Thanks for posting this Glenn. For those interested in organized push-back, here is a link to FAIR's event of yesterday 6/12/21 celebrating the anniversary of Loving v Virginia, the 1967 case banning prohibitions against interracial marriage. FAIR is distributing "pro-human learning standards", and is developing an honest, positive K - 12 curriculum as an alternative to CRT-based curricula. FAIR has done a lot in a short time and is worth supporting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XnFH_obkIA&t=19s
" we were exhorted not to ask why, because the burden of explanation shouldn't be on the black student.
The woman designating the school “toxic” seemed enraged, apparently at white students collectively. Those of us who happen to be white should search our souls for the ways in which we created the conditions that angered the former student. Nobody had any idea what these conditions might be, and everyone was afraid to ask." This mindset requires people to "mind-read" which never leads anywhere functional. These types of training reinforce cognitive distortions which promote psychopathological states. This way of thinking undermines those it purports to help - how can someone function at his or her best when he or she is convinced that they live in a toxic society with everyone out to get them and people walking around with shame that can not be resolved because there is really nothing they can rectify will make them less effective.
So these people demand that I accept my whiteness, that I also have an ethnicity. Hm.
I'm reminded of what happens when "ethnic white" or as my profile name states, "dark white" people, express our ethnicities where anyone can see.
We're told to stop.
When Italians, Jews, Greeks, Irish, any of us attempt to claim our history and our ethnicity, we're demonized for it. Oh, the accusation runs, so you think you had it just as bad as slaves? In their twisted brains, saying that we "are" something means we're stealing the thunder from slavery. A German American putting up a weinachtspyramide for Christmas? A Jew pitching a tent in their front yard during the booth festival? An Italian wearing a cornicella around their neck and learning to speak Italian? An Irishman learning to play uillean pipes?
Somehow that doesn't count as accepting our identities. In fact, all of this somehow proves how in denial we all are.
They want us to accept an identity, as long as it's the nonexistent, villainous one they foist on us that flattens all but them into one single people, who really have very little to do with one another.
And heaven forbid we talk about the garbage that our ancestors went through when they got here. Studying how populations move from hated foreigners to ordinary Americans might actually help us understand the problem. Can't have that.
There is much I could say. Instead I will just say this. Contemplating taking a "deep dive" into the toxicity of "whiteness" should be a punchline in a comedy sketch, not the ostensibly pensive pursuit of a bunch of upper-middle class girls in Manhattan. We have, in many ways, lost our damned minds!
I do wonder if this were 1960, if that psychologist, instead of focusing on race, would not have been running a practice curing gay men of their homosexuality.
So much about anti-racism, especially the book "White Fragility" remind me of a racialized version of gay conversion therapy.
That's who the psychologist was. This is me, the author, writing. What I wanted to get across was that open discussion was off limits. Here was this young woman who'd clearly had an awful experience at the school and there were all of us in the same Zoom room not supposed to say, "Please tell us what made you unhappy." The assumption by the psychologist that "our whiteness" was responsible--nope, don't buy it. But nobody said a word, and I felt the school representatives at least should have. Otherwise, there's just more lack of communication, more sadness. George Floyd: Chauvin felt he could do whatever he wanted with him. Floyd wasn't resisting. He was completely under control. The whole crowd saw Floyd gasping and begging for his life and his mother. This was cold-blooded--that's why I called his death a lynching.
That's very interesting. I'm a member of the ex-Mormon community. We used to have a really incredible online community with all kinds of resources to help people leaving a very totalistic religion adjust to normal life and identify/learn the social or emotional skills that they were lacking. At this point, however, the online ex-Mormon community has been basically taken over by now by this kind of toxic wokeness, so all of the websites/platforms that used to be really helpful are now pretty much junk.
