Labels First And Foremost
Remember, students. You are not an individual, but a mascot of a notional group.
From Is Everyone Really Equal? An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education, By Özlem Sensoy and Robin DiAngelo.
It occurs to me that when these clowns bang on about analysing events through a racial or identitarian lens, as for instance here and here, what they mean is shoehorning people through an identitarian keyhole, then pretending that the subsequent cartoonery and narrow contrivance, with its phantom evils and funhouse-mirror bigotry, is some universal profundity and proof of the speaker’s personal sophistication. The possible results of such “social justice education,” in which group affiliations, however contrived or incidental, are foregrounded and categorised, and their acknowledgement made habitual and a matter of great importance, are not hard to fathom.
Update, via the comments:
Note too the implied question-begging. Students are to “practise seeing which groups are included and which are not” in meetings, classroom discussions, conversations, etc. Presumably, students are to assume, or at least strongly entertain, unearned conclusions about why person X, or group X, isn’t saying much or isn’t by default given prominence in every social interaction. Which is to say, the explanation to rush to is the person’s notional group identity. And thereby victimhood. This is, after all, the root premise of “social justice education.” Apparently, we will purge the world of bigotry by embracing wholesale the mental habits of the bigot.
And regarding the exhortation to “practise identifying patterns at the group (rather than individual) level,” an inconvenient reply is offered.
Update 2:
Dr DiAngelo is apparently the coiner of the question-begging term “white fragility” – by which she means objections to pernicious racial hokum and slanderous hustlers such as herself. When not raking in large fees for peddling pretentious guilt to people of pallor, Dr DiAngelo, a self-styled “consultant and trainer,” tells students that not being fixated by race is “dangerous,” and that “racism is the foundation of Western society.”
Cis, white, able men score 0 on the index. A meeting can always have a higher score.
Hence the California school that was touted for being highly “diverse” because its students were nearly all black with zero whites and Asians.
And best understood as an act of malice.
They are bullies, and the old truism applies: A bully does not want to fight you. The last thing they want is a fight. What they want is control.
Shame and pain just happen to be easy to use instruments of control. False acceptance and feigned appreciation are just as effective, but more effort-intensive.
Thus such ploys as “white fragility”, or “Islamaphobia”, which use shame as an instrument to help ensure there will be plenty of opportunities for free hits.
From the twitter thread:
This meets the requirements of the text, but would undoubtedly rejected by the authors of the textbook, no doubt with the word “problematic” included in the response.
The amusing/sad thing is that the description of the fictional Lakeisha would be dismissed as a stereotype (which it is), but “naming people by their key social group” is practically the definition of stereotyping.
Another term for what they’re advocating is pre-judging, which can be abbreviated as “prejudice”.
They are bullies, and the old truism applies: A bully does not want to fight you. The last thing they want is a fight. What they want is control.
As I said in the linked thread, it’s a reminder that the absurd and the sinister aren’t mutually exclusive. Given the overtly abusive air of such things, and the kinds of personalities attracted to them, I struggle to comprehend why any parent would allow their child to be psychologically abused in this way. In a saner world, the peddlers of this claptrap would be chased out of town by angry parents armed with nail guns.
Related …
… That should work well.
massive nerd
The meaning of the word ‘nerd’ seems to have been downgraded. It used to mean something along the lines of ‘someone with an exceptional interest and skill in some intellectually demanding but unfashionable area, often pursued at the expense of casual social interaction.’ Now it seems to mean ‘likes Marvel films and watches Doctor Who’.
Apparently, we will purge the world of bigotry
Regressive Left types repeatedly pull the word “bigot” out of their posterior (they appear to enjoy it), but it’s not as if they actually know what the word means or anything.
It means, or used to anyway, intolerant of other views…and, well, isn’t that exactly the problem with the woke brigade? That and the automatic name-calling
…Captain Marvel 2…
…wherein the protagonist finally faces an insurmountable obstacle: transitioning to male while still pulling bookoo gurrrl power bucks. Her new nemesis – Orange Man – hatches a dastardly plot in which he offers to fully pay for her surgery, while simultaneously installing bulldyke feminists within S.H.I.E.L.D.
All of which is resolved in the 3rd installment – Captain Marvel: TERF War.
