I agree mostly with this. Professors do look to the their community of peers nationwide, or even worldwide rather than the physically present community. And yes one complaint from a SJW is often enough to derail someone’s career. Sometimes the NY Post or Fox News picks up the story but the vast majority of everyday cancellations do not see the light of day. Where I disagree is that CRT is now mainstream. I don’t see that. It is clearly dominating, but the true believers are still in a very small minority except for certain academic departments. Most people are just trying to cope.
I'm not sure i said that Crit Theory (not just CRT but the whole New Left corpus) was mainstream, just that it is the official ideology/theology of our ruling elite, most esp in academia and culture.
The True Believers (and I believe this is true for any movement) don't have to be numerically dominant to get their way, they just have to be committed to seizing and maintaing power and to making it difficult to dissent or oppose them without paying serious conseqences.
I think in most ideological takeovers the True Believers are never the majority, just the most zealous. And after them come the careerists and other opportunists, then the rest of us who (like you said) just want to live our lives.
My feeling is that the New Left has succeeded so well because they have positioned themselves as morally superior/unimpeachable (that is, by convincing people that disagreeing with them is "punching down" on the underdog Marginalized) but that is a whole different conversation I won't bore you w.
I see. I took your statement about not expecting leaders of academia to renounce their faith as meaning some large number of these people were true believers.
It is fascinating how totalitarian impulses are cloaked as being sensitive and caring, and therefore any criticism is easily turned back onto the critic as a monster. Many decades ago when I was an undergraduate I used to joke about “the tyranny of the warm and fuzzy” and loved calling out people who tried to control others under the guise of sensitivity. I always had ready listeners. Those days are long gone.
"It is fascinating how totalitarian impulses are cloaked as being sensitive and caring, and therefore any criticism is easily turned back onto the critic as a monster."
Protecting a house of cards requires such maneuvers.
I agree mostly with this. Professors do look to the their community of peers nationwide, or even worldwide rather than the physically present community. And yes one complaint from a SJW is often enough to derail someone’s career. Sometimes the NY Post or Fox News picks up the story but the vast majority of everyday cancellations do not see the light of day. Where I disagree is that CRT is now mainstream. I don’t see that. It is clearly dominating, but the true believers are still in a very small minority except for certain academic departments. Most people are just trying to cope.
I'm not sure i said that Crit Theory (not just CRT but the whole New Left corpus) was mainstream, just that it is the official ideology/theology of our ruling elite, most esp in academia and culture.
The True Believers (and I believe this is true for any movement) don't have to be numerically dominant to get their way, they just have to be committed to seizing and maintaing power and to making it difficult to dissent or oppose them without paying serious conseqences.
I think in most ideological takeovers the True Believers are never the majority, just the most zealous. And after them come the careerists and other opportunists, then the rest of us who (like you said) just want to live our lives.
My feeling is that the New Left has succeeded so well because they have positioned themselves as morally superior/unimpeachable (that is, by convincing people that disagreeing with them is "punching down" on the underdog Marginalized) but that is a whole different conversation I won't bore you w.
I see. I took your statement about not expecting leaders of academia to renounce their faith as meaning some large number of these people were true believers.
It is fascinating how totalitarian impulses are cloaked as being sensitive and caring, and therefore any criticism is easily turned back onto the critic as a monster. Many decades ago when I was an undergraduate I used to joke about “the tyranny of the warm and fuzzy” and loved calling out people who tried to control others under the guise of sensitivity. I always had ready listeners. Those days are long gone.
"It is fascinating how totalitarian impulses are cloaked as being sensitive and caring, and therefore any criticism is easily turned back onto the critic as a monster."
Protecting a house of cards requires such maneuvers.