The first time I heard that minor children were being subjected to sex change procedures, that was precisely the question that occurred: if children cannot legally consent to sexual activity then how can they legally consent to a sex change procedure. Why is that question even considered controversial? And what confidence can we have that the same activists are not cueing up phase II whereby sexual activity with children is legalized?
Exactly, and key to this argument is that consent to puberty blockers and other medical procedures is NOT a right/left or conservative/liberal position.
Consenting to sexual activities as a minor is starting to be erased too in many countries. The UN just had a controversial new statement about that very thing. (It's enraging)
What is even more insane is that a child can't consent to a tattoo until 18 but they can consent to irreversible medical procedures done on their healthy body?!?! Upside down world.
I lived in Eugene for a couple of years and felt really contrived there due to group think. I got in a lot of arguments with professors and other students when I went to Lane Community College. It was in 2008 though and it was still fine to challenge the ideas presented. And though I would debate passionately and play devils advocate I respected my professors and they respected me. I don't know how it would be now if I was in school, I feel like I would have to hold my tongue a lot more or be used to being the adversary.
Overall, I found Oregon to be a strange place in that people wanted to be "kind" and would do these super passive aggressive moves that were really annoying to me as a blunt east coaster. I felt like both Eugene and Portland were lacking in authenticity and was trying to make up for it in niceness.
Agreed as a former Portland OR resident now in New England, but the passive aggressive Be Kind groupthink is rampant on the East Coast now too. Woke religious fervor worthy of the Puritans who founded Harvard, lest we forget, while exiling/canceling and murdering those they deemed heretics. Our founding fathers wisely chose to separate church and state rather than adopt the Puritan model, but their fanatical legacy lives on.
The "Be Kind" meme is intellectually dishonest and evasive because it encourages--actually demands--inauthenticity in discourse so as not to be "offensive". It is impossible to be honest, to bear true witness to facts in any conversation without the risk of offending someone. That risk-taking is how advancements in knowledge in every field of study takes place.
And Peter, I would have loved you as a professor. Your the type of teacher that I would have been sparing with all the time in hopes of getting to a deeper understanding of whatever we were discussing. I think it is a real shame that you were treated so carelessly by PSU.
I am convinced that part of the weird spoiled-kid vibe that even the West Coast adults have is at least partly due to the weather. Not having the harsh winters of the Northeast or the wet sauna summers of the southeast just spoils them.
I would agree with you on that about people in CA but the Pacific North West has rough weather too. There is 6-8 months where you don't see the sun and the sky never rains hard but it spits down on your constantly. It is a damp, moldy, grey reality for over half of the year. I never knew how much the sun effected me until I had none. It was like missing an essential vitamin.
Everyone feels it too because on the random days where the sun is out no one is working or at school, everyone is outside trying to store all the light they can up in their skin.
It's a strange place to reside and the tribes that lived in Oregon never stayed long in the damp parts of the state, they called it the valley of sickness.
But man when the sun is out it is gorgeous, worthy of some exploring especially in the summertime. And the woods are cool year round with hyper green colors everywhere... feels like a fairy wonderland.
I've lived im both Seattle and Portland and can attest that this is true. While both cities on a sunny day are pure heaven, the cold and damp drove us out. We moved to Texas, and then finally to North Carolina. The difference in my mental health was astounding. I need the sun!
I’ll tell you how, you wouldn’t ‘play’ devils advocate but be assumed to be the Enemy up front and have to employ all your reasoning skills to convince them you’re not actually the oppressive Enemy before engaging in genuine debate which doesn’t happen anyways. Holding your tongue is du rigeur just to enjoy a noncombative classroom experience. It’s arguing with conclusions rather than self reflecting on the logical premises that lead to their conclusions. Utter exhaustion.
May 12, 2023·edited May 14, 2023Liked by Peter Boghossian
Powerful. The video and Peter's summation of the incident perfectly captures the hypocrisy, hostility, immaturity, illiberalism, and abusive nature of the trans antagonists. The guy on the bike and the heavy set guy in the rust colored shirt displayed behavior that is both idiotic and pathetic in the extreme.
