Brilliant analysis of the finance structure. But something I CANNOT understand is how many people are true believers. Bill Ackman doesn't need more money. Bill Maher doesn't either. Yet they smirk at, while promoting violence against, 18 yr olds. I get it, Neri is really hot. IDF soldiers sprung on Birthright kids are hot. I'm sure vacationing in Tel Aviv is super fun! I still don't get the cult-like support, including turning on college kids, where history as recent as the 1960s tells us is not the right side of history.
I think Tana, you have to realize that part of these people's schtick is the idea that they *deserve* their lifetime's worth of money because "meritocracy!" The money is supposed to be a symbol of how much better they are than the rest of us, and obviously a marker that they should be in positions of power to make decisions and rule over the rest of us. :P
White = merit. MONEY = ALL the merit.
If Bill Ackman/Bill Maher/Musk etc... were the kinds of people who didn't have giant gaping holes in their ego that can never be filled, they wouldn't have kept shovelling money into the abyss the way they do. They'd have some genuine source of esteem in their lives that isn't about "number go up" and punching down on everyone else.
Yeah I think that's a good assessment. I once knew a rich guy whose goal was to leave $300 million to each of his kids. WTFHFHF is a person with a human lifespan going to do with that amount of money? It's all ego, yeah, filling up sad vacuums of self-loathing in denial.
Or more likely, his kids grew up thinking that physical affection from their parents would make them weak and/or gay. And they'll teach the same things to their kids.
I think, as do many others, that it’s the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s that gave Capitalists the false vindication that theirs is the only way. Without any psychological or moral deterrent pure unadulterated greed is the norm for many. All of this off the back of US installation of the dollar instead of gold as the de facto global means of finance as well meant that US was awash with cash that that was easy to double up if you had enough to start with. 2008 and Covid meant more money was printed and those with enough already hoovers that up as it was largely doled out to banks.
I am a student at UNC and we’ve had an encampment for a couple of days, I’m very happy so far that there’s been a lack of police presence, besides like one car which is unusual but so far no arrests afaik. It may be because we are a public university. I really feel for the Columbia/barnard students.
That's great! Columbia is a pretty high exposure, "liberal" University which I feel makes a hugh target to quash criticism of the Establishment. Keep fighting the good fight! So proud of you!
Mafia bosses and gang leaders cannot show weakness, or those that surround them will sense it and try to topple them. Brutality, enforcement, and zero forgiveness must be adhered to at all times. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. How bothersome it must be for them that people don't like their actions. It is the whole hierarchical nature of these systems that needs to be done away with. Every inch they give you, every thin dime's worth of everything they have stolen from the rest of us with their ownership and "investment" schemes must be kept, because if they lose that dime, ONE dime, if that door gets cracked open, they fear they can fall from the top. Labor movements and the government at different times, notably under FDR (reacting to public sentiment) were able to convince the plundering class they had to give something back, if only temporarily, to quell dissent. We are now decades of extreme wealth consolidation, union and organizing busting, and corporate media and propaganda bombardment away from the times in which these things occurred. Now so few have acquired so much more a share of all that exists of property, money, power. All of the surveillance and high tech militarized policing, snipers, "riot" squads, etc., is the result of the feeling of what could be lost being greater than ever before - because it is - and we see an immediate, harsh and extremely disproportional response to any threat to positions of wealth and power. You try to take back even something small Tony Soprano stole from you, and he kills you, to get rid of you and to warn others that he cannot be crossed.
As someone old enough to remember (but too young to have participated in) the student protests at Columbia in 1968 and the Chicago convention, I have been brought to tears by this moment in history. You cited Democracy Now, and despite extensive searching for reporting on the JVP Seder in the Streets in Grand Army Plaza-- Democracy Now posted the only video of Naomi Klein's moving speech I could find. https://www.democracynow.org/2024/4/24/schumer_seder
The Guardian did the most extensive reporting. I'm old enough now to participate, but geographically unable to. I want to applaud my fellow academics who are supporting students on campuses, despite risk risks to professional careers. I'm shocked by the lack of in-depth coverage by mainstream media. I'm still seeing stories from "trusted" media equating anti-semitism with anti-Zionsim.
And continually stoking fear of anti-semitism on campuses without much, if any concrete evidence. I've searched for Schumer's reaction to the JVP protest near his home, and all I found was: “College campuses must be places of learning and discussion. Every American has a right to protest, but when protests shift to antisemitism, verbal abuse, intimidation, or glorification of Oct. 7 violence against Jewish people, that crosses the line. Campuses must remain safe for all students.”
I'm shocked by the complicity of university administrators with the right-wing evangelicals who pull their strings. That these individuals who have risen to the highest positions in academia can be manipulated to make such serious errors in judgment, having lost all sense of history, morality, and empathy is (to put it mildly)- dispiriting.
