Money for college

[Mike]

[FlameBlade]

What information they would have on you if you turn against them? Milo's crew is infamous for doxxing.

[Phoebe]

Can someone tell me what "Dangerous F----t" stands for? CNN Is ----ing out the word. Fuckwit is all I've got but it's nearly bedtime. So I finally looked this up and am not sure it's not a publicity stunt. The problem with leftist identity politics is that it plays directly into the hands of a provocateur on the other side. He has a point: why should people get scholarships based on their race or their sex, as opposed to academic abilities or other qualities they bring? And if they're going to, why can't someone offer a scholarship for white men? But the question is, DO people actually get scholarships based on race or sex alone? Because even considering race or sex in publicly-funded scholarships is illegal in some places, and I'm skeptical that it's a real issue as opposed to a complaint people like to make without having the numbers to prove anything.

Anyway, I get this now and I don't see how you pass through this gauntlet unscathed by the publicity. If he starts quietly churning out scholarships, however, great.

[Tahlvin]

Having gone through the college scholarship searches recently, there certainly are plenty of PRIVATE scholarships based on gender: things for women in STEM, etc.

[Phoebe]

Sure but what are the actual numbers? My limited knowledge of the actual numbers would suggest that private scholarships already are far more likely to go to white students and slightly more likely to go to men; this is offset to some extent by the fact that things like Pell grants and some publicly awarded scholarships tend to go to more minority and women applicants, but NOT because of their race or gender - because of the fact that they tend to have lower incomes. Where I live, there are tremendous opportunities for lower-income students to go to college on a scholarship, which means more of those scholarships will go to minorities and women (and women make up an even larger number of the minorities going to college), but this isn't taking away from opportunities for white men. The increasing investment in STEM scholarships is still more likely to benefit men who make up more of the applicants, which I presume is why STEM scholarships for women have supporters - they're not tilting the field in favor of women when you look at the total numbers who get money for college in these areas.

On the other hand, men are gradually becoming under-represented in many undergraduate and graduate programs (they remain dominant in other areas, but a decreasing number of these). I don't know for sure why that is, but it's a problem and I don't think disparity in scholarship availability is the cause. I suspect it has more to do with the options open to people and the likely trajectories of life - as conditions between men and women become more competitively equal, more women are positioned to take advantage of the opportunities they will have to go to college, med school, and other programs. Many women still pursue traditional careers (and still make up most of the students in fields like education, nursing, social work) and to do so they're getting a Bachelor's degree. Meanwhile, more young men than women pursue work outside of college, join the military, or go to prison. Schools with populations likely to be affected by these considerations (unlike, say, the Harvards of the world) may be seeing large increases in female students.

[Tahlvin]

No idea on the statistics. And I think it would be hard to track down, since there's limited centralized organization for scholarships, and so many and varied local scholarships. This is just almost-2-year old recollection of going through the process with our oldest. We'll start going through the process with our next child starting in the summer/fall, so I'll try to keep track.

[poorpete]

[Mike]

I'm sure Pete's right. If it were fuckwit, it would be f---wit. Or even f--kwit.

[Phoebe]

Oh Lord, that word is never in my brain. Wow, he must really be dangerous. On the other hand, people are shooting people at his events, so...

[Tahlvin]

Just by happenstance, I happened across where the phrase was not blocked out. Pete's right.

[Phoebe]

Aaaaand now we know why he's dangerous...

[Ronster]

"Adams said he had decided to side “with the Jewish gay immigrant who has the African-American boyfriend,” referring to Yiannapoulos, rather than the “the hypnotized zombie-boys in black masks who were clubbing people who hold different points of view.”"

I do believe that the reason Milo is garnering a great deal of flak is that aside from provocative remarks and taboo language, he incenses people who disagree with him because in their opinion "he should be one of us". There aren't many "Jewish gay immigrants" in the conservative camp and only one who speaks out.

And just to stay on topic, if it would bug you to accept the grant from him, then don't.

I won't hinder or criticize those that would.

[poorpete]

There are thousands of gay conservatives and jewish conservatives, and immigrant conservatives. Probably plenty of gay conservative jewish immigrants.

