Yale professor who studies fascism fleeing US to work in Canada

[sepositus]

> Stanley said this order sets the country “on a path to educational authoritarianism”.

Paying large sums of taxes for a school that is unquestionably failing my children, with no option to attend another school (without shelling an unfathomable amount of money for private schooling), feels like educational authoritarianism to me.

[OgsyedIE]

As somebody on the other political side, I wouldn't want federal tax dollars going to mormon universities in a vacuum. To prevent more culture war distractions from the faculty's jobs of teaching, I think anybody who can do math can agree that:

Either every university should get subsidies proportional to the effectiveness of their graduates or no universities should get any subsidies at all.

[sightbroke]

You can consider moving to a better district.

[cherry_tree]

So you are in favor of reducing the funding your childs school receives from the federal government? And for using the government to restrict funding to universities unless they comply with limiting the speech of students and professors?

I don’t see how that makes your child’s school better, can you explain how we get from A to B?

[pfannkuchen]

One thing I think is interesting about the fascism label is - if you time traveled the US government leadership from 1945 to today, who would they align with more? How would they treat these issues? Or was the US fascist in 1923 when the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind that Indians aren’t white and therefore can’t be granted citizenship? That seems, like, massively more “fascist” than anything happening today. But historically no one considers 1923 America to be fascist, and it went to war against fascists shortly thereafter. Hmm.

[dragonwriter]

> One thing I think is interesting about the fascism label is - if you time traveled the US government leadership from 1945 to today, who would they align with more?

I’m guessing not the people literally using the slogans of the American movement that opposed fighting fascism.

> Or was the US fascist in 1923 when the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind that Indians aren’t white and therefore can’t be granted citizenship?

It was racist (which, alone, is not sufficient to be fascist, though fascist governments are often racists and the Nazis were specifically inspired by US race policy in their racism) when it adopted the naturalization law that the Supreme Court interpreted in that case, sure.

(The fixed country-based caps in current immigration law are also largely based in racism, but a much more mild expression of it than the whites-only naturalization rule.)

[jhp123]

A time traveller from 1945 would probably assume the side snapping off Sieg Heils to be fascist

[FooBarBizBazz]

This word "fascism" is unfortunate, because the symbolism of the fasces is actually good: We do all need to bundle ourselves together if we are either (a) to accomplish anything, or (b) to resist capital. The only question is whether all the many twigs have to be the same color.

The Left has spoken of "bundling" for many years now (of issues or complaints, or, looked at another way, of identity or pressure groups). That too is the idea of the fasces. The word "bundle" again suggests it.

I also note that there is a certain irony here, because, besides "fasces", we already have a succinct two-syllable word meaning "a bundle of twigs".

There is also the tasty cognate, "fajita".

[aaplok]

> historically no one considers 1923 America to be fascist.

Many scholars consider that Nazism was greatly inspired by American racism. Calling 1923 America fascist would be anachronistic, but also American racist policies were less related to Italian fascism than to Nazi doctrines. But plenty of scholars make the connection. Here is an example: [0].

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-American-Model-United-States/...

[MengerSponge]

1923 Germany wasn't fascist either. 1933 Germany, for what it's worth, liked a lot of things about 1923 America. Nazi eugenics grew from American ideas.

[gnabgib]

Discussion (53 points, 9 hours ago, 36 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43495824

[jeetoid]

Jason Stanley? Jason Stanley, the Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University? [1]

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oomvEjJAI44

[locusm]

That headline makes it sound like he had to flee under the cover of darkness.

[FilosofumRex]

Most philosophy dept nowadays have fewer undergrads than profs. An entitled liberal arts prof from an elitist university leaving the US for Canada, will improve both nations.

[archagon]

“Entitled” how? Sounds like innuendo for “I don’t like him.”

[Ferret7446]

I would wager that he's part of the problem. "Those who can't do, teach."

[archagon]

A pithy phrase frequently uttered by those who can’t do or teach. Or have no idea what academia actually entails.

[verdverm]

The brain drain is beginning

[krembo]

Some random dude is relocating. The internets - "The brain drain is beginning, were doomed"

[suraci]

very unwise, the US is the best place in the world for studying fascism

[duringmath]

1. You'd think he would want to study it up close.

2. If anything it's "fascism lite" and it's only for 4 years.

3. I'm not sure that forcing some belt tightening on a bloated academia is the worst thing in the world.

[lwansbrough]

Surely it will only be 4 years!

[brickfaced]

Makes sense if you're familiar with the professor in question:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oomvEjJAI44