I first heard of Mica a few years ago when she appeared on at an event called "Black Mormon Lives Matter." (Yep, that happened, you can find it on YouTube.) The organizers of this event apparently weren't able to find three black Mormons or ex-Mormons for their panel, so they had two black panelists and one Hispanic panelist. It's amazing that this didn't indicate anything to the event organizers about how relevant/necessary the topic of the event was. I remember Mica was quite a bit less adversarial and more diplomatic back then, but I guess she would have had to have been at that time and in front of that audience, which was much less accustomed to this type of content than they are now. This stuff really works its way into the most unlikely of places.
Yes, and at this event--typical, I guess--the white women struck me as poster girls for Marianne Faithful's eighties hit, "I Feel Guilt"--it's so easy to make conscientious professional helicopter mom-and-grandmoms feel guilty. Useless guilt, too. I might diagnose the psychologist as identifying with the aggressor. Instead of confronting Mormon racism she's become an angry preacher herself, unloading anger on these women who, because of their tendency to reproach themselves for never doing "enough" feel the misplaced guilt. There are real social justice issues out there that should absorb the energy going into "doing the work."
How are we supposed to do the “work” without asking questions?? How can we make changes without understanding what went wrong in the first place. I am the mother of 4 grown children who all live in the city. The left has lost them. They are smart, hard working moderates who recognize that racism exists, but they don’t want anyone telling them that they or their potential children are “less than” simply because of an immutable characteristic. Each one of them said that they have serious concerns about bringing children into the world the way it is heading. If they have children, they all said they will NOT send them to public school. They went to private schools that have not gone in this direction...yet. Let’s hope some school stay strong and hold their ground.
The response you got from your classmates reminds me of what I (white, middle class liberal) get from my sister (white, upper class progressive) every time I try to talk about my concerns re: negative impacts of defund the police or Ibram-style antiracism teachings in public schools. We don't get too far in the discussion before she'll just cut it off and say "why would you want to even focus on those things??" She seems truly mystified and horrified. It seems too pat to say that this stuff has become a religion, and yet she's reacting as though it's blasphemy to question any of it. But you are right in your final sentence - it's the bystanders who are the biggest problem, and also the key to solving it. One reason we talk is to help others feel safe to talk, right? Glenn and John, what we would do without you on that front?!!
It's a delightful, scholarly rabbithole with that wonderful ingredient: humor, a sense of the absurd. For further details see my blog: https://thecriticalmom.blogspot.com (the post on critical race theory)
Judging purely from your piece here, you seem like an eminently reasonable, honest, and intelligent person. For those reasons, I’d caution you to examine what Lindsay has been saying recently (both on Twitter and elsewhere) before endorsing him so fully. I’d say his recent rabbit hole has been less “rational critic of antiracist excesses” and more “raving lunatic”. Loved the article though! Good luck!
He's saying critical race theory is dangerous because it says the most important thing about people is their race--your race makes you a victim or an oppressor, no matter what. Critical race theory says only whites can be racists, only men can be sexist.
So far Lindsay's reasons for disliking critical race theory are the same as mine.
Point me in the right direction: what am I missing?
I’m impressed that you actually went out and did some of your own research. Thanks for following up! I don’t want to tell you who you should or should not listen to. However, here is why I said you should look into James. As far as those reasons for being against CRT, I am on board. However, Lindsay has been known to make claims, even about CRT, that many find suspect. For example, he has claimed on a few occasions that we are on the verge of a “white genocide”. He also claimed once that the ruling elites plan to exterminate the working class for population control and that antisemitism is actually the fault of progressive Jews. He claimed that asking the question of whether we should copy the Japanese and wear masks when we are sick is the same as asking the question of whether we should copy Islamic countries and stone all gays to death. He also uses his platform to push right wing conspiracies (such as about election fraud or COVID) which I personally think are harmful and not good for the anti-CRT brand. It is worth noting that New Discourses is owned by a Christian nationalist and only managed by James, which may explain some of his more ridiculous hard right rhetoric of late. For the record, this has been a hard reality for me to face. I used to really admire James and his work and, as far as his early work (Sokal Squared hoax), I still do, but he flirts with the hard right in ways I, and many others, find very uncomfortable. He also promotes an attitude that anything is justifiable as long as it pushes back against CRT which I think is reductionist and short-sighted and, in the end, causes him and his followers to engage in activities which make the anti-CRT side look bad and run counter to our goals. I would be happy to point out more examples of his, in my view, indefensible behavior if you want. His Twitter is full of, in my opinion, unhinged rants and ridiculous hyperbole regarding the real and important problem of social justice excesses. Once again though, I think it’s really cool that you went out and did some research and followed up. Thanks for the reply!