Is it not obvious that a negative take on child "transitions" puts the entire diagnosis and cross-sex treatments (puberty blockers, wrong sex hormones and mutilating plastic surgeries) in question? It is very unfortunate that trans widows, those of us who have lived with narcissistic cross-dressing men and divorced them, are silenced. We tell of the control freak tendencies, the adult illogic (my ex has 3 Ivy grad degrees) and the quest for ultimate power. That means you tell your wife to "act like a man, an aggressive one" in bed and spend whatever money it takes to have the surgeries, the electrolysis, purchase endless expensive make-up and tailor-made wardrobe as well as the all important breast implants, which btw, have to be replaced every 10 years. Peter, you want your taxes to pay for all of this? For your edification, here's an analysis of 3 of the studies most often cited to promote this cult of sexualization:
21 years ago, when I was president of the Oregon district attorneys association, I discovered that my alma mater, the University of Oregon law school, was sponsoring a national anti-death penalty conference.
Since it is illegal for the state to fund a partisan political activity, they deferred to minor participation by my side.
But the official harassment I received from campus security and faculty members was so bad, but several students apologized for their “adults“ behavior.
I agree with you that we should be having these conversations, but I understand the appeal of illiberalism. If you think your ideological opponent is trying to fool you with 'misinformation' and debating tricks, why not shut down the conversation? And if you've chosen to be illiberal, why admit that that's what you're doing? Admitting it will only undermine your cause. If you're not skilled in debate and you're convinced that the other side is acting in bad faith, what other option is there than trying to shut down the conversation?
Again, I don't think you two are acting in bad faith. For what it's worth, I also think that puberty blockers are usually a mistake. However, I think they convinced themselves that we're purposefully twisting the research to harm trans people. And if us TERFs are acting in bad faith, what's stopping us from using debate tactics like the Gish gallop?
I agree, MAGA people seem to be operating with a very similar frame of mind. And to a certain extent, I can emphasise with their position too; if you're facing a woke mob, why not use illiberal means to fight them. They won't listen to reason anyway.
This all makes for a very toxic stew. Sometimes, one of the sides is accidentally much closer to the truth. Usually though none of them are particularly close to delivering sound policy proposals.
It's my impression that people with America first policies tend to be illiberal. I used MAGA as a shorthand for the illiberal wing of the Republican party.
One could be in favor of America first policies and reject illiberalism, but I wouldn't call that MAGA.
The Bad Faith Arguments Department is that way, they'll be able to help you with that ---------------------------------------------------------------->>
" If you think your ideological opponent is trying to fool you with 'misinformation' and debating tricks, why not shut down the conversation?"
That is extremely dangerous!
Why?
Because you are thereby implicitly admitting that you have no evidence to prove your position is factually based, as well as admitting your cowardice and ignorance. You are also implicitly expressing your support of government censoring speech, a common Statist (socialistic; communistic; fascistic; theocratic) tactic. On an epistemological level, you are implicitly denying the efficacy of the exclusively human faculty of reason to distinguish between fact and falsehood; and on a metaphysical level, you are denying a person's freedom to assert their own existence and express their individual humanity by speaking his/her mind.
I totally agree that fighting illiberalism with illiberalism is very dangerous, and I don't support it. All I'm saying is that I understand its appeal. Quite often in politics, we're forced to choose between a party that pretends to uphold liberal values and a party that drops that pretence. I'm not sure which party is worse.
The videos that I saw on Twitter left me enraged and speechless. Especially that twat with the bike and that girl bumping into you walking through. Doesn’t she know that’s assault! They really must think the world is with them in their little campus bubble. Few people would do such things if they didn’t feel they were righteous.
I don’t know how you restrained yourself from smacking that guy in the face.
