Advice for those in academia
I doubt it would work everywhere, but it’s well worth contemplating. And it may only be possible for people with tenure, or those who have the ability to find work elsewhere. Whether it would work in a business setting I have no idea.
Here’s the original thread on Twitter, complete with responses. Some are supportive, and some are most certainly not. I suspect the authors of the latter have already been through the re-education camps.
From the thread:
“When they say something dumb, which they will, maintain your composure and ask questions that makes them define EXACTLY what they mean.
Get them to define their terms precisely. This will draw the process out, which is important. Do they really mean that all white people are racist? Is discrimination really ok if it’s in the service of “anit-racism?”
I’m trying to incorporate asking questions rather than stating positions when I have an opportunity to speak with a Democrat-supporting person. My hope is that in this way the person might wake up to the unreality, destructiveness or plain foolishness of the position. It’s important to already have a catalog of questions on particular subjects at the ready: homelessness, racism, climate change, “gender dysphoria” being addressed in elementary school etc etc.
According to a report in The College Fix, activists at the University of Pittsburgh, calling themselves “Black Pitt”, are demanding that staff and faculty accused of “racism” be dismissed. Mike Adams (UNC Wilmington) has been forced to retire following his criticism of BLM. At Michigan State, a senior VP of research (Stephen Hsu, a well-known physicist) has been forced to resign for his supposedly “offensive” opinions. Every day brings a new outrage against freedom of expression on campuses across the country, yet Republicans are too cowardly to attempt any defunding of “higher” education.
If (apparently now retired) Kevin MacDonald could survive in the University of California System for as long as he did whilst making a career hobby of limbo dancing under one of the the biggest baddest Third Rails of them all, he ought to write a book on the topic.
He did have tenure, of course. Getting tenure today involves much more In the line of ideological contortions and hurdle jumping.
SharonW:
I think you need to make it personal. I get that it’s probably a good idea to go about this in a Socratic manner. But let’s not be too reasonable about it. They need to be made to understand that this madness is coming for them too, and their offspring, and that their purported ‘Virtue’ is no shield.
I am not convinced that most progressives would truly be happy with their children and grandchildren being subjected to Transsexual Degenerate Story Hour, for example. They need their faces rubbed in their own dog shit. Repeatedly. Until they get it.
Oh… did I just use a naughty word? Bad, Bad Zaphodzebub. But it’s good manners and polite convention that will get us all killed by the progressives.
Things will likely come to a dyscivilizational head and those that still refuse to get it will need to be brought kicking and screaming to the light via physical means. The really recalcitrant will discover that hemp and high have more than one association.
All very nasty, I know. But Reason only gets us so far with people who have abandoned Reason.
It’s also arguable that Reason is Overrated. It’s a very good thing, but the assumptions that humans are truly capable of Reason or even that the universe is ‘Reasonable’ are a bit far-fetched. We do our best, but every now and then the true nature of things pokes its ugly heads through the rents in the fabric and stuff gets ‘interesting’ until such time as we manage to wallpaper over the cracks and get back to the sweet sleep of Reason.
A rant, sure. But we will not get out of this impending train wreck by debating or by publishing an Op Ed which makes everybody wake up and see the light. Not gonna happen. We’re back in lower brain stem territory and won’t be escaping from same without a severe hangover.
Not a happy thought for any of us. But it is what it is. Good epitaph for humanity, that 😛
Steve Hsu has committed the ultimate sin of writing extensively about ‘Human Biodiversity’. He’s a very successful high IQ genius polymath and won’t suffer much at all from any de-platforming. Guy like this could trot off to China tomorrow and be showered with money, women, and lab facilities.
For every Steve Hsu there are 10,000 ordinary people who also commit the daily thoughtcrime of Noticing and must keep quiet and live a lie.
Mike Adams (UNC Wilmington) has been forced to retire following his criticism of BLM. At Michigan State, a senior VP of research (Stephen Hsu, a well-known physicist) has been forced to resign for his supposedly “offensive” opinions. Every day brings a new outrage against freedom of expression on campuses across the country, yet Republicans are too cowardly to attempt any defunding of “higher” education.
Hsu relinquished an administrative position. He remains on the faculty. Adams is 54. Given that he’s been a thorn in the side of the administration at UNCW for 25 years, I’m fascinated as to what blandishments and threats were employed against him.
What’s grotesque about the Adams situation all these years, is that his opinions are quite mainstream, and obnoxious people on the campus have been suffering a collective case of St. Vitus Dance over them for two decades. When you’re in academe, you’re in the company of jerks.
The NewDiscourses site she mentioned is well worth checking out.
https://newdiscourses.com/
John Ellis, prof of German (UC Santa Cruz, Emeritus?) new book, reporting on new hires in Academe, Right vs Left: 2 to 3, 1970s; 1 to 5, 1999; 1 to 48, today.
There’s the problem.
Change this, then everything else changes.
Another group that made a monster that will eat them first…
Courageous, bright woman. I agree with her method and use it myself sometimes, along with the Socratic method of getting them to state a goal, then asking a series of questions* until their own answers refute their own “beliefs.”
I hope I’m wrong, but doubt I am; she won a battle, but will lose the war. Her opponents are almost certainly small minded, petty and vengeful people. She is led by a pursuit of truth, they are motivated by emotion and a desire for control. They have not learned anything from her. They only saw her approach reduced their power at this time. They will not forget.
*For example; if someone states they are against climate change I’ll ask, “Oh, so you want to reduce atmospheric CO2, correct?” “And you’ve studied the science?”
“So you know new and young trees consume a lot more CO2 than old growth trees?”
“You also know forest fires release tremendous amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere?”
“So then you would be for lumber companies managing forests? Fell mature trees, plant new ones and use the wood in furniture and construction, then, at end of use that goes into landfill to sequester the carbon under the ground and out of the atmosphere, right?”
The Dean of the School of Nursing at Umass-Lowell just fired for including a statement that “all live matter” in an email. She apologized and said she won’t sue the school….even as she’s being eaten alive she accepts her fate willingly.
As I’ve said many times before academia is long gone, don’t even look for its redemption in any way.
…climate change…forests…
Rufus T. Firefly: Forests, new or mature, whether they burn or just die, are part of the natural short-term cycle of CO2, which is basically a wash in terms of atmospheric CO2.
Climate scientists are concerned with the burning of fossil fuels because that releases literally gigatons of old carbon from old forests sequestered in the ground over millions of years, which does increase the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
From there the argument is about how significant that increase is. FWIW 500 million years ago there was 20x more CO2 in the atmosphere than today.
http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/virtualmuseum/climatechange2/07_1.shtml
I looked at that Twitter thread and remembered why I have never joined it. One amusing part is the video of the green skirted female (with little tiny tits) screaming at the cops. The commenter called her a “guy.” Maybe it was a guy with gynecomastia or a trannie in early stages of hormone therapy. Who knows these days ?
Related:
https://quillette.com/2020/06/30/on-behalf-of-environmentalists-i-apologize-for-the-climate-scare/
H/T Powerline blog
As I’ve said many times before academia is long gone, don’t even look for its redemption in any way.
All it would require would be for the trustees to re-instatate her and for the person who dismissed her to be fired, along with anyone who tried to get in their way. So, why are the trustees so otiose?
Art Deco, trustees are often hand picked by the president (fox guarding the chicken coop) for their money giving capacity and their adherence to the school’s “values”. Independent thinking, and seriousness of oversight functions is not part of the usual trustee makeup.