It depends on if lynching is meant literally or figuratively. But I agree, any figurative use is highly at risk of being interpreted literally these days.
OK, I can see an argument for calling the killing of George Floyd a "murder" instead of a "lynching" but a cold-blooded murder that breaks the rules for subduing a suspect is, to me, a lynching. There is police brutality that has killed white and black people, completely unneccessarily.
Absolutely. I started writing the same comment, but ended up deleting it, thinking "What's the use?" I also agreed with the gist of what the author wrote, so I was reluctant to point it out.
Not long ago, "lynching" meant a mob bypassing the judicial process and hanging someone. Lately it's been used to refer to any death that is useful politically, even when unintentional.
But let me suggest that playing these same word games might not be as amusing when the shoe is on the other foot.
Merriam-Webster's third definition of "rape": an act or instance of robbing or despoiling or carrying away a person by force. Rape = "an instance of robbing a person by force." So the three 13- and 14-year-olds in Morningside Park raped Tessa Majors? That's what the headlines should said? Would we all stand by and pretend such rhetoric is anything other than the intentional stoking of violence?
Come on. This shit's getting out of hand. It's time for the adults to speak up.
I admit that designation caught me off guard too! OTOH, what is wrong with it? It is entirely possible for George Floyd to be a law-breaker, a ne'er-do-well, and all that, and yet he still should be afforded the opportunity to face his accuser(s) versus die at the hands of a law-giver. (I would also agree that the circumstances of his death are somewhat unclear.) The same is true of any other suspect. While I find the suggestion of "disbanding the police" juvenile and misguided, I also realize that the police take part in inappropriate and/or questionable behavior more often than I would like. George Floyd is but one such case?
Lynching was the extra-legal murder of black people who were killed because of their race. There is no indication that Floyd's race had anything to do with it, and Chauvin wasn't trying to kill him. At worst it was negligence. Even if Chauvin's actions caused Floyd's death (far from clear imo), we shouldn't throw words like "lynching" around so casually.
I love all of the intellectual discussions we have around this topic but when are we going to organize? I feel like that is our downfall at this point.
Rufo and his group are making substantive gains in local school boards and at the legislative level in dozens of states across the country. The Marxist/Maoist Long March through our cultural institutions has worked its way down to where all the ladders start--the education of our children. It's there they must be met and destroyed first.
This silencing of even discussing the issue at hand is fascism at its core. It must be stomped out at the grass roots level immediately and loudly! Our beloved country is hanging on by a thread and MUST be salvaged from the clutches of Kendi/D’Angelo et al !!!
This is quite unfortunate for the lady. On the bright side there is a growing legion of individuals, teachers, parents and even students who are now openly opposing the imposition of Critical Race Theory in the K-12 school curriculum. Something can and should be made of this, perhaps a sort of movement like the short-lived one of school kids against gun violence which ended in their 'March on Washington'. It is a gift-wrapped opportunity for the Republican Party to intensify the culture wars and grab a platform for the 2022 midterms.
Thanks for posting this Glenn. For those interested in organized push-back, here is a link to FAIR's event of yesterday 6/12/21 celebrating the anniversary of Loving v Virginia, the 1967 case banning prohibitions against interracial marriage. FAIR is distributing "pro-human learning standards", and is developing an honest, positive K - 12 curriculum as an alternative to CRT-based curricula. FAIR has done a lot in a short time and is worth supporting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XnFH_obkIA&t=19s
" we were exhorted not to ask why, because the burden of explanation shouldn't be on the black student.
