At least 300 students have been prohibited from registering for classes at Northwestern University because they refused to watch a controversial antisemitism training video that they said was biased in favor of Israel, contained factual inaccuracies and could inflame campus tension over Gaza.
How do they know it was biased if they refused to watch it?
Why are they requiring students to watch a propaganda video before enrolling?
Is it propaganda? I would think it’s good for everyone to take in the perspective of everyone. You can disagree and poke holes in their arguments, or challenge items presented as facts. Why does it hurt to see someone else’s perspective, unless you’re worried that your own agenda might get challenged? There is a lot of bias and closed echo chambers (on all sides). I’m not trying to defend Israel’s actions in Gaza over the last few years, or their other human rights violations, but there is so much silencing of any opinion that contradicts the popular narrative that the pendulum can easily swing too far. There are people calling for the destruction of Israel and the genocide of Jews. Some folk need to understand the history of Israel (the good and the bad) before blindly jumping deep into the Hamas fueled propaganda. I don’t think any video is going to make any sane people think Israel’s actions are ok. But more moderate discussions after seeing other perspectives would probably be more productive than blind hate.
Let me know when they’re also forcing students to watch a video put out by Hamas’s press wing.
You’re trying to present this as some enlightened attempt to force students to see all sides of an issue, but they’re only showing ONE FUCKING SIDE.
I think the idea is that they already have the blind anti-Israel mentality just like you and seemingly most of the people on Lemmy have. You can’t even talk about it without swearing!
Some people need to understand the history of the trail of tears (good and bad) before blindly jumping into the Indian fueled propaganda…
You are absolutely not arguing what you think you are arguing.
Maybe you misunderstand? Yes, I think people should understand the history of the trail of tears.
There is no video that will make me agree with genocide, and to try is insulting.
And that’s where reading comprehension is so important. I would hope no video would make you agree with genocide - as I already said! I would also hope that some of the more radical anti-Israelis might be convinced tho that genociding the Jewish people would also be bad.
Yet here you are, trying to justify genocide.
Seriously, that’s what you got out of that? Are you trolling - or just blinded by hate? Or is it a language thing? I can try to rephrase for you if you’re honestly having trouble with non monosyllabic words.
I’ve heard all I need to hear from you - you are trying to claim that the current genocide is justified based on the potential genocide that could happen if Israel doesn’t completely exterminate Palestine. It’s a bullshit argument, I’ve heard it before, it’s insulting.
You are making yourself sound stupid, no offense.
It’s not what I said at all. You can scream at strawmen if it makes you feel better, of course. But if people like you would pay a bit more attention to nuance, this world might be a lot better place. But you do you.
Do I need to read Mein Kampf to know that that’s also biased?
Probably not, but it might be a useful read if only the arm yourself better to defend against such ideologies.
Now suppose you’re being forced to read Mein Kampf by people who want you to believe it
Forcing is the bad part, yes. But requiring for academic purposes can be acceptable. Know thy enemy; knowledge is power.
There is a difference between studying propanda and forcing students to watch propaganda without critique or study.
Are the students not allowed to critique or study it?
“Requiring for academic purposes” supposes that it will be studied and critiqued in a classroom setting. This is not the case here.
I’m going to guess someone watched it and reported back
I would think people might want to think for themselves.
I would think people wouldn’t want to waste their time watching media that’s known to be propaganda. Do you go watch every single movie released in theaters, or do you pick based on what you know ahead of time? You watch Fox News all day just to make sure you’re making up your own mind?
People can stay ignorant if they want, I guess.
It’s so funny that just because I voice an opinion that people being exposed to opposing view points might not be such a bad idea that you think I’m a fox viewer maga moron? Do we on the left really need to blindly all have the same monolithic opinion on everything?
I didn’t accuse you of watching Fox News, but you clearly watch it if you don’t like it and don’t think it’s possible to form an opinion on known propaganda without watching it
I mean you did. But whatever. Yes I’ve seen Fox News because I like to see what others are seeing. I like to see other perspectives. It’s obvious within seconds when watching Fox that it’s a right wing propaganda mill, and it’s so cringy it’s hard to believe people actually watch it and take it seriously. I usually avoid video media like that altogether as I find it so cringey - it’s much more efficient to scan the web pages of the different spin sources to see what they’re doing. I don’t understand your point about not thinking it’s possible to form an opinion without it - what watching Fox?. I would think it’s quite easy to form opinions about Fox whether you watch it or not, but it’s a more informed opinion if you do. Whether that’s worth the pain in this case, is arguable.
They probably heard about it from other students or the news. The first sentence in the article literally links to another months old article describing the nature of the video.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/30/northwestern-antisemitism-training-pro-israel-groups
It is not hard to find out why. This link is included very early in the article. Maybe read it?
Weird how that guy responded to all the other comments but not this one even though they were made after this one was…
Lol. I didn’t expect them to, if they actually cared they would have read the article. Just some 🤡 trying to sow uncertainty to try to keep running cover for genocide and the erosion of US civil liberties.
A question very much worth asking. I’d assume they got snippets of it or viewed it beforehand to see what it was like before having to watch it “officially”. Or, given that it was produced by a pro-Israel group, it’s probably safe to assume that it’s going to be a propaganda piece. Not to mention it’s in place because of threats from the Trump regime.