BHA Dawkins / Myers discussion hijacked by protestors 09/06/11 (2/8)

[uriituw]

What were they saying?

[0900jarman]

mighty mighty morphins ?

[nighrage]

what the blinding fuck is wrong with these kids?! what were they protesting over?

[Emanresu56]

Youtube provides all of the lectures you need, people.

[HybridD91]

@Emanresu56 Try getting a job with your YouTube degree. Tell me how it turns out.

[Emanresu56]

@HybridD91 And how many jobs are available in the Academic world?

[Mjhavok]

Mon the protesters!

[tjduck85]

The best part is when the crowd breaks out into reciting Monty Python's Life of Brian.

[spareaxe]

Why doesn't the crowd just leave them to themselves.

[paulnuk]

What a bunch of immature idiots. All they are doing is making people hate them. If they want to debate the issues, organise a debate, rather than ruining someone else's.

[novarakollektiv]

At what point does a *humanist* audience shout shoot, shoot, shoot at protestors? That was a significant escalation.

It seems to be certain freemarket humanism, absolutely accepting of and complicit with capitalist exploitation.

[neighbour666]

@novarakollektiv Pardon? I was there and I heard no such thing. Had you forgotten to take your medication?

[novarakollektiv]

The protestors, were protesting Dawkins involvement with New College for the Humanities, they didn't really care for the inalienable rights of the audience who had payed for the talk, that is the point of a *protest*. I'm quite sure they will carry on until Dawkins et al pull out of NCH.

Interesting that this is what the liberal left really looks like. >> the comments below, and the odious comments from a largely gendered audience.

[Robotocracy]

They make themselves look like idiots by disrupting an event that had nothing to do with them, and probably couldn't help them anything. If anything they should be protesting parliament.

And 18000 pounds? That's about 29000 in American dollars, which is remarkably cheap compared to private universities in America. You come across as entitled brats.

[ninjabob2456]

@Robotocracy And America obviously has it right. The super rich should be entitled to keep paying minimal taxes while the lower classes pay huge amounts to educate themselves to fulfil their desire to contribute more to society and live a marginally better life.

Poor people don't deserve healthcare either.

[Robotocracy]

@ninjabob2456 It's interesting how you distort my words by turning a complicated problem into a black and white issue. The deficit in the UK has reached staggering amounts, and there has to be spending cuts somewhere. Is reducing funding to universities still a bad idea? Perhaps, but this is a debate to be had elsewhere - They make themselves look like assholes by disrupting an unrelated event to complain about something they still have a lot better than much of the rest of the world.

[DOHC2L]

@Robotocracy "The deficit in the UK has reached staggering amounts, and there has to be spending cuts somewhere. Is reducing funding to universities still a bad idea? Perhaps, but this is a debate to be had elsewhere."

Where do you stand on the issue of price controls in general? To me it appears the government has a problematic role to play on both ends of the issue you explained. Yet, do you recognize that it's a catch-22? God damn socialism is destroying the UK and the British culture.

[ninjabob2456]

@Robotocracy So, because we do it better than much of the rest of the world, and have done for a long time, isn't a good reason to protect the way it is?

Although this looks like a "fast and hard" cut, the government won't see ANY money whatsoever from tuition fees for at least four years, by which time graduates will supposedly be paying back less than ever. Four years seems a long time to wait for an emergency policy to pay back anyway. Does that make sense?

[KemaTheAtheist]

I don't quite get this either. If they don't want to pay the money, then don't go to school there...

And hell, 18000 pounds isn't horrible. That's, at the moment, about 29k in dollars. If you wanted to go to Johns Hopkins university in the USA, you're looking at $40k (24.5k pounds).

[OckamsLaser]

"Education is a right! You don't need to pay *eighteen thousand pounds*!!!!!"

Ridiculous. Why don't you go and protest at fee-paying primary and secondary schools, where it actually IS a right to have education for free.

[coasterpro]

The government no longer wants to fund education, private institutions come into fill the gap providing quality (albeit expensive American-style) education, and the protesters get angry at the institutions? I'm totally confused.

[CrimsonRefractions]

So noisy. Can't they make a lucid statement instead.

[richardpayne]

For those who asked, they're chanting:

"Cuts! Job losses! Money for the bosses! Richard Dawkins get out, we know what you're all about."

