In the wake of my National Review article on the launch of the American College of Surgeon's DEI Toolkit ( https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/12/its-dei-or-bust-for-the-american-college-of-surgeons/ ) the ACS quietly took down the Toolkit less than two weeks later, without fanfare. When asked why, the ACS leadership equivocated, stating something to the effect that it was revising it. The ACS leadership, in adopting critical race theory, antiracism, and DEI has proved itself just as unqualified to lead the House of Surgery as Claudine Gay was to lead Harvard. It is time for new leadership before surgery is so degraded that patients will have to question their surgeon's competence. Were they chosen to train as surgeons based on merit or because they fit a diversity box? Richard T. Bosshardt, MD, FACS
Addendum: I contacted the ACS today to ask what happened to the DEI toolkit. I received an email from the office of the Executive Director, Patricia Turner, MD, FACS informing me that the toolkit was accessible. I went back to the ACS website and confirmed that the Toolkit is back up. I do not know what, if anything, was done to the toolkit while it was down. Stand by for more on this on my substack: richardtbosshardt.substack.com
Carole Hooven's story is the tip of a huge iceberg. Anyone who imagines that a corner has been turned in the Left-groupthink corruption of the American (and Western) academy....something that has been brewing for 50 years and yet only hit the headlines now....should read Heather Mac Donald's 'The Diversity Delusion' (2018) which I reviewed here: https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/how-diversity-narrows-the-mind
I have enjoyed an email relationship with Heather, who I greatly admire. I read her book, The Diversity Delusion and, as usual with her writing, found it excellent.
Graham, your dates are significant. The group-think corruption began, I think, immediately following the exposure of the socialist tide as an emperor with no clothes; the high tide was around 1975, with America's ignominious retreat from Vietnam, but then the tide went out and socialists have been scrambling around for a raison d'être ever since.
First, the bogey was capitalism (this one never went away); then it was climate change; then inequality; then colonial oppression; then racism. Sometimes - rarely - they made a good point: yes, society needed to wake up about AGW; yes, there were racist cops; yes, wage inequality needed addressing, but too often their disappointment at the failed socialist experiment (the collapse of the USSR; ejection of profligate leftwing governments worldwide) led them into evermore extreme (even delusional) solutions, all of them involving an oppressive state. The current fashion is to call these "culture wars". I think that looks in the wrong place. This is a 50-year (and running) fight about not only cultures but more fundamentally, about who gets to decide how we live our lives and how we have to pay for it.
In my view the roots of all this are a kind of intelligentsia snobbery that goes way back - at least to the 1930s if not before. Socialism and all the other xyzisms have been essentially a peg on which to hang the intelligentsia's sense of itself as more-sophisticated-than-thou....than 'you ordinary people out there beyond our ivory tower'. And it was the relentless expansion of academia that put it all on a exponential upward curve. I have expanded on these themes in various essays including this one: https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/are-we-making-progress.....including this excerpt about my own experience in academia in the early 1970s: "My own father was disdainful of both Progressivism and Capitalism but, in 50s, 60s and 70s Britain, such attitudes were rare even among Tories. My own teenage political stirrings - in the time of Labour Party politics and All You Need is Love youth culture - were a mixed bag. On the one hand society’s need for ‘Equality’ seemed axiomatic to me but, on the other hand, most everyone who talked about it (both politicians and my own teenage peers) struck me as have-your-cake-and-eat-it merchants. Then there was university and the instinctive sense that not being ‘on the Left’ would be really bad for your love life."
Dr B , enjoyed your article. I hope doctors like you keep letting us know what is being taught in our meds schools ( we need to hear more about nursing programs as well in light of what I have heard from recent graduates of these programs).
It will take YEARS to unspool the damage done to the country, institutions, communities, and families by the belief in “correct” thought and in “being on the ‘right’ side of history”.
Don’t get me wrong - I LOVE TFP and this fun community of commenters we have, but I do worry about us becoming an echo chamber, here. Comprof2.0 is obnoxious, but that poster seems to be the only one that regularly pushes back on us and I have yet to see an argument that doesn’t end up in “Nyah, Nyah - go away, you troller.” Not to encourage him so much but to ask for more true diversity of thought and commentary here.
