Good Intentions to Discuss Complex Issues Sensitively Must Be Punished

One of my biggest concerns these days: We no longer seem capable of civilly discussing even the most important issues with each other. I fear where this might lead us, but I am extremely confident that this is a very bad thing for all of us.

I'm linking to a fascinating article at the intersection of cancellation culture, transgender issues, prominent filmmakers and women's athletics, written by a gay man (Glenn Greenwald), who arrived at the following disheartening conclusion:

My own thinking about the film in light of this controversy surrounding Navratilova seemed to establish that there was no room for Kimberly Reed, as a pioneering trans woman, to produce a nuanced, complex cinematic portrayal of another nuanced, complex LGBT woman pioneer: one that included Navratilova’s heresy on this issue but did not fixate on it or allow it to suffocate everything else that defined her life and who she is. At least, it seemed clear, there was no way in the current climate to produce a nuanced film without spending the rest of our lives being treated the way Reed College students treated Kimberly Peirce when she tried to show and talk about her own groundbreaking film.

Continue ReadingGood Intentions to Discuss Complex Issues Sensitively Must Be Punished

A Line I Don’t Cross in WokeLand

I saw this announcement from Indigo Books on a Twitter feed. Indigo is a big book store in Canada. Here's a recent store announcement:

Indigo is a private company and they can do whatever they want, of course.

I have long been concerned about religions, though, and the Land of the Woke appears to be the birthplace of a new religion, at the same time as many traditional religions are losing members.

Here is the big clue that we are dealing with a religious cult: the phrase "without question or judgement."  I don't accept anything without question or judgement. It's not like I understand everything, of course. There are many things about which I am an ignoramus and where my questioning and judgment hit dead ends.  But I would never make an announcement that I am willing to accept anything, especially anything complex and potential harmful to young people, without at least trying to question it.  Whenever an organization tells me that I cannot question something, that's the smell of religion.

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Biologists Heather Heying and Brett Weinstein Dissect Robin DiAngelo’s Personal “White Fragility”

In this 15-minute video, evolutionary biologists Heather Heying and Brett Weinstein dissect Robin DiAngelo’s revealing book, “White Fragility.” Their discussion directly engages with DiAngelo’s central arguments. Heying and Weinstein conclude that DiAngelo’s book is revealing in the sense that DiAngelo (who is white) reveals herself to be an unrepentant racist who is attempting to impose her distorted view of reality on everyone else, especially her core belief that “race” is the single most defining features of our complex human histories and experiences.

Heying states the following at min 5:00: “This book is a hot mess of sloppy scholarship and cherry-picked data, but that’s not actually its biggest flaw.” Heying then reads several passages from “White Fragility.” I almost fell out of my chair as I heard DiAngelo’s words. Listen in at min 5:30 to hear DiAngelo’s words for yourself. Normal people don’t think these thoughts.

I bought a copy of “White Fragility” to make sure that Heying and Weinstein were giving DiAngelo a fair reading. I also base my opinions on my own readings of other work by DiAngelo. Since viewing the above video, I’ve read other passages from “White Fragility” that are similar to those discussed by Heying and Weinstein. Consider this one:

For example, I was invited to the retirement party of a white friend. The party was a pot-luck picnic held in a public park. As I walked down the slope toward the picnic shelters, I noticed two parties going on side by side. One gathering was primarily composed of white people, and the other appeared to be all black people. I experienced a sense of disequilibrium as I approached and had to choose which party was my friend’s. I felt a mild sense of anxiety as I considered that I might have to enter the all-black group, then mild relief as I realized that my friend was in the other group. This relief was amplified as I thought that I might have mistakenly walked over to the black party!
[DiAngelo, Robin J.. White Fragility (p. 53). Beacon Press. Kindle Edition.]

Here’s another:

Indeed, throughout my life, I have been warned that I should avoid situations in which I might be a racial minority. These situations are often presented as scary, dangerous, or “sketchy.”
[DiAngelo, Robin J.. White Fragility (p. 53). Beacon Press. Kindle Edition.]

It seems that DiAngelo needs to spend more time getting comfortable around Black people. That has been an early and recurring thought in my mind.

Continue ReadingBiologists Heather Heying and Brett Weinstein Dissect Robin DiAngelo’s Personal “White Fragility”

Being Bad at Math Gives Us Freedom

Math proficiency is a superpower that allows us see into the future and to understand the past. Only 41% of our 4th graders and 34% of 8th graders are math proficient.

Being BAD at math gives people the freedom and confidence to say things that are blatantly untrue with a straight face. Being BAD at math gives us the super-power to laugh at those who have carefully proven their cases with math. Being bad at math gives us the super-freedom to "prove" complex claims with mere anecdotes.

Every day it becomes clearer to me that our innumeracy explains much of our country's rampant dysfunction.

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