S05.E04: Look What U Started

[jewel21]

Quote

Eager to impress Gamma Psi Delta while pledging, Junior faces a moral dilemma when he books a controversial comedian to perform at a fundraiser. Aaron struggles to fit in with his colleagues and receives advice from Zoey about how to cope.

Airdate: 08/10/2022

[Lethallyfab]

Aaron is still a tenure-track professor, correct?  Not tenured!?  I can not overemphasize the amount that he, without tenure, would be fired for first bitching out his BOSS for being included in the ad campaign but also then putting all his *colleagues* on blast -with their names and faces! 
 

Like, I’m sure if we asked him why he wants this job that he does everything in his power to chafe against, he’d cite some bull about affecting change from the inside, but, dude, look, if your only purpose is to seek out and create drama wherever you go, you need to apply to be a Real Housewife, not a professor.

My dad’s been in academia my whole life and that shit is cut-throat.  Like, ‘Game of Thrones’ cut-throat.  They will not remotely hesitate to get rid of you if you make the wrong moves

[tennisgurl]

Aaron, in any real academic setting, would be so fired right now, or at least would be more of a reprimand than some annoyed emails from professors. He could probably get away with talking about increasing staff diversity, but actually showing names and pictures of staff, implying that they might be white supremacists, is a really big deal! Why is even Aaron even here? He wont even talk to other professors, why is he wasting time at a job and place he doesn't like? Academia is a seriously cut throat world, no way would he be getting away with all of this if he wasn't a main character.

I am still not really feeling the new cast, we still don't know them all that well so their "lets talk about an issue" scenes don't work the way they used to with the old cast. At least not yet.

[Mr. Sparkle]

Not only has the show lost touch with reality, but it's lost touch with itself. New stories and characters every week. Doug get a new job yet? 

I'm going to try to finish this first half, but then I might be tapping out. 

[ljenkins782]

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

Aaron, in any real academic setting, would be so fired right now, or at least would be more of a reprimand than some annoyed emails from professors. He could probably get away with talking about increasing staff diversity, but actually showing names and pictures of staff, implying that they might be white supremacists, is a really big deal! Why is even Aaron even here? He wont even talk to other professors, why is he wasting time at a job and place he doesn't like? Academia is a seriously cut throat world, no way would he be getting away with all of this if he wasn't a main character.

I am still not really feeling the new cast, we still don't know them all that well so their "lets talk about an issue" scenes don't work the way they used to with the old cast. At least not yet.

Yeah, as soon as his little project went viral, I assumed we were heading toward the storyline where he gets fired. Because how could that not happen? Not only did he embarrass the school, but he embarrassed his colleagues and the administration.

Although I admit to laughing at the parody of his video with the guy using it to rate cafeteria food or whatever.

Not a fan at all of Kiela and her new blonde counterpart with all of their Instagram-y buzzword speeches. Although I really liked the moment where the cliched 'heated argument turns into making out" moment started and the guy just shut it down. That was a refreshing change.

Junior's character still feels uneven, especially to those who've watched him since Black-ish. Sometimes the Junior of the past creeps in and then other times it's like he was born a cool kid. 

[luna1122]

I like Junior, but honestly, tho I often couldn't stand Zoey, I'd rather just watch her adventures in fashion in NYC. With Aaron. They both just have a lot of charisma, even when their characters annoy. 

[possibilities]

I didn't think Aaron was implying the other professors were white supremacists. They don't do the hiring. I think he was pointing out the hypocrisy and racism of the administration's hiring and publicity practices.

It's a valid point, but I agree he would be in more trouble for doing it than he was. If they fire him, though, he will just put them on blast and it will undermine their attempt to re-brand. He's got a following among the students, and he's led effective protests against them before.

I think hiring him in the first place is extremely unrealistic. But now that they've done it, they have a problem because they know he will just continue to be a problem for them. I think they would be more likely to try to undermine him, to undermine his reputation and credibility.

A smear campaign that "forces their hand" and "leaves them no choice but to let him go, despite how much they value his voice" would better protect them from backlash and would their agenda to put a veneer on "diversity" instead of addressing it substantively.

And in my experience, people who become admins are generally really good at figuring out how to use their position to neutralize dissent.

Edited August 12, 2022 by possibilities