The meaning of the word ‘nerd’ seems to have been downgraded.
Revenge of the Nerds was a silly comedy film, mostly because nobody believed that a bunch of guys with pop-bottle eyeglasses and pocket protectors could ever be popular. The Big Bang Theory was a top-ten television sitcom for years, because everybody believed that a bunch of guys with pop-bottle eyeglasses and pocket protectors could be popular.
Turns out that by accumulating unimaginable wealth and influence, the pocket-protector crowd forced the public to reevaluate the popular opinion. (Whoda guesstit?) Hardly surprising, then, that — to borrow a phrase from the Guardianistas — positively everybody is a nerd today!
At this point, honestly, it would be quicker and easier to make a list of words that haven’t been diluted to homeopathic fractions of their former descriptiveness.
The meaning of the word ‘nerd’ seems to have been downgraded.
That. Plus, due to her key social group labels being front-and-center as recommendations, I’m wondering how “uber feminist, … pro-Iranian and Islam activist” co-exist?
Phil Greenspun lets us know what Harvard is reading:
https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2020/01/13/what-folks-at-harvard-are-reading/
I went into a bit of Homophobic Gay Panic seeing the last one.
Off topic but… wow.
https://twitter.com/rescuedaduk/status/1216673309443665920?s=21
Off topic but.
“Brectums”?? Well, what a nice, respectful boss. Not to mention all the comments hoping he sacks them on a Friday afternoon as to create the most pain possible.
The Brexitdad “Brectums” fellow:
Assuming it’s not a prank, it was not very bright of him to advertise that. Some of his mates are saying “be careful of the legality of that” heh…
Thing is, it may be quite possible to find out exactly who he is, and I’m not sure even deleting his account will work. I might tell him…after there’s been time for a bit of investigation to been done
“At this point in history, is it wise to take foreign policy advice from people who walked around in broad daylight with knitted pussies on their heads?”
A bully does not want to fight you. The last thing they want is a fight. What they want is control.
You lot cringe when I mention helicopters, but this is what happens when you don’t apply the Ender Wiggin response to bullies early and often.
That should work well.
The comments point out that virtually every word of the article is a lie, including and and the.
The meaning of the word ‘nerd’ seems to have been downgraded.
Portlandia PSA again.
A university friend of mine has a brother who has achieved his lifelong dream: he’s currently writing and doing art for a number of major Marvel comics titles. Everyone treats him like a movie star.
I haven’t the heart to point out that Marvel has literally been hiring random Titter SJWs to write their flagship titles for several years, with the result that their sales are collapsing. There’s been something like a 30% attrition rate in the specialty comic shop sector over the last three years and many of the shops closing up blame Marvel destroying their own brand so badly lifelong readers are cancelling their pull lists en masse. DC appears poised to follow them into oblivion.
blame Marvel destroying their own brand so badly lifelong readers are cancelling their pull lists en masse
Daniel, people like your friend should turn indy and sell through kickstarter (see the success of Girl Genius) or other independent press.
Look at the success of indy sci-fi/fantasy writers who got kicked to the curb when SJWs took over SFWA & Hugos. e.g. Larry Correia bought himself a mountain.
people like your friend should turn indy
Oh, he was. Got tons of projects under his belt, that’s how Marvel found him. His projects are widely diversified. That’s not the problem.
Look at the success of indy sci-fi/fantasy writers who got kicked to the curb when SJWs took over
This is. See, he’s a good little NPC. Mouths all the platitudes, hates all the right people, has all the correct attitudes. But he’s also a straight white dude d’un certain age, which means his geekery carries some…problematic baggage. One of his indy projects is about an American teenager who moves to Japan and suddenly discovers she’s the Saviour of Mystical Japan or such thing. Doesn’t do anything for me because I’m not a fifteen-year-old weeb, but seems all right. The art’s good.
It’s just a SJW minefield. Exotification, the Tarzan problem, every Japanese person fits into one of five mystical clans – basically all of Japan is Hogwarts. If the SJWs ever find this thing it’s going to make that knitting lady who wanted to go to India look like a mild rebuke. Given the way ComicsGate has been going he’s not going to know what hit him.