Anyway, I do cheer this uncovering of the self-righteous defrauding of Western Civilization while cautioning that I feel this is, as Churchill once said, “rather than the beginning of the end, this may only be the end of the beginning.” Let’s stay on track to more truths being brought to light and leading to a truly more just and fulfilling future (whatever the hell that is…)
On another note, I know of a few people from Obama’s administration and campaigns who left Boston and moved to Chicago to work for OFA to continue Obama’s goals for the country (shudder).
How come nobody ever mentions that? What’s going on with that and how has it stayed under the radar so successfully? What programs and initiatives does it still have up its sleeve?
What’s up with the Obama Presidential Library?
How come Valerie Jarrett’s daughter has rocketed up the ladder at NBCNews and is already a weekend anchor?
Let’s not break our arms patting ourselves on our backs, yet - lots of plot twists and turns coming this year, I’m sure…
Genuinely curious: What would a diverse discussion of DIE look like? Whilst perhaps not as extreme as attempting to nuance various Hamas practices during the 10/7 Unpleasantness, (at risk of proving your point) DIE is a really really hard cesspool in which to find merit. When "compromise" means accepting so much as a tablespoon of raw sewage in a barrel of wine, I have difficulty with it. "We'll fix it later" has as much longevity, it seems, as "never again." (And there IS lively discussion here; most obviously in various candidate-selection arenas.)
One point of discussion on DEI that has been largely missing is the damage it has done to minorities - especially Blacks. A Black person who has done well in school, worked hard to obtain an MD degree and finishes a prestigious residency in surgery will face patients (of all races) who wonder if this is truly a qualified surgeon because of DEI policies. Is this different from the past when racism was the reason for the doubt? No - but current progressive policies have also perpetuated the racism using stupid ideas like “anti-racism” and DEI that are liberal lies that have done as much damage as any old fashioned racism. Truly - Jim Crow 2.0 is the real damage done by DEI in higher education and particularly medical education.
I have now and for a long while viewed any Anmerican Black person in position of responsibilty in government or certain corporations as a token minority hire.
As a person of color myself I was taught to understand, first from mentors and then reinforced by experience that I had to be better than. I had carefully execute my tasks and then when questioned be able to demonstrate the how and the why. Additionally when Murphy's Law struck I had to go to greater lengths than white counterparts and superiors to show where fault lay. Eventually you earn grudgingly given respect but you're only ever as good as what you're doing right now.
The current crop of blacks don't pass my test.
Sorry.
That typed neither do the others.
I was reading that the US Navy is falling way behind in the deliveries of all manner of new construction. The culprit is a lack of skilled labor and especially welders. The few they can find aren't worth their paychecks. That's irrespective of any racial component.
A diverse DISCUSSION of DIE would have to occur IN PERSON, imo. It's become too easy and comfortable to call the Comments and replies on this forum or any other , a "discussion "
In person, there is no where to hide- you are less likely to to simply reply w a sparky comment or NOT reply at all to something that makes total sense.
Just like comedians should not be afraid to 'offend' , Hollywood should be brave enough to push back on the so called ethnic/ gender requirements to CREATE a great storyline, WE should engage with family and friends by asking substantive questions....etc
However, since we have the crutch of Social Media, I'm not sure what it will take to start seeing a
I agree that real world activity is required. But I see value in what happens here. In part because this is a pretty diverse group. I think the common denominator is that there are smart people here capable of genuine critical thought. From different areas of expertise and different locales. And what some describe as an echo chamber I begin to see as building a consensus. I like that people from NY and California see the same things I see from Texas. I even appreciate the input of the lady from France; I rarely agree with her and I frequently do not appreciate the way she expresses herself but I like seeing her point of view. I have really appreciated the input of those from Israel and would like very much to hear from those in Palestine. People have commented about personal knowledge of Ukraine. And Russia. I have scads of life experience and have pretty strong opinions. But I learn here and that has helped refine my POVs which I take with me in my real world interactions.
I too would like to see educated. well inform, free thinking, leftist comment on this BBS.
However, well inform, free thinking leaves anybody on the left out.
Compro, never gives a direct answer to a post he doesn't like. Myrna yesterday did nothing but regurgitate left wing propaganda.
So far, from what I have seen, the leftist who post here are ignoramus nut cases who have never questioned their left wing masters.
I am a conservative but I question everything that comes out of our corrupt capital's politician's mouths.