Glad to see you pairing up with them. Power in numbers. And even though you have different approach styles, the veracity of your position is the cohesive bind. Good work. PSU and UO are utter embarrassments.
I learned that conversations changed from, “They are not giving puberty blockers to children,” to, once compelling evidence was presented, “They are giving puberty blockers to children but that’s actually a good thing.” ~ Peter B
Peter, what you witnessed is the DiLJ method in action. Created decades ago by us intelligence agencies , the DiLJ method is a 3 step or 3 phase process for countering the exposure of propaganda. While initially developed for government propaganda it has since been adopted of other similar uses.
The goal with DiLJ is to put off for as long as possible the existence of X with X being some form of BS the government is promoting. It also can sometimes be something real that the government is trying to deny the existence of.
STAGE 1(D): DENY - the first stage is to just DENY X . X simply is not real whatever it's being reported to be.
STAGE 2(L): LIKE - once you can no longer DNY X the next phase is to LIE about what X is.
STAGE 3 (J): JUSTIFY - After you can no longer DENY X and no longer LIE about X the last phase is to JUSTIFY X.
EXAMPLES:
BILDERBERG - There is an annual gathering of the worlds wealthy, elite , current and former key political leaders at a hotel called the Bilderberg. While some in the journalism industry are invited to attend none are allowed to report on what goes on and it is closed door meaning no outside reporting either. For years, decades, the media denied that there was such a n annual meeting. Once affordable hand held video camera's in the late 80's to early 90's became a thing individuals were able to record attendees of the event. After a few years of being repeatedly exposed about DENYING the meetings existence the media pivoted and went from DENY to LIE; to stage 2. As far as the news media was concerned the annual Bilderberg meeting was a group of the worlds wealthy getting together to share stock tips, make inside deals and make fun of the poor. This should have been a wake-up call to anyone paying attention and yet it worked. Most people and I'm willing to bet you Peter were one of them, accepted this. The problem is that the logistics alone to make a single occurrence of a meeting at this level with this many powerful and influential people work would take years of planning let alone an annual version of it. It also doesn’t address the issue with how so many of the world’s most powerful and influential can meet in private and no on in the mainstream news media raises any concerns about this. If all the NFL team owners met in a meeting that was private and no reporters were allowed do you think that would go unquestioned in the news media? There would be an outcry of illegal activities. Yet if you do this with the worlds most powerful and elite alng with current and former political leaders it’s somehow OK?
Currently DiLJ is stuck at stage 2 with the Bilderberg meeting however I have a feeling it won’t be many more years before they pivot and begin to justify it most likely saying it was necessary because the people of the world would not get behind and support climate change and so the wealthy had to do it in secret.
An example of something that has made it to Stage 3 would be the Trans stuff, the medical disfiguration of otherwise healthy minors to prop up the trans ideological beliefs. Initially any claims this was happening was DENIED and then LIED about and now they are Justifying the surgeries and treatment. Other examples would be the sexualization of minors in public education. The indoctrination of kids via public education.
It a very sad that universities are indoctrinating people into belligerent sheep. What future awaits a society ruled by individuals who act like violent ignoramuses…
You’re right! Opposing antiracist policies or denying you’re racist makes you Racist to them - it’s a Kafka trap. To your point, progressives argue racism is not just a social ill but a systemic one - and the system must go, to see it (become woke) one becomes actively antiracist. And systemic claims are certainly inflated as in when any racial demographic disparity in society MUST result from racial discrimination. CRT adherents argue racism will never disappear, it’s permanent and what America is truly founded on. And racebaiters get that pass imo in media, academics, and politics thru the oppressor/oppressed binary lens that exploits the sympathies of those scapegoated in society thru guilt and shame. What will usher in CRT demise?
Yea the uniparty, condensing a vast population of 200+ million voting-age citizens into 2 professional, I mean, political parties, we the consumers spending political capital via votes every 2 years. Call it Big Politics where they build the desire in us to vote/pay attention to them when they want us to and forget them when they want to hide...we now give more political attention to education than at any point in my lifetime. What will make state republican legislatures and federal republicans stop funding government schools?
