Stand up to the Mob

For John, BLUF:  It is Sunday, so I am trying to get caught up.  This is about the Cancel Culture.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Bill Maher mocks social justice warriors, warns cancel culture is 'real, insane, and coming to a neighborhood near you'

Here is the sub-headline:

'Memo to social justice warriors:  When what you're doing sounds like an Onion headline, stop'

From The Blaze, by Mr Paul Sacca, 27 February 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

On the latest episode of "Real Time with Bill Maher," the liberal talk show host warned that cancel culture is not just reserved for celebrities, but the outrage mob is also coming to punish everyday Americans and even historical figures like Abraham Lincoln.

Bill Maher began his monologue by saying, "Liberals need a Stand Your Ground law ... for cancel culture.  So that when the woke mob comes after you for some ridiculous offense, you'll stand your ground, stop apologizing.  Because I can't keep up with who's on the s*** list."

"Cancel culture is real, it's insane, it's growing exponentially, and it's coming to a neighborhood near you," he cautioned.  "If you think it's just for celebrities – no.  In an era when everyone is online, everyone is a public figure."

I think Mr Maher has said what needs to be said.

Regards  —  Cliff

Farewell Fourth of July

For John, BLUF:  This is very sad to see.  In the name of racial justice we are going to erase the path that allowed us to get to the point where we could usefully get to the point where we could ask about justice for all.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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San Francisco to paint over historic George Washington mural

If the trends continue, and a Democrat is elected President in 2020, there is unlikely to be much of a Fourth of July celebration in 2021, except in some more rural areas.

From the Associated Press, by Reporter Samantha Maldonado, 4 July 2019.

Here is the lede plus two:

San Francisco will spend up to $600,000 to paint over historical artwork at a public school depicting the life of George Washington, a mural once seen as educational and innovative but now criticized as racist and degrading for its depiction of black and Native American people.

The “Life of Washington” was painted by Victor Arnautoff, one of the foremost muralists in the San Francisco area during the Depression.  The San Francisco School Board’s decision to paint over the 83-year-old mural is prompting some to worry that other artwork from the so-called New Deal era could face a similar fate because of changing sensitivities.

In addition to depicting Washington as a soldier, surveyor and statesman, the 13-panel, 1,600-sqaure foot mural at George Washington High School contains images of white pioneers standing over the body of a Native American and slaves working at Washington’s Mount Vernon estate in Virginia.

What a waste of an educational moment, an educational opportunity.

Hat tip to the Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

The True University

For John, BLUF:  Camille Paglia is a true intellectual, capable of critical thinking.  Her opponents, the SJWs, not so much.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Rex Murphy:  Campus social-justice Maoists dared to come for Camille Paglia. Big mistake

Here is the sub-headline:

The answer to this cloddish, arrogant, self-righteous, ideological twaddle — the lexicon of social-justice hollow-heads everywhere — is: 'Just who do you think you are?'

From the Canadian National Post, by Mr Rex Murphy, 3 May 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

Applying for university enrolment is obligingly confessional and constitutes a noble act of candour and an absence of stifling ego.  It says, in effect, “I recognize that I am ignorant of very much, have a real desire to escape immaturity of thought and to fit my mind as much as I can to expand my sensibility to the appreciation of the works of intellect and imagination.  Above all I want to encounter new ideas, escape the sludge of teenage thought, and expand my range of opinion.”

She is superbly intelligent; she is an excellent cultural scrutineer; and most of all, she is a woman who understands scholarship, rebukes its stand-ins and counterfeits, is never a servant to the fads and fashion of our mediocre present, and is a rare genuine warrior for classic education.  For 30 years she has been on the faculty of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia (UArts); she is tenured; she has written a succession of enlightening and enlightened books.

Recently there was a cabal of students who demanded she be fired, to be replaced by a "queer person of colour".

Fortunately, the University stood up to the mob, something economics is making more rare each semester.

