Venting Thread

[FoxAndChicken]

9 minutes ago, philosophe said:

Thank you so much for sharing this. These guys really need to hear it. I can tell that you're going to make it! 

Thank you for your hope. I think I just failed a math exam. ?

[brush]

there's plenty of literature on affirmative action, I don't think we need to repeat that debate here

[blacklake]

Apparently I can only give 5 upvotes a day, so I just wanted to say thanks to all the women/people of color speaking up in this thread. I don't have the same patience as you all to write a coherent argument about it here, so I'll just say: thank you. And fuck the rest. 

[philosophe]

6 minutes ago, blacklake said:

Apparently I can only give 5 upvotes a day, so I just wanted to say thanks to all the women/people of color speaking up in this thread. I don't have the same patience as you all to write a coherent argument about it here, so I'll just say: thank you. And fuck the rest. 

Ditto. I also think that any continued discussion of this might consider relocating to a new thread, so that we clear up the venting thread. 

[gughok]

4 minutes ago, philosophe said:

Ditto. I also think that any continued discussion of this might consider relocating to a new thread, so that we clear up the venting thread. 

Now, to be fair, a discussion can be a form of venting, a redirection of energy, and that's the point of this thread. But I agree.

[philosophe]

13 minutes ago, gughok said:

Now, to be fair, a discussion can be a form of venting, a redirection of energy, and that's the point of this thread. But I agree.

True, but I think this discussion is its own huge issue, which deserves a dedicated space if people want to continue to talk about it. (And will lighten up the venting thread for less weighty discussion).

[continental_theorist]

5 hours ago, Shawn3007+ said:

And you are the reason for even more women not going into PhD programs. You can't expect things to magically change for you, everyone who is different has had to fight for what they want. If you go into a PhD program the lone woman, you may inspire other women to follow suit and breakdown stereotypes that your male colleagues hold about you. Stop expecting men to come "save" you. 

Disgusting and clueless victim-blaming tone and message.  There is nothing scarier than when white men in historically privileged positions take on the 'underdog'/victim role and scapegoat entire protected classes due to civil rights movements, feminism, and equality.  This is the attitude we've all needed this application season: 

[MVSCZAR]

2 minutes ago, continental_theorist said:

Disgusting and clueless victim-blaming tone and message.  There is nothing scarier than when white men in historically privileged positions take on the 'underdog'/victim role and scapegoat entire protected classes due to civil rights movements, feminism, and equality.  This is the attitude we've all needed this application season: 

Love it. 

[majorshake]

Haven't heard anything from anywhere in like 6 days. I therefore conclude that I've been rejected from everywhere

 

Edit: Might as well vent other frustrations:
- My housemates haven't put their dishes away yet
- My bread went mouldy and so I haven't got anything for breakfast
- It's raining so I'll have to walk through the rain from my car to my office

Edited February 17, 2016 by majorshake

[dgswaim]

23 minutes ago, majorshake said:

Haven't heard anything from anywhere in like 6 days. I therefore conclude that I've been rejected from everywhere

 

Edit: Might as well vent other frustrations:
- My housemates haven't put their dishes away yet
- My bread went mouldy and so I haven't got anything for breakfast
- It's raining so I'll have to walk through the rain from my car to my office

Don't lose heart yet! Also, fuck moldy bread. Moldy bread is an asshole.

[MVSCZAR]

Guys. I have an interview in a few minutes and I'm about to pass out from anxiety. First of all, I hate interviews. Secondly, I hate Skype. So a Skype interview has me about to die. 

What are they gonna ask me, even? Idk idk help pls. Someone pretend to be me. 

[jacbarcan]

25 minutes ago, majorshake said:

Haven't heard anything from anywhere in like 6 days. I therefore conclude that I've been rejected from everywhere

 

Edit: Might as well vent other frustrations:
- My housemates haven't put their dishes away yet
- My bread went mouldy and so I haven't got anything for breakfast
- It's raining so I'll have to walk through the rain from my car to my office

Some people find this strange and other find it completely normal, but I freeze my bread sometimes when I know I wont get to it in time for the mold to take over. Just pop it in the oven or toaster and bam! amazing.

[TheJabberwock]

29 minutes ago, majorshake said:

Haven't heard anything from anywhere in like 6 days. I therefore conclude that I've been rejected from everywhere

This.

Also, as a white male (who unfortunately shares a name, albeit differently spelled, with Shawn3007+) I would like to say I am in favor of affirmative action and some badly needed diversity in Philosophy. Now for sarcasm: "Boy! Women and minorities sure do get better treatment in philosophy programs, that's why all of the programs are full of women."

Affirmative action isn't in place to punish white people (although given some people's attitudes, I garner less sympathy if they are punished...), it's to help under-represented groups and to try and better reflect society. If (A) we want everyone to have an interest in philosophy (presumed by our valuing of it), then (B) we should want our philosophy departments to better reflect our society (thereby representing everyone and hopefully inspiring diverse groups to work in philosophy). A. Therefore, B. This is one of many arguments of why affirmative action is good, one I felt was neglected in the above discussion.

Congratulations for all of those who have been accepted thus far, and on to the point of this thread: "I want an acceptance too! And, I must be rejected since I haven't heard anything (even from the school that had a February 15th deadline). AND, I can't stop checking my email........ AHH!"

[dgswaim]

7 minutes ago, MVSCZAR said:

Guys. I have an interview in a few minutes and I'm about to pass out from anxiety. First of all, I hate interviews. Secondly, I hate Skype. So a Skype interview has me about to die. 

