Notices by Alfie Kohn (alfiekohn@sciences.social), page 2

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Included in Trump's extortionate "compact" aimed at 9 colleges (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/02/trump-university-funding-compact), alongside attacks on diversity, etc., are demands to require the standardized tests like the SAT or ACT for admission and to curb grade inflation.

Just in case you doubted the right-wing pedigree of both of these positions...

"When this is over, do not forget what ICE did, and what ICE is. And do not make room for them in society. Make sure they know that they are, and will continue to be, reviled and beneath contempt."
- Ari Cohn, 1st Amendment lawyer

It's true, Paul Krugman concedes, that right-wing terrorism is currently down from its historic highs, but this may be because "potential terrorists don't feel the need to act when the Trump administration is doing it for them." In fact, he adds, "some people who might have engaged in terrorist assaults may well be working for ICE instead": https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/state-terror-american-style

Seen on another platform:
"The reason you never see ICE arresting the Proud Boys is the same reason you never see Miley Cyrus hanging out with Hannah Montana."

"ICE goes masked for a single reason - to terrorize Americans into quiescence."

- from a decision issued today by a federal judge (appointed by Reagan)

I've been pondering the difference between - but diabolical synergy of - Trump's motives vs. those of the people around him. He's driven entirely by his neediness - no political principles, just a perpetual simmering grievance and belief that people should be punished for criticizing him. Most of his henchmen are committed authoritarians - white nationalists, Christian nationalists - who skillfully exploit Trump's narcissism, fragility, and dimness to achieve their political objectives.

Kirk's smug "Watch me outdebate and own the libs" shtick - the antithesis of a genuine exchange of ideas - has prompted critical pieces on the subject: https://www.techdirt.com/2025/09/17/the-debate-me-bro-grift-how-trolls-weaponized-the-marketplace-of-ideas/.
In 2018, Aisling McCrea argued that debate itself is problematic; it's not just corrupted by right-wing provocateurs: https://theoutline.com/post/6709/debate-is-stupid?zd=3&zi=3xbryajr

Adam Serwer put it best: For the right, free speech means they can say whatever they want and you, too, can say whatever they want: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/09/12/workers-fired-charlie-kirk-reaction-online/

Don't you love when people dismiss objections to their actions by simply declaring that their framing of the issue is the one everyone must accept? Latest example: Texas A&M's president blatantly tramples on academic freedom, then announces, "This isn't about academic freedom. It's about academic responsibility." Ohhh, OK.

"I cannot think of a democratic country with a reliable rule of law where security forces mask themselves. It just doesn't happen."
- Prof. Steven Levitsky, Harvard political scientist

If the goal of a civics curriculum is to instill patriotism, then it isn't education - it's indoctrination.
It also betrays insecurity: Whitewashing foundational racism and ignoring the worldwide human cost of our empire wouldn't be necessary if we thought kids would love their country even after knowing all the facts.

Labor Day musings from a couple of years ago by @jensorensen

Continuous reports of AI's harmful impact serve as reminder that we need to continue using AI, but more responsibly

A Jewish Israeli citizen studying at Columbia is bemused by having more freedom to criticize his country at home (despite Israel's descent into autocracy) than he has on this U.S. campus which has been bent to Trump's will - and also can criticize any country other than Israel: https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2025/08/08/in-israel-i-protest-my-government-can-i-do-the-same-at-columbia/

"If by American democracy we mean a pluralistic, multiracial society of political and social equals, then American democracy as we know it began with the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965...It’s this America that [Trump and his supporters are] fighting to destroy with their attacks on immigration, civil rights laws, higher education and the very notion of a pluralistic society of equals": https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/opinion/supreme-court-voting-rights-act.html?unlocked_article_code=1.dE8.fwOR.BbDUJP-210DI&smid=url-share

Those who say "Without tests, we wouldn't know how kids [or teachers] are doing" just reveal their ignorance about alternative assessments. But such statements should prompt all of us to ask if we, too, sometimes make a statement ("X is necessary") instead of asking a question ("Are there alternatives to X?").

I don't think it's worth trying to learn about this subject unless you can read all the books ever written about it.

It's not just a protester's slogan: A Jewish Holocaust scholar (who served in the Israeli army) explains that "Israel is literally trying to wipe out Palestinian existence in Gaza." It's not a war or even just ethnic cleansing: It is indeed genocide, and it's important to acknowledge that. Israel is "beyond the pale of humanity": https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/opinion/israel-gaza-holocaust-genocide-palestinians.html?unlocked_article_code=1.YU8.9bmt.Soz0JUUMwH0e&smid=url-share

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In this interesting essay, a political philosopher analyzes humiliation: Who thrives on dominating others, and what social structures enable it? "Anger at humiliation is a significant driver of left-populism," he argues, whereas the desire to humiliate others is a key feature of right-populism (MAGA):
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-politi/
(This is a useful distinction if only because it challenges the tendency to lazily lump together these very different types of populism.)

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This is the sort of thing he's talking about: https://bsky.app/profile/cjciaramella.bsky.social/post/3luisxghhgc2y
Also, the whole "own the libs" justification for various right-wing policies and behaviors. The point is to dominate and humiliate those with disfavored views or who aren't straight, white, Christian men. Sadism is the sine qua non of MAGA politics and its culture wars.