The good news from this petty outrage that UArts actually stood up to these nuisances, refused their ludicrous demands, and — probably to no effect —President David Yager reminded them that universities are not censor-shops, that different ideas are good, and freedom of expression is the very heart of all intellectual exchange.  “Across our nation it is all too common that opinions expressed that differ from one another’s — especially those that are controversial — can spark passion and even outrage, often resulting in calls to suppress that speech. That simply cannot be allowed to happen,” wrote Yager, capturing the point succinctly.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Acting in Bad Faith

For John, BLUF:  This cowering before Social Justice Warriors, before the mob, is terrible.  It could cost the Democrats the Election on 2020.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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RISE OF THE ACADEMIC TOTALITARIANS

From InstaPundit, by Professor Glenn Reynolds, 12 May 2019.

Professor Reynolds was blogging about an article in The College Fix on the imbroglio at Harvard over one of Harvard Law's Professors being on the Harvey Weinstein defense team.

BREAKING: Harvard dean representing Harvey Weinstein is removed from position

Here is the lede plus two:

Harvard’s Winthrop House faculty dean, Ronald Sullivan, will not be returning to his position after his term expires at the end June.

So announced Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana Saturday morning in an email to House affiliates, reports The Harvard Crimson.

Sullivan is the embattled dean representing Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who stands accused of multiple instances of sexual assault.  Sullivan’s decision to take on Weinstein as a client has resulted in a tumultuous few months as #MeToo activists and others — including the student paper The Crimson — have trashed the professor and called for his ouster.

Maybe Dean Sullivan is doing a poor job as Dean, but to drop him in apparent response to the #MeToo movement is Unamerican and corrosive to our understanding of the Rights of Englishmen, including the right to a defense in court.

From a tweet by Mr Charles C W Cooke:

The idea that a defense lawyer is "condoning" the alleged crimes committed by his client, as opposed to demanding the state fulfill its role in proving them, is disgusting and dangerous.

From the comments at InstaPundit:  “Fair is fair, now we get to blacklist the lawyers that defend Comey, Strzok, and Hillary.”

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

And Paul Robeson?

TRIGGER WARNING:  In which I say we shouldn't pick on the late Kate Smith.

For John, BLUF:  Kate Smith was on the television when I got home from grade school each day, when the Army-McCarthy or the Kefauver Committee hearings weren't.  I recall no racism.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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If We Cancel Kate Smith, We Must Cancel The New York Yankees

Here is the sub-headline:

The Yankees have banished Kate Smith to the dustbin for singing silly songs.  Let's banish the Yankees for their decades of racism.

From The Federalist, by Mr David Marcus, 23 April 2019.

Here is the lede plus five:

It was announced this week that both the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Flyers would stop using their traditional recorded version of Kate Smith singing “God Bless America” during their games.  This happened after it surfaced that Smith had performed songs now considered racist during her hey day in the 1930s.  The Flyers, with whom Smith is more closely aligned as the good luck charm for their 1974 Stanley Cup run, even removed a statue of her from the Philadelphia sports complex.

In a brilliant monologue, sports commentator Jason Whitlock broke down the absurdity of these moves.  The whole video is worth watching. Among other things, Whitlock points out that the song “That’s Why The Darkies Were Born,” recorded by Smith in the 1930s, was satire that was also performed by black civil rights legend Paul Robeson.  I hope Robeson, one of the most important black figures of the 20th century, won’t have to meet this same fate.

We need to be careful that in creating this new world we don't forget who we are and where we came from.

Just saying.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Woke to Woke

For John, BLUF:  In the area of "wokeness" we may be in a graveyard spiral.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Woke’s on you

Here is the sub-headline:

On the “radical intersectionalist poet” Titania McGrath.

From the April 2019 issue of The New Criterion.

Here is the lede plus three:

hose who doubt the operation of a beneficent, or at least an amusing, providence should consider the case of the British writer Titania McGrath.  Margaret Ann Bulkley may have decided to move to South Africa and live her life as a man.  But Titania McGrath, a Twitter sensation and the author of the forthcoming Woke:  A Guide to Social Justice, is “a radical intersectionalist poet committed to feminism, social justice, and armed peaceful protest.  A regular on the live-slam poetry scene, Titania regularly performs at arts festivals, deconsecrated churches, and genderqueer spiritual retreats.”  Nice!  Ms. McGrath was guyed by Private Eye forthe way she commended her book to the public:  “I have written the most important book of 2019.  Do not buy it for my sake, but for the sake of humanity.”

