On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” Columbia University Associate Professor and New York Times columnist John McWhorter stated that “universities do have a problem with wokeness. That is a real problem.” And that within the humanities, “there’s this general idea that battling power is supposed to be the North Star” and “it’s kind of like kids who want to have candy for dinner. For one thing, that’s not good for you, and, also, they need to broaden their horizons. All of these people who are infusing academia with wokeness want to have candy for dinner. That’s a huge problem in academia right now.”
McWhorter began by saying that he’s been “on a blissful sabbatical for the entire year. And so, I only know so much.”
He added that most of Columbia’s students aren’t crazy, but “there is a problem. Frankly, Columbia has tried, for example, this year, to eradicate or at least dampen antisemitism. Minouche Shafik did get 100 students arrested, you now cannot get onto the campus without a card, which is in order to protect, especially Jewish students from having to listen to antisemitic protests all day long. The three administrators who were nakedly antisemitic in their texts were justifiably fired. But the thing is, I don’t think this is really about antisemitism from the Trump administration. I think they care about as much about antisemitism as a kitchen cabinet or a spoon. What they are really upset about is just wokeness in general. And universities do have a problem with wokeness. That is a real problem.”
McWhorter further stated that “many people would be surprised to go to a meeting of say, anthropologists or historians or just about any subject that they think of as humanities, with the ivy on the buildings and the college campus in the movies and see what passes for discussion in those subjects. And many of those places over about the past 15 years, in particular, there’s this general idea that battling power is supposed to be the North Star — as they put it at NPR — the North Star of all inquiry. So, you’re not learning about the subject, you’re taking that subject and battling power. And if you’re not doing that, you’re either sinister or you’re not quite sexy enough to matter. And that’s a problem because battling power alone should be one about 50 things that you study, and if you only study that, it’s kind of like kids who want to have candy for dinner. For one thing, that’s not good for you, and, also, they need to broaden their horizons. All of these people who are infusing academia with wokeness want to have candy for dinner. That’s a huge problem in academia right now.”
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