Both parties disgust me. To be fair, this is how our leaders have acted since the first congress met in 1789. I don't believe anything will ever change.
In my opinion the Dems/Connies scare me more that the incompetent Reps.
Casey, Bill Ackmann said it all better than anyone in his piece in TFP, especially because he declared his sympathies with the starting aims on DEI but then exposed how its all gone wrong - devastating! I've sent his articles to everyone who's shown interest.
Oh, and by the way, what was the Harvard groupthink response? No, not serious introspection but an attack on him by attacking his wife. Jeez!
I don't know if your spelling of "DIE" was an unintentional typo or an intentional spelling of the acronym DEI. Whichever, I think "DIE" explains the policy perfectly.
If you look at the past you will see the many times I tried to engage with Comprof in a spirit of good fellowship. He's a one-trick racist pony with a deep sense of grievance that is anathema to the bounties bestowed on him by this nation. Sorry but that's on him.
Yeah - me, too - of course, as soon as I happened to mention him, he popped up an another comment with a tired racism trope. I was just trying to point out the need here for dialog, but used a pretty bad example…
Good info. Thanks. As for Comprof, the reason I label it a troll is it does not offer a meaningful pushback, just snark. I think it may well be artificial. As such it is a waste of my time. I have read others that do offer meaningful pushback though and it has been a pleasure to interact therewith. Plus TFP readership is a pretty large and diverse group, is it possible that rather than being an echo chamber it is the formation of a general consensus among diverse people? Isn't that what we need?
I just phrase it differently -stick to facts and analysis thereof. I can even tolerate a certain amount of ideaology as long as it is honestly expressed. But once your ideaology starts to color your facts you have lost me because then I am suspicious of everything you have said. A corollary of once caught in a lie you are subject to the are you lying now or were you lying then query. And if you are devoid of facts to support your position you are useless to me in terms of my analysis.
Nicely written, with a proviso. Almost everyone who tried to engage Comprof2.0 on TFP in a reasonable dialog was met with insults and puerile epithets hurled at them. Hence no one takes the poster seriously, it’s why they get poked regularly and why patience is thin if not completely run out with the poster. Comprof2.0 revels in the behavior by the way, no desire to reach out as far as I can tell.
We can all get testy at times and write fractiously, but to make it a habit, no, a given, is peevish and childish.
Otherwise all are welcome and I for one would enjoy a dialog or debate with serious, but civil posters of the opposite worldview.
Indeed. The average person has no idea, because the scope of it is so vast. For example:
Despite recent near-disaster air incidents, the FAA (in its wisdom) has announced it is doubling down on its diversity programs. It is, in particular, looking to hire people with “...complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability...psychiatric disability”. Now, isn’t that reassuring?
Imagine: Flight 2462 is incoming with an SOS, but Air Traffic Control can’t handle it because one of the controllers on shift is having an epileptic episode, and another is in psychiatric crisis. Fabulous.
And this is for the greater good because, according to the FAA, “diversity is integral to achieving FAA’s mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel across our nation and beyond.”
Unfortunately, these ill conceived programs have been so completely integrated into our legal and governmental systems over the past few years that it would take a decade or more to completely unravel them. We have won a few skirmishes lately, but they are a drop in the bucket.
To be fair, the FAA has more positions than ATC, they are an enormous government bureaucracy with clerks and all sorts of jobs. However, this is clearly government handouts with extra steps. You hire someone with a severe disability, they’re even more unfirable than a regular gov. employee.
You are right to point out that my hyperbole with my ATC crack may have been excessive, but even if they are being hired as clerks (until AI takes over), is this really a good way to run anything (even a government agency)?
Perhaps the most odious part of Wokeism is its unrelenting promotion of identity over merit. Human beings should be “equal under the law”, but we can NEVER be “equal” (in intelligence, athleticism, beauty, mechanical ability, humor, etc.). That’s why watching the NBA is massively more entertaining than watching third graders in PE class -- people at the top of their game (in any field) represent humanity at its best.
We are so fortunate to have The Free Press. After years of MSM gaslighting, the momentum for moderate and truth-seeking voices is building. It couldn't be more timely. Hopefully one day, truth will be the norm again, not the exception.
