Post a controversial opinion

Which brings me back to my original point; if these kids were too dumb to realize that doing this shit on a Facebook group in front of a bunch of their peers whom they didn't actually know was a terrible idea, they are too dumb to be at Harvard.

bet some real unsavory characters make it to the U of Phoenix boards. suppose it's ok if Harvard wants to use a finer comb.

I wonder if someone saw one of these memes and was genuinely offended (which would be shitty, the one aspect of this story that nags is that it seems kids had to post an offensive meme to the larger group to prove their worthiness to join the offensive memes group, and really no one who didn't sign up for that shit should have to have it shoved in their face) or it it was some white kid being a damn snitch.

lmfao

Are you really intending to argue here that a white person couldn't be genuinely offended by this behavior or that the critical detail that makes this entire scenario actionable can be handwaved as an inconvenient detail to the chilling effect this has on people's abilities to just be their shitty selves without repercussion?

lol

I know this is the controversial opinion thread and all but

DJP, I meant Bridget Kerrigan and for all I know maybe you get in trouble for that now, but not then.

The guy who stole from kids with cancer is still an alum in good standing!

the only criticism i can muster is that it was borne of some overly persnickety sense of what a "harvard man" (adjust gender as needed) is supposed to be, even though people who hold similarly vicious ideas are for sure getting in, and in fact teaching there.

three cheers for the little shitbags being exposed, that's great.

Your president is literally stealing from kids with cancer tbf

christ, i didn't mean that was the determining factor of whether this was a justifiable decision or not, just curious because that's not the kind of detail that's ever going to be in the story.

joe rogan will likely explore that detail in a 2 hour long podcast this week

christ, i didn't mean that was the determining factor of whether this was a justifiable decision or not, just curious because that's not the kind of detail that's ever going to be in the story.

― evol j, Monday, June 5, 2017 3:02 PM (forty-one seconds ago) Bookmark

why did you think it was a meaningful detail?

i didn't even say it was meaningful, i just said i wonder.

time to give this one up

even though people who hold similarly vicious ideas are for sure getting in, and in fact teaching there

i would imagine that they're not interested in policing reprehensible opinions, only the public expression of reprehensible opinions

The guy who stole from kids with cancer is still an alum in good standing!

Wait, he is???? I guess he didn't get caught until after he graduated?

I'm pretty sure that's right. He definitely wasn't jailed until after graduation at any rate, there maybe were storm clouds gathering his senior year, I don't remember the exact timeline

still an alum in good standing!

I don't think it is possible for a university to retroactively rescind a degree for actions happening after graduation.

The actions happened before he graduated; he got caught after (I thought it was right before commencement but I had my timeline off)

offensive memes group

I mean, here's yr culprit.

People haven't really decided what Facebook is 'for' yet, and also people haven't come to a consensus on what is or is not offensive, or whether decent people can laugh at offensive jokes, or if it's okay to be offensive if it's bracketed as a joke, or whether memes on facebook are the same thing as jokes anyway. So when a university makes a decision that effectively takes a position on each of these points it's going to seem wrong to a lot of people

DJP, I meant Bridget Kerrigan and for all I know maybe you get in trouble for that now, but not then.

fun fact: my wife roomed with Jacinda Townsend after this whole thing happened. It did not go well.

destroy all social media

i think we know what Facebook is for.

I was under the impression that the private Facebook was just between a few students, not between a huge number of people they didn't know. Seems spectacularly dumb.

I dunno, I see a lot of facebook arguments between people who think it's for incisive discussions about serious business and people who think it's not

As I understand it:

- There was a Facebook group for the whole class.
- A subset of the class started a Facebook group to share memes.
- The dummies decided they wanted a private message group to share really gross memes and told people who wanted to join in that they needed to post something shocking and horrible to the general meme group in order to get an invitation.
- At least one person on the meme group went "wtf" and notified the school
- The school said "lol u dummies, no Harvard for u"
- 99% of the alumni I interact with who have passed this story around have commented on it with some variation of "good" and/or "lol"

Ahh I think I'm coming round to 'good' on this in that case. If there was encouragement from some to throw the offensive stuff around in a group that was meant to be for everyone that's pretty clear cut

fuck these dumb brats

Yeah, that sounds like it wasn't private by any stretch.

also people haven't come to a consensus on what is or is not offensive, or whether decent people can laugh at offensive jokes

Oh I do hope you'll let us know as soon as you have this consensus!

consensus? right-o! there are only a billion people on facebook. we should be done by Wednesday next, Friday tops.

I am one of the people who is often disturbed by the censorious bent of campus activism but in this case I want to go on record and say I am glad these shitbags were kicked out of Harvard

The point of that kind of "transgressive" shock humor is to upset people. It's a form of bullying. Racist bullying.

Would it be unseemly to point out at this time where Facebook was founded?

We should continue to speak openly and constructively about 'regime change', first and foremost since oppressive and dictatorial regimes have a tendency to collapse and change on their own...

You are so right 龜, = oh how I long for the days of internet anonymity, even fi its was trollish

the identity theft of the current model is stealing someone's anonymity

@darragh that's my point

your loss Harvard, one of these brats was prob gonna create the newest, dumbest app & be your next zuckerberg

Fuckerberg brought shame to the Red Shield of truth

people who take and share too many selfies are suspect

You need to qualify that a bit more to make it controversial

people ugly men who take and share too many selfies are suspect

Suicide is, and ought to be, a human right (with some quibbles/caveats).

You know my motto when it comes to suicide: There are more where that came from.

strong male role models are overrated. and not essential.

Best thing for north korea and the world is for more not less people to visit that country

Off with ya

Anyone who says something like "Why are spending so much money on space exploration when we have problems here on Earth" should never be allowed to look at the sky again

Bit harsh about Gil Scott-Heron