The fallout from Trump's war on Harvard will outlast his term
www.bbc.com
The US president's ramped-up threats are seen by many as an attempt to reshape a stronghold of the left. Could he succeed?
  • Bone@lemmy.world
    50·
    4 months ago

    It’s weird to hear Harvard being labeled a “stronghold of the left.” I suppose it could be true given just how close-minded the right is. I also don’t know much of what all Harvard does.

    • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
      62·
      4 months ago

      When you consider education itself to be “leftist” and prefer indoctrination and dogma to critical thinking and the scientific method, it makes more sense.

    • Obi@sopuli.xyz
      48·
      4 months ago

      I, too, have a hard time reconciling a private, extremely expensive education facility catering to the 1% as “leftists”.

    • floofloof@lemmy.caOP
      26·
      4 months ago

      When you’re a Nazi, like many in Trump’s administration, everything looks like a stronghold of the left.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
      19·
      4 months ago

      The thing is you can’t deny they are a center of science, research, innovation. Harvard is one institution that makes US stand out globally, and drives so much of what we think of as our exceptionalism. This truly is an attack on our future.

      When my son was little, he had a very aggressive form of cancer. He came through it with treatment developed by Harvard research. In the couple decades before, Harvard directed research had driven mortality down from 90% to 10%. Now Trump wants to punish Harvard out of personal spite and one of the first things he does is cut research at Children’s hospital? How can you still call yourself human?

  • aramis87@fedia.io
    42·
    4 months ago

    “Harvard’s got to behave themselves,” he told reporters gathered in the Oval Office. “Harvard is treating our country with great disrespect, and all they’re doing is getting in deeper and deeper and deeper.”

    Years ago, someone on Tumblr had a comment on respect, which very much applies to Trump and his fascists:

    Sometimes people use ‘respect’ to mean “treating someone like a person”, and sometimes they use ‘respect’ to mean “treating someone like an authority”.

    And sometimes people who are used to being treated like an authority say, “If you won’t respect me, I won’t respect you”; and they mean, “If you won’t treat me like an authority, I won’t treat you like a person.”

    And they think they’re being fair but they aren’t, and it’s not okay.

    • pleasegoaway@lemm.ee
      6·
      4 months ago

      Yeah, I disagree with the saying “respect is earned, not given”. But that’s because I define respect as treating others like a person and with dignity.

      Therefore, I believe respect should be given, and not earned.

      • brianary@startrek.website
        5·
        4 months ago

        I think that aphorism is about authority-respect rather than basic-human-decency-respect.

        This thread makes me wonder how much contemporary American English is to blame for people being able to exploit ambiguities surreptitiously. Dog whistles have to start somewhere, they don’t seem to be prearranged.

        • Almacca@aussie.zoneEnglish
          1·
          4 months ago

          Words don’t have meaning any more, or they mean whatever you want them to mean as long as you can use them to pummel the opposition, because that’s all that really matters. It’s the style of the time.

    • Almacca@aussie.zoneEnglish
      2·
      4 months ago

      Also remember that whenever Trump talks about things being good or bad for ‘America’, he means himself.

  • SabinStargem@lemmy.todayEnglish
    18·
    4 months ago

    I suspect that Trump would be one of the most influential presidents, destroying a superpower in record time. China had the mythological evil kitsune empress Daji, we have the real world Trump.

    This guy will be in history books, for all the wrong reasons.

      • jaybone@lemmy.zipEnglish
        4·
        4 months ago

        People keep saying this. Sadly I just don’t think it’s true. He seems to be doing quite well for his age. His mind maybe is going a bit, but nowhere near where Biden was at, and they managed to keep him in office. This doesn’t give me hope that Trump is going anywhere soon. :(

        • SabinStargem@lemmy.todayEnglish
          3·
          4 months ago

          I think narcissism extends the lifespan of evil people, through the sheer power of the placebo effect. That sucks.

  • wiLD0@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    4 months ago

    The fallout from Trump 's war on Harvard will long outlast his presidency