Freddie DeBoer’s Smallish List of “Good White Men”

Over the past couple of years, I have learned a lot about writing by reading Freddie DeBoer. He's got some incredible chops! His most recent article is a masterclass, especially his psychoanalysis of the ACLU's Chris Strange. Here's an excerpt from his article, "The Good White Man Roster: a database of progressive white men who are thirsty for credit."

These are the guys who have carefully crafted personas as ALLIES, as the good ones, as the right kind of white guy. These are the dudes whose every engagement on social media functions to let you know how very sorry they are, but always seem to come out on top in doing so. These are the guys who always stand behind women, ready to catch them when they fall, which they will inevitably do because of fucking patriarchy, man, and if people would just read their bell hooks maybe we’d be getting somewhere!, please like share and subscribe. These are the guys who think all complaints about identity politics, political correctness, and cancel culture are just the dying gasp of reactionary old men, which is why they lie awake at night praying to god that they never get canceled. These are the guys who put their pronouns in their bios in hopes that doing so might get them a little pussy. These are the guys who will harangue you about how white dudes do this and white dudes do that, speaking to you from their blameless white dude mouths in their righteous white dude faces. These are the guys who look at the discourse about white supremacy and patriarchy and see market opportunity.

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Glenn Loury and John McWhorter React to School District Dumbs Down the Math Curriculum in the name of “Equity.”

Glenn Loury and John McWhorter react to a recent decision of the Princeton School District to dumb down the math curriculum in the name of "equity." John McWhorter sums up the problem: In the view of some school administrators, "It is not authentically black to be nerdy."

Here is an article describing the problem: "Opinion: Princeton Public School parents express concerns about school district’s ‘new direction’"

Continue ReadingGlenn Loury and John McWhorter React to School District Dumbs Down the Math Curriculum in the name of “Equity.”

Daryl Davis and Quay Hanna: The Best Strategy Against Racism is Conversation

New FAIR video featuring Daryl Davis and Quay Hanna. Let's not write off our fellow American, even proud racists. Daryl Davis says, "Take time to sit down with your adversaries. You will learn something from you and you will learn something from them."

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Modern Day Religions

I agree with Zuby. As I see it, traditional religions were serving a purpose that was not fully appreciated. I'm not claiming that the religious claims touted by most traditional religions were true. The truth of such claims is not where the source of the power of a religion. It is more accurate to state the the falsity of the dogmatic claims underlie the power of a religion. I explain this in a five-part series of articles I titled "Mending Fences."

What happens when you take eliminate a popular institution?  We're finding out as it is occurring, as described by Chesterson's Fence:

The principle that reforms should not be made until the reasoning behind the existing state of affairs is understood.

The most powerful social dynamic is our tendency to form tribes. Whenever people do this, they point to principles and beliefs, but there is no need for these principles or beliefs to be factually true to serve as the "reason" for the tribal affiliation. We often see this: the wackier the belief, the stronger the tribal ties, because proclaiming nonsensical things serves as a badge of tribal belonging.

John McWhorter has repeatedly made this point with regard to Wokeness. It is not like a religion. Rather, he says, it is a religion. “The reality is that what the Elect call problematic is what a Christian means by blasphemous.” The following excerpt is from the introduction of McWhorter's book, Woke Racism (2021):

My main aims will be:

1. To argue that this new ideology is actually a religion in all but name, and that this explains why something so destructive and incoherent is so attractive to so many good people.

2. To explain why so many black people are attracted to a religion that treats us as simpletons.

3. To show that this religion is actively harmful to black people despite being intended as unprecedentedly “antiracist.”

4. To show that a pragmatic, effective, liberal, and even Democratic-friendly agenda for rescuing black America need not be founded on the tenets of this new religion.

5. To suggest ways to lessen the grip of this new religion on our public culture.

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