Society/Culture Universities create our right wing politics

[Johnny Bananas]

Hardly at all. These shit people started to get off my back when a new set of immigrants came along. Plus, we assimiliated, and didn't seek preferential treatment under the guise of DEI. We got on with it.

How wonderful for you that another group of immigrants saved you. Meanwhile, a lack of addressing discrimination against immigrants has led to this:

https://www.monash.edu/news/articles/study-confirms-english-sounding-names-get-more-call-backs-from-job-applications-than-ethnic-names

Maybe you're happy to change your name to John to fit into Australian society and assimilate, and name your kids some proper Anglo name too, but I'm not. That's not the society I want.

 

[faible]

Don't make claims you don't understand.

 

[stefcep]

How wonderful for you that another group of immigrants saved you.

Another group of immigrants didn't save me.

Meanwhile, a lack of addressing discrimination against immigrants has led to this:

https://www.monash.edu/news/articles/study-confirms-english-sounding-names-get-more-call-backs-from-job-applications-than-ethnic-names

Oh wow thats harsh. Almost like being gang-bashed for the same thing.

Maybe you're happy to change your name to John to fit into Australian society and assimilate, and name your kids some proper Anglo name too, but I'm not. That's not the society I want.

I respected and adopted the customs, language, culture of those who let me in to their home. I assimilated. I didn't demand things that my own people in my country of origin would not do for immigrants. I didn't seek to bend my hosts to my will.

Ask yourself would you country of orgin treat me a white of Eastern Europe stock better or worse then you have been treated in Australia?

 

[faible]

Ask yourself would you country of orgin treat me a white of Eastern Europe stock better or worse then you have been treated in Australia?

This is irrelevant.

Sure, being treated like shit in Australia is better than being treated like shit in North Korea. But it's still being treated like shit.

There's this weird sense that 'oh in my day we got treated like shit and so now you should too' to your posting.

 

[the_interloper]

this comes from my own experience so i'm keen to see what others think.

90% of our political class spends a significant chunk of their life at university. i think this creates our left wing political environment but more interestingly i also think it creates our right-wing political culture.

- basically at university your socialised into viewing the world from a particular perspective. this is left wing. I can bring up a variety of points to support this but i think the most telling is that 5% (if that) of professors are right wing.

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the reason all this relates to conservative politicians is that they too attend university. now, we come to my own experiences. i'm non-aligned politically. i do however generally vote left-wing but not always. i'm white and i'm a male. I've recently gone back to university as a mature aged student. And because of all this, I have some observations about how it affects my viewpoints.

In real life, being white and a male, life is your oyster (except perhaps in some corporations, long story don't ask).
in university, you feel under siege. thus, I think the reason our conservative politicians act the way they do isn't because of their understanding of real life but because of experiencing a culture in their formative years.

University therefore produces 2 political cultures. one very sure of itself with the belief it is on the right side of history and the other with a siege mentality. 2 sides with a real animosity towards one another. I think this benefits nobody. perhaps our culture wars are actually more institutionally produced. because if you talk to normal people, everyone just wants to watch the footy.

Interesting post and I have some experience to share on this.

I went back to uni to do an MBA between 2016-2018, having done my undergrad in engineering (late 90s early 2000s). Clearly there's a difference between those degrees which may explain some of the differences as well as nearly 20 years but the difference was stark.

Engineering was never political in the classroom, I saw students protesting outside from time to time and really just walked past to my next lecture or tute, didn't seem to affect me.

The MBA was a bit different. The first subject was run by an overtly feminist lecturer who had one of her mates come in to lead one of our big assignments. Among other things it relied on the assertion that women entrepreneurs were not being invested in enough because they were women. Felt like given my demographic (white male and straight) so I just went along with it without asking questions, I didn't feel like it would be received well.

Also had a meeting with a lecturer once who seems like a nice lady, but in the meeting she said something like "you're a straight white male so you don't have to struggle with anything". I mean at the time I was working full time, studying part time, dealing with being a new dad and a wife with post natal depression, life didn't feel too easy then let me tell you.

I wouldn't quite say I felt "under siege" as you put it but certainly alienated at times. That said my attitude was just to not question anything, try and get my distinctions and get the hell out of there. But I wouldn't have said open discourse on any political issues were encouraged so i definitely avoided it.

 

[kickazz]

Also had a meeting with a lecturer once who seems like a nice lady, but in the meeting she said something like "you're a straight white male so you don't have to struggle with anything

This is a particularly bad attitude and I can't stress enough that it needs to be called out.

Call it tribalism, identity politics, whatever - it is dehumanising and completely unacceptable.

The main cause is group think I'd suggest. Yes a lot of the humanities has areas of focus on these political issues, as they should, but people need the skill to understand that privilege does not equate to an absence of struggle.