Hey I know of a gay conservative immigrant! His name is Andrew Sullivan and he's not crazy. 28 years ago, instead of spouting hate, he proposed that gays should be allowed to marry.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_ ... ing_a.html

[Mike]

Milo is a provocateur. He's a troll. His intent is to stir anger and dissent. Does he do it for self-aggrandizement? Does he do it because he just wants to watch the world burn? Beats me, but there is no doubt that he is a purveyor of hate. As Pete rightly points out, there are conservatives of all colors, creeds, and bents, and the best of them are able to convey their ideas without adhering to an intellectual scorched earth policy.

If you want an icon to represent your views, hitching your wagon to Yiannopolis is a mistake. You can do way better with just a minimum of research. People don't hate on Milo because he's different and doesn't fit the mold... people hate on Milo because he's a hater. It's what he wants.

[Phoebe]

From the responses above I'm guessing that none of you saw the recent news that prompted my shocked face this morning. Dude is an apologist for pedophilia. I don't think we need to say any more.

[Mike]

Wow. I'm not going to defend Milo in any way, because the man is demonstrably a monster. (If anyone is unclear on that, I'm happy to provide a list of damaging, horrible, monstrous things he has done). But that video was so very telling. His "defense" of pedophilia stems from his own rape as a child.

And let's be clear on this one as well, when a full grown adult person has sexual contact with a minor child, it is absolutely rape. Period. Even if the child is sexually aggressive... even if the child is literally asking for it... the adult is a rapist. Because children are unable to give informed consent, and normal adult human beings are perfectly capable of knowing right from wrong and of controlling their sexual urges. If any of this is questionable to you, we'll have a more remedial discussion on the subject.

But Milo blames his early childhood sexual abuse for "making him gay." He blames his experiences for making him the horrible, deviant pervert he has become. And further, because he enjoyed sexual activity and sought it out (with adults), he sees himself at age 14 as being the sexual aggressor. He was asking for it. This is a common thing among abused adolescents. Because they enjoyed it, they feel guilty and responsible for what happened to them. In Milo's particular case, he prides himself on it... "I was a very mature 14" and "They never stood a chance against me." In his own mind, he refuses to see himself as a rape victim, and therefore, he can only justify it with the idea that sometimes children really are the aggressors and that adults can't resist their urges in that situation. Which leads to the horrible cognitive dissonance of "Well, of course pedophilia is wrong. Of course these adults are rapists. But y'know, sometimes..."

People recognize that children are incapable of giving consent. They recognize that adults are responsible for their actions. But when they've lived through the experience themselves, they have a hard time making themselves a helpless victim at 14... especially when they remember all their desires and actions and motivations so clearly. To make those the actions of a victim is difficult for them. But when Milo tries to cast himself as the one who was in control the whole time, thus excusing his rapists, he is in a position of now defending pedophilia as being sometimes justifiable.

Don't misunderstand me, I don't feel sorry for Milo in any way, and while all of this helped explain WHY Milo became the person he is, none of it EXCUSES his behavior in any way. He is an adult and fully responsible for the terrible things he does and says. I get that he was hurt as a child. I'm sure he went through terrible shit. But his way of dealing with it now is by causing the maximum amount of hate and pain and carnage that he can. He revels in destroying others. He is a bad man.

[Phoebe]

I meant to reply to this before, sorry. This reply is not directed at Mike but just in general: adults are responsible for not sexually assaulting other people or excusing or advocating such behavior. It does not matter one bit what their past history of being assaulted might be like. Everyone has shit to deal with, and adults are capable of doing that, and we correctly expect them to do that. To suggest that adults get any type of pass on such behavior just because of their childhood pasts is to suggest that somehow the vast majority of people with similar experiences, who do not victimize others or excuse victimizing others, are not fully responsible for their own choices in this regard.

Chrissy Hynde is an interesting example here. It bothers me when people blame her for not labeling and evaluating her own life experiences the way that they would prefer. She gets to do that for herself, thank you. Milo can do that for himself too, but he doesn't get to do it for other people.

[poorpete]

Barry Crimmins was raped repeatedly as a child. He turned his experience into comedy, advocacy, and results.

He gives no sympathy to that troll. https://twitter.com/crimmins/status/832894419917426688