Word: deweyitis
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It’s time to talk about political issues like they matter. People across the country suffer because of the ideology that motivates people like Dewey. Though he has every right to voice his opinion, those who disagree with him on these important issues have an equal right and, furthermore, a great responsibility to fight...
...don’t intend to defend every part of Mahtani’s argument. I’m not sure that Dewey is really as inane as his comments—as captured by Mahtani—made him seem. In the past, I thought of Dewey as more of a moderate thinker than many others from his side of the aisle. But that’s not the point. Those who were scandalized by Mahtani’s bluntness need to take a look at their own arguments and ask themselves why, exactly, they were so shocked...
...agrees: Mahtani may be right, but he should have stuck to critiquing Dewey’s ideas rather than resorting to ad hominem attacks. But they have it wrong; Mahtani’s criticism wasn’t an ad hominem attack. It was based entirely on beliefs that Dewey has publicly advocated. Mahtani just pointed out that Dewey’s public comments are radical, misguided and a bit nuts. This kind of thing happens all the time. When leaders, even student leaders, consistently say wacky things, we assume they are a bit wacky. President Bush consistently says...
...such criticism is off limits when it comes to our fellow students. Unfortunately, when Harvard undergraduates publicly air ignorant and offensive beliefs, we tend to give them far more slack than they deserve. For some of us, it appears, loyalty to Harvard comes before responsibility to the broader community. Dewey attacked the queer community, but sadly, many Harvardians seem to think that the fact that he is a member of the Harvard community is somehow a mitigating factor. If Dewey is a bigot, some students seem to say, at least he’s our bigot...
This tendency to prioritize deference to fellow students over honest and open debate reflects Harvard’s deep isolation from the rest of the world. In the real world, the beliefs that folks like Dewey espouse have real victims. Queer individuals continue to face discrimination and violence because of their orientation. Each year, several thousand Americans are victims of hate crimes because of their sexual orientation. It does not help that student leaders at our country’s best-known university refer to those who wish to change this unfortunate status quo as tools of the Antichrist...