Glenn Loury and John McWhorter Discuss the Racism of Anti-Racism, as Applied to Education

The overall theme in this video is that we are not going to be able to solve problem if we are not willing to look squarely at the problem. The horrific problem we face in the U.S. is that a large percentage of black children are not fairing well in American schools. In 2019, only 20% of black children were proficient at math (compared to 52% of whites, 28% of Hispanic and 66% of Asian children). We never get to why this is happening or how to fix the problem if we deny that there is a problem. Wokeness/Critical Race Theory "fixes" the problem by pretending that mathematics is racist, in order words, by disparaging math as "white" and attempting to lower the standards. As Glenn Loury passionately points out, this is a racist move, a backhanded way of suggesting that black kids can't cut it, even though most other children all over the world can. This following video is a 15 minute excerpt of a longer discussion that one can view at Glenn Loury's Patreon Website.

Note: I hold that the term "race" is scientifically incoherent and socially divisive. Taking the view that there are "races" is the first step on the slippery slope toward racism. Categorizing complex humans as colors is grotesque, simplistic, dysfunctional and destructive. To see another person as a color is as ridiculous as believing that one can tell character by one's birthday (astrology) or by the shape of one's head (phrenology). In this article, I reluctantly refer to "races" given the current social landscape, with the hope and dream that, someday, "race" will be generally recognized to be the least interesting aspect of any human being, as uninteresting as the shape of their third toe on their left foot.

Continue ReadingGlenn Loury and John McWhorter Discuss the Racism of Anti-Racism, as Applied to Education

“The Nation” Attempts to Fight Racism with Racism

Have you had enough racism from the Woke yet? This article by a 42 year old graduate of Harvard Law School is courtesy of The Nation, a publication that brags that it was "founded by abolitionists in 1865." Here's an excerpt demonstrating what now passes for an attempt [see The Nation's About page] to "bring about a more democratic and equitable world":

I’ve said, here and elsewhere, that one of the principal benefits of the pandemic is how I’ve been able to exclude racism and whiteness generally from my day-to-day life. Over the past year, I have, of course, still had to interact with white people on Zoom or watch them on television or worry about whether they would succeed in reelecting a white-supremacist president. But white people aren’t in my face all of the time. I can, more or less, only deal with whiteness when I want to. Their cops aren’t hunting me when I drive through my neighborhood; their hang-ups aren’t bothering me (or threatening me) when I’m just trying to do some shopping.

That’s because I haven’t been driving or shopping in person. White people haven’t improved; I’ve just been able to limit my exposure to them. I’ve turned my house into Wakanda: a technically advanced, globally isolated home base from which I can pick and choose when and how often to interact with white people.

This article has been noticed by many on Twitter. One of those people is one of my favorite writers on Twitter, Thomas Chatterton Williams. His Tweet and the resulting comments are well worth a visit:

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On the Woke Crucifixion of liberal Jesse Singal . . .

Woke mobs are trying to deplatform and crucify of liberal writer Jesse Singal, not because he has written anything false, but because he has consistently written carefully researched articles on transgender issues. This includes articles describing the situations of some people who have undergone transgender surgery and hormones, but who have then begun to de-transition, people like Kiera Bell. This onslaught by the Woke mob has brought ad hominem attacks to a new level. What should you call people who refuse to engage with the facts, but would rather smear the writer with a torrent of salacious lies in an attempt to end his writing career? And what would you call it when that same mob even attempts to deplatform Singal from his self-publishing work on Substack?

Singal's battle with these sociopaths was analyzed in depth by Glenn Greenwald and Katie Herzog.

Here is an excerpt from Jonathan Kay's recent detailed article on Quillette describing this abysmal situation, "The Campaign of Lies Against Journalist Jesse Singal—And Why It Matters." It's a long read, but worth it.

One of the odd-seeming aspects of progressive cancel culture is that many of the figures targeted by mobs aren’t especially conservative in their views. Rather, the victims tend to be heterodox liberals who simply offer a dissenting opinion on one or more compartmentalized issues—since these liberal targets tend to operate in left-leaning professional and social milieus through which a mob can exercise leverage and demand concessions. There are numerous popular writers and broadcasters who promote deeply conservative themes without attracting any notice from cancel mobs—even as lifelong leftists within such niche genres as Young Adult fiction, LGBT theatre, and knitting-trade journalism are excommunicated on the basis of minor verbal infractions.

In some notable mobbings chronicled by Quillette, in fact, the targeted dissenter wasn’t even offering an opinion per se, but merely highlighting facts we’re all expected to ignore. James Damore wasn’t fired by Google because he gratuitously insulted women, but because he pointed out real differences between the sexes. In Canadian literary circles, Margaret Atwood became reviled among a progressive fringe when she argued (correctly, as it turns out) that falsely accused novelist Steven Galloway should have received due process before being tarred as a rapist. If you grovel enough, woke mobs might eventually forgive you for being wrong—but never for being right.

On the issue of gender, a particularly interesting case study centres on Jesse Singal, a mild-mannered and amiable (I’ve met him) New York-based journalist, book author, and podcaster whom Quillette readers may remember from his 2019 appearance on our own show. As early as 2016, well before the culture war over trans rights reached its crescendo, Singal authored a ground-breaking New York magazine exposé on the cynical takedown of eminent Toronto psychologist Dr. Kenneth Zucker (who was subsequently paid more than half a million dollars by his former employer, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, as part of a legal settlement relating to its part in that smear campaign). Two years later, Singal wrote an impeccably researched cover story for the Atlantic titled “When Children Say They’re Trans”—one of the most widely discussed features in the magazine’s recent history. In these articles, and on social media, Singal has dealt with the issue of gender dysphoria with care and sensitivity, documenting the challenges faced by those experiencing the condition. And while he is the furthest thing from an actual transphobe, he acknowledges the plain fact that some children who present as trans later “desist” to an identity that accords with their biological sex.

As anyone who follows this issue closely can guess, Singal’s measured approach doesn’t always sit well with progressive activist and journalistic subcultures . . .

Continue ReadingOn the Woke Crucifixion of liberal Jesse Singal . . .

Forty Black Intellectuals Chastise Smith College

Here are a few excerpts from today's well-deserved letter to Smith College, signed by 40 Black intellectuals:

"We, the undersigned, are writing as Black Americans to express our outrage at the treatment of the service workers of Smith College in light of the incident of alleged racial profiling that occurred in the summer of 2018.

Before investigating the facts, Smith College assumed that every one of the people who prepare its food and clean its facilities was guilty of the vile sin of racism and forced them to publicly "cleanse" themselves through a series of humiliating exercises in order to keep their jobs. When an investigation of the precipitating incident revealed no evidence of bias, Smith College offered no public apology to the falsely accused and merely doubled down on the shaming of its most vulnerable employees.

Many of us participated in the Civil Rights Movement, fighting for equal treatment under the law, which included due process and the presumption of innocence. We didn't march so that Americans of any race could be presumed guilt and punished for false accusations while the elite institution that employed them cowered in fear of a social media mob. We certainly didn't march so that privileged Blacks could abuse Working class Whites based on "lived experience."

. . .

Please consider that many Black Americans find training that reduces us simply to a racial category profoundly condescending and dehumanizing. Not only do such activities often increase racial animosity rather than reduce it, but they also deeply harm students of color by teaching them to process every one of life's difficulties through the lens of race.

. . .

We implore you to rethink how you have handled this situation. We ask that you publicly apologize to the falsely accused service workers, that you cease forced, accusatory 'anti-bias´ training, and that you compensate your service workers for the harm that you have caused them."

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