About Portland, Oregon

Michael Tracy is a journalist who offers his analysis of the "peaceful protests" of Portland Oregon. His article is titled, "How white radicals hijacked Portland’s protests." Here is an excerpt:

The overwhelmingly white, anarchist activists who populate the ongoing protests in Portland, Oregon should not be underestimated for their strategic savvy. In seizing the mantle of “Black Lives Matter”, they’ve discovered a work-around to arrogate moral cover for whatever insurrectionary upheaval they would have been ideologically committed to fomenting anyway. The Left/liberal political and media class is deeply invested in preserving the untouchable sanctity of “BLM”. So by fusing themselves in the public mind with this ambiguously-defined protest movement, or even putting themselves at the vanguard, the anarchist whites insulate themselves from the type of scrutiny that might ordinarily be prompted by activists whose ultimate goal is the overthrow of the state — and who are happy to engage in what they call “a diversity of tactics” (up to and including violence) to achieve this.

Continue ReadingAbout Portland, Oregon

My Plight: Burning Hours to Dissect Dumb Ideas with Precision

Claire Lehmann is Editor of Quillette. She nailed it in the Tweet below.

The Woke movement (she terms it "post-structuralist" thought) is a fermenting vat of vague, self-contradictory claims, much of them unhinged from the analytical evidence-based Enlightenment tradition that has proven itself by sending people to the moon. Wokeness functions as a Trojan horse; it looks like something good, but functions to disarm skeptical analytical thought. It functions much like fundamentalist religion, elevating raw feeling above analytical thought.

We need to meet Wokeness on its own terms if we are to show where it has gone astray. The challenge is that it requires a substantial investment to become fluent in Woke. Further, fully engaging seems like a non-ending exercise, given the continuous propagation of new ad hoc Woke concepts. Is it even possible to have a conversation where one side disparages analytical thinking, self-critical thought and even mathematics? It's the equivalent of sending a time-traveling Enlightenment thinker back to the Dark Ages to discuss the scientific method with Middle Age Church leaders.

I'm looking for the sweet spot--enough familiarity that I can demonstrate to timid outsiders that the Wokeness is drenched in destructive anti-intellectualism. Woke thought is also sprinkled with some salient legitimate concerns and emotionally-charged factual accuracies, however, so one needs to read and listen carefully.

Much of the danger can be nullified by putting the definitions of key Woke terms under the spotlight, terms such as "anti-racism, "critical," "systemic racism" and "gender."  Modern Discourses has compiled an excellent encyclopedia for understanding the origin and meaning of these terms by the Woke, as well as additional commentary.

In the meantime, how does one most efficiently convey this danger of Woke thought to the great majority of Americans, who are quietly hunkering down, waiting for this wave of socially-reverse-engineered thought to pass over? How does one best warn that this wave of anti-intellectualism and stifled inquiry will be around for a long time, given that a loud (but relatively small) mob of Woke activists has cowed the two key institutions that should be fighting the hardest against it (media and universities)?

That is our plight.

Continue ReadingMy Plight: Burning Hours to Dissect Dumb Ideas with Precision

You Built Some of That

"You didn't build that" is a phrase Barack Obama uttered during the 2012 election campaign. It was then used by his political opponents during the 2012 presidential campaign as an attack by Obama upon entrepreneurs.

It's time to revisit Obama's idea. Did they actually build all of that business? Enter A.J. Jacobs, who decided to thank every person responsible for his morning cup of coffee. This project led to him reaching out to more than 1,000 people, far more than the woman who poured his cup of coffee and far more than the man who delivered the coffee beans to the coffee shop. Jacobs has created an upbeat reminder that the world is intricately inter-connected. We all depend upon each other to a mind-blowing degree. Yes, you built that business, but who "built" you and who are all the people you lean upon to keep your business going? Start counting.

Continue ReadingYou Built Some of That

Joe Rogan Discusses Polarization, Education, Woke Culture and More with Jonathan Haidt

This episode of Joe Rogan's podcast, first released 18 months ago, features moral psychologist Jonathan Haidt, who has studied the culture wars as deeply as anyone. I recommend the entire discussion as a fruitful approach to the current madness. Haidt focuses on how we have raised children since the 1990s and the dangers of overprotecting them. At about 1:20, Haidt shows some stunning graphs showing that girls are have been terribly hurt (much more than boys) by the advent of social media and smart phones, along with unrealistic conceptions of beauty.

This excerpt by Haidt begins with his description of classical liberalism (Min: 55:10):

I think young people are losing touch with some of the hard-won lessons of the past, so I'm not going to say “Oh, we have to just accept whatever morality is here.” I still am ultimately liberal in the sense that what I dream of is a society in which people are free to create lives that they want to live. They're not forced to do things. They're not shamed. There's a minimum of conflict and we make room for each other. If we're going to have a diverse society, we've really got to be tolerant and make room for each other. That's my dream. I think in the last five or ten years, we've gotten really far from that. My first book, "The Happiness Hypothesis," was about ten ancient ideas. One is that we're too judgmental. You know “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” But I think the new version of that . . . if there were a 21st century Jesus, he'd say: “Judge a lot more. Judge all the time. Judge harshly. Don't give anyone with the benefit the doubt. Don't let anyone judge you. That is not going to be a recipe for a functioning society. So, no, I do not accept this aspect of 21st century morality.

Continue ReadingJoe Rogan Discusses Polarization, Education, Woke Culture and More with Jonathan Haidt

Glenn Greenwald’s Disheartening Effort to Produce a Movie about Martina Navratilova

One of my biggest concerns these days: We no longer seem capable of civilly discussing even the most important issues with each other. I fear where this might lead us, but I am extremely confident that this is a very bad thing for all of us.

I'm linking to a fascinating article at the intersection of cancellation culture, transgender issues, prominent filmmakers and women's athletics, written by a gay man (Glenn Greenwald), who arrived at the following disheartening conclusion:

My own thinking about the film in light of this controversy surrounding Navratilova seemed to establish that there was no room for Kimberly Reed, as a pioneering trans woman, to produce a nuanced, complex cinematic portrayal of another nuanced, complex LGBT woman pioneer: one that included Navratilova’s heresy on this issue but did not fixate on it or allow it to suffocate everything else that defined her life and who she is. At least, it seemed clear, there was no way in the current climate to produce a nuanced film without spending the rest of our lives being treated the way Reed College students treated Kimberly Peirce when she tried to show and talk about her own groundbreaking film.

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald’s Disheartening Effort to Produce a Movie about Martina Navratilova