Shameless? Or in-your-face intersectional wokeness?

We incline to the latter view.  Ms. McGrath burrows deep into the contradictions of late capitalism, patriarchal privilege, toxic masculinity, white supremacism, and heteronormative binary exclusivity.  She is so woke she makes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez look like Sleeping Beauty.  Consider:  “If you don’t think exactly the same way as me,” she points out, “then you’ve clearly got a lot to learn about diversity.”  Could any triggered academic put it better?  “I despise whiteness.  Literally nothing about me is white except for my skin colour.”

Although she is British, Ms. McGrath outdoes Bill Kristol at his own game:  “It’s a broken kind of democracy that allows a majority of voters to impose their wishes on the rest of us.”  Yes!  Ms. McGrath cracks open the hard nut of oppression lurking inside all of us, all men anyway.  “Men who are attracted to women clearly have feminine tastes and are therefore probably gay.”  Again:  “I have posed nude for Penthouse in an effort to dismantle the patriarchy from within.”  And how’s this?  “If you only have sex with people you find attractive, you might want to ask yourself why you’re such a superficial bigot.”

Titania McGrath as described in Wikipedia.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Getting It Wrong About Charlottesville

For John, BLUF:  They had me convinced the President was looking for some common neutral ground that included the neo-Nazis and the neo-Fascists.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Trump Didn't Call Neo-Nazis 'Fine People.' Here's Proof.

From Real Clear Politics, by Political Commentator Steve Cortes, 21 March 2019.

Here is the lede:

News anchors and pundits have repeated lies about Donald Trump and race so often that some of these narratives seem true, even to Americans who embrace the fruits of the president’s policies.  The most pernicious and pervasive of these lies is the “Charlottesville Hoax,” the fake-news fabrication that he described the neo-Nazis who rallied in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017 as “fine people.”

My question:  If President Trump were to yotally stop Tweeting, would the Mainstream Media also back away?

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff

A Right to a Lawyer

For John, BLUF:  I guess that Mr Harvey Weinstein doesn't deserve a decent lawyer, at least in the minds of some of the snowflake students at Harvard.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Harvard investigates 'trauma' among students after law professor agrees to represent Harvey Weinstein

From The Telegraph (UK), by Reporter Harriet Alexander, 21 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus three:

Harvard University has launched an investigation into law professor Ronald Sullivan after he agreed to represent Harvey Weinstein in court.

Mr Sullivan, the university’s first African American faculty dean, joined Mr Weinstein’s legal team in January, ahead of the June trial for rape.

Mr Weinstein himself was spotted on Wednesday meeting a private investigator, Herman Weisberg, who he has hired to assist in his case.  The two men met at a Cipriani Dolci restaurant in Grand Central station, with Mr Weinstein attempting to disguise his appearance with a black baseball cap and dark glasses.

Mr Sullivan, on joining Mr Weinstein’s team, felt the backlash almost immediately, as his students began complaining that his decision to represent the disgraced film producer traumatised them, and put them at risk.

So, Harvard students want to overthrow hundreds of years of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence.

This is a bad mark for college students in the US.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

No More Hula For You

For John, BLUF:  Will people look back in these days and pity us for our inability to enjoy and celebrate other cultures?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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'Hawaiian Day' party flooded by cultural controversy wave

Here is the sub-headline:

• The University of South Dakota Student Bar Association faced criticism over a planned "Hawaiian Day" party.
• The university president has launched an investigation to determine whether free expression policies were violated.

From Campus Reform, by Mississippi Senior Campus Correspondent Adam Sabes, 4 March 2019?

Here is the lede plus three:

The Student Bar Association at the University of South Dakota says it was pressured to change the name of its “Hawaiian Day” party because it violates USD’s policy on inclusiveness.

According to the Argus Leader, a student submitted an essay to the USD law school administration, who then advised the Student Bar Association to change the name of the event.

The SBA changed the name of the event to “Beach Day” and then sent a message to their members stating that the dress code would still be the same, which was floral shirts and leis, according to the report. A second message followed, however, stating that the leis would no longer be part of the event due to complaints by the law school administration surrounding the inclusiveness of the leis.