(While your point on Correia is well taken, don’t forget he spent years as a tax accountant and a firearms instructor before turning writer full-time. He’s made good money as a novelist, but SF writing isn’t all that lucrative. And the property he bought was in rural Montana. Friend’s brother lives in downtown Toronto.)
many of the shops closing up blame Marvel destroying their own brand so badly lifelong readers are cancelling their pull lists en masse
Star Trek says hold my beer.
https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1216770521695584256
Star Trek says hold my beer.
I do wish actors would at least try to get over themselves and remember that most people turn to entertainment for escapism and pleasure, not hypocritical sermons about mass immigration. It’s hard to know whether the actual series will be as crass and heavy-handed as Patrick Stewart, whose professed politics are hardly subtle, but he does seem keen to pre-emptively alienate half of his potential audience.
And Mr Stewart’s inapt political grandstanding has been noted here before.
She may not be a seasoned screenwriter but what she lacks in experience she makes up for in passion.
Worked for Ayn Rand when she wrote the screenplay to The Fountainhead.
It’s hard to know whether the actual series will be as crass and heavy-handed as Patrick Stewart
He ought to be commanding the Golgafrincham Ark B instead of the Enterprise.
If it is in fact important that I constitute and then evaluate a meeting based on which groups are represented, it is simply a fact that I will need to recruit people to the meeting based on factors like skin color or sexual orientation. “You’re here because of your skin color, Tracy, not because of anything you bring as an individual.” How is this not tokenism? Obviously, it is. But tokenism angers SJWs as well, so the fact is, there are no options that won’t justify more SJW complaining and posturing.
On the socialism…excuse me, communism front, O’Keefe will be releasing videos this week of members of the Sanders campaign praising Stalin and his Gulags (heh, band name Stalin and the Gulags…sounds like fun) and threats of cities burning if Trump is re-elected. Good old-fashioned commie stuff.
so the fact is, there are no options that won’t justify more SJW complaining and posturing.
The ratcheting dynamic, whereby the rules of wokeness must continually change, becoming ever more absurd, has been noted here previously.
RescueDad’s pinned tweet:
RescueDad’s linked tweet: “Fuck those idiot loser Brectums! If they can’t hate this kingdom as much as I do, they can go live in the gutter!”
Truly inspirational, our Moral Superiors.
I couldn’t get past the wrong usage of practice. Practice is a noun. Practise is the verb.
I couldn’t get past the wrong usage of practice. Practice is a noun. Practise is the verb.
See, it’s little stuff like this that really caused the unpleasantness back in 1776. Eventually these things build up and boil over.
Eventually these things build up and boil over.
Prepare my galleons! We sail at dawn!
Launch the coffee commando strike team! All the tea in London will be dumped in the Thames before breakfast!
Star Trek says hold my beer.
Here’s some irony. Stewart’s new Star Trek show only exists because Discovery, which was supposed to anchor the CBS streaming service and drive subscriptions, has tanked so badly that CBS stepped in to rescue their investment by creating a new property with presumably better fan buy-in.
Somewhere along the way, the fact that Discovery‘s painfully woke politics are the reason it tanked seems to have been lost.
“Stewart’s new Star Trek show only exists because Discovery…has tanked so badly”
I didn’t know that, although I confess that I’m tired of the Star Trek franchise regardless of how well it’s written. (Old and shopworn means “no thank you” while woke means “hell no”.) Fortunately there is no shortage of good books to read.
. . . as Patrick Stewart . . .
Oh, right, clearly the jukebox needs some additions, these should fit right in . . . .
Old and shopworn means “no thank you”
Roddenberry was somewhat famous for demanding absolute loyalty to the franchise from everyone involved upon pain of career ruination. Shortly after he was safely cold and in the ground, I saw an interview with Marina Sirtis in which she opined that perhaps it was time for Star Trek to go away for a while, so it could be introduced anew to a new generation. The subtext being that there was just too damn much Star Trek on TV and they’d badly saturated the market with decreasing quality (this was the middle of the Voyager run).
If only they’d listened.
It’s not like there’s any shortage of good SF ideas, either, even if it seems impossible for TV creators to get past Star-Trek-or-Blakes-Seven. If you can find the old Canadian-produced Outer Limits show from 1995, many of the episodes were scripts for pilots or movies that the writer couldn’t sell elsewhere.