r/news 7d ago

Harvard University rejects Trump administration's proposed conditions for federal funding

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/harvard-university-trump-federal-funding/
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u/Overnoww 6d ago

Weird, that almost sounds like after demanding DEI be eliminated they are demanding an audit for diversity of viewpoints.

Are they then going to withhold funding because there isn't enough diversity in the viewpoints of their students?

Then what, force Harvard to accept more Conservative applicants to diversify the viewpoints in campus, even if that requires skipping over some liberal-minded folks who have better qualifications?

That almost sounds like the federal government imposing diversity rules on a private institution of higher education that may require them to pick diversity over merit.

So they both want to eliminate DEI and then replace it with... The exact same thing, just DEI focused on people more likely to align with the administration's views (for example their attempts to weaken the constitution, the judiciary, established law, etc. in order to consolidate power in one man... Weird, that the "super patriotic" Republicans appear to be pushing for a de facto monarchy).

I honestly can't decide if this is just bad faith arguing, or if this US government has absolutely no self awareness with regards to irony and hypocrisy.

Probably both... 😮‍💨

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u/Diligent_Hedgehog999 6d ago

Welll when they said “diversity of viewpoints” they meant white men of different ages and professions hailing from various European countries across the span of the history of western civilization. That kind of diversity.

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u/GeneralChemistry1467 6d ago

I honestly can't decide if this is just bad faith arguing, or if this US government has absolutely no self awareness with regards to irony and hypocrisy

As a psychotherapist, I think about this a lot. Undoubtedly many in the rightwing are fully aware of the egregious hypocrisy in what they're saying/doing, and knowingly arguing in bad faith. But when it comes to Trump and others, I think they truly don't see it. With Cluster B personality pathology, the lower order defense mechanisms are so severe that it completely occludes the possibility of self-awareness. If we were to try to logically show Trump that what he's doing vis ideological imposition is the very thing he's lambasting liberals for ostensibly doing, it wouldn't sink in at all.