David Mandl on Mon, 23 Nov 2015 18:30:08 +0100 (CET)


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Re: <nettime> thedemands.org: list student protest demands (last updated 11.21.15)


Core issues aside (no reasonable person could oppose an anti-racism
movement on campuses), I find the trend toward demanding public
apologies--a "hand-written apology," no less!--kind of bizarre. There
are plenty of reasonable ways to acknowledge and confront racial
injustice, but this just seems like some kind of bloodlust and attempt
at gratuitous public humiliation. It;s like being forced to
write "I will not misbehave in class" ten thousand times, in a public
square. I don't know anything about these particular deans and
administrators, but how responsible are they personally for systemic
racism that has taken shape over two hundred years? (Compare the
culpability of someone like Dick Cheney and the Iraq war.) And how will
a hand-written apology change that? Why not focus on demands for actual,
substantive change and see how that goes before trying to shame these
people for lulz?

And I don't mean to suggest that it's only students
demanding apologies. This seems to have become an accepted tactic in
politics as well. But I guess I expect more from students.

   --Dave.


> On Nov 23, 2015, at 12:49 AM, nettime's_occupant <nettime@kein.org> wrote:
>
> < http://www.thedemands.org/ >
 <...>

--
Dave Mandl
dmandl@panix.com
davem@wfmu.org
Web: http://dmandl.tumblr.com/
Twitter: @dmandl
Instagram: dmandl


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