“University probably is not for you”

This is unfortunate.

Richard Dawkins @RichardDawkins · Apr 22
University is about confronting new ideas, unfamiliar, un-“safe”. If you want to be “safe” you are not worthy of a university education.

Sadly, it didn’t stop there. It went on.

Richard Dawkins @RichardDawkins 12 hours ago
If you can’t handle challenging questions like “What’s wrong with incest, or cannibalism?” University Probably Is Not For You (#UPINFY)

That one set off a little hashtag storm, which is still going on.

The originator helped.

Richard Dawkins @RichardDawkins 12 hours ago
If you can’t handle challenging questions like “Could rape be a Darwinian adaptation in wild animals?” university may be not for you #UPINFY

A philosopher suggests that children will one day sue their parents for bad genes. Another asks when nuclear 1st strike justified. #UPINFY

If you boycott a lecture because scared it may challenge your existing beliefs & “trigger” un-“safe” feelings #UPINFY

If you are implacably convinced that all knowledge & wisdom is contained in one centuries-old book, #UPINFY

And then, the conclusion:

Richard Dawkins @RichardDawkins  11 hours ago
If, for any of the reasons given, it looks as though #UPINFY, why not go to University anyway? It just might open your mind.

Nice of him to throw that minimal lifeline at the end, but…not really.

It’s nasty stuff. It’s also fatuous. It’s not true that universities are packed to the rafters with academics asking silly “provocative” deliberately rude questions. Dawkins gives the impression of wanting them to be like that, but they’re not like that.

There’s a germ of truth in what he’s saying, which is that students shouldn’t dogmatically refuse to consider any ideas they don’t already hold – but there’s a whole silo full of truth in what I’m going to say now, which is that crude slogans are not the best way to convey that kernel of truth.