Society's Child

Oberlin College is paying the price of wokeness

Sean Collins
Spiked
Tue, 18 Jun 2019 11:04 UTC

Oberlin College is known for its 'social justice' activism and is considered one of the most PC colleges in the US. In recent years, Oberlin students have demanded trigger warnings on classic literature, called for a ban on 'F' (failed) grades, and complained about the cultural appropriation of sushi in the dining hall. So, it wasn't all that surprising when, in November 2016, students launched a campaign against a local bakery, claiming it was racist for calling the police on a shoplifter who happened to be black.

What is surprising is the ultimate outcome of these protests. Last week, a jury determined that Oberlin owes Gibson's Bakery a whopping $44million in damages (which may get reduced to $33million). This should be a wake-up call to Oberlin and other colleges: go woke, go broke.

This is a David versus Goliath case, featuring a fifth-generation family business up against an elite higher-education institution (where it costs about $280,000 to obtain a degree in four years, and a majority of the students are from families in the top 10 per cent of earners).

The details of the court case - as reported by the Legal Insurrection website - were eye-opening. The case exposed how Oberlin's administration was willing to engage in a campaign based on false allegations of racism, a campaign that sought to smear and destroy this small downtown shop. The millions of dollars in damages spoke to the jury's assessment of not only economic loss, but also the need to punish Oberlin for the malice it displayed. The verdict will not bankrupt Oberlin, but the case has revealed the college's intellectual and moral bankruptcy.

Comment: See also:

Coleman Hughs: None of the issues facing black America can be solved with reparations

Ian Schwartz
Real Clear Politics
Thu, 20 Jun 2019 10:18 UTC

Coleman Hughs

Columnist Coleman Hughes expressed his opposition to reparations for slavery at a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing Wednesday. Hughes, a writer for 'Quillette,' said the moment one is given reparations they are made a victim without their consent.

COLEMAN HUGHES: Black people don't need another apology. We need safer neighborhoods and better schools. We need a less punitive criminal justice system. We need affordable health care. And none of these things can be achieved through reparations for slavery...

Reparations by definition are only given to victims, so the moment you give me reparations, you've made me into a victim without my consent. Not just that, you've made 1/3 of black Americans who poll against reparations into victims without their consent, and black Americans have fought too long for the right to define themselves to be spoken for in such a condescending manner.

NXIVM sex cult leader Keith Raniere guilty of trafficking & child porn offenses

David K. Li
NBC News
Thu, 20 Jun 2019 10:18 UTC

A federal jury took just hours to convict a New York man on Wednesday on multiple charges of running a cult-like group that kept women as virtual sex prisoners to service him.

In less than one full day of deliberations, the Brooklyn panel found Keith Raniere, 58, guilty of racketeering, sex trafficking and possession of child pornography related to NXIVM (pronounced "nexium") - a purported self-help organization that he ran near Albany.

Within NXIVM, he created a secret sorority called DOS in which female "slaves" turned over compromising materials that were used to blackmail and force them into sex, prosecutors said.

Dear central bankers: Prepare to be swept away in the next wave of populism

CharlesHughSmith.blogspot.com
Wed, 19 Jun 2019 12:00 UTC

© Financial Times
The political moment when the "losers" connect their discontent and decline with central bankers is approaching.

The Ruling Elites' Chattering Classes still haven't absorbed the key lesson of the 2016 U.S. presidential election: the percentage of the populace that's becoming wealthier and more financially secure in the bloated, corrupt, self-serving Imperial status quo is declining and the percentage of the populace that's increasingly insecure and financially precarious is increasing, and candidates that mouth the usual platitudes in support of the bloated, corrupt, self-serving Imperial status quo lose to those who speak of the failing status quo as a travesty of a mockery of a sham, i.e. a "populist" speaking truth to power.

Donald Trump steered clear of the status quo's favored platitudes and embraced a bit of populist cant, and so to those who understand that the majority of Americans have been abandoned by America's hubris-soaked, self-serving managerial / ruling elites, his victory was not entirely surprising.

Just as we've reached Peak hubris-soaked, self-serving managerial / ruling Elites, we've also reached Peak Central Bank Cargo Cult: from now on the majority that's been abandoned by the managerial / ruling elites will become increasingly aware that the unprecedented asymmetries of wealth and power that have undermined American social and economic life can be traced directly back to the central bank, the Federal Reserve, which has become the all-powerful Cargo Cult of the global economy.

Comment: Italy's Salvini who enjoys substantial support at home (and abroad) is a prime example of the political climate, the much maligned Macron is another, and the recent European Parliament elections reflect just how widespread the discontent has become:

Below are just some of the more recent scandals plaguing the rigged banking system, and which would not be possible without the ponerized political institutions:

Also check out SOTT radio's:

Let's pause for a moment and think about how many people AREN'T whistleblowing

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnstone.com
Wed, 19 Jun 2019 06:25 UTC

Whistleblower Chelsea Manning is now being slammed with $500 fines for every single day that she remains imprisoned in contempt of court for refusing to testify in a secret grand jury against Julian Assange. Next month it will increase to $1,000 a day.

Again, this is while Manning is also locked up in jail. It's not enough to re-imprison a whistleblower who already served years of prison time, including nearly a year in solitary confinement, for taking a principled stand against an opaque and unjust grand jury system; they're going to potentially ruin her life with crippling debt as well. The only way to make it more cruel and unusual would be to start waterboarding her or threatening her family members.

All for refusing to participate in a corrupt and unaccountable legal performance designed to imprison a publisher to whom she leaked evidence of US war crimes in 2010.

