Van Jones: “I Don’t Want You to be Safe Emotionally”

I learned about this 2017 speech by Van Jones from an article by Jonathan Haidt. We need a lot more of this and a lot less ideological fragility.

There are two ideas about safe spaces: One is a very good idea and one is a terrible idea. The idea of being physically safe on a campus—not being subjected to sexual harassment and physical abuse, or being targeted specifically, personally, for some kind of hate speech—“you are an n-word,” or whatever—I am perfectly fine with that.

But there’s another view that is now I think ascendant, which I think is just a horrible view, which is that “I need to be safe ideologically. I need to be safe emotionally I just need to feel good all the time, and if someone says something that I don’t like, that’s a problem for everybody else including the administration.”

I think that is a terrible idea for the following reason: I don’t want you to be safe, ideologically. I don’t want you to be safe, emotionally. I want you to be strong. That’s different.

I’m not going to pave the jungle for you. Put on some boots, and learn how to deal with adversity. I’m not going to take all the weights out of the gym; that’s the whole point of the gym. This is the gym. You can’t live on a campus where people say stuff you don’t like?! And these people can’t fire you, they can’t arrest you, they can’t beat you up, they can just say stuff you don’t like- and you get to say stuff back- and this you cannot bear?! [audience applause]

This is ridiculous BS liberals! My parents, and Monica Elizabeth Peak’s parents [points to someone in the audience and greets her] were marched, they dealt with fire hoses! They dealt with dogs! They dealt with beatings! You can’t deal with a mean tweet?! You are creating a kind of liberalism that the minute it crosses the street into the real world is not just useless, but obnoxious and dangerous. I want you to be offended every single day on this campus. I want you to be deeply aggrieved and offended and upset, and then to learn how to speak back. Because that is what we need from you in these communities. [applause]

Continue ReadingVan Jones: “I Don’t Want You to be Safe Emotionally”

Facebook Censors as “Hate Speech” Users’ Comments that Men Aren’t Women

This reminded me that FB is a filtered environment. Not only are many users afraid to weigh in on Wokeness issues for fear of being called names, but FB is actively censoring content. Too bad we don't know the algorithms FB uses, but this post for "Partners for Ethical Care" gives a recent example. Here's an excerpt:

In what has become an all-too-common event, a woman’s posts defending the existence of women as a category were removed because Facebook deemed them “hate speech.”

In response to a Partners for Ethical Care video showing autogynephilic men who claim to be lesbians, a woman commented, “Nothing biological or real about this male claiming to be a woman.” Facebook removed the comment, labeled it “hate speech,” and suspended the commenter’s Facebook privileges for 30 days.

Facebook is engaging in censorship of thought.

Continue ReadingFacebook Censors as “Hate Speech” Users’ Comments that Men Aren’t Women

My Birthday Wish

I think I insulted my 88 year old mother today. I called her today (it's my birthday) and told her that I like being out in the world. I told her that I like it better out here than being in the womb, which was too dark and there was no furniture, no museums, no running paths. And my prefrontal cortex was paltry back then.

On a serious note, here is what I want for my birthday: I'd like everyone reading this to go find someone they disagree with and have a heart-to-heart conversation on a difficult topic. For those who voted for Biden, for example, you could visit with a neighbor or relative who voted for Trump. Ideally, this should be a conversation that involves a lot of listening so that you come away from it with a better ability to see the world through that other person's eyes. If this sounds scary, I'd doubly recommend it. If you do this right, you will come away from it with a gift of your own.

This is not just a good idea. I believe that it's the only way forward. "Love your enemy" is a good idea for all of us, not only Christians. You'll find more resources from two of my favorite organizations: Heterodox Academy and Braver Angels. Good luck. Be brave!

Continue ReadingMy Birthday Wish

They have all the energy in the world. Why? Often because they aren’t building anything.

Haters almost always accuse you of what they themselves are guilty. When they do, listen: It’s about them. You can’t chase these people. They have all the energy in the world. Why? Often because they aren’t building anything. They aren’t saying what they are for except for saying that they want things to be just. And just, often disappointingly, may mean you built stuff they now want.

Lastly, don’t confuse your critics with your haters. Critics see good in you too. Learn to value your critics. They aren’t trying to mess with you. They may not be correct but critics aren’t haters. Learn to spot the differences.

Eric Weinstein

Continue ReadingThey have all the energy in the world. Why? Often because they aren’t building anything.

Christopher Rufo Reports: Critical Race Theory Takes Root in Public Grade Schools and High Schools from Coast to Coast

Christopher Rufo has been reporting on Critical Race Theory in our schools for the past year. His eleven headlines (and articles) below demoralize me. These are the teachings of Robin DiAngelo and Ibram Kendi in action. I hope that attorneys file lawsuits with regard to every one of these situations for creating hostile race environments. This is also child abuse, but most of the parents either don't know what is being taught to their children or they are afraid to speak up because doing so will cause them to be ostracized or branded “racists.”

Here are Rufo's headlines and synopses. Each of the eleven locations below contains a link to Rufo's full story of the way those schools are teaching CRT. Many of these stories are based upon whistle-blower oral and written disclosures to Rufo:

Seattle [Public Grade School]

Seattle Public Schools tells teachers that the education system is guilty of "spirit murder" against black children and that white teachers must "bankrupt [their] privilege in acknowledgement of [their] thieved inheritance."

San Diego [Public K - 8]

San Diego Public Schools accuses white teachers of being colonizers on stolen Native American land and tells them "you are racist" and "you are upholding racist ideas, structures, and policies." They recommend that the teachers undergo "antiracist therapy."

Cupertino, California [Public School, Third Graders]

A Cupertino, California, elementary school forces third-graders to deconstruct their racial and sexual identities, then rank themselves according to their "power and privilege." They separate the eight-year-old children into oppressors and oppressed.

Springfield, Missouri [Public Middle School]

A middle school in Springfield, Missouri, forces teachers to locate themselves on an "oppression matrix," claiming that white heterosexual Protestant males are inherently oppressors and must atone for their "covert white supremacy."

Philadelphia [Public School - Fifth grade]

A Philadelphia elementary school forces fifth-graders to celebrate "Black communism" and simulate a Black Power rally to "free Angela Davis" from prison. At this school, 87 percent of students will fail to achieve basic literacy by graduation.

New York [Public School, Grades 6 - 12]

The principal of the East Side Community School in New York sent an email to white parents telling them that they should "subvert white authority," become "white traitors," and then advocate for full "white abolition."

Buffalo [Public Grade Schools]

Buffalo Public Schools teaches students that "all white people" perpetuate systemic racism and forces kindergarteners to watch a video of dead black children warning them about "racist police and state-sanctioned violence" who might kill them at any time.

Arizona [ Department of Education Report regarding Babies]

The Arizona Department of Education created an "equity" toolkit claiming that babies show the first signs of racism at three months old and that white children become full racists—"strongly biased in favor of whiteness"—by age five.

California [Department of Education - Primary and Secondary School Students]

The California Department of Education passed an "ethnic studies" curriculum that calls for the "decolonization" of American society and has students chant to the Aztec god of human sacrifice. The solution, according to one author, is "countergenocide."

North Carolina [Public grade schools and high schools]

North Carolina’s largest school district launches a campaign against "whiteness in educational spaces"—and encourages teachers to subvert families and push the ideology of "antiracism" directly onto students without parental consent.

Santa Clara, California [Public grade schools and high schools]

Santa Clara County Office of Education denounces the United States as a "parasitic system" based on the "invasion" of "white male settlers" and encourages teachers to "cash in on kids' inherent empathy" in order to recruit them into political activism.

When you are finished absorbing the highly divisive course materials used by these schools, also consider the numerous violations of the NEA teacher code of conduct.

Continue ReadingChristopher Rufo Reports: Critical Race Theory Takes Root in Public Grade Schools and High Schools from Coast to Coast