Ryan Lyk Laughs When College Student is “Destroyed” by Professor
Earlier this week, Laura Davis left a comment suggesting that I was being a big meanie by picking on college student, Ryan Lyk, over the weakness of his writing. Within the same comment, she suggested that I should take his writing seriously, which was confusing, but I played along.
Regarding the picking on a poor college student theme, which happens to be one that Ryan Lyk has used in his own defense in the past, Davis had this to say:
Don’t you have better things you could do with your time other than go after a conservative college student blogger? . . .
The world would be alot better place if you stopped preaching to the rest of us about how we should spend our time and perhaps looked in the mirror about how you choose to spend yours in hate against a youthful person.
Does Davis have a point? Perhaps. In my opinion, whatever point she does have should be weighed against this Tweet by Ryan Lyk only hours after Davis posted her comment:
Yes, that’s correct. Ryan laughed when a student was “destroyed by the professor.”
If professors are really “destroying” their students, are they helping them learn, or are they making them think twice about raising questions? It’s hard to say without more information but it certainly doesn’t sound like a healthy teaching environment.
Politically blogging, as practiced on sites in Minnesota Democrats Exposed, is less about teaching than it is about framing and/or misleading readers and reporters about the reality of a situation. Attacking someone for that type of behavior (along with pointing out when they steal photos or entire stories) seems pretty tame compared to the behavior that Ryan Lyk appears to be endorsing in his Tweet.
Granted, if this was some sort of Sam Kinison moment, that would be pretty darn awesome:
January 29th, 2011 at 8:38 am
I wish my professors would take a more active role in explaining (and possibly failing) students who can’t seem to grasp basic grammar and spelling in a program which is research and writing focused. Being that the individuals graduating from this program will be public facing, it is imperative for them to learn, even in the harshest of ways, that their work is unacceptable in it’s current format.
January 29th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
“Attacking someone for that type of behavior (along with pointing out when they steal photos or entire stories) seems pretty tame compared to the behavior that Ryan Lyk appears to be endorsing in his Tweet.”
Just to clarify, I think what your saying is that attacking people is intrusive to learning and therefore inappropriate, so when someone (“Ryan”) laughs at this, you retaliate by attacking them? This is quite a conundrum…
Prof attacks A. B laughs at A. C attacks B telling him he is wrong because attacking persons is not acceptable.
As a student who attended Minnesota’s public schools, is nice to see a professor lash out at a “hippie” student. Lashing out against conservatives or religious persons is a daily occurrence. Let’s keep things even once in a while. I was once attacked by a professor because my professor said “there is no debate about whether global warming is man made.” I raised my hand and said “I believe there is a debate as I have read articles from prominent scientists regarding the issue” The professor just simply said “all lies”. I took that to mean everything he taught was “all lies”
All said, refrain from hippocritical retailiation. Your baffling comments are no more inducive to learning that teachers who “destroy” students. I will stop ranting as well, as I officially feel dumber having read this blog. Peace out!
January 29th, 2011 at 9:34 pm
Memo to Ed: Those of us interested in Ryan Lyk’s tweets are capable of following him on Twitter without the need for you to post screenshots of his tweets. Those of us who are curious of Lyk’s MDE stories are capable of reading his blog. We don’t need you to patronize us by posting these things to your blog. Obsessive much?
In reality, it looks like Ed is trying to capitalize on the popularity of MDE, not unlike other liberal blogs do and have done repeatedly, particularly during the Brodkorb era. I suppose I can’t blame him for trying to become less insignificant.
January 30th, 2011 at 9:22 am
MEMO TO TROLLS: When you write these blogposts trashing the author of “THE DEETS” what audience are you writing to?
I read this blog because I enjoy the content, including the cracks on the misanthropic delusions of internet hacks. And believe it or not, I have been visting this blog for far longer than it has reported the misteps of Ryan Lyk and the MDE.
In REALITY, there is a considerable difference between disagreeing with someone substantively and lashing out defensively. Post is you must, but before you hit send, please ask yourself if you were thoughtful or just demonstrating that you are another person who could noyt handle THE DEETS.
January 30th, 2011 at 9:54 am
You know, I think conservatives could gain a lot of traction by picking up the “no public funds for a Vikings stadium” ball and running with it. This is close to their core values, and it’s the one issue where I think that DFL leadership who are even entertaining thoughts of funding another corporate welfare stadium are tone deaf on.
