wife were on their way to observe Shabbat at a synagogue during the Hanukkah holiday when they were attacked in Beverly Hills, according to the district attorney’s office.