Butler Trump Class

Wow. Classic off-season topic. I guess arguing about school rankings wasn't enough for everyone in the absence of actual basketball to talk about. Yeesh.

For those that don't know, Dr. Savage is a professor in the TComm Dept. (or at least that's what it was called when I was there) and primarily taught upper level media criticism classes. These classes were entirely elective and often taken by kids who thought a pop-culture class would be a cake-walk. She is a good professor and the classes often featured spirited discussions about thorny cultural issues. She deserves the accolades that she has received.

I have to admit that this course description seems a bit of a head scratcher to me, as it sounds on its face to be a liberal therapy session. But given its plainly anti-Trump description, and Butler's fairly hegemonic culture, I'll bet there will be some people taking the class with the intention of pushing back on the course's premise. And that's probably by design. Dr. Savage likes going against the grain and pushing kids to think and argue critically, even if their opinion isn't her own. Having taken a couple of her classes, I'll bet there will be some fierce debate, which in my opinion, is the point of college.

 

Stick to sports.

 

Like the Lifetime Fitness course Lisa Farley taught?


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This class is an outrage. What's next, teaching Evolution, "Tom Sawyer" and "Catcher in the Rye" in the library, DANCING . . .

 

This is tiresome and I hope you are kidding.

In case you aren't, and just another smug self-satisfied douche, I have a request for you: Point to where exactly anyone here in this thread supports trump, says that the teacher's political opinion is wrong, that the teacher shouldn't have a pointed political agenda or that Trump should or shouldn't be "resisted"? In fact, I will venmo you right now $200 if you can do it. Go ahead. I'm waiting you plebeian.

Obviously, you can't because no one said it. The point is that the very essence/definition of the class stifles legitimate debate about a topic that is far from resolved. Only a moron would argue otherwise.

Furthermore, I may be wrong, but since when does tuition only go to pay for the teacher's salaries for the classes the student is enrolled in? Its my understanding that all tuition goes into a common pot. Therefore, I would be pretty pissed if a part of my tuition went to pay for this stupid class.

 

I'm not "outraged" that this class exists, but I do think you're an idiot if you take the course. Talk about a waste of money...

 

I agree or disagree with anything I need to in order for you to send me the 200 bucks.

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a) Point to where shoeevv said or assumed that anyone in the thread supports trump, that the teacher's political opinion is wrong, that the teacher shouldn't have a pointed political agenda, or that Trump should or shouldn't be "resisted"? In fact, I'll venmo you right now $200 if you can do it. Go ahead. I'm waiting (sic) you. (Shoot - it appears you were making presumptions about this person based on a response unrelated to the presumptions you made. Literally the exact same mode of reasoning that you just chastised him/her for.)

b) See the boded. And you want to come lecture us about stifling legitimate debate?

c) "You're stupid because you're stupid" isn't an argument.

d) You never responded to me yesterday. Is your position that Trump is ordinary? Is that why this bothers you? Because, if he's not ordinary, he, and the election, are worth studying.

 

He essentially said that anyone who has a problem with the class is a backward yokel i.e. bans books, dancing whatever else. That line of reasoning is often reserved for the smug and intellectually mundane. That's why I labeled him as such. venmo me now plz.

I'm not responded to your stupid question because its objectively stupid. Is he normal? No. Is any president ever been normal? No. Therefore, Is the question of whether the president is "ordinary" have any value to it? No. Thus you were ignored.

 

This class would be a great opportunity to invite the 2nd lady (BU Alumnus) Karen Pence to give a counter opinion, or insight into the campaign. That is assuming this class is actually about studying Trump's political rise to the presidency like the university statement alludes to.
My guess is they will not ask her. And they will just sit in a room agreeing how terrible Trump is.
As others have said I am not a fan of Trump and I am not sure if I am even against the principle of this class (how Trump was able to win). I just have little faith that is what this class will be about.


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The real question is if any of the upper classmen on the team take this elective course will they play better or worse?

 

With regard to the first paragraph, if you truly don't see how that rationale parallels the one that bothered you so much, I think you're choosing not to and I'll move on.

With regard to the second, that's an awfully suspect line of reasoning. I'll tell you why rather than giving up and calling you stupid or a Pleb because I don't want to stifle legitimate debate or to simply throw my own "elite" northeast education in your face as if it means I'm above reproach.

You're essentially saying that if a sample of, oh I don't know, 44 have many commonalities but also have *some* differences, nothing about them can be labeled "ordinary" vis a vis a 45th member of the sample that shares, objectively, many fewer of those commonalities. That's more of an indictment on using the word "ordinary" at all than anything else.

Taking your reasoning to its logical end:

If 44 cars are blue chevy 4 doors, but each with different types of tires and stereos, and the 45th is a red 2 door Kia, is it unfair to say that the 45th is extraordinary simply because the previous 44 all had different tires and stereos? I don't think you'd make that argument.

 

Dumb class, dumb topic. Gender studies, liberal feminist gets an elective class to vent her frustrations that we did not get our first female president. There should be a class on how the Democrats stole the nomination from Bernie, and then ran one of the worst campaigns in modern day history. That would be a class I would sign up for


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This was in the Washington Post and Fox News

 

This is nearly as polarizing as McD's playing time.

 

Nah. This course offering will only affect donations. McD seeing the floor next year will have a far far greater impact.

 

I think the class would be more interesting if it delved more into geopolitics and the recent populist uprising; more specifically, how globalization, immigration, and secularism have shaped the the global political landscape and created a new wave of identity politics (here's a wonderful read, for anyone interested: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/the-new-meaning-of-whiteness). Studying how Donald Trump became so popular is far more intriguing than any character analysis and I'm confident that is what this course aims to achieve, though admittedly the course description isn't worded perfectly.

I think it is a perfectly relevant elective course. I'm confident the period we are living in will be a historical highlight in both the near and distant future and I don't understand the vexation and vitriol.

 

There's a possibility they may play "really, really good".


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