“It was determined that these are culturally insensitive by the administration after doing research based off of the essay written by the initial complainant,” the message said, according to the report.

I think people should stop vacationing in Hawaii, as it is culturally insensitive.  And no Don Ho music♠ and no Hawaii 5 0 TV Shows.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  On the other hand, Mr Ho flew C-97s in the Air Force.

Digging a Hole for the Future

TRIGGER WARNING:  In which I suggest covering up statues and paintings of past events is unhelpful for learning about who we are.

For John, BLUF:  If you don't know how you got here, how can you know which direction to take into the future?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Will history survive?

Here is the sub-headline:

The ongoing monument controversy shows the susceptibility of ‘liberating tolerance’ to fanaticism

From The Spectator, by Dr Roger Kimball, 18 February 2019.

Here is the lede plus four:

The news that the University of Notre Dame, responding to complaints by some students, would ‘shroud’ its 12 134-year-old murals depicting Christopher Columbus was disappointing.  It was not surprising, however, to anyone who has been paying attention to the widespread attack on America’s past wherever social justice warriors congregate.

Notre Dame may not be particularly friendly to its Catholic heritage, but its president, the Rev. John Jenkins, demonstrated that it remains true to its jesuitical (if not, quite, its Jesuit) inheritance.  Queried about the censorship, he said, apparently without irony, that his decision to cover the murals was not intended to conceal anything, but rather to tell ‘the full story’ of Columbus’s activities.

Welcome to the new Orwellian world where censorship is free speech and we respect the past by attempting to elide it.

Over the past several years, we have seen a rising tide of assaults on statues and other works of art representing our nation’s history by those who are eager to squeeze that complex story into a box defined by the evolving rules of political correctness.  We might call this the ‘monument controversy,’ and what happened at Notre Dame is a case in point:  a vocal minority, claiming victim status, demands the destruction, removal, or concealment of some object of which they disapprove.  Usually, the official response is instant capitulation.

As the French writer Charles Péguy once observed, ‘It will never be known what acts of cowardice have been motivated by the fear of not looking sufficiently progressive.’  Consider the frequent demands to remove statues of Confederate war heroes from public spaces because their presence is said to be racist.  New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, for example, has recently had statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson removed from a public gallery.  In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio has set up a committee to review ‘all symbols of hate on city property.’

A hundred and fifty years from now, when we are generally in agreement that late term abortions are, in fact, infanticide, will we be tearing down or covering up the statues of President Obama and Senator Clinton and chiseling out of plaques the names of various Senators and House Speakers?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The New Puritans

For John, BLUF:  I would like to see a happy balance.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Left Are Annoying Puritans

From PJ Media, by Ms Sarah Hoyt, 27 January 2019.

Here is the lede plus ten:

Every time I blunder into a discussion of [paperbackbook] covers in my field, I realize that the left has turned into puritans so slowly we barely noticed.

When I was young – yes, and Mastodon roamed the Earth – the left was all about “liberation.”

Of course, even then, if you paid close attention – or any attention, really – you’d see they idolized the Soviet Union and no one could really believe it was “free” when people were dying to get out.

But as the seventies progressed on their very strange way, I told myself they were just odd people who believed the lies published about the Soviet Union, and they wanted complete freedom to do whatever they wanted.

It might surprise the people who were born after the seventies to find out that the left really wanted no taboos at all.  At least in Europe, if you attended a certain type of party, you might be importuned by adult males way before the age of consent.  And when you refused you were told you had a problem and were repressing your sexuality or had “inhibitions.”  (I developed an answer that was something like this “No, I don’t have any hang-ups about nudity.  I just have no interest in seeing old men naked, thank you.” It usually made them go away.)

In fact, just about anything you didn’t want to do or try, you were told that you had hang-ups, and how much better you’d feel if you just gave them up and did whatever the person talking to you wanted.

If someone had told me back then that the left would in time become complete Puritans, I’d not have believed them.

But just look at them now.

When the cover for Darkship Thieves was settled on, the male editor who was attending the conference I was at did not show it to me because I am a woman, and he was afraid I’d be offended.