The woman designating the school “toxic” seemed enraged, apparently at white students collectively. Those of us who happen to be white should search our souls for the ways in which we created the conditions that angered the former student. Nobody had any idea what these conditions might be, and everyone was afraid to ask." This mindset requires people to "mind-read" which never leads anywhere functional. These types of training reinforce cognitive distortions which promote psychopathological states. This way of thinking undermines those it purports to help - how can someone function at his or her best when he or she is convinced that they live in a toxic society with everyone out to get them and people walking around with shame that can not be resolved because there is really nothing they can rectify will make them less effective.
Yes, exactly. Conversation is incredibly important.
So these people demand that I accept my whiteness, that I also have an ethnicity. Hm.
I'm reminded of what happens when "ethnic white" or as my profile name states, "dark white" people, express our ethnicities where anyone can see.
We're told to stop.
When Italians, Jews, Greeks, Irish, any of us attempt to claim our history and our ethnicity, we're demonized for it. Oh, the accusation runs, so you think you had it just as bad as slaves? In their twisted brains, saying that we "are" something means we're stealing the thunder from slavery. A German American putting up a weinachtspyramide for Christmas? A Jew pitching a tent in their front yard during the booth festival? An Italian wearing a cornicella around their neck and learning to speak Italian? An Irishman learning to play uillean pipes?
Somehow that doesn't count as accepting our identities. In fact, all of this somehow proves how in denial we all are.
They want us to accept an identity, as long as it's the nonexistent, villainous one they foist on us that flattens all but them into one single people, who really have very little to do with one another.
And heaven forbid we talk about the garbage that our ancestors went through when they got here. Studying how populations move from hated foreigners to ordinary Americans might actually help us understand the problem. Can't have that.
There is much I could say. Instead I will just say this. Contemplating taking a "deep dive" into the toxicity of "whiteness" should be a punchline in a comedy sketch, not the ostensibly pensive pursuit of a bunch of upper-middle class girls in Manhattan. We have, in many ways, lost our damned minds!
I do wonder if this were 1960, if that psychologist, instead of focusing on race, would not have been running a practice curing gay men of their homosexuality.
So much about anti-racism, especially the book "White Fragility" remind me of a racialized version of gay conversion therapy.
Hmmm... I wonder if the psychologist was Mica McGriggs...
That's who the psychologist was. This is me, the author, writing. What I wanted to get across was that open discussion was off limits. Here was this young woman who'd clearly had an awful experience at the school and there were all of us in the same Zoom room not supposed to say, "Please tell us what made you unhappy." The assumption by the psychologist that "our whiteness" was responsible--nope, don't buy it. But nobody said a word, and I felt the school representatives at least should have. Otherwise, there's just more lack of communication, more sadness. George Floyd: Chauvin felt he could do whatever he wanted with him. Floyd wasn't resisting. He was completely under control. The whole crowd saw Floyd gasping and begging for his life and his mother. This was cold-blooded--that's why I called his death a lynching.
That's very interesting. I'm a member of the ex-Mormon community. We used to have a really incredible online community with all kinds of resources to help people leaving a very totalistic religion adjust to normal life and identify/learn the social or emotional skills that they were lacking. At this point, however, the online ex-Mormon community has been basically taken over by now by this kind of toxic wokeness, so all of the websites/platforms that used to be really helpful are now pretty much junk.
I first heard of Mica a few years ago when she appeared on at an event called "Black Mormon Lives Matter." (Yep, that happened, you can find it on YouTube.) The organizers of this event apparently weren't able to find three black Mormons or ex-Mormons for their panel, so they had two black panelists and one Hispanic panelist. It's amazing that this didn't indicate anything to the event organizers about how relevant/necessary the topic of the event was. I remember Mica was quite a bit less adversarial and more diplomatic back then, but I guess she would have had to have been at that time and in front of that audience, which was much less accustomed to this type of content than they are now. This stuff really works its way into the most unlikely of places.