For anyone looking for coverage of The Seder in the streets, Katie Halper broadcast most of it on her channel. Naomi Klein's speech starts around 15:50. I recommend watching the entire broadcast and the interviews if you have time. Very educational, important and inspiring.
Thank you so much for this. It manages to be bold and measured at the same time. May there be many eyes to read and ears to hear. I join your call to action. Here is a contribution from me.
The fact of the quick move to shut the protests down and especially brining in snipers tells us Fascism/Nazism has arrived and is now not afraid to show itself. If the protests continue they will kill students to show how serious they are. Welcome to 1933 Germany.
The GOP inquisitors have a broader goal--just using students to proceed in their mission to discredit and gut education at all levels.
I remembered this from a post here in December-
In fact there’s another nefarious side to this manufactured uproar. We know that Republicans are opposed to the education system in this country, from public schools to private universities. They promote vouchers and stripping funding from one of the single most important institutions in America, the public education system, and they take away funding from public universities wherever they have the power to do so. We see these trends from Arizona to West Virginia to the federal government. Attacking elite universities furthers their aim of weakening education across the country by providing a target where they can pretend to be against elitism and antisemitism while building power and momentum to go after one of their real aims: privatizing education across the country.
Well written article! Yes, it's the very rich 'few' that are responsible for this mess. And students have exposed this powerplay in the system that's almost autocratic. More power to them for standing up to authoritarianism. There's no going back now.
Brilliant analysis of the finance structure. But something I CANNOT understand is how many people are true believers. Bill Ackman doesn't need more money. Bill Maher doesn't either. Yet they smirk at, while promoting violence against, 18 yr olds. I get it, Neri is really hot. IDF soldiers sprung on Birthright kids are hot. I'm sure vacationing in Tel Aviv is super fun! I still don't get the cult-like support, including turning on college kids, where history as recent as the 1960s tells us is not the right side of history.
I think Tana, you have to realize that part of these people's schtick is the idea that they *deserve* their lifetime's worth of money because "meritocracy!" The money is supposed to be a symbol of how much better they are than the rest of us, and obviously a marker that they should be in positions of power to make decisions and rule over the rest of us. :P
White = merit. MONEY = ALL the merit.
If Bill Ackman/Bill Maher/Musk etc... were the kinds of people who didn't have giant gaping holes in their ego that can never be filled, they wouldn't have kept shovelling money into the abyss the way they do. They'd have some genuine source of esteem in their lives that isn't about "number go up" and punching down on everyone else.
Yeah I think that's a good assessment. I once knew a rich guy whose goal was to leave $300 million to each of his kids. WTFHFHF is a person with a human lifespan going to do with that amount of money? It's all ego, yeah, filling up sad vacuums of self-loathing in denial.
His kids probably wanted him to hug them.
Or more likely, his kids grew up thinking that physical affection from their parents would make them weak and/or gay. And they'll teach the same things to their kids.
😂😂 lmaooooooo
Well, all I'll say is, initially they probably wanted a hug and once they didn't get it, had to make up reasons why they couldn't ever get one.
The parent child relationship is one of society's most common victims!
I think, as do many others, that it’s the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s that gave Capitalists the false vindication that theirs is the only way. Without any psychological or moral deterrent pure unadulterated greed is the norm for many. All of this off the back of US installation of the dollar instead of gold as the de facto global means of finance as well meant that US was awash with cash that that was easy to double up if you had enough to start with. 2008 and Covid meant more money was printed and those with enough already hoovers that up as it was largely doled out to banks.
A monumental crash is on the horizon.
I am a student at UNC and we’ve had an encampment for a couple of days, I’m very happy so far that there’s been a lack of police presence, besides like one car which is unusual but so far no arrests afaik. It may be because we are a public university. I really feel for the Columbia/barnard students.
That's great! Columbia is a pretty high exposure, "liberal" University which I feel makes a hugh target to quash criticism of the Establishment. Keep fighting the good fight! So proud of you!
As of this morning I take it back; over 20 students were arrested
Big respect. Solidarity with you all from an old fart in the UK!
A must read.
This rings true about why universities are over-reacting to pro-Palestinian protesters camping on campus lawns.
Thanks for an enlightening post, Josh.
Land of the free do they still claim?
