Category: issues

“No one really knows whether the few anecdotal reports about truly ridiculous trigger-warning requests … are indicative of a bigger problem, or merely isolated instances that shouldn’t be spun into grand arguments about the decline of higher education, or the fragility of millennials, or whatever else.

“The terms of any possible agreement are unclear, and the discussions may yet founder. But the negotiations are an abrupt turnaround in a case that drew wide attention.”

“A Florentine cannot even buy bread in the city centre any more because the shops only sell gelato to please tourists, or alcohol to please students – groups that represent the economic lifeblood of the city.”

“By giving subjects—powerful or weak—the ability to bypass organizations they used to have to work with, platforms alter the terms considerably. That’s why so many disparate media parties are descending into panic at the same time. That’s why their subjects are asserting themselves. That’s why so many professional communicators are, when it comes to their own jobs, at a loss for words.”

“Twenty percent of U.S. college presidents in 2012 came from fields outside academia, up from from 13 percent six years earlier, according to the American Council on Education. Many of the non-academic college presidents come from the law and business worlds.”

Asked to weigh in on the current lèse-majesté trial – the defendant juxtaposed photos of the Tolkien character and President Erdoğan – the director and screenwriters of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films said in a statement, “We can state categorically: None of [the images] feature the character known as Gollum.”

A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 40 percent of millennials believe the government “should be able to prevent people from saying . . . statements that are offensive to minority groups.” A third of millennials also say the government should be able to prevent speech “offensive to your religion or beliefs.”

“Independent critics may have to be self-policing in their ethics, but there’s no reason to assume those ethics are diminished.”

“But this kawaii imagery is neither conceived of nor perceived as disrespectful. Rather, it’s a testament to the deep ambivalence the Japanese retain about both the history and the changing role of their armed forces.”

The trial of a Turkish man accused of insulting the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, by comparing him to Gollum has been adjourned so that a group of experts can study JRR Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings character, Turkish media has reported.”