I've recently read Huntington's American Politics: The Promise of Disharmony [1], which I highly recommend.
I used to be quite hateful when it came to Huntington, I regard his "clash of civilisations" theory quite bogus (or I used to, not so much anymore with this war in Ukraine), and as such this was my first book by him that I've read. Published in 1981 it goes through what Huntington calls periods of creedal passion, which are somehow cyclic: 1770-1780 (the Revolutionary period), 1830-1840 (the Jackson years), 1890-1900 (the progressives/populists), 1960-1975 (the civil rights movement, revolts against the military-industrial complex).
I was reminded of that book because of this quote from the article:
> At the University of Illinois Chicago, for example, a law professor’s classes were cancelled and his career threatened for including a bleeped out “‘n____’” on an exam in a hypothetical scenario about employment discrimination. (He had used the same scenario for years without incident.) (italics mine)
because Huntington had mentioned the same thing happening in the 1960s-first part of the 1970s (especially the first part of the 1970s), when things that used to be regarded as normal (for lack of a better word) when carried out by the powers that be (the Government, the police, the University administrations etc) suddenly became tabu and very, very blameable. I.e. exactly like described in this article.
I wouldn't have probably brought this up if the description above wouldn't have reminded me of another excellent comparison Huntington made in his book, that between the creedal passion period of the 1960s-early '70s present in the US and what happened during China's Cultural Revolution. This actual fear (because that's what it is) the professors/teachers have now of their students (supposedly the same thing happened back in the '60s) is pretty similar, as a feeling, at least, to what the University professors in China must have felt during the Cultural Revolution (and yes, I do know that the Chinese professors ended up having a definitely worst fate, but I was talking/writing about the general feeling present in both cases).
Really interesting stuff. Google-ing around for some sources I've also found this Vox article [2] from 2016 that writes about the same book, this time with Trump's election as a focus (I personally think Trump's election and what's described in this article are part of the same, greater thing).
I used to be quite hateful when it came to Huntington, I regard his "clash of civilisations" theory quite bogus (or I used to, not so much anymore with this war in Ukraine), and as such this was my first book by him that I've read. Published in 1981 it goes through what Huntington calls periods of creedal passion, which are somehow cyclic: 1770-1780 (the Revolutionary period), 1830-1840 (the Jackson years), 1890-1900 (the progressives/populists), 1960-1975 (the civil rights movement, revolts against the military-industrial complex).
I was reminded of that book because of this quote from the article:
> At the University of Illinois Chicago, for example, a law professor’s classes were cancelled and his career threatened for including a bleeped out “‘n____’” on an exam in a hypothetical scenario about employment discrimination. (He had used the same scenario for years without incident.) (italics mine)
because Huntington had mentioned the same thing happening in the 1960s-first part of the 1970s (especially the first part of the 1970s), when things that used to be regarded as normal (for lack of a better word) when carried out by the powers that be (the Government, the police, the University administrations etc) suddenly became tabu and very, very blameable. I.e. exactly like described in this article.
I wouldn't have probably brought this up if the description above wouldn't have reminded me of another excellent comparison Huntington made in his book, that between the creedal passion period of the 1960s-early '70s present in the US and what happened during China's Cultural Revolution. This actual fear (because that's what it is) the professors/teachers have now of their students (supposedly the same thing happened back in the '60s) is pretty similar, as a feeling, at least, to what the University professors in China must have felt during the Cultural Revolution (and yes, I do know that the Chinese professors ended up having a definitely worst fate, but I was talking/writing about the general feeling present in both cases).
Really interesting stuff. Google-ing around for some sources I've also found this Vox article [2] from 2016 that writes about the same book, this time with Trump's election as a focus (I personally think Trump's election and what's described in this article are part of the same, greater thing).
[1] https://www.amazon.com/American-Politics-Disharmony-Samuel-H...
[2] https://www.vox.com/polyarchy/2016/1/6/10725086/promise-of-d...