Prager U

[_honorentheos]

The PragerU approach is to disparage higher education while giving out little conservative infomercials as a replacement or even "cure" for the ills that the religious right sees in higher ed. It's the intellectual equivalent of claiming a person need only take a pill to be fit rather than manage what they eat and get regular exercise. PragerU has been bankrolled by two oil Billionaires out of Texas who believe the Bible is historically accurate and should be used as a textbook in the US education system. They are the religious right version of the Koch brothers. There is a wealthy party triple-matching donations to PragerU right now? Uh, sounds like the Wilks bros are just trying to get other people to give to Dennis cuz they were giving anyway, ceebs.

Odds are, if you support the University of Pennsylvania's decision to remove a portrait of Shakespeare and replace it with a portrait of a black-lesbian poet, you will not find PragerU appealing.

I'm curious what PragerU told you about this, ceebs? What happened? Who did it? What was the motivation? What was the University's responsibilities in this regard you feel were neglected? You know. What did you learn from your investment in PragerU?

[_Doctor Steuss]

If I had to choose between hanging a picture of the guy that wrote the train wreck, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and the gal who wrote The Cancer Journals...

[_honorentheos]

OK. So you are choosing to take the name of the exhibit and claim that using this toilet is “crapping and urinating on America”. There’s no possibility that the actual meaning is something different than you would like to characterize it as?

Art appreciation that requires background knowledge and the ability to grasp even the slightest amount of complexity or nuance isn't going to be the forté of your average PragerU "student". Again, the entire point of PragerU is to leverage some people's inferiority complexes that get triggered by higher education, and use that leverage to distribute theology-based fanaticism that is counter to the actual ideals of enlightenment-based liberal, western democracy. That they get people to think they are being true patriots at the same time is a morbid joke at the nation's expense.

[_Maksutov]

OK. So you are choosing to take the name of the exhibit and claim that using this toilet is “____ and urinating on America”. There’s no possibility that the actual meaning is something different than you would like to characterize it as?

Art appreciation that requires background knowledge and the ability to grasp even the slightest amount of complexity or nuance isn't going to be the forté of your average PragerU "student". Again, the entire point of PragerU is to leverage some people's inferiority complexes that get triggered by higher education, and use that leverage to distribute theology-based fanaticism that is counter to the actual ideals of enlightenment-based liberal, western democracy. That they get people to think they are being true patriots at the same time is a morbid joke at the nation's expense.

Seems to be a general right wing strategy, from Limbaugh in the 90s up to the present. Pretty much the foundation of the Tea Party, despite the initial claims of action against high taxes.

[_Chap]

From their web-page, I find this description of the activities of the organisation referred to in the OP:

We take the best ideas from the best minds and distill them into short videos.

OK, so it appears to be a kind of specialised Youtube channel. Why on earth would such an organisation want to refer to itself as a 'university'? An organisation of the kind described bears no resemblance to any kind of recognised university I have ever visited or been connected with in any part of the world.

Isn't this rather like an online pharmacy calling itself a 'hospital'.

Please note that I make no reference in this post to the political, cultural or religious basis of this organisation.

[_DarkHelmet]

From their web-page, I find this description of the activities of the organisation referred to in the OP:

We take the best ideas from the best minds and distill them into short videos.

OK, so it appears to be a kind of specialised Youtube channel. Why on earth would such an organisation want to refer to itself as a 'university'? An organisation of the kind described bears no resemblance to any kind of recognised university I have ever visited or been connected with in any part of the world.

Of course, but his target audience doesn't know that. For someone who never went to college, only watches Fox News, and is sick of being lectured to by the educated elite, this is the perfect opportunity for them to attend a "college" without putting in any effort. Prager isn't teaching them anything new, or challenging their pre-existing ideas, but he is able to give them the cofidence that the things they already know from listening to Rush and Alex Jones are supported by a "university" education. It's a genius marketing strategy by Dennis Prager.

[_Ceeboo]

Sorry to intrude on the herd gathering going on but I wanted to remind those interested in donating, if there are any of you out there, that donations are currently being tripled.

