The Thanksgiving Thread was evidence of communication of passion. Many people have such wonderful things to say and their colleagues got to hear, see, and feel it. I loved it.
How do you find the balance between not being the "bully" who takes over the conversation but also breaking the tension of silence that constantly reappears? I like expressing my viewpoints, and I also like hearing other viewpoints. I do not want to take over the conversation, but I also don't want to sit in a silent breakout room.
We had a wonderful breakout room where everyone spoke of their topics and everyone else (who had their cameras on) asked follow up questions. It was terrific.
I really don't know what the story is behind the Thanksgiving thread. The one that was emailed out seems very different from the threat here titled "Thanksgiving Thread" and we never talked about Gorsuch/Roberts in this class so it seems to have just come out of nowhere
I think the camera issue can go either way- sometimes people with their cameras off are active participants in the discussion and sometimes i dont know whether they are there
True Luyten, There just hasn't been that much actual meat to the class, I think partially for no fault of the teaching team, but because people just want to keep hammering the point that the system is vaguely unfair
I can only echo that - our breakout room was great. We did not assign a foreperson but when the TA joined, we kind of flocked around that TA. The TA was appointed by Professor Nesson and was not a "juror" so we felt comfortable letting him lead. Would have been different if the foreperson was appointed at random.
I think the Thanksgiving thread is evidence that there are many more people at HLS who disagree with the dominant narrative (the narrative that Democrats do no wrong and Republicans do no right) than they would ever let on in class.
There is no pleasing everybody, and every action can be interpreted negatively. Sure, someone can say that cold calling people with their camera's off is wrong. Others could say they feel shut out since they can't have their camera on (unable to visually indicate desire to speak) and appreciate being invited to participate by name. I think the key is charity be charitable with your classmates and assume the best of each other
i agree with Mariah's point about the moderation style. it sometimes feels awkward to be called on to comment when I haven't articulated my thoughts yet or formed a real opinion that I feel is worth sharing. I feel more comfortable speaking when i have something meaningful to contribute and don't want to talk just to talk.
^^^ agreed. I think she was doing her best to say the cold calling sometimes has a chilling effect, especially if people aren't ready to speak. Let's "be charitable" with her as well.
Just read that thread from the weekend for the first time and I am saddened/disheartened by the lack of awareness. Being upset about the hypocrisy I understand. But feeling as though no actions are necessary to combat the virus is complete nonsense. If you look at the numbers in the past two weeks, we have had an average of 1500 deaths per day the past two weeks. Without taking actions to prevent spreading, there is no reason to believe that number would not be higher, and its a collective action problem so government has a responsibility to be involved. And in other countries where the central government has taken a larger responsibility, there are fewer cases. Right now at present rates, we are facing a 9/11 level catastrophe EVERY TWO DAYS and theres seriously a debate as to whether governments should take action and whether such action would be constitutional. No wonder so many people are depressed with the state of things right now.
I think the Thanksgiving thread is evidence that HLS students, many who think themselves smarter and more fit to lead compared to the average American, are just as mired in American culture wars as your average fox news or msnbc viewer. Threads is often indistinguishable from youtube comments. More disturbing is that the values expressed in threads go unspoken but motivate the legal conclusions of the supreme court
Completely agreed bodrog- especially when you gift anonymity. I remember the good old days in 2019 when we actually had conversations face to face, and they were entirely imperfect, but not as hateful as this
The cognitive dissonance of the leftist orthodox at HLS is striking. Reading comments you disagree with and then saying they are "4chan" or "youtube comments" and refusing to try to understand why the other believe what they do is why this antagonism and divisive culture exists. Both sides should step off their soap boxes and stop thinking they are too good to make an effort to understand the other side. It seems like the act of trying to understand different viewpoints is seen as morally wrong. Is it so dangerous to acknowledge the legitimacy of the feelings of others?
I hear this a lot--the idea that "leftists" at HLS do not try to understand other perspectives. That is an absurd generalization. Plenty of people on the "left" do try to understand--and honestly by being at HLS we inevitably have to try to understand given the persistent conservative theories on which much of what we learn in law school is premised. We have conservative professors, a conservative dean who feels compelled (understandably, sure) to exercise great caution when confronted with requests/ideas that might offend that conservative alumni base. It might be worth dedicating more energy to trying to look for how people on the "left" ARE trying to understand instead of deciding that nobody tries. Maybe this is true for both "sides," but I can only speak to how I hear it. I try hard to understand and engage as respectfully. I'm not alone in that. Constantly being accused of not doing that gets exhausting and doesn't help your case. The conservatives at HLS aren't victims. We're members of this community together.
People on the "left" also aren't a monolith. Don't force us to be. I'm sure the "right" would argue the same thing (e.g., the Lincoln Project v. QAnon subscribers). We're smarter than that kind of ignorance, y'all.