To be clear, the cover has zero sexual content.  It shows a woman in a pose reminiscent of Botticelli’s Venus, mostly naked, with a sort of wrap around her that hides all the crucial points.

It is also quite obviously art, not porn.  And it did wonders for the book sales.

The thing that goes along with this new Puritanism is the idea that females need to be protected from toxic, hypermasculine males.  We have regressed back to the Victorian Era, or maybe to the age of Chivelry.  Or maybe we are enroute to an age without males.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Hat Ban

For John, BLUF:  Maybe the Good People of Kentucky will decide Representative Yarmuth has served long enough, come 2020.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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‘POISONING YOUNG MINDS’: DEMOCRATIC REP WANTS TO BAN TEENS FROM WEARING MAGA HATS, SAYS HE WAS JOKING

From The Daily Caller, by Education and Politics Reporter, Ms Neetu Chandak, 20 January 2019.

Here is the lede plus three:

House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth called for banning teens from wearing Make America Great Again (MAGA) hats after a video circulated on social media of an encounter between some Kentucky high school boys and an American Indian group after the March for Life rally Friday.

After facing criticism on Twitter, he mentioned it was an “obvious joke.”

“I am calling for a total and complete shutdown of teenagers wearing MAGA hats until we can figure out what is going on,” Yarmuth posted Sunday on Twitter. “They seem to be poisoning young minds.”

Yarmuth, a Democratic representative from Kentucky, also blamed President Donald Trump for the allegedly negative behavior displayed in a separate tweet.

People have lost their minds.  How else to explain this?

And, no, this was not a joke at the time it was uttered.  There is no space for humor left in any space overviewed by the Social Justice Warriors and AntiFa troops.

Would Representative Yarmuth include banning young Baron Trump from wearing a MAGA hat?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

I felt a great disturbance in the Force..

TRIGGER WARNING:  In which I suggest the SJWs have gone over the top, have jumped the shark.

For John, BLUF:  If we are not willing to explore ideas we differ with we are going to be going down an ever narrowing funnel, knowing less and less about the real world.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Ian Buruma Is Out At The New York Review Of Books After Justifying The Decision To Publish Jian Ghomeshi's Essay

Here is the sub-headline:

The editor sparked outrage after defending his decision to publish a lengthy essay by a former Canadian radio host who was accused of sexual assault by several women.

From Buzz Feed, by Reporter Ms Tasneem Nashrulla, 19 September 2018.

Here is the lede:

Ian Buruma, the editor of the New York Review of Books who sparked outrage after publishing an essay by Jian Ghomeshi, no longer works at the magazine, an NYRB spokesperson told BuzzFeed News on Wednesday.

So, these two names may be a little obscure, so here are the Wikipedia bios:

• Ian Buruma
• Jian Ghomeshi

This is where we enter the realm of totalitarianism.  That is, limitations on free speech.  It is a shame.  It is a shame for Mr Buruma and it is a shame for the readers of The New York Review of Books.  It is a shame for thee and me.

Hat tip to the Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

It's Over

For John, BLUF:  The Word of the Day.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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GLEICHSCHALTUNG

the standardization of political, economic, and social institutions as carried out in authoritarian states.

What prompted this was a blog post at InstaPundit, by Mr Stephen Green, on an item in PJ Media, "Advertisers Jump on the SJW Bandwagon, Declare Masculinity Dead", by Ms Faith Moore, 8 August 2018.

I guess there are a few of us "bitter clingers", clinging to our guns and Bibles and our masculinity, but otherwise it may all be dead, as we all align with the SJWs.

The only problem is that the SJWs sometimes change direction with no warning.  Watch out for whiplash.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

ACLU Goes SJW

For John, BLUF:  This is why the current and past) Administrations don't want employees freely talking to the Press, rather than checking with Public Affairs first.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Leaked Internal Memo Reveals the ACLU Is Wavering on Free Speech

Here is the sub-headline:

"Our defense of speech may have a greater or lesser harmful impact on the equality and justice work to which we are also committed."

From Reason Magazine, by Mr Robby Soave, 21 June 2018.

