C[omp]ute

From: andrew cooke <andrew@...>

Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:03:31 -0300

Loved this and wanted to record it here in case it's deleted later.
Also, I need to sort out this place and get rid of all the spam, I
know.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Professors/comments/1iuqq6y/what_is_the_line_between_paranoia_and_preparedness/me0ejh0/

Credit to DerProfessor https://www.reddit.com/user/DerProfessor


[In response to an acacdemic worrying about the future]

Honestly, I would say--don't worry about it. I myself am not going to
adjust anything one single iota. In part, because staying the same is,
effectively, resistance.

I am a historian of Germany, including of the Third Reich (though it's
not my specific area of research). I know a great deal about how the
Nazis solidified power 1933-1934. This is not that moment.

One thing that has been consistent about Trump is that he bluffs on
everything. Everything. This has been his standard mode-of-operation
his whole life, from being a real-estate conman to posing as a fascist
strongman. His posing and bluffing has gotten him what he wants a lot
of the time. But equally, it is often hot air when he is ignored.

The key word here is posing. Neither he nor the Republicans have
mechanical structures (police, informants, allies in the academy, mass
movement) to ever "see" what you are doing, let alone impact you as an
individual professor.

Consider: what levers does he have? When you say "when they will come
for us"... who is they? And how will "they" even know who you are?

Let us imagine that, over the next two years, an office is set up
somewhere, to collect syllabi and thereby try to police teaching. How
would the office be set up? (especially when the Dept of Education is
being dismantled?) Who would be hired to work there? How would they
"demand" the syllabi? If your university already posts them publicly,
how would they collect them? There are millions of classes
taught. They'd need to hire thousands just to read the ones that AI
flags for words like "race". Then, what would be the mechanism for
enforcement? Would this department call up your local police
department and say, "We see that Professor Fit_Inside2339 at the
University of Innuendo is teaching a class on race and ethnic
relations... we need you to go arrest him." Any police officer, even a
dyed-in-the-wool Trumpy, would laugh in their face.

You're safe. You're fine.

The Nazis could terrorize professors because 40% of professors were
themselves Nazi supporters. That is crucial. Do you have a single
colleague who is a Trump supporter? Even one? (The redneck dumbasses
in their lifted trucks don't even know where the university is, let
alone your classroom.)

The Nazis also had the Gestapo. But recent literature reveals how
incredibly ineffectual the Gestapo was on its own. They relied
entirely on denunciations, they were reactive only. Who would denounce
you? We ALL hate that orange motherfucker. No one is going to go
running to denounce you as Unamerican... and even if you got a
politicized student in your class who wanted to, who would this
self-destructive student denounce you to? There's no infrastructure of
oppression.

Trump has no Gestapo. He has no control over police. He has no
supporters in the academy. MOST importantly, he has no mass
movement. (He has a bunch of passive, flag-waving supporters. that's
different. that's just normal politics.)

The one area that he does have control over is ICE/immigration
structures, which already exist, and are already staffed with people
predisposed to obey Trump's orders, legal or not. So, people who are
undocumented are, indeed, facing a serious personal threat. Those
folks are in trouble (and they therefore need our help and
protection). But you're fine.

Trump's "power" vis-a-vis academia is twofold: 1) to bluster loud
enough, and play-act the fascist enough, so that people (like you and
me) comply preemptively. THAT's not gonna happen. (unless you let it.)

And 2) to disrupt money flowing to Universities, to try to pressure
your Provost/Dean etc. into become stooges to force faculty to
comply. Honestly, I don't think that's going to happen either. Sure,
maybe a particularly craven Dean will come to your department and say,
"look, I support you, but you need to retitle your classes so we can
get our NIH grants back." And yes, that will be "complying". I
honestly hope that doesn't happen. But if it does... so what? You
retitle "Race in American Politics" to "Varieties of Identities in
American Politics"... teach the same course... and then savagely mock
that cowardly dean behind his back. (and remember his cowardice in the
future.)

There will be some rough times, don't get me wrong. For instance,
there will be NO more Federal grants for your type of research for the
foreseeable future. But your teaching? You'll be fine. I'll be fine.

And the more we just keep doing what we've been doing all along, the
"finer" we ALL will be!

In solidarity.