On the other hand, since I don’t really want conservatives to gain a lot of traction, it’s fine with me if they want to continue reinforcing the GOP brand stereotype with posts such as those above.
January 30th, 2011 at 1:12 pm
“Destroyed” — that’s pretty violent rhetoric. And lots of hippies have delicate sensibilities. Just look at Smoky in The Big Lebowski.
January 30th, 2011 at 3:22 pm
You are really starting to get desperate, aren’t you Ed? This is more of a stretch than your last few…
January 30th, 2011 at 6:52 pm
@Joshua Eberle, thanks for the comment. To clarify, this post was not meant to be seen as an attack on Ryan Lyk’s behavior. It’s just something I can point to the next time someone says that it’s inappropriate to pick on Ryan because he’s still in college. If that wasn’t clear, I apologize. It was not intended to be hypocritical, but I can see where you may have drawn that conclusion.
I’ve spent some time in Minnesota’s public schools too, and I help pay for them today. I’d hope that our educators would challenge students like the one you mentioned to find out who the “prominent scientists” were and what prominent journals they were publish in. If the professor said “all lies” that would be a poor response. I’d much rather see the professor challenge the student to make sure the student was relying upon good information to back up their statements. We all benefit if we first agree upon a set of facts, then debate what the best solution is to solving a problem (if the facts show that a problem actually exists).
I’m sorry to hear that you feel dumber after reading my post. That’s certainly not my intent. Perhaps you misread it? I try to provide support for what I’m saying, so whether you agree with my opinions or not, at least you understand the issue and where I’m coming from. It’s a different style of blogging than Minnesota Democrats Exposed. Some people like it. Some don’t. Either way, it’s my thing, and it’s my blog
January 30th, 2011 at 7:31 pm
@S. Neimic, you raise a great point . . . about yourself. If you’d rather follow Ryan elsewhere, you’re more than welcome to do that. Blaming me for your choice to read this blog seems misplaced. Did you read the site’s slogan?
Regarding your “popularity of MDE” comment, I’m pretty darn sure that this site receives more traffic than MDE. And, if traffic was my goal, surely I’d write about topics of broader interest than Ryan Lyk’s MDE antics.
January 30th, 2011 at 7:37 pm
@Matt, isn’t it strange how many people Ryan Lyk needs to defend him rather than simply defending his own writing?
January 30th, 2011 at 7:46 pm
@veg*nation, great point on public financing of stadiums for private companies who would build them themselves if we said no. That was one of the things I liked most about Emmer as a candidate. I hope the MN GOP sticks to an anti-publicly financed stadium position, unless hey can prove to me that building a stadium is actually a good investment for the state. Of course, if that was the case, they probably would have made that case already.
January 30th, 2011 at 7:58 pm
@Erik Leist, you’re entitled to your opinion, but I’d have a lot more respect for it if you substantiated it.
January 31st, 2011 at 2:42 pm
Governor Dayton’s Bonding Bill contains $20 million for a new stadium for the St. Paul Saints.
January 31st, 2011 at 3:08 pm
@Rat, that is correct.
February 1st, 2011 at 4:22 pm
Ok, I’ll type slowly this time, so your readers can get the point of my comment. When Mr. Kohler preaches to the rest of us how to live our lives and spend our time, he should live up to that utopian standard. I don’t see anything in Ryan’s postings that would surprise you that he laughs at a liberal being taken to the woodshed. That would be expected from him. But, if Mr. Kohler is to rise above this behavior than he should start with using his platform more wisely. Otherwise, he looks like a middle-aged, pajama wearing blogger who has no better concern than stalking the conservative social-media circuit.
Also, I apologize if I missed the comment rules of this blog. Do I have to read it for a certain period of time before I’m allowed to comment? Do all comments have to be positive toward the deets? Maybe you should make these rules more prevalent, so your daily followers don’t get out of joint.
February 1st, 2011 at 4:53 pm
Laura- You will quickly learn that Ed Kohler is right about everything, and the way he does things is the ideal way things should be done. Anything different is unacceptable and could result in a call home to mom and dad.
February 1st, 2011 at 7:28 pm
If having utopian standards is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
February 2nd, 2011 at 8:50 am
You hold everyone to your ‘utopian’ standards and then talk down to them as if they are stupid when they don’t meet them. Please keep in mind your idea of utopia is not the same as everyone else’s; it’s diversity, Ed. Be more accepting of how others see the world.
February 2nd, 2011 at 11:07 am
Erik, check this out.