MIT indefinitely removes online physics lectures and courses by Walter Lewinfollowing a determination that Dr. Lewin engaged in online sexual harassment

RockTurgidson · 2014-12-09T12:49:47+00:00

It sets a dangerous precedent to censor the past works of someone - ESPECIALLY an intellectual - because they allegedly committed some crime or wrongdoing. Even if he killed millions of people, his ideas and teachings can still be of value.

I can read Mein Kampf and any number of works by killers, thieves, and liars. There could be some sort of value to be found in all of them. And furthermore, who is to say that any number of people we revere haven't done bad shit? Imagine if it turned out Newton raped and killed ten little girls. Do we remove Newtonian physics from the canon?

This is a stupid, knee-jerk decision.

ShekelBanker · 2014-12-09T10:34:32+00:00

I've been wondering when feminists would start their attack on open courseware and free online courses. Such courses are meritocratic, everyone has access to the material and you get out what you put in; are based on learning the material in objectively testable ways as opposed to navelgazing and calling out privilege; and are anonymous (it's harder to pretend that you're being picked on for your sex or your class or your race when the only thing anyone knows about you is that you're student 8821232 in a database). The feminists, who've done such a good job at taking over educational institutions, couldn't possibly let themselves be bypassed by online learning.

I agree that Levin's lectures were very good. Opening them up to anyone in the world with an internet connection opened up a lot of opportunities to millions of talented people who could never get to MIT. His purge shows whose side feminists are on.

heist_of_saint_graft · 2014-12-09T15:03:35+00:00

Does anyone have a mirror of the removed material? It should be posted elsewhere, in the absolutist principle that information should never be censored because its creator did something bad.

The Unabomber and Timothy McVeigh's writings are freely available on the web, as they should be.

sir_wankalot_here · 2014-12-09T14:18:28+00:00

I am sure China wouldn't be concerned about his alleged "sexual harassment". He can join sexist shirt guy as they work to improve China's space program.

ShekelBanker · 2014-12-09T08:37:40+00:00

Online courses from MIT are really strong material, don't see what the connection is between this obviously false allegation to have his material removed.

MIT shows how much they don't care about their website traffic like that.

billthane · 2014-12-09T22:58:14+00:00

Dammit... At least I still have his book.

Dorrog · 2014-12-09T16:48:55+00:00

I would really love to know the details of what went down. Would clarify if it's feminist hysteria or deserved.

juanqunt · 2014-12-10T01:12:24+00:00

WAT

FUX 2 this shit

This man got me through AP physics. AWALT

Dev_on · 2014-12-09T15:03:03+00:00

This is why we can't have nice things people!

Ralt · 2014-12-09T21:41:53+00:00

Where did the America who brought in Nazi Scientists go? We valued ideas and science more than anything else, and now we're removing freely distributed knowledge because of allegations.

skaaii · 2014-12-09T11:05:27+00:00

I feel so conflicted by all this.

In college, I saw Walter Lewin's lectures and used them to supplement my own difficult time in physics. Anyone who's seen his lectures will recognize the amount of love and time put into them and how much they inspire those of us who would otherwise have given up in physics to toil till we get it.

Years later, I would recommend it to my young female students. I work with students in the ghetto and if the paucity of female scientists and engineers is appalling in the United States, it's far worse here in the ghetto. With that said, many of those same students fell in love with physics and a couple of them went on to study science and engineering, with faith brought on by (besides our tutoring and their strong wills) videos of this brilliant educator.

But on the other side, I agree that sexual harassment should not be tolerated and those guilty of it should be sanctioned appropriately. Assuming the allegations are correct, what is appropriate? should his 45-year career be burned to the ground? Is damnato memoriae the only solution available? Is there not a just solution that will castigate him significantly while still allowing the benefits of his talent to be shared with the world?

I don't want to be insensitive to the victim, but I also feel that the loss of such a valuable trove of education would be tragic for the thousands who will now never know how interesting physics could be...

edit: please note in my appeal, I am not focusing on him or what he gets from doing this, but on the benefit others (like me and other students in underrepresented neighborhoods) would get. Please don't tell me to consider other professors who you think are "better," because while there are other educators, a loss of any one great educator is a tragedy not just for the educator, but for all those who will not be inspired in their unique way, and it is for those potential converts to science that I most hurt.

rockmasterflex · 2014-12-09T15:25:52+00:00

Don't be misleading. The online course itself is interactive. The reason they cut the content is to remove the avenue in which the alleged crime would be committed.

Of course, what is online sexual harassment anyway? Text that is vaguely sexual sent to you over chat? I could see being perturbed by it if it was a professor, but like... until your grade is affected, its not really harassment. We're talking literally just words on a screen here. Its just awkward.

Title	MIT indefinitely removes online physics lectures and courses by Walter Lewinfollowing a determination that Dr. Lewin engaged in online sexual harassment
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	22
Comments	37
Date	December 9, 2014 7:50 AM UTC (11 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/TheRedPill
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/2oqilc/mit_indefinitely_removes_online_physics_lectures/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/TheRedPill/mit-indefinitely-removes-online-physics-lectures.26082 https://theredarchive.com/post/26082

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