A taste of Prager U

[_Ceeboo]

Would you care to explain how Alan Dershowitz appearing in a Praeger U video contradicts what I said?

It wasn't a Prager U video. It was a clip of the coming "No Safe Spaces" movie. Maybe we could go watch it together, i'll buy the popcorn!

[_Ceeboo]

P.S. Kudos on calling Dave Rubin a liberal.

Of course! Why would anyone allow Rubin to label himself a liberal (like he did in the video) when we have you, EA to label him and every other person on planet earth, Damn you're confident.

[_huckelberry]

EAllusion, the basic idea of Intersectionality does not strike me as extreme. Its use as described in Ben's presentation is extreme to my view. I realize he specializes in making images of the left as extreme so I am left with some doubts about how often the idea of intersectionality is used in the manner he described. I am enough decades out of university that I do not trust my own sense of how extreme some universities are. I assume pictures from the right are exaggurated but there are examples of extreme talk from the left.

I'm not sure why you'd trust Ben Shapiro to describe anything honestly.

I am fairly sure I have not experienced trust when hearing Ben Shapiro. I was considering his view as a fishing device for observations about recent tangles in university expectations. (Huckelberry is a white christian male with no intention to curtail his own thought because of who he is.) Conceptual safe places should be outgrown in fifth grade.

[_Ceeboo]

It wasn't a Prager U video. It was a clip of the coming "No Safe Spaces" movie. Maybe we could go watch it together, i'll buy the popcorn!

EA,
To get you excited for our date - Here is a teaser of the movie

https://youtu.be/X_AyP9SAEJc

[_Gadianton]

I watched the one on "white privilege". Having a right-wing friend I talk to nearly every day now, I can see the point is to show how silly all the "Libertards" (as he says) are. The clip barely held my interest until the end. I could counter by posting a video of this friend of mine talking for two minutes on any subject whatsoever with no edits and saying, "see?" A coke drinker could go interview pepsi drinkers and do the same thing.

A few points about what that clip was trying to show. Take an extreme example. Suppose my kid is bullied every day at school. I ask my kid what's going on and my kid says, "nothing, don't worry about it. Anyway, that idiot isn't going to ruin my day." I say to myself, you know what? We have been told to listen to our kids more. There's really no problem here at all.

I probably would never find myself at a "white privilege" conference. But more to the point would have been to respond to the actual material presented at the conference, don't you think?

Anyway, the video was a work of utter fallacy, and leaves me with zero interest to watch any more, even for the purpose of untangling them. After refuting the first 10 or so right-wing emails my friend sent me (and half of them were outright fabrications that are trivial to debunk) he keeps them coming, every day, convinced that a good one is just around the corner. He started asking what I thought about the latest when I quit responding and I told him I wasn't going to tell him anymore what I think. If he wants my opinion, he needs to first research the subject and include in the email a couple of paragraphs explaining the research he's done to validate the material isn't an outright hoax, and to explain in his own words, what the material is trying to show and why he agrees with it.

I would only watch more of these (and probably only a very, very few more) if my friend Ceeboo explains in his words, what the video is trying to show and why he agrees with it first.

[_canpakes]

P.S. Kudos on calling Dave Rubin a liberal.

Of course! Why would anyone allow Rubin to label himself a liberal (like he did in the video) when we have you, EA to label him and every other person on planet earth, Damn you're confident.

His opinion is far from unique. ; )

On The Rubin Report, Rubin interviews noteworthy columnists, academics, YouTubers and journalists for about an hour a piece. Rubin’s detractors criticize him for simplistic questions and his unwillingness to challenge guests when they say something false or veer off on ludicrous tangents. As an example, when Milo Yiannopoulos told Rubin that the alt-right is not anti-Semitic because Jews actually do run the media, the banks and society as a whole, Rubin’s only response was “I don’t even know where to start with that, so just go on.” But throwing softball questions at Stefan Molyneux and Milo Yiannopoulos is not Rubin’s most dramatic failing as a social critic.

He often itemizes beliefs of his that give him “liberal cred.” He supports gay marriage, abortion, the social safety net, prison reform and legalized marijuana. However, he also believes that “the modern left” has “no diversity of thought or tolerance of other opinions.” Therefore, Rubin thinks that the political right is more welcoming of unorthodox opinions.

Rubin is absolutely correct that a prominent subsection of the American left values inoffensiveness over personal freedom, and that too many progressives generalize all Trump supporters and conservatives as sexist or racist. But for a man who emphasizes that society must value the individual over the collective, Rubin has a habit of applying sloppy stereotypes to all progressives and leftists instead of dealing with them on a case-by-case basis. In one breath, Rubin declares that “all decent people must fight extremes” by “judging people as individuals and not as groups,” and in another he states, “It’s official. Leftism is a mental disorder.”