As someone already said, completely incoherent. Sounded like the typical "pissed at the world" student ranting to me.

Completely agree about the police response. Absolutely limp wristed. As it turned out they appeared to be waiting for about 8 of their colleagues to arrive. Quite why is beyond me. They're not exactly organised thugs.

[SelectiveTweet]

These leftist whiny babies would never dare protest at an event held by fundamentalist Muslims ;) 

[jfabiani]

Un-imaginative and incomprehensible.

[EriolTolkien]

Compare the projected 18k fees with the fees of other Unis. Eton, Harrow, etc.

And when have students NOT protested fees?

[EriolTolkien]

Compare the projected 18k fees with the fees of other Unis. Eton, Harrow, etc.

[RationalConclusion]

I was there in the front row. It was a pointless demonstration. I still don't know what their point was. They held up the talk for half an hour and interupted it twice. I'm not sure but I think that the talk may also have been cut short because of it.

[CrimsonRefractions]

@RationalConclusion

I was just going to ask: Does anyone know what they were on about?

[TunaOfDoubt]

@Skeptic000001

Or throwing smoke bombs, as they did with AC Grayling!

[TunaOfDoubt]

They really went about this the wrong way. I totally agree that these raising tutition fees are ridiculous, but Dawkins should not be targeted. With that logic, they should target ALL lecturers teaching at ALL high-charging universities.

[alzico]

Just a few hot heads whom instead of staying in and watching emmerdale farm thought they'd launch some garbled attack on a public event for a bit of 'street cred' down on campus. Dawkins later stated he give all of his profit from speaking to charity...so...instead of just shouting, how would the protesters respond to that particular point and the fact that rather than taking their protest to the relevant platform it was a lazy attempt to shoot down a high profile victim of a much larger issue?

[CrimsonRefractions]

@alzico

But *why* where they there?

[rg0057]

While this may not be the proper venue for a protest on that subject, it does strike me as bizarre to charge £18,000 tuition. In my experience, most of the benefit of university education came from the texts and interacting with other students. With a few exceptions (e.g. labs) the buildings and profs were secondary, and I contend are optional for most first and second-year courses. In those years, tuition should not exceed $2000 per year for most students.

[Locateson]

Boooooooooring

[yerk3]

This is why the left is failing. Protests are all about self indulgence and not about logic or reasoning with people.

[JonasSalk]

What in the hell are they chanting? The audio makes it difficult to make out.

[qtzlctl2012]

that has to be the coolest thing i've ever seen when they turn around

[qtzlctl2012]

What the crap are they chanting?

[zyxek]

From PZ Myers —"The cause for the chaos was peculiar to me: they were protesting AC Grayling's proposed new university, which would have an £18,000 tuition, twice what other universities charge. It seems silly to demonstrate over Richard Dawkins, who has only agreed to lecture there, or AC Grayling, who just wants a good education in the liberal arts for students, or the university itself, when the real cause of the problem is declining political support for a cheap education."

[integralmath]

Yes, clearly Richard Dawkins has picked the wrong thing to go have an issue with. I mean, just look at these perfectly reasonable, mature religionists demonstrating how much we should respect them and their imaginary friend.

[Jacksonstreet71]

@integralmath They weren't actually theists, just left wing students protesting high education costs in front of an audience who might have sympathized with them had they not acted like a bunch of twats.

[NegativeNick]

@Jacksonstreet71 of all UNIs or just Grayling's? because if it's just his, they don't have to go.

[Jacksonstreet71]

@NegativeNick The university exists! That's not the problem for people who can't afford access to education, their problem is that the government isn't funding education. When that happens of course more private colleges are going to spring up, blame the fucking government. Don't protest a humanist event which has fuck all to do with your cause! You guys came across as incoherent idiots making noise and annoying people who couldn't fix your problems if they wanted to!

[SUPERSTUD6000]

i guess the havent tazer technology in britain yet.

[sylviabombs15]

This is the weirdest fucking thing i have seen in a while.

The police seemed unsure, and didn't do their job, just kinda stood by and made sure things didn't get too crazy. But they were obviously "causing a disturbance" or whatever the equivalent british law would be.

Then everybody, collectively, suddenly decide to turn their back to the protesters, as if to signal to the protesters that they were not paying attention/care to hear their message.

And worst of all, no Dawkins in the vid~!