What are they gonna ask me, even? Idk idk help pls. Someone pretend to be me. 

I've done two Skype interviews this cycle. The first I was not prepared for, the second I was. Be prepared to answer questions about your writing sample and personal statement. With the sample, be prepared to defend it, but be flexible. They might have strong criticisms, and this is not an unmitigated bad. Try to recognize good criticism where it comes up.

On the statement, be ready to carefully explicate what you mean where you've stated an interest. They might wonder what you're interested in more specifically, or they might wonder how some seemingly unrelated interests might intersect, in your mind. They're trying to estimate your fit to the interests of the faculty, so keep that in mind.

Also, try to keep the computer camera at roughly eye level!

[majorshake]

32 minutes ago, MVSCZAR said:

Guys. I have an interview in a few minutes and I'm about to pass out from anxiety. First of all, I hate interviews. Secondly, I hate Skype. So a Skype interview has me about to die. 

What are they gonna ask me, even? Idk idk help pls. Someone pretend to be me. 

Is this the DePaul interview?

You can do it! You've got this.

Let us know how it went!

[oldmanPhDStudent]

6 hours ago, FoxAndChicken said:

At fourteen I decided to get a job, and I coded websites for ten dollars an hour while eating only ramen so that I could attend private school. I financed this entirely myself.

This is hard core. Much respect to you, friend!

[MVSCZAR]

1 minute ago, majorshake said:

Is this the DePaul interview?

You can do it! You've got this.

Let us know how it went!

Yes! It's happening in 4 minutes

[TheChosenOne]

31 minutes ago, TheJabberwock said:

This.

Also, as a white male (who unfortunately shares a name, albeit differently spelled, with Shawn3007+) I would like to say I am in favor of affirmative action and some badly needed diversity in Philosophy. Now for sarcasm: "Boy! Women and minorities sure do get better treatment in philosophy programs, that's why all of the programs are full of women."

Affirmative action isn't in place to punish white people (although given some people's attitudes, I garner less sympathy if they are punished...), it's to help under-represented groups and to try and better reflect society. If (A) we want everyone to have an interest in philosophy (presumed by our valuing of it), then (B) we should want our philosophy departments to better reflect our society (thereby representing everyone and hopefully inspiring diverse groups to work in philosophy). A. Therefore, B. This is one of many arguments of why affirmative action is good, one I felt was neglected in the above discussion.

Congratulations for all of those who have been accepted thus far, and on to the point of this thread: "I want an acceptance too! And, I must be rejected since I haven't heard anything (even from the school that had a February 15th deadline). AND, I can't stop checking my email........ AHH!"

Even if we grant your argument and concede B, B alone does not prescribe affirmative action as the solution to the problem. Yes, we should take steps to effect an accurate reflection of society in philosophy departments - but we had better not do so in ways that are equally morally disgusting.

[majorshake]

6 minutes ago, MVSCZAR said:

Yes! It's happening in 4 minutes

Good luck!

 

You'll do great. Remember they wouldn't want to Skype if they didn't already think you were awesome

[MVSCZAR]

15 minutes ago, majorshake said:

Good luck!

 

You'll do great. Remember they wouldn't want to Skype if they didn't already think you were awesome

Oh god. I don't even know if I said words and I may have insulted the entire Catholic Church. Oh god. 

[majorshake]

Just now, MVSCZAR said:

Oh god. I don't even know if I said words and I may have insulted the entire Catholic Church. Oh god. 

The Catholic Church is a pretty easy target.. don't worry.

[Establishment]

41 minutes ago, TheChosenOne said:

Even if we grant your argument and concede B, B alone does not prescribe affirmative action as the solution to the problem. Yes, we should take steps to effect an accurate reflection of society in philosophy departments - but we had better not do so in ways that are equally morally disgusting.

You're right. We shouldn't. And affirmative action isn't morally disgusting.

[MVSCZAR]

24 minutes ago, Establishment said:

You're right. We shouldn't. And affirmative action isn't morally disgusting.

Squashed.

[Shawn3007+]

Let me preface this by saying my previous comment was harsh, and it should have been worded better. I stand by my opinion though. Most of the arguments against me automatically assumed that I am a straight white "privileged" man. I am not straight or white and come from a middle class family in a developing country ( I survive on less than 400 USD a month) . I have been the only person of colour working in an all-white lab. I wasn't treated any differently as an international student or a person of colour when living in "white country", and honestly I have faced more discrimination in my home country where everyone looks the same as me,  due to my sexuality and bookish nature . Sometimes we assume because there is no one else "like" us that we would not be accepted by those around us, but that is more often our own issue. Sure there are racist, sexist and bigoted people out there, but should a program change the standards of admission just to make everyone feel "comfortable"? Moving outside my comfort zone is when I have grown the most. Finally, since I don't live in the states, this is only my perception of the situation, it could be that programs downright discriminate against women and people of colour. If you have some research on it I'd love to read it. (<not sarcasm)

[genesis]

I think one of the reasons people reacted harshly was that philosophe might not have gone to the program just because she didn't want to be the only woman there. Often times a lack of women is a warning sign that something else is seriously wrong: the faculty don't work with female students or some faculty are serious sexual predators. These last two issues aren't a matter of comfort: the former has to do with the viability of a program to offer professional support to women and the latter is an issue of personal dignity and safety.