I'm guessing some areas/industries are better or worse. Mine seems pretty bad, at least in my area. Being involved in hiring co-ops and new grads has given me a good taste for what the expectations are like, and it's not great. So my view is probably a bit dismal.
The problem is that many "legit" colleges are already degree mills, albeit at a slower pace. In the US at least, colleges are run like businesses. More students means more money. As long as they can maintain an okay reputation, they'll churn as many students through as they can. The places that let you fast-track like this are just taking the next logical step, and letting the mask slip a little further. The whole system is broken; this is just another symptom.
Not every institution is this way. In my area, there are one or two schools that consistently produce people who actually know something. But it's a pretty small percentage, all things considered, and I expect the overton window will gradually lessen expectations at those places over time as well.
A friend of mine and her husband were expecting twins, but the viability of the pregnancy was uncertain. They were warned there might be complications, but they hoped and prayed through to delivery.
The twins were born (two girls), but one of them immediately had some complications. She was moved to the NICU and the doctors weren't sure if she'd pull through. She showed signs of improvement and fought her little heart out for those rough first few weeks.
After a month, things were looking more positive. But then she suddenly took a turn for the worse, and within a few days she passed.
A funeral for an infant is one of the most heart-wrenching experiences I have ever known, especially for a child who has been alive long enough for the parents to develop a stronger bond. This baby had bonded particularly strong with her dad (her sister seemed to favor her mom). So when the dad was invited to share words if he wanted, he walked up to the tiny casket and sang a lullaby while he wept.
And every person in the room wept with him. The guests, the minister, the funeral director. I've never experienced sadness like it.
The most absurd part of this is their inability to dox someone for a month. Give a handful of bored nerds any motivation and they'd have it figured out in a day or two.
The general reference to Deliverance isn't specifically referencing the rape scene, it's more a general reference to hillbillies. But yeah, Deliverance is pretty fucked up, and I personally wouldn't recommend watching it. Just listen to the song Dueling Banjos, and understand that some cool music came out of an otherwise fucked up film.
In one sense, nothing is "free of politics". Should your tennis club allow black people to join? There was a day and age when allowing them to join would have been considered a bold political statement. The rules and decisions your tennis club make are inherently political, whether you think of them that way or not.
That being said, more specific to software licenses, the question is whether we should be using verbage that restricts FOSS from being used for unethical purposes (such as military weaponry). There are cases to be made for and against that, and so far, it would seem most FOSS licenses tend toward a less restrictive policy.
So the "political" question in software licenses is: does it make sense to add restrictions in an attempt to promote societal well-being, or do we stick with the "free"-er approach? Both have political and societal ramifications.
I typically want to dispell a lot of ridiculous Canadian stereotypes, but I find the opposite happens instead. Case in point:
This is a picture of my father eating cheerios with maple syrup instead of milk.