Oberlin Episode

[LDAHL]

There’s a great story on Bari Weiss’ podcast about the history of Oberlin Ohio’s reenactment of “Bonfire of the Vanities. It seems that after failing to get the Ohio Supreme Court to hear their appeal, the college “decided” to settle with the Gibson Bakery and pay thirty-six million and change in damages. Having spent several years trying to defame and destroy the bakery (what is it about bakers that inflames the hatred of social justice warriors so much?) the College wants to work for “healing in the community”.

Despite the shoplifter long since having pled guilty and the jury verdict, many of the participants still maintain their cause was just due to systemic oppression that transcends the facts of the case.

I find it interesting how different media outlets reported the story. From Fox’s wicked delight to CNN leading with all the great things Oberlin did in the early nineteenth century and treating this recentl pogrom as a minor misunderstanding.

[bae]

I grew up ~25 miles from Oberlin.

When my daughter was looking at colleges to attend, she visited Oberlin College and the Oberlin Conservatory.

She decided after a day there that she wasn't a cultural fit, and went elsewhere.

[LDAHL]

Are they as bad as they sound? Some of their actions and statements sound straight out of Tom Wolfe or Portlandia.

We are looking at colleges now, and I kind of wish there was some reliable source of information on the cultural climate of various institutions. Excessive wokery, religious fundamentalism, crippling artsiness, and other such stuff.

[bae]

Are they as bad as they sound? Some of their actions and statements sound straight out of Tom Wolfe or Portlandia.


My daughter, who is pretty-darned liberal, did in fact compare it to Portlandia episodes. This was in 2013 or so.

[LDAHL]

Somebody once wrote something to the effect that if smart people are parodying something then dumb people are believing it.

[Tybee]

I went to high school an hour from Oberlin. It was like that back in 1972, when my first boyfriend went there. He was so smug, going on an on about Common Cause. He ended up being an investment banker.

[littlebittybobby]

One of my great-aunts graduated from Oberlin, back in the 1920's. How do you like that?

[iris lilies]

Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities was a huge selling book but that doesn’t mean that I know what it was about. I don’t.

[littlebittybobby]

Bonfire o' the Vanities? IIRC, the Moo-vee was on HBO, not long after it made the rounds of the theaters. But, it had an all-star cast, & wasn't too bad of a film, even if it had lots of social commentary. Reason: it had a character that parodied Al Sharpton. Yup. 4837

[Simone]

Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities was a huge selling book but that doesn’t mean that I know what it was about. I don’t.

This, in brief, is what it's about.
https://www.gradesaver.com/the-bonfire-of-the-vanities

I read it twice and saw the film also. No one can skewer pompous folks in whatever bubble they occupy the way Wolfe did.
You'll be laughing out loud.

[iris lilies]

This, in brief, is what it's about.
https://www.gradesaver.com/the-bonfire-of-the-vanities

I read it twice and saw the film also. No one can skewer pompous folks in whatever bubble they occupy the way Wolfe did.
You'll be laughing out loud.

I remember reading the Right Stuff but I know I didn’t read Bonfires. Well, I do like skewering the pompous!

[LDAHL]

I see Oberlin’s insurers are balking at paying out for Oberlin’s settlement. Some sort of dispute over whether they acted out of conscious malice versus negligence in their attacks on the bakery. The dean who led the charge is now employed by a different school.

[ToomuchStuff]

I see Oberlin’s insurers are balking at paying out for Oberlin’s settlement. Some sort of dispute over whether they acted out of conscious malice versus negligence in their attacks on the bakery. The dean who led the charge is now employed by a different school.


Sounds like the Johnny Depp trial. Whatever her name was, insurance company, sued her, as she was found guilty of malice, and she wasn't supposed to be covered by insurance.

[iris lilies]

I see Oberlin’s insurers are balking at paying out for Oberlin’s settlement. Some sort of dispute over whether they acted out of conscious malice versus negligence in their attacks on the bakery. The dean who led the charge is now employed by a different school.

I heard that episode. Too bad the patriarch of the bakery died with this lawsuit hanging over his head.

I would think this serves as a cautionary tale to universities everywhere that send their faculty out to harass “racists “and “terfs” and etc.

I wonder what our insurance expert here has to say about this multi million dollar settlement?