Did you call her out on this at the time?

 

[kickazz]

Generally speaking, I think universities will and probably always should lean left - after all they are all about the development of knowledge and improving mankind's understanding of the world in general. So the is a "collective good" at the heart of what they do.

Some areas, particularly business faculties will continue to be more right leaning, at least economically. And all perspectives on issues continue to have a requirement to be explored.

So yeah unis will be left, corporations will be right, that seems to make sense.

 

[the_interloper]

This is a particularly bad attitude and I can't stress enough that it needs to be called out.

Call it tribalism, identity politics, whatever - it is dehumanising and completely unacceptable.

The main cause is group think I'd suggest. Yes a lot of the humanities has areas of focus on these political issues, as they should, but people need the skill to understand that privilege does not equate to an absence of struggle.

Did you call her out on this at the time?

Absolutely it is, you could tell the staff there were really in an echo chamber.

And no I didn't call it out, not a chance, said woman was marking my assignment so I just played along. A straight white man complaining to her would not have gone down well at all, I reckon there's a fair chance I might get called out in this thread tbh.

 

[faible]

Did you call her out on this at the time?

And no I didn't call it out, not a chance, said woman was marking my assignment so I just played along. A straight white man complaining to her would not have gone down well at all,

Unfortunately, most people simply aren't good enough at conveying their arguments to engage in a discussion like that, even if valid. They'll be walked all over by someone with better debating abilities irrespective of whether their argument is accurate or not.

When most other factors are equal, being a straight white male is going to be a little bit easier than almost any other demographic (in a country like Australia anyway). But that doesn't in any way mean straight white men don't work hard, or struggle, or face substantial obstacles in their lives.

That nuance is what often gets lost.

In this country, you'd much rather be born a wealthy queer female person of colour, than a poor straight white male. Because poor vs wealthy is (from memory) the single largest determining factor in life outcomes.

I would also disagree that universities are inherently left-wing, they'll vary substantially depending on what faculty one is in and what cohort one associates with. Most of our politicians come through the university system and most of them are not at all left wing.

 

[the_interloper]

Unfortunately, most people simply aren't good enough at conveying their arguments to engage in a discussion like that, even if valid. They'll be walked all over by someone with better debating abilities irrespective of whether their argument is accurate or not.

When most other factors are equal, being a straight white male is going to be a little bit easier than almost any other demographic (in a country like Australia anyway). But that doesn't in any way mean straight white men don't work hard, or struggle, or face substantial obstacles in their lives.

That nuance is what often gets lost.

In this country, you'd much rather be born a wealthy queer female person of colour, than a poor straight white male. Because poor vs wealthy is (from memory) the single largest determining factor in life outcomes.

I would also disagree that universities are inherently left-wing, they'll vary substantially depending on what faculty one is in and what cohort one associates with. Most of our politicians come through the university system and most of them are not at all left wing.

Hang on, Gough just told me in another thread that modern men need to harden up!

 

[kickazz]

I would also disagree that universities are inherently left-wing, they'll vary substantially depending on what faculty one is in and what cohort one associates with. Most of our politicians come through the university system and most of them are not at all left wing.

Not sure I phrased it correctly - I think their purpose is to the betterment of society broadly speaking, which is kind of a left idea. The right would focus on individual business success to achieve this.

 

[faible]

Not sure I phrased it correctly - I think their purpose is to the betterment of society broadly speaking, which is kind of a left idea. The right would focus on individual business success to achieve this.

Also the nature of young people being the cohort at university, and young people generally tend to be more progressive as they have less invested in the current system.

 

[kickazz]

In this country, you'd much rather be born a wealthy queer female person of colour, than a poor straight white male. Because poor vs wealthy is (from memory) the single largest determining factor in life outcomes.

Yes yes yes 1000%.

Unbelievable how this particular battle in the war that is identity politics has been so neglected.


It's huge. I still remember my early uni days in the late nineties, meeting a black South African guy. I asked him about racism etc and he basically said it wasn't a big deal for him because his family had money. I was flabbergasted.

In Australia today, it's about assets and home ownership. Some kids will battle paying rent for years whilst also having a HECS debt - others will be given a house deposit and able to pay fees up front for uni.

In the states, to get a job at some big companies, one option is to do a year of unpaid intern work. Who can afford to do that? Trust fund kids, that's who.

The best way to make money is to have money.

 

[kickazz]

Also the nature of young people being the cohort at university, and young people generally tend to be more progressive as they have less invested in the current system.

Yeah, they've been supported by system all of their life.

 

[Gibbke]

How many of you guys voted No?

 

[dropbear101]

How many of you guys voted No?

I created the thread and voted yes. i would probably vote yes again tbh.

However, I understand what your saying. people who already have that bias will have a negative reaction vs a positive reaction.