Here is the lede plus one:

The American Civil Liberties Union will weigh its interest in protecting the First Amendment against its other commitments to social justice, racial equality, and women's rights, given the possibility that offensive speech might undermine ACLU goals.

"Our defense of speech may have a greater or lesser harmful impact on the equality and justice work to which we are also committed," wrote ACLU staffers in a confidential memo obtained by former board member Wendy Kaminer.

I used to give, annually, to the ACLU, and the NRA (to cover what the ACLU didn't in terms of rights), but now I don't know who covers the First Amendment.  Apparently not the ACLU, at least any longer.

Hat tip to the The Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Societal Danger of Mathematics

For John, BLUF:  We don't need no stinking math.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Professor:  Learning Math Can Cause ‘Collateral Damage’ to Society

Here is the sub-headline:

Some things in life are objective and rational, and that’s perfectly okay.

From National Review, by Katherine Timpf, 20 June 2018.

Here is the lede plus five:

According to a new textbook written by a professor at the University of Exeter, learning mathematics can cause “collateral damage” to society because it “provides a training in ethics-free thought.”

“Reasoning without meanings provides a training in ethics-free thought,” Paul Ernest writes in “The Ethics of Mathematics:  Is Mathematics Harmful?” — a chapter of his book The Philosophy of Mathematics Education Today.

In an abstract for the book, Ernest claims that although he does “acknowledge that mathematics is a widespread force for good,” “there is significant collateral damage caused by learning mathematics.”

According to Ernest, this “collateral damage” happens in three ways.  First, he argues, the styles of thinking involved with mathematics are “detached” and “calculated” ones, which value “rules, abstraction, objectification, impersonality, unfeelingness, dispassionate reason, and analysis” — which he claims “can be damaging when applied beyond mathematics to social and human issues.”

The second problem, he explains, is that “the applications of mathematics in society can be deleterious to our humanity unless very carefully monitored and checked.”

“Money and thus mathematics is the tool for the distribution of wealth,” he writes.  “It can therefore be argued that as the key underpinning conceptual tool mathematics is implicated in the global disparities in wealth.”

Finally, Ernest claims, “the personal impact of learning mathematics on learners’ thinking and life chances can be negative for a minority of less successful students, as well as potentially harmful for successful students.”  Ernest continues to explain that math is often viewed as “masculine,” and that that can essentially make it difficult for women to deal with learning it.

I guess the solution is to stop teaching math in school, although still teach counting, so we can tell ages and book page numbers.  And the knowledge of making change.  But, leave anything else up to a Secret Society.  The initiates would learn the secrets of quadratic equations and trigonometry and geometry and things beyond.  Boy Scouts would still be allowed to use that trick for measuring the width of a river by using trees and pacing things off.

By the way, the book is another overpriced item out of academia.  Don't buy it, even in the Kindle version.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Losing Science

For John, BLUF:  There are truly weird ideas out there, foisted on us in the name of "social justice".  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Racist Science

The linked item is a comment on a 6 June 2018 editorial in Nature, headlined "Science benefits from diversity".  Here is the sub-headline:

Improving the participation of under-represented groups is not just fairer — it could produce better research.

The discussion is from L'Ombre de l'Olivier, by Francis Turner, 14 June 2018.

The blog discussion ends with this quote from Quora:

I got into an argument with my friend because I reject evolution because it’s heteronormative.  Are science going to make evolution more inclusive or will they replace it with something else?

Yes, we should absolutely have diversity in science.  Everyone should have a crack at playing in that sandbox, since, after aviation, it is the most fun sandbox around.

As for the idea that there is caucasian male heteronormative science and then there are alternative scientific answers and caucasian male heteronormative science is oppressive, I would like to see the peer reviewed studies.  Back in the day there was the expression "light in the loafers" for those whose sexual orientation was gay, but that did not literally mean that there was a separate law of gravity for non-straight men.  That approach to science is like a self-licking ice cream cone and does nothing to unlock the secrets nature still holds.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

London Lord Mayor Calls for Curbs on Free Speech

For John, BLUF:  The SJWs are going to miss the First Amendment, after they make it go away in the name of preventing anyone from having hurt feelings.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The mayor of London read racist tweets about himself during SXSW as a plea for Facebook and Twitter to stop hate speech

Acronym Alert:  SXSW is South by Southwest, which is, per Wikipedia, "an annual conglomerate of film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas."

