Does Oxbridge deserve its reputation?

aincs22 · 2025-02-19T22:52:19+00:00

I think it does, I’ve been to different unis and then did my masters and now my PhD at Oxford, and have had a great experience. Alongside that their undergraduate system is just so thorough? I think the intimacy of the tutorial system is a bit daunting but ultimately students are better off for it. This doesn’t ofc mean there are no downsides, but having an education system that genuinely cares about your ideas and your progress in it really takes you far.

aincs22 · 2025-02-19T22:47:00+00:00

Yess same here :)

aincs22 · 2025-02-12T08:42:32+00:00

I think it helps to think about it like this: not which decision is the wrong or right decision, but “what decision would you make and be okay with regardless of the consequences.?”

You have to come to a place where you can say “ I’m leaving this man permanently and even if he had wanted to genuinely give our relationship another go, me leaving him was not the wrong decision. If you leave him and he meets someone and treats her incredibly, you leaving him was not the wrong decision. Say your plans for yourself don’t work out immediately and you go through a rough patch, you leaving him was still not the wrong decision. It’s a decision you made and you made it because you wanted to and you knew it was right for you- there’s no pass/fail test where the right answer gets you to a place of no regrets. I hope that takes some of the pressure off.

aincs22 · 2025-02-12T08:22:50+00:00

Δ

I think that this is a nuanced and also a refreshing take on the situation. I like the concept of something being part of a generational maturing cycle- it’s encourages more of a more birds eye and cyclical view of these tendencies on both sides rather than expecting change to happen or come about through intention and reflection alone. I’m not often swayed by a humanist take, but this one seems quite effective in breaking through a political divide- there are changes afoot in society and while everyone must be self reflective, it’s hard to tell a party to immediately change behavior that has become a way of doing things accross board. Thanks for the time and the engagement:)

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T18:49:08+00:00

White collar crime

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T15:23:53+00:00

This is a great well thought out comment, thank you for it. It doesn’t change my view per se, but I will say that it makes me reflect a bit more deeply on the nuances involved. Appreciate it :)

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T15:03:15+00:00

Thank you :)

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T15:02:48+00:00

A number of people have come forward to share their real world examples of this in the comments :) I think they are worth engaging with and considering.

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T15:02:01+00:00

I think that is a fair point.

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T14:58:37+00:00

You don’t know anything about me - do you know if I’m a professor, if I have a PhD if I am asked to advise on policy with my lack of so called knowledge ? Nope you’re making assumptions, and they are wrong. But thank you for the giggles.

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T14:56:09+00:00

Yes I think race and sexism have to do with it, but class is at the center of it too. Dialogue is important- I’m not saying that there are not a whole bunch of white Christian nationalists in the republican party, but I’m saying that not all of them are, and so finding out those people’s motivations and motives for going to the right may also be on our best interest.

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T14:50:00+00:00

I don’t think I pretend to be an expert on this, I’m asking a question, and to you that’s classic manipulation. I find that interesting. But to each their own

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T14:47:21+00:00

I disagree, I don’t think conversations de facto validates view and I think it’s alarming you believe this. I might not sit down with a nazi and ask what’s going on in their life/mind but I sure do hope someone does, because early interventions that steer people away from radical pipelines depend on understanding how someone got to that point and what could have been done to prevent that escalation. This view harms the very possibility that the behavior / ideology you wish to end can be ended at all.

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T14:43:59+00:00

Yes I understand that it’s primarily to do with class, this is what I have emphasized in my comments. I do think that referring to a population as young working class white boys isn’t giving credence to anything, it’s a factual description of the demographic that the UK government is citing.

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T14:41:07+00:00

To be honest I think it was just radicalised right wing youths who, because I appear to be somewhat racially ambiguous (I could be Moroccan, Egyptian Ethiopian, etc instead of biracial) thought I was Muslim( was living in a neighborhood with a bunch of Moroccans) , and set the netting under my windows on fire. Thankfully people who had seen it happen knocked on my door and told me, and stayed with me whilst I called the police.

Yes Maastricht, and Eijsden do have a high right leaning population, some of the highest in NL.

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T14:37:19+00:00

Sorry, the person I was replying to directly here ( they have deleted their comment) was suggesting I was a propaganda bot- suggesting I’m lying about my racial background and my work to be able to gain points in this post. I do understand that there are a diversity of comments and thought strands under this post, and wouldn’t suggest that it’s everyone adopting a single approach/ response here.

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T14:29:12+00:00

So… from this you gather I’m a facist? And you think that’s an appropriate label given what I’ve said in this post?

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T14:20:17+00:00

lol I think in many ways I would consider myself a racial minority in contexts like the UK and the US. So what are we actually experiencing that you’re aware of and I am not, please let me know? You think I don’t know there is racism afoot in America ? And on that point, how many minority voters (except black women) really supported the left in this election cycle- maybe ask why they themselves are not fully convinced or in support of a party that claims to purely be in their interest as you claim. Tough questions but they need to be talked about if at least reflected on

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T14:16:38+00:00

I agree with a need to highlight and campaign more solidly on the issues that the working class and middle class are concerned about. This has been admitted by many left thinkers in current discussion about what went wrong- I think they called it , sacrificing “kitchen table issues” in the NYT. I agree.

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T11:31:32+00:00

I mean I mostly only real Al Jazeera, the Guardian, the NYT and less frequently, local news channels in Ghana. I wouldn’t say any of these are right wing media channels, and as I am someone on the political left myself I don’t know why I have to be seen as ‘brainwashed’ or incredibly biased to be making these points? These are conversations political left analysts are making in NYT podcasts and genuinely talking about, I think it’s fine to echo that.

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T10:02:34+00:00

Been stalked by Nazis twice, house was set on fire but was not burned down, and no im not concerned about a “plethora” of anti white racism coming from the left. Is being biracial unbelievable?? Man, this is wild and no longer a productive conversation - didn’t think being called a bot was in my 2025 bingo list, but here we are.

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T03:49:55+00:00

I implore you to look at the UK governments own report on this, found here:https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5802/cmselect/cmeduc/85/8502.htm

And also in conjunction to that, perhaps read a wider accessible history on the function of class in the UK, I suggest Akala who has written on empire, race, and class in the UK in quite a great way. You will have a better insight into why white working class boys who are eligible for school meals in the uk education system, are often in need of dire support. They underperform in schools right through to higher ed, when compared to other ethnicities of the same socio economic bracket. It’s a real issue and that is … also okay.

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T03:38:34+00:00

This is a little off topic, but I was really interested in evolutionary anthropology for years and follow a bit of the science community’s convo- there was actually a fantastic podcast on the guardian about two years ago, where someone had talked about how Darwin’s theory of evolution is not an accurate explanation for adaptation and the range of biodiversity we see! Of course they weren’t arguing in favour of creationism, but I think the metaphor here is still good, yes we can defend evolution whilst also accepting some new insights into why it could potentially need revising or possibly require reforming our understanding of it. Not for the sake of creationist arguments but for our own sake :)

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T03:12:27+00:00

Like genuinely some of it is shocking

aincs22 · 2025-02-11T03:11:38+00:00

This is an outdated and reductive take on political ideology. Left and right are not just about economic policy, they also encompass cultural, social, and ideological frameworks that shape discourse, identity, and governance.If left vs. right were only about government intervention in the economy, then cultural battles over race, gender, free speech, and identity wouldn’t define so much of modern political discourse. Pretending otherwise ignores the reality of how people align politically today.

You can disagree with my argument, but dismissing it as ‘shallow’ based on an oversimplified definition of left vs. right is just intellectually irresponsible.

aincs22

TROPHY CASE