The crackdowns really took off as soon as wealthy donors started pulling money. Students understand where the power lies and have (smartly) requested that the endowments change rather than merely protesting about the cause. The general public likely doesn’t understand how powerful and influential university endowments really are, so it seems like the students aren’t really asking that much.
Those in power know differently. They know that any power ceded to students will have major impacts on the amount of money they make. Hamilton mention there are larger institutions like unions involved in these issues. However, I’d be surprised if the unions are as large (financially) as the combined value of only the Ivy endowments. As soon as something or someone starts fucking with the money the “grownups” emerge to protect their investments. Think about what it takes for an ex senator to be content as a public university president. It takes money and power and that’s only UF.
This is a long winded comment that probably could have been simply stated as boomers love to wax poetic about things they did (protest, have ethics) while allowing the pursuit of money to crush ideals and the younger generations.
Interesting (to me) question of whether unions are as rich as Ivy endowments-- this report put total union assets in 2020 at around $35 bil which is obviously far less than total Ivy endowments but I think that is only national unions and not the assets of locals so I'm not sure what the real total number would be. https://www.radishresearch.org/_files/ugd/2357dd_5b4c90b0932c4a6e9aa5c0a4d9addc0a.pdf?index=true
My comment there was more about how much money the endowments have rather than trying to point out a flaw. I agree with you.
I haven’t read the report in the link yet (likely will), but I hope the Labor funds are being used for the purpose of advancing their cause. A big war chest that should benefit many. Contrast that to the endowments, which are march larger, but ultimate benefit only a few. Even the students that should benefit from the endowments are mostly privileged and will be the power brokers of the future.
Boomer here. I wasn't old enough to protest the Vietnam war but I fully 100 percent support the current campus protests. I agree money from donors is a big part of the reasoning behind the crackdowns. I do not support the crackdowns. I do not support stereotyping any group.
Regardless how much money unions have or not, I think the far more relevant factor is, for however flawed they may often be, unions are DEMOCRATIC, at least in principle. Whereas bosses and capitalists are the lineal heirs to feudalism and aristocracy, and boards of directors of corporations are elected on the principle of ONE DOLLAR/ONE VOTE, as opposed to one man or woman/one vote.
They have to recast and divert from the real reasons for the protests. Addressing the true motivations would require arguing why the US is righteous in helping Israel torture and annihilate Palestinian civilians. They would have to explain why they are on the side of the people “targeting Hamas” by shooting toddlers. They don’t want to have that conversation, so they are making it into a different conversation and dismissing/degrading/denying every way they can.
Teeing off from what you’ve written here 👍and also Caitlin Johnstone’s “I oppose the butchery in Gaza because I’m not a fucking psychopath.” I think what you say about healthy adult evolution is true. I think it’s also true that at the terminal stage of that process it gets harder to maintain an adaptable view of the world. I’m 73 and it’s certainly true for me. I try to bear this in mind when I think about people like Trump or Biden. Never a fan of either, both seem to be worse than they used to be. But my point is this: I think institutions are also subject to the kind of ossification that humans experience. I think we need to pay a lot more attention to the way social reproduction works at the institutional level. Nobody gets to be head of Goldman Saks by talking up workplace democratization and MMT. That power and influence will probably remain in the hands of people who think like the current incumbent forever. Same for the NYT and NYPD. I think bearing this in mind can help us make better political decisions as it will remind us that the earth belongs to the living and unborn.
Thank you so much for (as usual) articulating so well something I’ve been struggling to put into words recently. The incuriosity surrounding trying to understand where people are coming from is astounding. Those who have dedicated their lives to the work of peacemaking across various sectarian lines have always stressed that we must be able to maintain both curiosity and listening even and especially when we disagree. There is no greater way to extinguish that possibility than by sending in police and state sanctioned violence against protesters.
Very well written. To be an 'adult' today means to have the ability to surrender to 'complexity' and nuance, and to compromise with evil. Gotta keep the traffic flowing and accept a little sin. While a child recognizes evil as evil and is horrified by compromise.
