Thread by @jessesingal

1/ Here's the full letter from grad students that Yoel Inbar believes prevented him from getting hired as a psych prof by UCLA. On the one hand it's pretty wild, but on the other it's pretty much exactly what you'd expect, in all the worst ways.

drive.google.com/file/d/1nd3ifC…

2/ Among other things, Inbar stands accused of being mildly skeptical of diversity statements on the grounds that we don't know whether they accomplish anything, and of thinking it isn't a good idea for professional psych societies to wade into issues like abortion.

3/ As is often true in these letters, there are real leaps in -- and struggles with -- basic argument. Oftentimes one sentence does not logically flow into the next one. The authors -- dozens of grad students -- seem confused about basic aspects of how language and science work:

4/ Apparently it is the responsibility of researchers to deny that there is a biological basis to disgust, because something something something naturalistic fallacy. Blank slatism ratcheted up to 11. This is the next generation of psychologists! We might be doomed.

6/Don't wanna downplay the significance of Yoel's crimes: He also stands accused of saying he listens to grad students (fucking monster), and of calling one particular grad student who confronted him "intense" to third parties. (I think he said he called the *situation* intense.)

7/ Perhaps most alarmingly, Yoel Inbar's own research is not fixated on the precise identity categories these students are most interested in. Allowing him on campus would risk contaminating the university with truly harmful ideas, like that we're all united by a shared nature.

8/ In conclusion, academic psychology is in wonderful shape, the kids are being taught well, and there's nothing to worry about here. We have prevented harm.

verybadwizards.com/episode/episod…