Ref Superintendent Rafael Alvarez on Israel being left off the map, "...I express my personal apology for the effect the map has had on some members of our community” - that's what's known in our house as a Bill Clinton apology ("I'm sorry if you were offended"). What other classrooms have that map? Is there going to be a review of ALL the materials furnished by those fine people in Qatar? Why is any foreign government funding NYC education? I mean, how stupid are we??
Moreover if you think the funding is limited to Qatar, I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale. What about all those Confucius Institutes? All the foreign students whose tuition, board and expenses are paid by their governments. Our entire university system is nothing but a gigantic fifth column with the aim of destroying the United States of America as we know it.
You should see some of the contracts employed with regard to Chinese national students at our research institutions. It has been a few years since I read one but it was stunning.
How about she expresses regret for having wrong information in the classroom? The pronoun game goes the same route of teaching students incorrect English. It's one thing to have a debate about the topics, it's an entirely different universe when facts are not allowed to be presented.
How about the fact that 20% of Israelis are Arabs and that Arabic is an official language and appears on signs all over Israel. So the excuse that the map was intended to reflect Arabic- speaking countries is just a tad disingenuous.
I tried to read the local school budget (it's available online). It is next door to impossible to decipher it unless you're an accountant. I guess I should go to the next board meeting and simply ask the question: Hey are any terrorists supplying curriculum materials to our children?
They would crayfish. Maybe a FOIA for the identity of all curricula materials and the source of funding thereof. Remember that 501(c)(3)s have to post their tax returns and many of these funds are distributed under the guise of charity. Then go to that meeting with very pointed questions. Usually there is a time limit in members of the public. They won't know the answers so get them to commit to a future response.
Though it is great to see DEI getting rolled back, what to combat it with? These people are not going away quietly. I suggest a movement that goes after each pillar. Rather than Diversity, celebrate the individual. When we look at a person as part of a group, we miss who they are as a person. We want you to be the best version of yourself and not be pigeonholed into thoughts assigned to you that might be popular.
Rather than Inclusion is Teamwork. When joining any organization, you join the team and assume the responsibility within it. This is the tricky part: You can be the best you, but when you are on a team, it has to blend harmoniously as in a symphony. If you want to be yourself, be an entrepreneur and create your own band.
Finally, replace Equity for Excellence. Equity is a weasel word for Communism. It has and will never work. In any organization, one has to perform. One only gets a piece of the pie if one earns it and gets more than agreed upon unless one achieves it. Society progresses through the excellence of great people and organizations. We should want everyone to be the best version of themselves, which makes an organization great. Then, you can attack the proponents of DEI, protecting your flank from the charges of racism, and instead go after them as ideologues who are pushing a failed and destructive ideology. I am so happy it's getting pulled out, but winning the ideological battle is so essential.
While DEI might get pulled out of some, perhaps many universities. You’ve got better odds of catching on fire than it ever coming out of HBCUs. It’s become part of the very fabric of HBCU administration & leadership. Only a federal ban & withholding of federal dollars will root this out and there’s no political will on either side of the aisle to fight that battle.
You have to wonder if this is by design. Saddle those poor students with tens of thousands of dollars of debt and no skills to compete, then when they fail, scream systemic racism, its a vicious cycle. The only way I see it is going after the people with debt and say you were sold a bill of goods but sadly you are right. That is an edemic problem we have going forward.
I like your thinking but two thoughts: First, the individual being key is a sine qua non for any sustainable structure. Possibly THE sine qua non. Extending the basis to even small groups is what makes group IDs possible (and too-frequently abusable). The other is marketability. What I like about Mr Loveland's oeuvre is (near) punchiness -- you could fit its points on bumper stickers and/or within the couch potato attention span. You've done well on the how-tos.
Let us all know when the DEI departments in colleges and corporations have been scaled back substantially if not eliminated. TFP: please publish the size and budgets and key salaries of major college and corporate DEI groups. It would tell quite a tale.
People in my job need to actively keep up with a dozen modern, evolving technologies to do our work, and the DEI people get paid double to chant a formulaic catechism and host ethnic parties. They are a parasitic priest class with a racist belief system.
As part of the budget cuts this year, University of Nebraska/Lincoln has proposed cutting DEI budget by $800K. Not sure what the total DEI budget is (no reporter is interested I guess). We'll have to see if the cuts go through.