People see this. People watch this and learn from this, as sure as people watched and learned from the public town square executions of those who spoke ill of their medieval lords. And just like those medieval executions, many of the onlookers have been trained to cheer and celebrate at the fate of the accused; have a look at the power-worshipping, government-bootlicking comments under my recent tweet about Manning's persecution for a perfect example of this. People have been taught what happens to those who blow the whistle on the powerful, and they have been taught to become quite comfortable with it.

Freedom of speech: This is why I want to keep flag burning legal

Katherene Timpf
National Review
Mon, 17 Jun 2019 00:00 UTC

Among the freedoms that the flag stands for is our freedom of speech.
Over the weekend, President Trump tweeted his support for a bill proposed by Republican Senator Steve Daines that would outlaw flag burning - overturning a Supreme Court precedent that protects it as free speech.

Here's the tweet:

UN investigator: Saudi Arabia responsible for 'premeditated execution' of Khashoggi

RT
Wed, 19 Jun 2019 20:09 UTC

Riyadh bears responsibility for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a UN investigator said, calling for a further probe into Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's role in the crime.

Khashoggi was a victim of "a deliberate, premediated execution, an extrajudicial killing for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible," Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, said on Wednesday.

She made the remarks following the end of a six-month inquiry into the case. The rapporteur called for an additional probe into the role senior Saudi officials, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, may have played in Khashoggi's murder.

Indeed, this human rights inquiry has shown that there is sufficient credible evidence regarding the responsibility of the Crown Prince demanding further investigation.

Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir rejected Callamard's allegation on Wednesday, arguing the case had already been investigated by Saudi authorities and insisted it remain within the kingdom's jurisdiction.

The economy, social media and drug use: 'Deaths of despair' soaring among Generation Z and millennials

Helen Buyniski
RT
Wed, 19 Jun 2019 12:28 UTC

Young Americans are killing themselves in record numbers, the victims of a confluence of economic and sociological factors that have singled them out - even above a nationwide surge in so-called "deaths of despair."

Suicide rates among teens and young adults aged 15 to 24 - the older end of "Generation Z" - spiked in 2017, reaching their highest point since 2000, according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). They've risen 51 percent in the past 10 years, buoyed by rising rates of anxiety and depression along with social media and drug use, and the figures may be even higher, since some intentional overdoses are not counted as suicides.

Young men saw the steepest rise in deaths, according to the JAMA study, though women are catching up to them at an alarming pace. Teens and young adults report higher rates of anxiety and depression than previous generations, and multiple studies in recent years have shown that social media use exacerbates both conditions, creating a self-perpetuating feedback loop that can have tragic consequences.

But Generation Z is simply following in the footsteps of its predecessors. The much-maligned millennial generation, defined by the Census Bureau as those born between 1982 and 2000 (meaning some are included in the JAMA study), are also killing themselves in record numbers. Drug-related deaths among ages 18 to 34 have increased 108 percent since 2007, while alcohol-related deaths are up 69 percent and suicides are up 35 percent, according to a report published last week by Trust for America's Health. While millennials have long been written off as entitled, spoiled snowflakes, the media and society are belatedly realizing that they aren't just layabouts unmotivated to exit their parents' basement - this "despair" has a cause, and it's primarily economic.

Landmark case: Botswana decriminalizes gay sex

Cara Anna
AP
Tue, 11 Jun 2019 00:00 UTC

© AP
Activists celebrate in Gaborone, Botswana, Tuesday June 11, 2019. Botswana is the latest country to decriminalize gay sex when the High Court rejected as unconstitutional sections of the penal code punishing same-sex relations with up to seven years in prison.

Botswana became the latest country to decriminalize gay sex on Tuesday, a landmark case for Africa, as the High Court rejected laws punishing it with up to seven years in prison.

Jubilant activists in the packed courtroom cheered the unanimous decision in the southern African nation that is seen as one of the continent's most stable and democratic. The ruling came less than a month after Kenya's High Court had upheld similar sections of its own penal code in another closely watched case.

"Botswana is the ninth country in the past five years to have decriminalized consensual same-sex relationships," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

"Consensual same-sex sexual relationships remain criminalized in at least 67 countries and territories worldwide," he told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.

Tennessee city dissolves its police department at special meeting due to lack of budget

Nicole Young
Tennessean
Tue, 11 Jun 2019 00:00 UTC

The city of Ridgetop, Tennessee, has disbanded its police force after a special-called meeting Monday night.

"It was all budget," said Ridgetop Mayor Tony Reasoner. "We can't afford it. Hopefully, and I'm going to float this idea with the board, but I think we need a 4-5 member board of citizens to come up with ideas on our future. Do we need a full-time or a part-time police department, or do we let the sheriff ... cover it?"

The Ridgetop police department had a budget of $429,000, said Reasoner, who also serves as the city's fire chief. He's been with the city since 1989.

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Buffalo_Ken

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Biden the child-killer. Think of the children, vaxxers, think of the children.

hobnyeba

Thanks, all, for great comments and links. Lots to think about.

ReRan

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Society's Child

Oberlin College is paying the price of wokeness

Coleman Hughs: None of the issues facing black America can be solved with reparations

NXIVM sex cult leader Keith Raniere guilty of trafficking & child porn offenses

Dear central bankers: Prepare to be swept away in the next wave of populism

Let's pause for a moment and think about how many people AREN'T whistleblowing

Freedom of speech: This is why I want to keep flag burning legal

UN investigator: Saudi Arabia responsible for 'premeditated execution' of Khashoggi

The economy, social media and drug use: 'Deaths of despair' soaring among Generation Z and millennials

Landmark case: Botswana decriminalizes gay sex

Tennessee city dissolves its police department at special meeting due to lack of budget

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