Becoming a true, good adult means maintaining something of your childhood capacity for curiosity, wonder, and sense of fairness.
One of my favorite writers, C Wright Mills, had some wonderful thoughts along these same lines:
"I wanted to say that I have not grown up. The whole notion of growing up is pernicious, I am against it. To grow up means merely to lose the intellectual curiosity so many children and so few adults seem to have; to lose the strong attachments and rejections for other people so many adolescents and so few adults seem to have. "To grow up" is a meaningless formula, unless specific social content is given to it. The content given it in America involves a normal, which is to say a childlike, marriage, and a forward-looking, which is to say dull and tension-producing, job. It is to become some kind of brisk, energetic executive intellectually empty although narrowly informed, and morally smug although quite dependable. ...W.H. Auden recently put it very well: "To grow up does not mean to outgrow either childhood or adolescents but to make use of then in an adult way."
Adults still with something of the child in them - that is what we need. Unfortunately instead we have been training people to become manchildren. A different animal altogether.
Important piece. Also, unfortunately all of the adults in my life who advised me that things were nuanced and complicated have used that to excuse inaction and "not taking a stand" (which is really taking a stand for the status quo). But I'm certain the other kind of people exist!
Just this past weekend at our liberal discussion group, there was one person, a longtime beloved member, a man in his 40's, who said the protests were being driven by actual Hamas members and that Jewish students don't feel safe and that if it came down to supporting Hamas or voting Republican he'd vote Republican. I try not to be a coward and weasel when this happens (it's happened once before with a woman in our discussion group who said all Palestinians are raised from the cradle to kill all Jews)
I had brought up the recent Judith Butler interview with the Intercept. Butler is Jewish. I normally am not a fan of Butler for other reasons but Butler's interview was the best take I've read yet on the entire situation. I couldn't do it justice but I was trying to repeat some of Butler's points and one person asked me to post the interview in the discussion group's online space so they could read it later
but before I could make much effort on trying to repeat some of Butler's points, off to the races. That guy went off about Hamas and was pretty heated. The discussion leader pushed back a little but this topic is pretty volatile even among longtime liberals who agree on most everything else. There are people who sincerely think any criticism of what Israel is doing right now is the same as wanting Israel not to exist. This guy continued on how Hamas had to be completely wiped out once and for all no matter what.
ANYWAY...I will still keep promoting the Butler interview because it's the most well-rounded take on the whole thing that I have seen. And I do not even like Butler even one little bit. Maybe a TINY bit since reading the Intercept interview.
And they cant possibly see that they're creating a new generation of extremists with their actions. We've been through this before, why don't we learn?
Thanks for posting these important observations. Authoritarians are indeed childish. I wish they'd grow up, and I wish they weren't allowed so much power.
Very surprised that you --of all people-- would defend the pro-Hamas/anti-Israel college protestors from the view of maturity! How is a student at an elite college in the US (or other western country) wearing a Keffiyeh as a form of performance derssing up -mature?! I dont recall anti-Vietnam protestors ever dressing up in Vienamese costume. More important -those protestors had real "skin in the game" as here in Australia or in the US they had a serious possibility of being drafted to the war. The protesters today have no skin in the game- no consequence, no responsibility no feedback. Thats not mature under any parameter.
The crackdowns really took off as soon as wealthy donors started pulling money. Students understand where the power lies and have (smartly) requested that the endowments change rather than merely protesting about the cause. The general public likely doesn’t understand how powerful and influential university endowments really are, so it seems like the students aren’t really asking that much.
Those in power know differently. They know that any power ceded to students will have major impacts on the amount of money they make. Hamilton mention there are larger institutions like unions involved in these issues. However, I’d be surprised if the unions are as large (financially) as the combined value of only the Ivy endowments. As soon as something or someone starts fucking with the money the “grownups” emerge to protect their investments. Think about what it takes for an ex senator to be content as a public university president. It takes money and power and that’s only UF.
This is a long winded comment that probably could have been simply stated as boomers love to wax poetic about things they did (protest, have ethics) while allowing the pursuit of money to crush ideals and the younger generations.