Yes, and at this event--typical, I guess--the white women struck me as poster girls for Marianne Faithful's eighties hit, "I Feel Guilt"--it's so easy to make conscientious professional helicopter mom-and-grandmoms feel guilty. Useless guilt, too. I might diagnose the psychologist as identifying with the aggressor. Instead of confronting Mormon racism she's become an angry preacher herself, unloading anger on these women who, because of their tendency to reproach themselves for never doing "enough" feel the misplaced guilt. There are real social justice issues out there that should absorb the energy going into "doing the work."
How are we supposed to do the “work” without asking questions?? How can we make changes without understanding what went wrong in the first place. I am the mother of 4 grown children who all live in the city. The left has lost them. They are smart, hard working moderates who recognize that racism exists, but they don’t want anyone telling them that they or their potential children are “less than” simply because of an immutable characteristic. Each one of them said that they have serious concerns about bringing children into the world the way it is heading. If they have children, they all said they will NOT send them to public school. They went to private schools that have not gone in this direction...yet. Let’s hope some school stay strong and hold their ground.
The response you got from your classmates reminds me of what I (white, middle class liberal) get from my sister (white, upper class progressive) every time I try to talk about my concerns re: negative impacts of defund the police or Ibram-style antiracism teachings in public schools. We don't get too far in the discussion before she'll just cut it off and say "why would you want to even focus on those things??" She seems truly mystified and horrified. It seems too pat to say that this stuff has become a religion, and yet she's reacting as though it's blasphemy to question any of it. But you are right in your final sentence - it's the bystanders who are the biggest problem, and also the key to solving it. One reason we talk is to help others feel safe to talk, right? Glenn and John, what we would do without you on that front?!!
This is where everyone should pick up Helen Pluckrose and James Lyndsay's Cynical Theories. (They'll explain why your sister doesn't understand!)
Lindsay seems to have really gone down the rabbit hole.
It's a delightful, scholarly rabbithole with that wonderful ingredient: humor, a sense of the absurd. For further details see my blog: https://thecriticalmom.blogspot.com (the post on critical race theory)
Judging purely from your piece here, you seem like an eminently reasonable, honest, and intelligent person. For those reasons, I’d caution you to examine what Lindsay has been saying recently (both on Twitter and elsewhere) before endorsing him so fully. I’d say his recent rabbit hole has been less “rational critic of antiracist excesses” and more “raving lunatic”. Loved the article though! Good luck!
Andy, I've been looking at Lindsay's recent Twitter stuff--it's possible I missed something--but here's a recent video he made about critical race theory with a critique: both Lindsay and his critic seem rational to me: https://www.reddit.com/r/NewDiscourses/comments/n8t1as/james_lindsay_is_accurate/
He's saying critical race theory is dangerous because it says the most important thing about people is their race--your race makes you a victim or an oppressor, no matter what. Critical race theory says only whites can be racists, only men can be sexist.
So far Lindsay's reasons for disliking critical race theory are the same as mine.
Point me in the right direction: what am I missing?
I’m impressed that you actually went out and did some of your own research. Thanks for following up! I don’t want to tell you who you should or should not listen to. However, here is why I said you should look into James. As far as those reasons for being against CRT, I am on board. However, Lindsay has been known to make claims, even about CRT, that many find suspect. For example, he has claimed on a few occasions that we are on the verge of a “white genocide”. He also claimed once that the ruling elites plan to exterminate the working class for population control and that antisemitism is actually the fault of progressive Jews. He claimed that asking the question of whether we should copy the Japanese and wear masks when we are sick is the same as asking the question of whether we should copy Islamic countries and stone all gays to death. He also uses his platform to push right wing conspiracies (such as about election fraud or COVID) which I personally think are harmful and not good for the anti-CRT brand. It is worth noting that New Discourses is owned by a Christian nationalist and only managed by James, which may explain some of his more ridiculous hard right rhetoric of late. For the record, this has been a hard reality for me to face. I used to really admire James and his work and, as far as his early work (Sokal Squared hoax), I still do, but he flirts with the hard right in ways I, and many others, find very uncomfortable. He also promotes an attitude that anything is justifiable as long as it pushes back against CRT which I think is reductionist and short-sighted and, in the end, causes him and his followers to engage in activities which make the anti-CRT side look bad and run counter to our goals. I would be happy to point out more examples of his, in my view, indefensible behavior if you want. His Twitter is full of, in my opinion, unhinged rants and ridiculous hyperbole regarding the real and important problem of social justice excesses. Once again though, I think it’s really cool that you went out and did some research and followed up. Thanks for the reply!