My English discipline ‘Rhetoric and Composition’ lacks self-reflexive assessment of these ideologies’ impact on campus culture and politics downstream from that. And Prof. Erec Smith (who is black) begins this critical self reflection by very cautiously discussing the disempowering nature of antiracism in our discipline in his 2021 book ‘A Critique of Antiracism in Rhetoric and Composition’ where he posits we teach students to rely on a victimized identity for credibility (ethos). Agreed. But VERY controversial in my academic circles of course. I’m center right culturally and politically and trying to stay in, but the expected conformity is exhausting.
Of course it is exhausting to support a falsehood. The victim identity is an expression of a metaphysically false, archaic, primitive and collectivistic idea of Inherited Guilt and Inherited Victimhood, essentially denying an individual human being's autonomous existence and personal efficacy to break with the past and forge one's own path.
You witnessed that furure in the present during the 3-year-plus COVID drama, with the way 99.9% of the population complied with government operators' draconian policies: face covering and COVID jab mandates; forced shutting of so-called "non-essential" businesses (no such thing in reality); social distancing (an oxymoron); violations of the right to peaceful assembly; the fear-mongering ("the human body has no immune system", etc.); the propaganda about "safe and effective" COVID jabs; "My mask protects you; Your mask protects me" (false); "we're all in this together" (false), etc. ad nauseum.
The first time I heard that minor children were being subjected to sex change procedures, that was precisely the question that occurred: if children cannot legally consent to sexual activity then how can they legally consent to a sex change procedure. Why is that question even considered controversial? And what confidence can we have that the same activists are not cueing up phase II whereby sexual activity with children is legalized?
Exactly, and key to this argument is that consent to puberty blockers and other medical procedures is NOT a right/left or conservative/liberal position.
Consenting to sexual activities as a minor is starting to be erased too in many countries. The UN just had a controversial new statement about that very thing. (It's enraging)
What is even more insane is that a child can't consent to a tattoo until 18 but they can consent to irreversible medical procedures done on their healthy body?!?! Upside down world.
I lived in Eugene for a couple of years and felt really contrived there due to group think. I got in a lot of arguments with professors and other students when I went to Lane Community College. It was in 2008 though and it was still fine to challenge the ideas presented. And though I would debate passionately and play devils advocate I respected my professors and they respected me. I don't know how it would be now if I was in school, I feel like I would have to hold my tongue a lot more or be used to being the adversary.
Overall, I found Oregon to be a strange place in that people wanted to be "kind" and would do these super passive aggressive moves that were really annoying to me as a blunt east coaster. I felt like both Eugene and Portland were lacking in authenticity and was trying to make up for it in niceness.
Agreed as a former Portland OR resident now in New England, but the passive aggressive Be Kind groupthink is rampant on the East Coast now too. Woke religious fervor worthy of the Puritans who founded Harvard, lest we forget, while exiling/canceling and murdering those they deemed heretics. Our founding fathers wisely chose to separate church and state rather than adopt the Puritan model, but their fanatical legacy lives on.
The "Be Kind" meme is intellectually dishonest and evasive because it encourages--actually demands--inauthenticity in discourse so as not to be "offensive". It is impossible to be honest, to bear true witness to facts in any conversation without the risk of offending someone. That risk-taking is how advancements in knowledge in every field of study takes place.
And Peter, I would have loved you as a professor. Your the type of teacher that I would have been sparing with all the time in hopes of getting to a deeper understanding of whatever we were discussing. I think it is a real shame that you were treated so carelessly by PSU.
I am convinced that part of the weird spoiled-kid vibe that even the West Coast adults have is at least partly due to the weather. Not having the harsh winters of the Northeast or the wet sauna summers of the southeast just spoils them.