My friend is an alum of the University of Michigan. They have 27 (!) diversity officers. Human nature being what it is, they will of course find lots and lots of failings in the university's diversity, requiring compulsory training sessions, mea culpas all round, etc.
While I’m glad to see some of the DEI overreach get checked in several states, I’d much rather see the institutions themselves roll these programs back due to their ineffectiveness and conflicts with free speech, rather than legislators in only red states banning them. Lots of these places will merely rename their DEI offices like one is the TX schools and continue doing the same. I wish there were good news here, but I don’t think we’re there quite yet.
If you think DEI programs drive apart colleagues and students, what do you reckon the senile imbecile in the White House shrieking and yammering about illusory "white supremacists" and MAGA insurrectionists is doing to our beloved nation? Biden is a clear and present danger to America and needs to be removed and excised like the metastasizing tumor he is.
The "orange haired cyst" of course did none of the things you prophesied or accused him of. You're really quite mad to make light of Biden's treachery.
I prophesied before he was elected that he would complete jerk. Got that one right
I thought he was self-centered and acted like a five-year-old most of the time. Check
He’s fired or said bad things about every intelligent person who’s ever worked for him. I will admit he’s right on occasion, but so is a broken watch.
I voted for him once, but January 6 was entirely too predictable. He’d loved it. Anyone who thinks he would put America above his own interests is a fool.
My plumber is a jerk, but he cleans up the sewage in my basement. Shows up on time and and charges a fair rate. I am neither interested nor care what he does in his free time, nor who he sleeps with (unless it's children or animals.)
I derive most of my beliefs from watching what he says on TV and reading direct quotes. I don’t need his critics to tell me what I can see with my own eyes.
If he had ever actually learned to keep his mouth shut, he would be president now with a majority in the Senate. He has had every chance to prove me wrong, but so far…
1. I have seen Polls that show Large numbers of people (voters?) don't want either Donald Trump OR Joe Biden.
2. I consider myself (and those in my circle) pretty reasonable. While others would prefer another candidate,, they would with a smile on their lips and a song in their heart Vote for Donald Trump. Reason being he would be 148.732% better than anyone one the (modern Post Obama) Democratic Party puts up. (BTW would be surprised if it was Grand Pa Joe. Shortly before the Convention He will drop out to "Spend More Time With His Family". I don't know Who it will be.)
3. On Jan. 20 2017 Donald Trump was an amateur politician. didn't really know The Rules and how to get things done. This is no longer true. I expect him to get More of his agenda done IF he wins. (Assuming he is the GOP candidate. Talk to me in early March)
Wait, hold the phone, the media points out Biden's flaws? Where? When? If it is so it is only to grease the wheels for that last minute, after he is ordained at the primary, switcheroo.
You're stuck voting for the two choices a majority of America wants.
A vote for anyone else may offer temporary satisfaction, but in the end it's throwing a vote away at best and at worst it's casting a vote for or against one of the very people you don't want.
Only if he does the things the “Biden Administration” does (which is in reality run by unelected elites). Or calls half the country terrorists as Biden periodically screams maniacally at us.
By the way you may be taken more seriously if you don’t use peevish pejoratives to describe people. After all isn’t that what Trump does.
I do not care for your analogy but if you must, it was a benign cyst as opposed to a malignant tumor. Plus it appears, so far, that the people have spoken. Which the R side that is still possible, notwithstanding the likes of McCinnell, Romney and Cheney.
No, it's your opinion and I value it. But the "white supremacists" and "white nationalist" rhetoric is deliberate and calculating to be divisive and, worse, foment discord among the races in our pluralist society. Just as the Hutus called the Tutsi "cockroaches" to murderous and genocidal effect. That Biden uses such terms - regardless of whether he has the mental capacity to understand their caustic effect - makes him a cancer to our society. That's why I used the term and I stand by it because the Democrats are playing with fire.
Hooray for the FP making a difference. Hooray that Imam Mushtaha has been released. I look forward from more stories which highlight the ordinary Gazans voices. Hooray for Ritchie Torres launching an investigation. Instruction not indoctrination is the way to go.
Yes and, even more delicious, can you imagine the hissy fits thrown and gnashing of teeth in the offices of the NY Times every time Bari gains readership or makes news.