Interesting (to me) question of whether unions are as rich as Ivy endowments-- this report put total union assets in 2020 at around $35 bil which is obviously far less than total Ivy endowments but I think that is only national unions and not the assets of locals so I'm not sure what the real total number would be. https://www.radishresearch.org/_files/ugd/2357dd_5b4c90b0932c4a6e9aa5c0a4d9addc0a.pdf?index=true
My comment there was more about how much money the endowments have rather than trying to point out a flaw. I agree with you.
I haven’t read the report in the link yet (likely will), but I hope the Labor funds are being used for the purpose of advancing their cause. A big war chest that should benefit many. Contrast that to the endowments, which are march larger, but ultimate benefit only a few. Even the students that should benefit from the endowments are mostly privileged and will be the power brokers of the future.
short summary: they're not. That's the whole point of the report. They mostly keep them in multi-billion dollar strike funds
Boomer here. I wasn't old enough to protest the Vietnam war but I fully 100 percent support the current campus protests. I agree money from donors is a big part of the reasoning behind the crackdowns. I do not support the crackdowns. I do not support stereotyping any group.
Regardless how much money unions have or not, I think the far more relevant factor is, for however flawed they may often be, unions are DEMOCRATIC, at least in principle. Whereas bosses and capitalists are the lineal heirs to feudalism and aristocracy, and boards of directors of corporations are elected on the principle of ONE DOLLAR/ONE VOTE, as opposed to one man or woman/one vote.
They have to recast and divert from the real reasons for the protests. Addressing the true motivations would require arguing why the US is righteous in helping Israel torture and annihilate Palestinian civilians. They would have to explain why they are on the side of the people “targeting Hamas” by shooting toddlers. They don’t want to have that conversation, so they are making it into a different conversation and dismissing/degrading/denying every way they can.
Yes. These things always become a meta-conversation about the protests themselves
Teeing off from what you’ve written here 👍and also Caitlin Johnstone’s “I oppose the butchery in Gaza because I’m not a fucking psychopath.” I think what you say about healthy adult evolution is true. I think it’s also true that at the terminal stage of that process it gets harder to maintain an adaptable view of the world. I’m 73 and it’s certainly true for me. I try to bear this in mind when I think about people like Trump or Biden. Never a fan of either, both seem to be worse than they used to be. But my point is this: I think institutions are also subject to the kind of ossification that humans experience. I think we need to pay a lot more attention to the way social reproduction works at the institutional level. Nobody gets to be head of Goldman Saks by talking up workplace democratization and MMT. That power and influence will probably remain in the hands of people who think like the current incumbent forever. Same for the NYT and NYPD. I think bearing this in mind can help us make better political decisions as it will remind us that the earth belongs to the living and unborn.
Great essay dude.
Universities are status factories that reproduce privilege, but Hamilton already wrote brilliantly about that a couple weeks back.
Once those little grains of sand at the core of cultural pearls become set, there is no turning back, just adding layers and polishing them.
Until the reality check arrives in the mail.
Change happens one funeral at a time. Sometimes it takes a lot.
The future is a continuation of the past, until it becomes a reaction to it.
"The future is a continuation of the past, until it becomes a reaction to it."
mic drop
" I think institutions are also subject to the kind of ossification that humans experience."
that is a 100% fact...
I have a friend who would remind me “The issue at hand is seldom the issue.” Never more true.
Thank you so much for (as usual) articulating so well something I’ve been struggling to put into words recently. The incuriosity surrounding trying to understand where people are coming from is astounding. Those who have dedicated their lives to the work of peacemaking across various sectarian lines have always stressed that we must be able to maintain both curiosity and listening even and especially when we disagree. There is no greater way to extinguish that possibility than by sending in police and state sanctioned violence against protesters.
Wow...just wow
beautiful stuff...
Very well written. To be an 'adult' today means to have the ability to surrender to 'complexity' and nuance, and to compromise with evil. Gotta keep the traffic flowing and accept a little sin. While a child recognizes evil as evil and is horrified by compromise.
Becoming a true, good adult means maintaining something of your childhood capacity for curiosity, wonder, and sense of fairness.
One of my favorite writers, C Wright Mills, had some wonderful thoughts along these same lines:
"I wanted to say that I have not grown up. The whole notion of growing up is pernicious, I am against it. To grow up means merely to lose the intellectual curiosity so many children and so few adults seem to have; to lose the strong attachments and rejections for other people so many adolescents and so few adults seem to have. "To grow up" is a meaningless formula, unless specific social content is given to it. The content given it in America involves a normal, which is to say a childlike, marriage, and a forward-looking, which is to say dull and tension-producing, job. It is to become some kind of brisk, energetic executive intellectually empty although narrowly informed, and morally smug although quite dependable. ...W.H. Auden recently put it very well: "To grow up does not mean to outgrow either childhood or adolescents but to make use of then in an adult way."
Adults still with something of the child in them - that is what we need. Unfortunately instead we have been training people to become manchildren. A different animal altogether.
Thank you for that great piece
If only we could send those naughty adults to their room to have a little think
Brilliant. Thank you.
Incidentally, nothing says brave defender of the truth like responding to chanting protestors with cops in riot gear.
Important piece. Also, unfortunately all of the adults in my life who advised me that things were nuanced and complicated have used that to excuse inaction and "not taking a stand" (which is really taking a stand for the status quo). But I'm certain the other kind of people exist!
I fucking hate Ben Sasse! So this made my day. Thank you
Just this past weekend at our liberal discussion group, there was one person, a longtime beloved member, a man in his 40's, who said the protests were being driven by actual Hamas members and that Jewish students don't feel safe and that if it came down to supporting Hamas or voting Republican he'd vote Republican. I try not to be a coward and weasel when this happens (it's happened once before with a woman in our discussion group who said all Palestinians are raised from the cradle to kill all Jews)
I had brought up the recent Judith Butler interview with the Intercept. Butler is Jewish. I normally am not a fan of Butler for other reasons but Butler's interview was the best take I've read yet on the entire situation. I couldn't do it justice but I was trying to repeat some of Butler's points and one person asked me to post the interview in the discussion group's online space so they could read it later
https://theintercept.com/2024/05/01/judith-butler-israel-hamas-freedom-speech/
but before I could make much effort on trying to repeat some of Butler's points, off to the races. That guy went off about Hamas and was pretty heated. The discussion leader pushed back a little but this topic is pretty volatile even among longtime liberals who agree on most everything else. There are people who sincerely think any criticism of what Israel is doing right now is the same as wanting Israel not to exist. This guy continued on how Hamas had to be completely wiped out once and for all no matter what.
ANYWAY...I will still keep promoting the Butler interview because it's the most well-rounded take on the whole thing that I have seen. And I do not even like Butler even one little bit. Maybe a TINY bit since reading the Intercept interview.
And they cant possibly see that they're creating a new generation of extremists with their actions. We've been through this before, why don't we learn?
Sasse has been trying to pull this reasonable man act for years, but ran to Florida once Trump and his band of authoritarians came for him.
Huh. Isn't that like running into the lions' den?
Thanks for posting these important observations. Authoritarians are indeed childish. I wish they'd grow up, and I wish they weren't allowed so much power.
Serious question: Who watches these goddamned Sunday Shows?...Is Sunday officially "Right Wing Normalization Day" or something?
Very surprised that you --of all people-- would defend the pro-Hamas/anti-Israel college protestors from the view of maturity! How is a student at an elite college in the US (or other western country) wearing a Keffiyeh as a form of performance derssing up -mature?! I dont recall anti-Vietnam protestors ever dressing up in Vienamese costume. More important -those protestors had real "skin in the game" as here in Australia or in the US they had a serious possibility of being drafted to the war. The protesters today have no skin in the game- no consequence, no responsibility no feedback. Thats not mature under any parameter.
Awwww you don't understand. That's fine.
The truth is the first casualty in any war!