Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
Adam Schwartzman ·
September 18, 2011 at 2:44am
Just caught wind of this story breaking out of York University in Canada. 22-year-old senior Sarah Grunfeld is campaigning for Professor Cameron Johnston to be fired. Why? In brief, he uttered the sentence "All Jews should be sterilized" as explicit example of an unacceptable opinion.
Grunfeld, who through some unimaginable idiocy is standing by her case, has acknowledged that she may have misunderstood the professor, but nonetheless maintains that "The words, 'Jews should be sterilized' still came out of his mouth, so regardless of the context I still think that's pretty serious."
By the way, Professor Johnston is Jewish and has been teaching at the University for over 30 years.
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Comments:
Re: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
Sounds like something MSNBC would do to a GOP presidential candidate.
So now it's out of bounds to say anything bad in any context, even when mocking someone else's opinion?
Re: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
Extremely stupid.
May '11
Re: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
Stupid, but hardly new. Listen to a liberal talk about Huck Finn. America's greatest writer wrote the most damning indictment of racism ever, and all the liberals can see is that he used the "n-word."
Jul '10
Re: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
I know something about stupid; that was impressively stupid.
Mar '11
Re: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
I blame York University for failing to properly educate Ms. Grunfeld in the art of critical thinking.
May '10
Re: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
Great. Now I won't be able to watch White Men Can't Jump ever again. Thanks a lot, Ms. Grunfeld.
Edited on September 18, 2011 at 3:12amJan '11
Re: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
Yes, extremely stupid, but anyone care to guess what is Ms. Grunfeld's major subject?
I'm guessing education.
Mar '11
Re: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
Sounds like she needs to practice critical LISTENING.
Jul '10
Re: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
It'd be interesting to know what she's majoring in. Or why she's in college in the first place. Idiot.
[If this didn't come out right, forgive me. We're celebrating 2 birthdays today (mine and another) and 8 of us have already finished 6 bottles of wine with dinner and we still have the cake and champagne to go... Just took a break to look at e-cards - birthday - and couldn't resist ck'ing Ricochet.]
Re: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
Larry, I actually wrote a piece about censoring Huck Finn, I think you might enjoy it. Have a look here.
Jul '10
Re: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
If the muckety-mucks at York University have any self-respect, they will refund her money, inform her that she is clearly not yet emotionally or intellectually ready to attend college, and send her home.
I suspect they will not. I further suspect she is acting out the moronic principles that have been hammered into her throughout the whole of her schooling in Canada. If you're going to raise them to be hypersensitive ninnies, can you blame them for acting like hypersensitive ninnies?
Oct '10
Re: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
Sometimes I'm ashamed to be up here in Canada. It's this kind of inability to think, not just critically, but in general, that makes me wonder what kind of society we're going to have when these people grow up and enter adult society.
Jan '11
Re: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
Anon: Yes, extremely stupid, but anyone care to guess what is Ms. Grunfeld's major subject?
I'm guessing education. · Sep 17 at 6:51pm
Please please please don't let it be law enforcement ... please please please ...
May '10
Re: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
I don't think it's an inability to think critically but rather an unwillingness to think critically. To think critically is to make judgments and being judgmental goes against a core tenant of progressive and multicultural ideology. Better to throw anyone who disagrees with you in jail or fine anyone who says something that could be construed as objectionable than to force yourself to make a judgment. It is the heart of intolerant tolerance.
Re: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
Peter Christofferson: If the muckety-mucks at York University have any self-respect, they will refund her money, inform her that she is clearly not yet emotionally or intellectually ready to attend college, and send her home.
I suspect they will not. I further suspect she is acting out the moronic principles that have been hammered into her throughout the whole of her schooling in Canada. If you're going to raise them to be hypersensitive ninnies, can you blame them for acting like hypersensitive ninnies? · Sep 17 at 7:05pm
On the contrary, Peter, if she's acting out the principles she's learned in school, they may just offer her a tenured position! Then again, if President Obama takes the advice of James Carville, there may be some Cabinet level vacancies soon. Is she enamored of Chairman Mao too?
Aug '10
Re: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
Flunk her. That'll learn her.
Apr '11
Re: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
But how many kids does he have?
Mar '11
Re: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
KC Mulville
Anon: Yes, extremely stupid, but anyone care to guess what is Ms. Grunfeld's major subject?
I'm guessing education. · Sep 17 at 6:51pm
Please please please don't let it be law enforcement ... please please please ... · Sep 17 at 7:23pm
She must be gunning for a position in the Canadian "Human Rights Commission".
Nov '10
Re: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
Now, hang on one darn second.
Said Johnston: “ 'All Jews should be sterilized' would be an example of an unacceptable and dangerous opinion".
Now, this opinion is absurdly wrong and insanely bigoted. It is also conceivably dangerous--if it provokes behaviour.
But is it also unacceptable, tout court?
It may be iniquitious to hold an opinion. It may be uncouth to express it, depending on the circumstances.
But to assert that the opinion is intrinsically unacceptable--which implies that one should not even hold it, and that others can rightly seek to prevent one from doing so--is a bridge too far.
To believe otherwise is to believe that the contents of an individual's mind are up to others to determine. (Not influence: determine). This is tyrannical.
Hence, the situation may be ironic. The professor--if he meant his remark literally--seemingly endorses the very thought-police mentality that makes it feasible for a stupid student to kick up a rumour-based ruckus based upon a mishearing or misapprehension.
(On the other hand, with ever-rising anti-Jew sentiment, isn't it perversely reassuring to discover that hysteria over an anti-Jewish thought crime remains at least possible?)
Edited on September 18, 2011 at 1:56pmRe: Stupid Girl Makes Stupid Claims, Stupidly
Aodhan:
But to assert that the opinion is intrinsically unacceptable--which implies that one should not even hold it, and that others can rightly seek to prevent one from doing so--is a bridge too far.
To believe otherwise is to believe that the contents of an individual's mind are up to others to determine. (Not influence: determine). This is tyrannical.
I would disagree with this--it is the professor's prerogative to set boundaries in a controlled academic setting (his class).
In that vein, he is completely vindicated in explaining, on the first day of class as it were, what will and will not fly.