I would agree with you on that about people in CA but the Pacific North West has rough weather too. There is 6-8 months where you don't see the sun and the sky never rains hard but it spits down on your constantly. It is a damp, moldy, grey reality for over half of the year. I never knew how much the sun effected me until I had none. It was like missing an essential vitamin.
Everyone feels it too because on the random days where the sun is out no one is working or at school, everyone is outside trying to store all the light they can up in their skin.
It's a strange place to reside and the tribes that lived in Oregon never stayed long in the damp parts of the state, they called it the valley of sickness.
But man when the sun is out it is gorgeous, worthy of some exploring especially in the summertime. And the woods are cool year round with hyper green colors everywhere... feels like a fairy wonderland.
I've lived im both Seattle and Portland and can attest that this is true. While both cities on a sunny day are pure heaven, the cold and damp drove us out. We moved to Texas, and then finally to North Carolina. The difference in my mental health was astounding. I need the sun!
I’ll tell you how, you wouldn’t ‘play’ devils advocate but be assumed to be the Enemy up front and have to employ all your reasoning skills to convince them you’re not actually the oppressive Enemy before engaging in genuine debate which doesn’t happen anyways. Holding your tongue is du rigeur just to enjoy a noncombative classroom experience. It’s arguing with conclusions rather than self reflecting on the logical premises that lead to their conclusions. Utter exhaustion.
Unless you like arguing :-)
I would most likely just be hated by classmates and possibly professors. Haha
Hated and more...shamed, ostracized, and unsupported. Questions and logic (at a university, how dare I?!) are white supremacist tools, you see.
Powerful. The video and Peter's summation of the incident perfectly captures the hypocrisy, hostility, immaturity, illiberalism, and abusive nature of the trans antagonists. The guy on the bike and the heavy set guy in the rust colored shirt displayed behavior that is both idiotic and pathetic in the extreme.
Well done, everyone.
Well done, team! This posting was one of the best ever. Well put together. Not too lengthy. Impossible to ignore for thinking people. Simply stunning.
Thank you!
I wish I had the balls to do all this stuff. I worry too much about getting fired. But, I guess you already quit your job at the university.
You could do it. It's not particularly difficult. Watch Anthony Magnabosco's videos.
Is it not obvious that a negative take on child "transitions" puts the entire diagnosis and cross-sex treatments (puberty blockers, wrong sex hormones and mutilating plastic surgeries) in question? It is very unfortunate that trans widows, those of us who have lived with narcissistic cross-dressing men and divorced them, are silenced. We tell of the control freak tendencies, the adult illogic (my ex has 3 Ivy grad degrees) and the quest for ultimate power. That means you tell your wife to "act like a man, an aggressive one" in bed and spend whatever money it takes to have the surgeries, the electrolysis, purchase endless expensive make-up and tailor-made wardrobe as well as the all important breast implants, which btw, have to be replaced every 10 years. Peter, you want your taxes to pay for all of this? For your edification, here's an analysis of 3 of the studies most often cited to promote this cult of sexualization:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tWG6Rdi4iM&t=61s
I'm a UO alum from some years back. I considered a psych major but let go when it became clear that, even then, dogma was never to be questioned.
Unfortunately, none of this is new.
21 years ago, when I was president of the Oregon district attorneys association, I discovered that my alma mater, the University of Oregon law school, was sponsoring a national anti-death penalty conference.
Since it is illegal for the state to fund a partisan political activity, they deferred to minor participation by my side.
But the official harassment I received from campus security and faculty members was so bad, but several students apologized for their “adults“ behavior.
I agree with you that we should be having these conversations, but I understand the appeal of illiberalism. If you think your ideological opponent is trying to fool you with 'misinformation' and debating tricks, why not shut down the conversation? And if you've chosen to be illiberal, why admit that that's what you're doing? Admitting it will only undermine your cause. If you're not skilled in debate and you're convinced that the other side is acting in bad faith, what other option is there than trying to shut down the conversation?
