Canoes Reek of Genocide, Theft and White Privilege

[Smalliebigs]

Dwain my wife has worked for SSM and BJC at the executive level, being a director of a line of service, vice president  of the hospital and president of the hospital.

In all three of those positions she was told by people within the company  higher up than her that management level employees  were not to fire employees  who were beyond horrible and problematic to the team in many many ways. The only reason these people could not be fired and they knew it was because of their race, the sex and age.

These absolutely  horrible employees let patient care suffer because they just did not care and knew they had the company by the balls because  of fear of a lawsuit.

Patients suffered needlessly and eventually  the crap employee would be passed on to a different  department so some other management personnel could deal with them. This happened with more than a few people  my wife had to deal with at both health companies  here in St.Louis and many a patients suffered  with inadequate  care because an older Black woman knew the company didn't  want to do anything because  of PC fear and litigation.

I am lucky as I am self employed and I will say what I please and deal with the consequences. If someone  doesn't  like my opinions they shove them where the sun doesn't shine so the PC BS doesn't  affect me all that directly but, I see it almost daily at my daughter's school  here in Kirkwood and just laugh and make sure and influence  my daughter  to be a critical thinker.....her mom is a beast so she better not be lazy as my wife will bring the hammer down like Thor.

[joeD]

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/the-new-intolerance-of-student-activism-at-yale/414810/

[SpoonDog]

What she's doing is increasingly common in academic reporting- choosing one explanation while ignoring others.  Canoes may have been a way for pioneers to stick it to natives, or they may have just been the easiest way of getting around.  Even if canoes were culturally appropriated that isn't inherently bad- our vocabulary, alphabet, and numerical characters have been, to.  

That's the purpose of a university education, though- to foster discussion and debate ideas instead of shutting conversation down because its controversial.  The goal isn't to parrot the professor (though many students and academics think otherwise).  If you can't hack it in an environment which challenges people to think critically, to examine an issue from multiple positions, and to rationally reflect upon positions, that's not a failure of the institution.  College isn't the place for you.

It's more important now than ever, when kids grow up in homes, schools, entire communities which are largely monolithic- similar demographics, incomes, voting trends, etc.  a lot of incoming freshmen have little experience dealing with "others"- regardless of who falls where on the political spectrum, and as a result you wind up with emotionally immature students who don't have the tools to deal with a complex world.

The best thing you can do for your kid is expose them to as much of the world as you can- even the parts you don't understand.  If the know what they want to do- go straight on to college, just make sure whatever high school or community college credit they've earned transfers- in many cases it doesn't.  If they're unsure- take a gap year.  You can do a lot of travel for a years tuition at a state school- work, volunteer, take some time to figure it out. It really does help stem the heartburn of switching majors or burnout, and if grades are high mist universities don't hold it against a student.

 

 

[DainW]

13 hours ago, Smalliebigs said:

Dwain my wife has worked for SSM and BJC at the executive level, being a director of a line of service, vice president  of the hospital and president of the hospital.

In all three of those positions she was told by people within the company  higher up than her that management level employees  were not to fire employees  who were beyond horrible and problematic to the team in many many ways. The only reason these people could not be fired and they knew it was because of their race, the sex and age.

These absolutely  horrible employees let patient care suffer because they just did not care and knew they had the company by the balls because  of fear of a lawsuit.

Patients suffered needlessly and eventually  the crap employee would be passed on to a different  department so some other management personnel could deal with them. This happened with more than a few people  my wife had to deal with at both health companies  here in St.Louis and many a patients suffered  with inadequate  care because an older Black woman knew the company didn't  want to do anything because  of PC fear and litigation.

I am lucky as I am self employed and I will say what I please and deal with the consequences. If someone  doesn't  like my opinions they shove them where the sun doesn't shine so the PC BS doesn't  affect me all that directly but, I see it almost daily at my daughter's school  here in Kirkwood and just laugh and make sure and influence  my daughter  to be a critical thinker.....her mom is a beast so she better not be lazy as my wife will bring the hammer down like Thor.

If I was in your wife's shoes, that would be a pretty frustrating situation honestly and I can empathize with that. It sounds like the people running those companies aren't very confident in their HR procedures if they are worried about a lawsuit from terminating an employee. Unlawful termination suits are a possibility in any business, but as long as the organization has written rules and procedures in place for documenting offenses, as well as clearly communicating what the expectations of that job are, there shouldn't be any reason to fear terminating an incompetent employee.There is no state or federal statute that I'm aware of that says it's illegal to terminate an employee who is a member of a certain ethnicity or gender etc. I'd say that's more of a reflection of ineffective leadership within those organizations as well as a symptom of living in an extremely litigious society, more so than "political correctness" run amok. 

Political correctness is a pretty vague term anyway and covers a broad swath of territory. On one end of the spectrum you have college students complaining of microagressions and creating "safe spaces" which I think we'd all agree is pretty ridiculous. But on the other end of that spectrum the fact that it's no longer socially acceptable to use the N word in every day conversation (as well as other racial slurs), which I'd think we'd all consider progress. I tend to look at "political correctness" as just being polite, rather than the boogeyman that it's portrayed to be. I would agree with the statement that people in general are more sensitive these days, but I don't really call attribute that to "political correctness" as much as I do an entire generation of parents that failed in raising their children leading to an overall attitude of entitlement in today's society. 

[Mitch f]

7 hours ago, DainW said:

I tend to look at "political correctness" as just being polite, rather than the boogeyman that it's portrayed to be. 

Tee hee,

Political Correctness is  nothing more than muzzling free speech… Something our country was founded on .

check these Irish chicks out! Yes I love Prager U

 

 

Even liberal Bill Maher agrees

 

 

 

[DainW]

Mitch would you care to explain how you've been "muzzled?" Freedom of speech is a legal concept. It's a right upon which the very concept of our nation is built.

Political correctness on the other hand is a social concept that reflects  the evolution of societal views on what is considered common decency.  

Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences of speech. For example, if you're the type of person that likes to use the N word in casual conversations, you're likely going to be called a racist. It's no longer politically correct to use that word, but there aren't any legal ramifications for doing so.

Until you actually face legal repercussions, or the threat of legal repercussions for something that's come out of your mouth, you aren't being "muzzled." You're being called out. There's a difference. The court of public opinion isn't an actual court. 

[SpoonDog]

MUs enrollment declined by 1500+ students since protests last fall.  There's a 30 million hole in the budget.  They've closed dorms, dismissed faculty and staff, and were under a hiring freeze.  The idea a university administrator is going to jeopardize their own career tanking the institutions budget so they can hire more administrators during a hiring freeze doesn't even make a little sense.  You may love the videos, but they're putting their success on the hope you don't know enough about what you're talking about to realize their  argument is fundamentally flawed . They're preying on ignorance.

 

There are an alarming number of administrators on college campuses these days.  It has nothing to do with diversity or PC culture.   We've engineered system of higher education where states no longer fund their public institutions the way they did 20 or 30 years ago. Instead, the vast majority of students on campus receive some sort of financial aid:  grants, loans, scholarships, stipends, whatever. Someone has to be watching the pocketbook.  Individual universities manage hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants to fund professors salaries, graduate students, and associated workers, as well as funds received from alumni, businesses, and other institutions.  As a society we've decided we want universities to turn out as many degrees is possible in a year- that's a business, and that's why universities hire business people. I agree that shouldn't be the function of higher education, but let's not kid ourselves that it's the result of diversity initiatives.