RE: The Social Justice Movement is Its Own Worst Enemy
I agree completely. To me, academe should be a structured environment in which one is free to fully and vigorously pursue knowledge and scientific truth, unfettered by dogma or apology. No preconceived notions, no biases, no euphemisms and no censorship should get in the way. No topic should be beyond debate. No one's cow is sacred.
I remember once when I was in grad school and one of the professors was asking us how various seminars were going. Another grad student, a devout Catholic, reported that she thought that people in her comparative religion seminar shouldn't be allowed to debate the Trinity because it was offensive to Catholics! And I remember thinking (yes, I was too chicken to say this out loud), "In that case it's no longer an academic subject. You are removing it from the academic context and placing it into a religious one. If there is any topic that is exempted from debate on religious grounds, the seminar shouldn't be a seminar. "
Do you follow Professor Jonathan Haidt and the Heterodox Academy? If not, I would highly recommend you read his articles and watch his Youtube videos. He is one of the heroes who is speaking up for "viewpoint diversity" and against safe spaces, censorship, trigger warnings and the rest of the creeping neofascism that has taken over our universities. Here's the website of the Heterodox Academy: https://heterodoxacademy.org.
Thanks for your response, I very much appreciate your perspective on how research should be conducted (or be allowed to be conducted). "No one's cow is sacred," that is a beautiful phrase. The anecdote about your comparative religion seminar was insightful, fortunately I have very rarely encountered Christians or Catholics that are so faithful that it interferes with academic study (three times total I think), though in my experience other religious persuasions can be very vocal.
Haidt... had to think about it.... I think I included the article he wrote "The Coddling of the American Mind" in Part 2 of the Safe Space posts as further reading; his name hadn't stuck, but I am familiar with his work. As you can see I read and reference a lot of stuff via hyperlinks in my posts, I am one of those people who is great at remembering content and arguments but probably don't focus enough on remembering names. The Heterodox Academy also rings a bell... I will take a closer look... Just went through their site, that is some great stuff ... if I wanted to go back to the states, I would apply for the director position they are advertising right now. On the other hand, maybe not, having to deal with the Marxists every day sounds like slamming my head into the wall.
As to the neofacist anti-free speech front at the universities, it isn't "creeping", it's smashing windows, bloodying people with bicycle locks and threatening people's lives for not being as "tolerant" as it is. Honestly, it looks like most of the liberal arts departments, especially gender studies and social justice departments need to be abolished or they are going to completely collapse the institutions in which they have a foothold.
Thanks for taking the time for such thoughtful replies!
Yes, I also tend to remember content over names, but I kept seeing Haidt's name over and over and I started to follow him.
If I hadn't dropped out of my Ph.D. program and left the academic world I would love to get more involved with this movement. I also had the impulse to apply for the position at Heterodox Academy, but I do not know how to launch or run a non-profit organization!
Unfortunately, this bullshit seems to have invaded the UK and Canada as well, and god knows where it will go next? I thought that my beloved Oxford would be immune to this nonsense, but then I read that story about Christchurch - the angels wept!
Indeed you are right that neofascism hasn't "crept" at all. It has inundated. All of this baloney was already underway when I was at Berkeley in the early 90s. It just hadn't spread to mainstream universities back then. And I hated it and hated identity politics the whole time I was there, and I naively thought, "Thank god I'm leaving this all behind in Berzerkley where it belongs."
However - let us not give in to despair. We have to stick around and fight, and keep eyes on this situation, and find and support other people who can still see clearly. I am making a list (a very short list) of universities that have taken a stand against these toddler-terrorists, the University of Chicago being the most well known one. I am hoping that list is going to grow.
I am also watching schools like Mizzou suffer massive drops in enrollment and alumni donations following their debacle a couple of years ago. It is heartening to me to see that the public is as disgusted with this as we are.
When I left the states, ca. 2000, the social justice movement had not as yet revealed itself as the Trojan Horse for social division, it was a bit over the top at times, but nothing like we see today. And as you noted, it has already invaded (infected may be a better term) the anglophone academic sphere and is now an epidemic sweeping the European continent as well.
Many of my colleagues though the European scene would be a rational bulwark against the madness up until around the year 2010, but today they recognize they underestimated its virulence and many are resigned to things going the way of the states. "It will take a crisis to reset the system, and we aren't there yet," is how one of them summarized the situation. It looks like the States went over the precipice with the Evergreen State College debacle, at least I hope it did, but even if it did the climax of the crisis is going to take a very long time to manifest.
For my part, I haven't given in to despair, if anything the bullshit I have had to deal with made me reevaluate my approach and redouble my efforts in a (hopefully) more effective way. I have seen that I am making inroads among my students today, but it is like trying to dance in a minefield, you have to watch your step.