Again, I don't think you two are acting in bad faith. For what it's worth, I also think that puberty blockers are usually a mistake. However, I think they convinced themselves that we're purposefully twisting the research to harm trans people. And if us TERFs are acting in bad faith, what's stopping us from using debate tactics like the Gish gallop?
I wonder if you are this understanding of the MAGAts that go to the Trump and Q rallies, because these people are just lefty versions of them.
I agree, MAGA people seem to be operating with a very similar frame of mind. And to a certain extent, I can emphasise with their position too; if you're facing a woke mob, why not use illiberal means to fight them. They won't listen to reason anyway.
This all makes for a very toxic stew. Sometimes, one of the sides is accidentally much closer to the truth. Usually though none of them are particularly close to delivering sound policy proposals.
It's my impression that people with America first policies tend to be illiberal. I used MAGA as a shorthand for the illiberal wing of the Republican party.
One could be in favor of America first policies and reject illiberalism, but I wouldn't call that MAGA.
It depends. Do they engage in false equivalencies as ridiculous as yours?
The Bad Faith Arguments Department is that way, they'll be able to help you with that ---------------------------------------------------------------->>
" If you think your ideological opponent is trying to fool you with 'misinformation' and debating tricks, why not shut down the conversation?"
That is extremely dangerous!
Why?
Because you are thereby implicitly admitting that you have no evidence to prove your position is factually based, as well as admitting your cowardice and ignorance. You are also implicitly expressing your support of government censoring speech, a common Statist (socialistic; communistic; fascistic; theocratic) tactic. On an epistemological level, you are implicitly denying the efficacy of the exclusively human faculty of reason to distinguish between fact and falsehood; and on a metaphysical level, you are denying a person's freedom to assert their own existence and express their individual humanity by speaking his/her mind.
I totally agree that fighting illiberalism with illiberalism is very dangerous, and I don't support it. All I'm saying is that I understand its appeal. Quite often in politics, we're forced to choose between a party that pretends to uphold liberal values and a party that drops that pretence. I'm not sure which party is worse.
Just like grammer school and the children dont know basic manners. So sad.
The videos that I saw on Twitter left me enraged and speechless. Especially that twat with the bike and that girl bumping into you walking through. Doesn’t she know that’s assault! They really must think the world is with them in their little campus bubble. Few people would do such things if they didn’t feel they were righteous.
I don’t know how you restrained yourself from smacking that guy in the face.
Glad to see you pairing up with them. Power in numbers. And even though you have different approach styles, the veracity of your position is the cohesive bind. Good work. PSU and UO are utter embarrassments.
I learned that conversations changed from, “They are not giving puberty blockers to children,” to, once compelling evidence was presented, “They are giving puberty blockers to children but that’s actually a good thing.” ~ Peter B
Peter, what you witnessed is the DiLJ method in action. Created decades ago by us intelligence agencies , the DiLJ method is a 3 step or 3 phase process for countering the exposure of propaganda. While initially developed for government propaganda it has since been adopted of other similar uses.
The goal with DiLJ is to put off for as long as possible the existence of X with X being some form of BS the government is promoting. It also can sometimes be something real that the government is trying to deny the existence of.
STAGE 1(D): DENY - the first stage is to just DENY X . X simply is not real whatever it's being reported to be.
STAGE 2(L): LIKE - once you can no longer DNY X the next phase is to LIE about what X is.
STAGE 3 (J): JUSTIFY - After you can no longer DENY X and no longer LIE about X the last phase is to JUSTIFY X.