In July 2017, Rubin found himself in a somewhat fraught interview with the radio host David Pakman. The questions were pointed and difficult to dodge. Rubin had to be repeatedly pressed to name a specific policy of President Donald Trump’s that he did not like. The worst thing he could think of to say about President Trump throughout 12 minutes of discussion was that Trump used “a ton” of executive actions. Pakman asked Rubin why he had called liberalism a mental illness, and Rubin said he had never done so. He had called leftism and progressivism mental illnesses, but not liberalism. This distinction Rubin drew between liberalism and progressivism was meritless. While such a distinction does exist, Rubin does not believe in it. He has stated many times that the progressivism “has infected virtually all of the Left,” including “mainstream” liberals and the entire Democratic Party. Rubin’s definition of “liberal” applies to very few people who identify as liberal. Rubin does not believe that he should follow his own advice to judge people “as individuals and not as groups.”

...

Rubin cannot decide which type of political pundit he is. When he talks about his “liberal cred,” he wants to be a disaffected Democrat. When he tells people that he is a “classical liberal,” he wants to be an enlightened centrist who cannot be classified with most political labels. And when he is offered speaking engagements by conservative organizations, he acts like an apostate from the left who, because he was once a progressive, understands better than most why progressivism must be defeated.

Rubin is definitely gravitating toward the last of these three personalities. He denies that he is a “secret conservative,” but it is hard not to notice his rightward leanings in the video “Why I Left the Left,” which Rubin starred in and which was released on YouTube by Dennis Prager, a conservative author and radio host.

The purpose of every single video of Dennis Prager’s is to convince viewers of the truth of a specific right-wing idea. According to these videos, fascism is a left-wing ideology, the alt-right is just as racist as the modern left, murder is not wrong if God does not exist and the United States military actually won the Vietnam War. If Dave Rubin really were a liberal, he would not go out of his way to lend credence to the historical inaccuracy and demagoguery that characterize Dennis Prager’s videos.

http://dailycampus.com/stories/2018/1/1 ... -chameleon

[_Some Schmo]

Is it just me, or is this another Ceeboo this is why I say the crap I do thread?

[_honorentheos]

I'm interested in hearing an example that demonstrates a Prager U conservative's explicit acceptance of diversity of thought.

[_Ceeboo]

Hey Gad,

Great to see you - I hope all is well - I consider it a treat that you posted a contribution.

I watched the one on "white privilege". Having a right-wing friend I talk to nearly every day now, I can see the point is to show how silly all the "Libertards" (as he says) are. The clip barely held my interest until the end. I could counter by posting a video of this friend of mine talking for two minutes on any subject whatsoever with no edits and saying, "see?" A coke drinker could go interview pepsi drinkers and do the same thing.

I agree and I posted something in my OP (about a similar link) that would lend some weight to my agreement. Here is a copy/paste from part of said OP .................... "I understand the real possibility that they only show certain interviews and that the video might be comprised of very selective clips with a very specific purpose"

I probably would never find myself at a "white privilege" conference.

Well, one of the reasons I posted the video was because I had never even heard of a "white privilege conference", until now.

But more to the point would have been to respond to the actual material presented at the conference, don't you think?

Yes, not only do I think your point is valid, I wish I could have seen the material presented at the actual conference. If nothing else, it would have certainly given us all much more information to evaluate and form opinions on such a conference.

Why did I post the video? In addition to never having heard of a "white privilege conference" before, I had also never heard of someone "extending their white privilege upon someone else" nor have I ever heard a white woman say that she was "hyper aware and feels super guilty all the time" of her whiteness. I thought these things were really odd - perhaps I am just out of touch?

Anyway, the video was a work of utter fallacy

Wait, what? Why do you think the video was utter fallacy - a deceptive or a misleading/false notion. I understand that the video was very likely edited and constructed to include only specific interviews with an intended message - but even if this is the case, were you still not perplexed with some of the actual content? I'm asking you because I was perplexed.

I would only watch more of these (and probably only a very, very few more) if my friend Ceeboo explains in his words, what the video is trying to show and why he agrees with it first.

Not only am I flattered, I am extremely pleased to know I am among your friends.

While I won't ask you to watch any more videos (I understand that they can be difficult to get through) I will repost the following post which I already made earlier in the thread......... below .............

Of all the videos I have seen so far, this one in probably my favorite.

It's called "The Strange Death Of Comedy" done by Owen Benjamin (Comedian/Actor)

https://youtu.be/JFIBNwrEl_0

Watch it if you would like to - if you don't - no worries, friend. As someone who has always been a huge fan of humor/comedy/banter, this video really struck home with me personally. In addition to other things, I believe comedy provides a unique method of uniting and I think it provides perspective and peace most of the time. It also presents a space for us all to unwind and take a break from the laundry list of serious things, persoanl struggles and responsibilities that the great majority of us face day to day.

Anyway, again,thanks for making an appearance in the thread. I appreciate your perspective and I appreciate you.

[_EAllusion]

Dave Rubin calls himself a classic liberal, is currently most famous as a vociferous critic of progressive politics, voted for Gary Johnson, and is really into Ayn Randian Objectivism. He's basically a libertarian grifter whose shtick is selling himself as a liberal apostate.

Holding him up as your example of "even liberals" was ignorant. It was in a P.S. because even if he as, it wouldn't contradict the point I was making. He's made a video to promote criticisms of the left.