Derek Silva

@derekcrim.bsky.social

// prof, writer, podcaster 🍉
// words in Time, LA Times, The Guardian, etc.
// podcast @endofsportpod.bsky.social
// book link in bio @uncpress.bsky.social

https://uncpress.org/book/9781469683461/the-end-of-college-football/

@nkalamb.bsky.socialReposted by @derekcrim.bsky.social

At the end of the day, the Canadian government's Campus Antisemitism and Student Experiences (CASE) study is propaganda politics laundered as legitimate social science by Canadian scholars. We break down all the methodological flaws in this work of professional malpractice 👇.

To make definitively broad generalizations grounded in a small, biased selection sample is an unacceptable error, yet this is something the authors of this report repeatedly do, such as when they assert, “95.7% said they had experienced or witnessed at least one instance of antisemitism over the previous 12 months” without providing a caveat such as “of those surveyed” or a strong note on the limitations of the report’s methodology. This finding of 95 percent has, predictably, been repeated ad nauseam in the media. In fact, the authors of the report have admitted that among the very small number of respondents who indicated Zionism was not important at all to them, 92 percent said their campus was safe and inclusive for Jewish students, a finding that directly contradicts the thesis that it is Jewishness, rather than the state policy of Israel, that is the object of critique on campuses. The 95 and 92 percent figures, taken together, index a larger problem: the incentive for participants to articulate experiences that align with broader political projects in a moment of profound polarization. It is clear beyond doubt that students with Zionist proclivities reported discrimination and those with anti-Zionist leanings reported none. So, what the study seems to reveal above all is the political orientation of its participants. It is not really possible to falsify any of the findings beyond that. If Zionist students consider critique of Israel to be a form of harm, that is what they will report. But this is not an objective measure, as evinced by the testimony of anti-Zionist students.
@derekcrim.bsky.social

8/9 Funding such a questionable project while anti-Palestinian racism skyrockets across our institutions tells you everything you need to know about the actual priorities at play. Bad science protects no one. We absolutely have to do better.

@derekcrim.bsky.social

7/9 Antisemitism is real and students absolutely deserve protection – yet weaponizing a fundamentally flawed study doesn’t keep anyone safe. It merely provides administrative cover to censor and surveil legitimate student academic freedom.

@derekcrim.bsky.social

6/9 This exposes a massive problem around what we call construct validity. The survey instrument collapses Jews, Judaism, Israel, and Zionism into a single monolithic category. It makes separating actual bigotry from political critique of a foreign state analytically impossible.

@derekcrim.bsky.social

5/9 The report claims 95.7% of respondents experienced or witnessed antisemitism. Predictably, media repeated this ad nauseum. But the authors buried a crucial finding. 92% of students who said Zionism was not important to them reported their campus was safe and inclusive.

@derekcrim.bsky.social

3/9 In that piece, the authors defend making sweeping, generalized quantitative claims based entirely on an unweighted, self-selected convenience sample. Qualitative survey methods cannot, by definition, be generalized. It is a frankly irresponsible error. @indjewishvoices.bsky.social

@nkalamb.bsky.socialReposted by @derekcrim.bsky.social

"Regardless of the final score in Ireland’s favour, they lost the minute they stepped on the pitch to play Israel."

Exactly right. There are no victories when playing Israel "went vs the majority of the Irish people" + "succumbed to pressure to normalise genocide"

www.aljazeera.com/opinions/202...

For the past few months, Irish Sport for Palestine (ISFP), which I am part of, has been campaigning for Ireland to boycott its football matches against Israel. We believe playing against Israel legitimises a genocidal regime and gives cover for international law violations, apartheid and war crimes. On Sunday, the match between the two teams went ahead in an almost empty stadium in Hungary. Regardless of the final score (3-0) in Ireland’s favour, they lost the minute they stepped on the pitch to play Israel. They lost because they went against the majority of the Irish people who do not want these matches to be played. They lost because they succumbed to pressure to normalise genocide.
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