Thanks--I'll check out his recent Twitter and other remarks.
Interesting piece, but the phrase “the lynching of George Floyd” is ridiculous and dishonest.
It depends on if lynching is meant literally or figuratively. But I agree, any figurative use is highly at risk of being interpreted literally these days.
OK, I can see an argument for calling the killing of George Floyd a "murder" instead of a "lynching" but a cold-blooded murder that breaks the rules for subduing a suspect is, to me, a lynching. There is police brutality that has killed white and black people, completely unneccessarily.
Absolutely. I started writing the same comment, but ended up deleting it, thinking "What's the use?" I also agreed with the gist of what the author wrote, so I was reluctant to point it out.
Not long ago, "lynching" meant a mob bypassing the judicial process and hanging someone. Lately it's been used to refer to any death that is useful politically, even when unintentional.
But let me suggest that playing these same word games might not be as amusing when the shoe is on the other foot.
Merriam-Webster's third definition of "rape": an act or instance of robbing or despoiling or carrying away a person by force. Rape = "an instance of robbing a person by force." So the three 13- and 14-year-olds in Morningside Park raped Tessa Majors? That's what the headlines should said? Would we all stand by and pretend such rhetoric is anything other than the intentional stoking of violence?
Come on. This shit's getting out of hand. It's time for the adults to speak up.
I admit that designation caught me off guard too! OTOH, what is wrong with it? It is entirely possible for George Floyd to be a law-breaker, a ne'er-do-well, and all that, and yet he still should be afforded the opportunity to face his accuser(s) versus die at the hands of a law-giver. (I would also agree that the circumstances of his death are somewhat unclear.) The same is true of any other suspect. While I find the suggestion of "disbanding the police" juvenile and misguided, I also realize that the police take part in inappropriate and/or questionable behavior more often than I would like. George Floyd is but one such case?
Lynching was the extra-legal murder of black people who were killed because of their race. There is no indication that Floyd's race had anything to do with it, and Chauvin wasn't trying to kill him. At worst it was negligence. Even if Chauvin's actions caused Floyd's death (far from clear imo), we shouldn't throw words like "lynching" around so casually.
Point taken. (I posted for exactly this type of feedback and discussion.) Thanks!
I love all of the intellectual discussions we have around this topic but when are we going to organize? I feel like that is our downfall at this point.
One organized move I'm trying is joining https://www.fairforall.org/
Fairforall.org It is in it's infancy but there are chapters organizing around the country
You might want to check out Chris Rufo and consider supporting his substantive efforts to combat CRT. https://christopherrufo.com/support/
Rufo and his group are making substantive gains in local school boards and at the legislative level in dozens of states across the country. The Marxist/Maoist Long March through our cultural institutions has worked its way down to where all the ladders start--the education of our children. It's there they must be met and destroyed first.
This silencing of even discussing the issue at hand is fascism at its core. It must be stomped out at the grass roots level immediately and loudly! Our beloved country is hanging on by a thread and MUST be salvaged from the clutches of Kendi/D’Angelo et al !!!
This is quite unfortunate for the lady. On the bright side there is a growing legion of individuals, teachers, parents and even students who are now openly opposing the imposition of Critical Race Theory in the K-12 school curriculum. Something can and should be made of this, perhaps a sort of movement like the short-lived one of school kids against gun violence which ended in their 'March on Washington'. It is a gift-wrapped opportunity for the Republican Party to intensify the culture wars and grab a platform for the 2022 midterms.