Wish-fact faux pas at U.C. Berkeley


The University of California has placed a series of banners all over the Berkeley campus, each depicting a different student above a purported quote. Included among them was this peculiar one, with a quote that could be considered somewhat insulting. I’m working on the assumption that the quote is either made up by the ad campaign designer, or at best the result of coaching. But why would this particular student be identified as someone who needs to learn how to “become an open-minded thinker”? Is the implication that she wasn’t open-minded to begin with? Judging from the other banners, it seems the quotes are “wish-facts” that the U.C. administration wants to be true. In this case I feel that U.C. may have committed an unintentional faux pas.