Thanks

[_canpakes]

Are you referring to the herd gathering ‘round the open browser window and waiting for Prager to tell them their next opinion?

And where are those examples of me unjustly beating up on good right-wing folk and/or their sound arguments? I must atone.

[_Chap]

Sorry to intrude on the herd gathering going on

Sorry? Are you referring to my quite irenically phrased question below?

From their web-page, I find this description of the activities of the organisation referred to in the OP:

We take the best ideas from the best minds and distill them into short videos.

OK, so it appears to be a kind of specialised Youtube channel. Why on earth would such an organisation want to refer to itself as a 'university'? An organisation of the kind described bears no resemblance to any kind of recognised university I have ever visited or been connected with in any part of the world.

Isn't this rather like an online pharmacy calling itself a 'hospital'.

Please note that I make no reference in this post to the political, cultural or religious basis of this organisation.

That's surely a reasonable question to ask under the circumstances, since the organisation in question is nothing like anything that people would normally call a 'university'?

By the way, there is in my view nothing wrong with a university having a mainly online presence in itself. See this long-established example, for instance:

The Open University

Supported open learning

The OU teaches in English through its own unique method of distance learning, called ‘supported open learning’, which is:

Flexible – students work where and when they choose to fit in with jobs, families and other commitments
All-inclusive – students get all the high quality materials they need to study
Supportive – personal tutors provide academic expertise, guidance and feedback and run group tutorials; and specialist advisers are on hand to help with other aspects of OU study
Social – students get together through tutorials, online conferencing, study networks and course forums.

Here, for instance, are its Arts and Humanities courses:

Undergraduate courses related to 'Arts & Humanities'

If you are looking for postgraduate courses, see our A to Z of postgraduate courses.

Honours degrees
BA (Honours) Arts and Humanities
BA (Honours) Arts and Humanities (Philosophy)
BA (Honours) Arts and Humanities (Religious Studies)
BA (Honours) Criminology and Law
Bachelor of Laws (Honours) (LLB)
Bachelor of Laws (Honours) (graduate entry)
BA (Honours) Philosophy and Psychological Studies
BA (Honours) Politics, Philosophy and Economics
BA (Honours) Religion, Philosophy and Ethics
BA (Honours) Arts and Humanities (Music)
BA (Honours) Classical Studies
BA (Honours) Music
BA (Honours) Social Sciences (Religious Studies)
BA (Honours) Arts and Humanities (Classical Studies)
BA (Honours) Arts and Humanities (Creative Writing)
BA (Honours) Arts and Humanities (English Language)
BA (Honours) Arts and Humanities (English Literature)
BA (Honours) Arts and Humanities (History)
BSc (Honours) Computing & IT and Design
BSc (Honours) Computing & IT and a second subject
BA/BSc (Honours) Design and Innovation
BA (Honours) English Language and Literature
BA (Honours) English Literature
BA (Honours) English Literature and Creative Writing
BA (Honours) History
BA (Honours) History and Politics
BA (Honours) International Studies
BA (Honours) Language Studies
BA (Honours) Language Studies with English and French
BA (Honours) Language Studies with English and German
BA (Honours) Language Studies with English and Spanish
BA (Honours) Language Studies with French and German
BA (Honours) Language Studies with French and Spanish
BA (Honours) Language Studies with German and Spanish
BA (Honours) Arts and Humanities (Art History)
BA (Honours) Childhood and Youth Studies
BA (Honours) Arts and Humanities (French)
BA (Honours) Arts and Humanities (German)
BA (Honours) Arts and Humanities (Spanish)

The organisation in the OP does not seem to offer anything resembling the university level study and support offered by the OU, does it?

Please explain how you see a problem with my question, if you do. Or maybe you might even try answering it?

[_Some Schmo]

The organisation in the OP does not seem to offer anything resembling the university level study and support offered by the OU, does it?

Come on, Chap. Nobody ever complained about Trump University, and look how that turned out.