Newly Disclosed Memo Shows that State Department is Policing the English Language at the Behest of Gender Ideologists

Is it in the job description of the U.S. State Department to police the English Language? From National Review:

Making assumptions about another person’s gender identity based on their appearance or name “can be problematic” and send a “harmful, exclusionary message,” Blinken wrote in a February 5 cable, which instructed State Department employees to avoid using common terms like “mother/father,” “son/daughter,” and “husband/wife.”

National Review recently obtained the text of the cable and confirmed its authenticity. Some State Department staffers have questioned why Blinken is spending time promoting far-left gender activism at critical junctures in the raging wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

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Lock up the Doctors with Dangerous Opinions

I'm not a doctor, but I have expressed serious concerns about any treatments based on the mRNA platform. Better lock me up, to be safe.

Bret Weinstein:

France has now criminalized objections to the mRNA platform, exposing those targeted to ruinous fines and imprisonment. It’s obvious lunacy, and that it’s happening in a Western nation should alarm us all

This madness must be defeated, in France, at the WHO, everywhere it arises.

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FIRE Announces Ten Worst Censors of 2023

FIRE has released it's list of the ten worst censors of 2023:

The 10 Worst Censors of 2023, in alphabetical order, are:

Book censors

California Community Colleges

Florida state officials

Hypocritical university admins

The Marion County Police Dept.

The Mayo Clinic College of Medical Science

Muirlands Middle School

New York state officials

San Francisco State University

The Texas A&M University system

From FIRE:

It’s past time for off-campus censors to get the dishonor they're due," said FIRE Director of Public Advocacy Aaron Terr. “Censors on and off college campuses have run roughshod over Americans' rights for years, and we hope that by throwing shade at them, we can prompt other would-be censors to think twice.
Here's more information about those who made FIRE's list.

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Daryl Davis Offers the Perfect Antidote to Cancel Culture

What is Cancel Culture? In their excellent new book, The Canceling of the American Mind, Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott offer many examples of cancel culture along with this definition (p. 9):

Cancel Culture is just one symptom of a much larger problem: the use of cheap rhetorical tactics to "win" arguments without actually winning arguments. After all, why bother meaningfully refuting one's opponents when canceling them is an easier option? Just take away their platform or career. Nobody else will dare to tread the same ground once you make an example of them.

There is good news here, however. Once you understand Cancel Culture as one part of an unhealthy societal conversation, the solution becomes quite clear: We don't have to argue like this.

What's the opposite of cancel culture? Free speech. Lukianoff and Schlott explain:

In the meantime, you should know that Free Speech Culture is a set of cultural norms rooted in older democratic values. Embracing Free Speech Culture means turning back to once popular sayings like "everyone is entitled to their own opinion," "to each their own," «it's a free country," and even "don't judge a book by its cover."

Who is my favorite person who exemplifies the opposite of cancel culture? Daryl Davis. Here's one of his recent Tweets:

Daryl's story is incredible. I've described it in prior posts (and see here and here), but here is a recent succinct description of Daryl's wisdom and heroism by Joe Rogan:

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