From Business Insider, by Ms Melia Robinson, 12 March 2018.

Here is the lede plus one:

At the annual SXSW festival in Austin on Monday, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, made a moving plea for tech companies to take on hate speech.

During his talk, the mayor read racist tweets about himself.

So, free speech is not to be allowed on the World Wide Web.  Where will it be allowed?  More important, who will define what is acceptable and what is not?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Hillary Takes Another Stab at Explaining What Happened

For John, BLUF:  Somewhere out there is a reason acceptable to Ms Hillary Clinton for her loss in 2016.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Hillary Clinton blames 'pressure' from men for why white women voted for Trump

From Fox News, by Reporter Alex Pappas, 13 March 2018.

Here is the lede plus two:

Hillary Clinton’s trip to India is evoking memories from her failed 2016 bid for president, as the Democrat makes headlines for blaming racism and misogyny for her loss while taking stumbles in front of the cameras.

During an appearance in India over the weekend, Clinton claimed she lost the 2016 presidential race in part because white women didn’t stand up to the men in their lives pressuring them to vote for Donald Trump.

“We do not do well with white men and we don’t do well with married, white women,” Clinton said at a conference in Mumbai, India.  “And part of that is an identification with the Republican Party, and a sort of ongoing pressure to vote the way that your husband, your boss, your son, whoever, believes you should.”

I am sure she meant "Caucasian", but just couldn't remember the word.  Otherwise, she would be slurring a lot of people  Or at least offending me, which is the kind of thing that otherwise might get you in a lot of trouble, given the sensitivity of the special snow flakes and the vigilance of the social justice warriors.

And she takes another swipe at then FBI Director James Comey.  I have a hard time knowing if Mr Comey is a bad guy or if he is a good guy, wrongly fired by President Trump.

What do we believe about Mr James Comey

He is a terrible person for losing Ms Clinton the 2016 Election and should have been fired.

A terrible person for losing Ms Clinton the 2016 Election / President Trump was wrong to fire him.

A brilliant person. He saved the integrity of the FBI by announcing they were still looking at Ms C.

A corrupt collaborator in covering up Russian meddling in the 2016 Election.

A brilliant ethicist, whose forthcoming book we will all read.

A petty bureaucrat in over his head.

 

pollcode.com free polls

Hat tip to my Wife, who found this item and told me about it.

Regards  —  Cliff

The True Fascists

For John, BLUF:  Democrats have devalued the term Fascist, to where it is approaching meaningless.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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PRESIDENT LIKENS DEWEY TO HITLER AS FASCISTS' TOOL

Here is the sub-headline:

Says When Bigots, Profiteers Get Control of Country They Select 'Front Man' to Rule

DICTATORSHIP STRESSED

Truman Tells Chicago Audience a Republican Victory Will Threaten U.S. Liberty TRUMAN SAYS GOP PERILS U.S. LIBERTY

By ANTHONY LEVIERO, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES, OCT. 26, 1948

This was the 'Chaser" at an Ed Driscoll post at InstaPundit on 7 March 2018.

The "Shot" was The Old Gray Lady OpEd “We’re All Fascists Now,” by Opinion Writer Bari Weiss, which I blogged about here.

Buts, back to 1948, here is the lede:

A Republican victory on election day will bring a Fascistic threat to American freedom that is even more dangerous than the perils from communism and extreme right "crackpots," President Truman asserted here tonight.

View the full article in Timesmachine.

So Fascism is always been threatened, by Democrats, as the mode of Republicans, but fascist activities always end up being performed by Democrats, and especially Progressives.  See, for example The News of Ottowa and "Woman arrested after rally against controversial professor Jordan Peterson".  She had, in her bag, when pinched for kicking in a window, a garrotte.

If all Republicans are Fascists then the term loses its meaning.

In the mean time, the Progressives have put on the cloak of Fascism.  Sad.  Very sad.

UPDATE:  Bits and pieces.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff