One consistent feature of institution discourse is that it takes place at the level of the existing bodies and bureaucracies and their opponents, and not at the level of the social roles and missions those institutions were created to fulfill. Thus, partisan filters rule all. https://twitter.com/MattGrossmann/status/1326894568948846593
Whether you believe that universities and journalism have discredited themselves or whether you believe they have been the victims of slander, you are still speaking about matters at a remove from the question of what we actually want education and the free press to do in 2020.
People get target fixation: if we can just burn down Harvard, all will be well; if we can just force people to pay proper respect to Harvard, all will be well.

But why does Harvard exist? What does it attempt to do? What should it attempt to do? These are better questions.
People who want to defend current institutions need to understand this: if they have lost credibility with a huge portion of the population, you are going to have to reestablish that credibility to justify those institutions. You cannot silence people into respecting them.
People who want to burn present institutions down must understand this: the underlying social needs institutions seek to address still exist, and merely demolishing what is without a plan to replace it is always going to be a self-indulgent fringe belief, no matter how justified.
You can follow @TheAgeofShoddy.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled:

By continuing to use the site, you are consenting to the use of cookies as explained in our Cookie Policy to improve your experience.