Liberal

2022 - 10 - 31

Post cover — Image courtesy of "The Commentator"

Liberalism Reassessed: A Response - The Commentator (The Commentator)

When I first read Rabbi Rafi Eis's article on Yeshiva University's battle with liberalism, I was left disappointed and dissatisfied.

To my understanding, this is the ethos of the YU Pride Alliance. this honor, however, must flow from a profound recognition that in the innermost recesses of human existence, the I is not superior to the thou. Where LGBTQ individuals don’t have to leave Orthodoxy to find the acceptance that the broader halachic community falls short of providing. “To love another, I must first evaluate him in virtuous light and see him as worthy of that love… It is the application of ineffable divine imperatives to a contemporary context. In a similar vein, I feel that co-opting the Rav in a regressive crusade to alienate our Jewish brothers, sisters and others is shameful and defamatory. Rabbi Eis provides a borderline parodic and sensationally expansive interpretation of the Torah’s prohibition on gay sex to include injunctions regarding communal loyalty, Masoretic fealty and Jewish continuity. His unfairly acerbic rhetoric is unrepresentative of my and my peers’ feelings on the matter, and in many ways runs contrary to them. To this end, the Rav and his students (my rabbis and mentors) went to great lengths to create a sanctuary for the many stripes of Jew found on our vibrant campus. Following in the footsteps of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, we must identify “components of a shared moral and spiritual vision, upon elements of both a common fate and common destiny,” and “strive for understanding and respect.” (Jewish Action 46:37-39, Fall 1986) Is there a way to carve room for progressivism into one of the seventy facets of our Torah? We, as a community and as individuals, must be open to answering “yes” if we are to have any hope of creating dialogue and change. This article aims to provide an alternative, more welcoming perspective that is grounded in modern sensitivity and traditional meticulosity, without compromising on either.

What Liberals are expected to do (The Tribune)

THE speech made by Mr. Freemantle, Finance Member of the U.P. Government, in opposing the resolution of Babu Vikramjit Singh in the U.P. Legislative Council ...

And is it possible for the Liberal Party, without ceasing to be Liberal, to support the Government in measures for the suppression of what is neither more nor less than a peaceful, though organised, political agitation, in some cases nothing more than the assertion of the primary rights of free speech, of public meeting and of association? Freemantle, “would have had greater force if last year when the Province was in a disturbed state, the Liberal Party and the Constitutional Party generally had come forward boldly to support the Government in saving the United Provinces from what might have been a fairly general rising.” What we do know is that if there had been a general rising in any active, physical sense, no section of the community would have been more actively interested in its immediate suppression than the party of Swaraj. Freemantle tells them that they have forfeited the right of asking the Government to do a right thing at a later stage. And yet just because the Liberal Party, as a party, did not support the Government in such measures, Mr. Some of them have undoubtedly condemned repression from the first, but just because the condemnation has not been sufficiently strong, it has been found possible for a member of the Government to insult their patriotism by saying that he had expected them to support the repressive policy. Legislative Council, recommending the release of political prisoners, will, we hope, open the eyes of our Liberal friends to the dangers of the policy they have been following in regard to repression.

McMillan to serve as KU's interim Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Berks Weekly)

The appointment was announced Monday by Kutztown University provost Dr. Lorin Basden Arnold. McMillan will assume the role for Dr. David Beougher, who is ...

Beougher served as associate dean for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 2012-16 and was named dean of the college in November 2016. Anne Carroll, dean of the College of Business, will chair the search. Before coming to Kutztown University, McMillan spent a year as the assistant dean in Millersville University’s College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. McMillan has been with KU since 2020, as associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. David Beougher and I look forward to continuing his collaborative work to help the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences shine in our support of students, faculty, staff and the Kutztown University mission,” McMillan said. Laurie McMillan will serve as interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) at Kutztown University, effective Jan.

Liberal think tank unveils proposal to protect elections (Yahoo News)

The Center for American Progress (CAP) on Monday put forth a new proposal to safeguard U.S. elections by shoring up the fair enforcement of voting laws.

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Opinion | Trevor Noah, Samantha Bee, and the Future of Liberal ... (The New York Times)

Americans don't want to share a living room with one another. We prefer to live and be entertained in ideological encampments.

brand, from the top of the ticket to the bottom. Young said the thing about satire is that it asks the audience to take risks. Whether infotainment should matter to the way politics is communicated is a separate issue from the fact that it does matter. If satirical political content is the liberal audience’s way to stick it to the man, why isn’t the genre exploding right now? Dannagal Goldthwaite Young, a communication professor at the University of Delaware, wrote “Irony and Outrage: The Polarized Landscape of Rage, Fear, and Laughter in the United States.” She said that “The Daily Show” is an exemplar of what political media became in the 1990s. Joe Rogan and Ben Shapiro are two of the most popular podcast hosts in the nation. “Entertainment wasn’t expected to ‘stay in its lane.’ It was expected — encouraged even — to blur the lines between fact and fiction, entertainment and politics, art and social justice,” she writes. The need for closure is a big one. In terms of humor, you can think of this as “you know you’re a redneck if” on one end of the spectrum and George Carlin on the other. “Trevor doesn’t necessarily use the edgier form of satire, irony and outrage to drive his approach to the show,” Meyer told me. A director and supervising producer of “The Daily Show,” David Paul Meyer, said that when Trevor Noah took over in 2015, he embraced a more holistic style. Even if the polls are as off, [as pollsters fear](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/10/24/opinion/frustrated-with-polling-pollsters-are-too.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-op-midterms&variant=1_opinion®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_opinion_swipe_test_recirc), all signs seem to be pointing toward a strong showing for the G.O.P.

Conservative 'outrage' sells better than liberal 'satire': NY Times ... (Fox News)

Author and professor Tressie McMillan Cottom began by listing a string of late-night shows where the hosts announced they were leaving or the shows were ...

[The Dobbs decision](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/supreme-court-overturns-roe-v-wade-dobbs-v-jackson-womens-health-organization) has radicalized and terrified millions of voters. The article ended with the author warning how "dangerous" this election cycle had become. McMillan Cottom agreed that Democrats were "terrified" of the GOP taking control this November. "When you look across media platforms, it is easier to see how conservative psychological preference for outrage bodes better for their growth in satellite radio, lifestyle media and, of course, social media," she wrote. Author and professor Tressie McMillan Cottom began by listing a string of late-night shows where the hosts announced they were leaving or the shows were canceled altogether. Ouchie stuff if ‘us versus them’ makes you feel safest," she wrote.