Mafia bosses and gang leaders cannot show weakness, or those that surround them will sense it and try to topple them. Brutality, enforcement, and zero forgiveness must be adhered to at all times. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. How bothersome it must be for them that people don't like their actions. It is the whole hierarchical nature of these systems that needs to be done away with. Every inch they give you, every thin dime's worth of everything they have stolen from the rest of us with their ownership and "investment" schemes must be kept, because if they lose that dime, ONE dime, if that door gets cracked open, they fear they can fall from the top. Labor movements and the government at different times, notably under FDR (reacting to public sentiment) were able to convince the plundering class they had to give something back, if only temporarily, to quell dissent. We are now decades of extreme wealth consolidation, union and organizing busting, and corporate media and propaganda bombardment away from the times in which these things occurred. Now so few have acquired so much more a share of all that exists of property, money, power. All of the surveillance and high tech militarized policing, snipers, "riot" squads, etc., is the result of the feeling of what could be lost being greater than ever before - because it is - and we see an immediate, harsh and extremely disproportional response to any threat to positions of wealth and power. You try to take back even something small Tony Soprano stole from you, and he kills you, to get rid of you and to warn others that he cannot be crossed.
As someone old enough to remember (but too young to have participated in) the student protests at Columbia in 1968 and the Chicago convention, I have been brought to tears by this moment in history. You cited Democracy Now, and despite extensive searching for reporting on the JVP Seder in the Streets in Grand Army Plaza-- Democracy Now posted the only video of Naomi Klein's moving speech I could find. https://www.democracynow.org/2024/4/24/schumer_seder
The Guardian did the most extensive reporting. I'm old enough now to participate, but geographically unable to. I want to applaud my fellow academics who are supporting students on campuses, despite risk risks to professional careers. I'm shocked by the lack of in-depth coverage by mainstream media. I'm still seeing stories from "trusted" media equating anti-semitism with anti-Zionsim.
And continually stoking fear of anti-semitism on campuses without much, if any concrete evidence. I've searched for Schumer's reaction to the JVP protest near his home, and all I found was: “College campuses must be places of learning and discussion. Every American has a right to protest, but when protests shift to antisemitism, verbal abuse, intimidation, or glorification of Oct. 7 violence against Jewish people, that crosses the line. Campuses must remain safe for all students.”
I'm shocked by the complicity of university administrators with the right-wing evangelicals who pull their strings. That these individuals who have risen to the highest positions in academia can be manipulated to make such serious errors in judgment, having lost all sense of history, morality, and empathy is (to put it mildly)- dispiriting.
I hope you are right and this system is being exposed. I hope it can be exposed without violence. I am always in awe of your optimism. And thank you for keeping us informed. I do want to believe that we can learn from experience. Every college administrator should take a minute to remember: https://www.aclupa.org/en/press-releases/aclu-pa-statement-student-led-demonstrations-university-campuses
For anyone looking for coverage of The Seder in the streets, Katie Halper broadcast most of it on her channel. Naomi Klein's speech starts around 15:50. I recommend watching the entire broadcast and the interviews if you have time. Very educational, important and inspiring.
https://www.youtube.com/live/iOlm5PBvUoE?si=H2InED8FcauTE3cY
Thanks for sharing this.
You're welcome!
GREAT speech! Thank you for sharing!
So well articulated, Joshua! Thank you for this.
Well said! 👏👏👏
Thank you so much for this. It manages to be bold and measured at the same time. May there be many eyes to read and ears to hear. I join your call to action. Here is a contribution from me.
https://open.substack.com/pub/pallasstanford/p/an-open-letter-to-university-leadership?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=zcghi
Great summation of what is happening and why. Thank you!
The speed at which police were brought in is unsurprising but also sickening. The system(s) are being laid bare, and the powers are scared.
Proud of all these students! Also simultaneously frightened about what is to come. I fear there will be another Kent State, with far more violence.
The fact of the quick move to shut the protests down and especially brining in snipers tells us Fascism/Nazism has arrived and is now not afraid to show itself. If the protests continue they will kill students to show how serious they are. Welcome to 1933 Germany.
The GOP inquisitors and university donors have a lot of sway, and they want the students to be taught a lesson.
The GOP inquisitors have a broader goal--just using students to proceed in their mission to discredit and gut education at all levels.
I remembered this from a post here in December-
In fact there’s another nefarious side to this manufactured uproar. We know that Republicans are opposed to the education system in this country, from public schools to private universities. They promote vouchers and stripping funding from one of the single most important institutions in America, the public education system, and they take away funding from public universities wherever they have the power to do so. We see these trends from Arizona to West Virginia to the federal government. Attacking elite universities furthers their aim of weakening education across the country by providing a target where they can pretend to be against elitism and antisemitism while building power and momentum to go after one of their real aims: privatizing education across the country.
Well written article! Yes, it's the very rich 'few' that are responsible for this mess. And students have exposed this powerplay in the system that's almost autocratic. More power to them for standing up to authoritarianism. There's no going back now.
I wonder how many of the students at elite institutions will seek to join the elite after the activism has been played out.
I wonder how many of the students in the elite institutions will seek to join the elite.
Excellent article - just excellent!