Axios did a piece on her as the FP is hiring. Over 77k paid subscribers and 540k free. I should imagine that for Bari leaving the NYT and starting Common Sense (now the Free Press) was one of the best things she ever did. I know I am pleased she did it. https://www.axios.com/2024/01/16/free-press-raise-bari-weiss
“Though the intentions of the map were to highlight the Arabic-speaking countries around the world, we understand the concerns that have been raised, and I express my personal apology for the effect the map has had on some members of our community,”
"Some Members Of Our Community."
That would be those who Think?
“stand[s] against all forms of hate and bias, including antisemitism or Islamophobia.”
PS 261 and the MAP: Tip of the iceberg indeed. What else is being SAID in these classrooms (and thousands of others) about Israel and Jews and as importantly America? How many countries in the world have schools and teachers who teach their children to hate their country? Maybe the UK? Any others? The impact and results of these "teachers" is now on full display on college campuses, in front of the white house and cancer centers and bridges and in corporate settings as well ( we shall see whether the DEI reversal actually occurs or is mere lip service).
BS, you could start by mobilising your American friends and your Israeli family to oust Bibi ASAP and to do something about the religious/nationalist settlers on the West Bank. They are the obstacle to any chance of a lasting peace. When I bring this up with my Jewish friends, they change the subject; it's all too hard because it requires them to confront the conundrum at the foundation of Israel: the central place of religious ultra Orthodox Jews within the State cf. the secular mildly socialist other citizens (plus the Druze and the Arabs). Time to get started.
The best line in "Inherit the Wind" was "Fanatacism never sleeps."
Claims of backpeddaling on DEI must be suspect until proven otherwise. Look for retrenching and circumventing, the same MO colleges are using to dodge SCOTUS on race- biased admissions. In Georgia, DEI "experts" are tossing the statements but injecting DEI racism directly into the subject matter. Read this:
Given the heady, heretofore unchecked power over major institutions, they've no intention of letting it slip from their grasp- the keys to cultural revolution in the United States with virtually no resistance? Hell no. The scope and omnipresence of this thing is astounding. Everything from entertainment awards to the FAA, unelected racist zealots ("experts") are setting the rules, choosing the candidates, dictating the language and the hiring, smearing populations, ditching bothersome standards. With few exceptions, the first thing we see when going to a media or corporate or government website is the DEI pledge. Think, "The Blob."
The effort to undo this will succeed. It will take the same doggedness that got us to this point. The intellectuals and media dissidents who have fought against totalitarianism have so outclassed DEI "scholars" it isn't funny-(actually, it is.) Smart billionaires who care about this country and have vowed to fight indoctrination and racism and antisemitism, are taking the baton.
That's another thing. Cultural and racial Marxists and raging antisemites are co-opting the "Resistance," - as if they're resisting Nazism instead of reviving it. Are you kidding me? Everyone fighting against this is the Resistance.
I'm not any effort to undo it will succeed. i'm just hoping the whole thing will burn itself out as people get sick and tired of it. What happened to ADD and short attention span? For once I wish everyone's short attention span would kick in and move on from this mind virus.
Maybe. But contempt,of Congress and of Court are real things. And direct disobedience of SCOTUS decisions has consequences. Expensive consequences. One positive effect of having the decision in our pockets is that all lower courts are, by law, required to hew to it. So if Asian kids get rejected in favor of…others, they have direct recourse and a much quicker route to monetary judgments.
And everyone is watching. Even/especially smart people.
I like your first paragraph (a good expression of the problem), but I’m a lot more pessimistic about the outcome. I think the “scope and omnipresence” of the attacks on Western civilization are so daunting that we cannot slay the Hydra without some apocalyptic restructuring event (which might destroy more than it preserves). Sigh. Not feeling very hopeful lately... I hope you are right and I am wrong!
I'll just opine, without knowing anything more about BYU than what is said here, that it seems like a just prerogative for BYU to have a "religious test of presence."
I've witnessed, even from the inside, many a Catholic university lose its identity, even to the point of most of its administration and faculty being materially schismatic Catholics, Protestants, non-Christians, or atheists. If an educational institution is defined by a religious identity and mission, at least the majority of its faculty and administration ought to be explicitly such, and any student coming there has to know that there are bounds to what will be acceptable for the sake of the common good of the university community. If you change your mind and can't in good conscience stay there without a public expression of your changed mind, there are other places you can go for an education: you don't have to stay there. