Dorian Abbott Offers Advice on How to Survive an Academic Witchhunt

Dorian Abbott's job as professor of geophysics was threatened at the University of Chicago for insisting that hiring decisions should be based on merit. He gives this overview of the situation at Quillette:

In the fall of 2020, I became the target of a cancellation campaign after I’d suggested that the best policy for a university seeking to support underrepresented groups, while staying true to its mission of producing knowledge, is to ensure that hiring and admissions decisions are based on merit. It’s an idea that directly reflects bedrock principles advanced during the Civil Rights movement, and which are still supported by a large majority of Americans. But to the mob, I was just an irredeemable enemy of progress and social justice. As part of the now-standard playbook, my attackers formed a Twitter mob and wrote a denunciatory public letter, cynically misrepresenting my views, demanding that my research and teaching at the University of Chicago be restricted, and urging that my department formally denounce me. Fortunately, at a crucial juncture in the proceedings, the Free Speech Union launched a change.org petition in my support, which was signed by more than 13,000 people. (The list probably includes many readers of this essay. Thank you so much for your support!) My university president, Robert Zimmer, subsequently issued a strong statement defending freedom of expression on campus. As a result, I seem to have survived my cancellation.
The full article is titled: "‘More Weight’: An Academic’s Guide to Surviving Campus Witch Hunts."

The brunt of his article consists of strategies for maintaining one's job when threatened by Woke mobs:

Love the people attacking you. Remember that they are human beings.

Determination:

Note that determination does not mean responding to every person attacking you. Many of the people who join a mob take the view that anyone who disagrees with them is presumptively evil, and they will not be interested in facts or reason. Once you realize that you are dealing with someone in this category, I recommend not engaging with them, especially on social media. Just let it go, continue to put your message out in a positive way, and move on to people interested in a discussion.
Courage: "The lesson is that a mob is a crowd of people who have lost their individuality in a frenzy of group madness, but who can be shocked back to their senses if you stand up to them with courage."

Support: Work as best you can with your organization. Also, "So get in touch with organizations such as the Free Speech Union, Quillette, Heterodox Academy, and FIRE, which can help rally some troops to support you."

Perspective: "One exercise that might help is to play out in your mind all of the negative scenarios you can imagine and show yourself that you can survive them."

Abbott ends his article cautioning that we might need to pick our battles, but suggesting that those in tenured faculty positions have a special responsibility for standing up to the Woke mobs.

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Silicon Valley Continues to Invoke its Vague Guidelines to Clamp Down on Free Speech

Yes, I know. The First Amendment doesn't apply to private companies and social media are private companies. But consider also that 95% (or something like that) of our communications to each other are funneled through social media. When Youtube shuts down a journalist's coverage of a news-worthy event based on an absurd interpretation of its unilaterally imposed guidelines, it's something we should document and fix (I don't pretend to have an easy fix). Matt Taibbi tells the story here. It's part of a growing trend. This issue burst onto the national stage when Twitter shut down the New York Post's account over the Hunter Biden censorship story. Krystal Ball's tweet at The Rising sums up this latest incident:

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Chick Corea’s Inspiring Legacy

Rolling Stone issues this statement from Chick Corea's family: “Through his body of work and the decades he spent touring the world, he touched and inspired the lives of millions.” True words here. I was touched and inspired for decades. I'm playing Chick's music as I write this. His richly woven joyously executed musical phrases will continue to live in me for the rest of my days.

Is it too macabre to think that, within the severe constraint of a few decades on this planet, our task, for each of us, is to create a body of work that remains once we are dead? To spend our lives creating our something worth remembering? That's how I see it.

Once we are gone, what remains of us? If we are not careful, if we allow time to slip through our fingers, it might be difficult to find evidence that we ever existed. For others, our self-appointed task is to nurture those in our communities, including our children.

For yet others, the task is (also) to leave artistic treasures that might live on indefinitely. That is the silver lining about the death of jazz great Chick Corea. I didn't know him personally. I'd saddened for his family and I'm disappointed that he not be able to create new music. Yet he continues to be intensely and exhuberently alive in the many recordings of his performances. For that I am grateful.

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Abigail Shrier Discusses the Fact-Checking of her Opinion on White House Transgender Policy

Apparently, one can have a false opinion these days. Abigail Shrier explains in this Tweet Thread.

For the fallout, consider Shrier's additional tweets on this thread, including the following:

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How Much Interest Can You Now Earn on Checking Accounts?

Fun with Numbers! Have you seen what many financial institutions are paying on checking accounts these days? Consider the chart below, which is from my credit union (which I love, BTW). The basic rate is .05% interest. If you pony up and deposit more than $1,500 into a “Priority II Checking Account,” you can DOUBLE your interest rate to .1%.

Let’s assume you deposited $10,000 into that "Priority II" checking account on Jan 1, 2021. At the end of one year, on December 31, you will have earned TEN DOLLARS. Even worse, if inflation runs at 2% for the year, you will end up with $10,010 that only has the spending power of $9809.80. How long will it take to double your money in that checking account? Using the “Rule of 72s,” the answer is 720 years.

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