EXAMPLES:
BILDERBERG - There is an annual gathering of the worlds wealthy, elite , current and former key political leaders at a hotel called the Bilderberg. While some in the journalism industry are invited to attend none are allowed to report on what goes on and it is closed door meaning no outside reporting either. For years, decades, the media denied that there was such a n annual meeting. Once affordable hand held video camera's in the late 80's to early 90's became a thing individuals were able to record attendees of the event. After a few years of being repeatedly exposed about DENYING the meetings existence the media pivoted and went from DENY to LIE; to stage 2. As far as the news media was concerned the annual Bilderberg meeting was a group of the worlds wealthy getting together to share stock tips, make inside deals and make fun of the poor. This should have been a wake-up call to anyone paying attention and yet it worked. Most people and I'm willing to bet you Peter were one of them, accepted this. The problem is that the logistics alone to make a single occurrence of a meeting at this level with this many powerful and influential people work would take years of planning let alone an annual version of it. It also doesn’t address the issue with how so many of the world’s most powerful and influential can meet in private and no on in the mainstream news media raises any concerns about this. If all the NFL team owners met in a meeting that was private and no reporters were allowed do you think that would go unquestioned in the news media? There would be an outcry of illegal activities. Yet if you do this with the worlds most powerful and elite alng with current and former political leaders it’s somehow OK?
Currently DiLJ is stuck at stage 2 with the Bilderberg meeting however I have a feeling it won’t be many more years before they pivot and begin to justify it most likely saying it was necessary because the people of the world would not get behind and support climate change and so the wealthy had to do it in secret.
An example of something that has made it to Stage 3 would be the Trans stuff, the medical disfiguration of otherwise healthy minors to prop up the trans ideological beliefs. Initially any claims this was happening was DENIED and then LIED about and now they are Justifying the surgeries and treatment. Other examples would be the sexualization of minors in public education. The indoctrination of kids via public education.
It a very sad that universities are indoctrinating people into belligerent sheep. What future awaits a society ruled by individuals who act like violent ignoramuses…
It’s a perfect indoctrination storm when youth arrive as sheep eager to be guided by ‘objective’ professors who are actually ideological preachers
You’re right! Opposing antiracist policies or denying you’re racist makes you Racist to them - it’s a Kafka trap. To your point, progressives argue racism is not just a social ill but a systemic one - and the system must go, to see it (become woke) one becomes actively antiracist. And systemic claims are certainly inflated as in when any racial demographic disparity in society MUST result from racial discrimination. CRT adherents argue racism will never disappear, it’s permanent and what America is truly founded on. And racebaiters get that pass imo in media, academics, and politics thru the oppressor/oppressed binary lens that exploits the sympathies of those scapegoated in society thru guilt and shame. What will usher in CRT demise?
Yea the uniparty, condensing a vast population of 200+ million voting-age citizens into 2 professional, I mean, political parties, we the consumers spending political capital via votes every 2 years. Call it Big Politics where they build the desire in us to vote/pay attention to them when they want us to and forget them when they want to hide...we now give more political attention to education than at any point in my lifetime. What will make state republican legislatures and federal republicans stop funding government schools?
My English discipline ‘Rhetoric and Composition’ lacks self-reflexive assessment of these ideologies’ impact on campus culture and politics downstream from that. And Prof. Erec Smith (who is black) begins this critical self reflection by very cautiously discussing the disempowering nature of antiracism in our discipline in his 2021 book ‘A Critique of Antiracism in Rhetoric and Composition’ where he posits we teach students to rely on a victimized identity for credibility (ethos). Agreed. But VERY controversial in my academic circles of course. I’m center right culturally and politically and trying to stay in, but the expected conformity is exhausting.
Of course it is exhausting to support a falsehood. The victim identity is an expression of a metaphysically false, archaic, primitive and collectivistic idea of Inherited Guilt and Inherited Victimhood, essentially denying an individual human being's autonomous existence and personal efficacy to break with the past and forge one's own path.
You witnessed that furure in the present during the 3-year-plus COVID drama, with the way 99.9% of the population complied with government operators' draconian policies: face covering and COVID jab mandates; forced shutting of so-called "non-essential" businesses (no such thing in reality); social distancing (an oxymoron); violations of the right to peaceful assembly; the fear-mongering ("the human body has no immune system", etc.); the propaganda about "safe and effective" COVID jabs; "My mask protects you; Your mask protects me" (false); "we're all in this together" (false), etc. ad nauseum.
Great work, Mr. Boghossian.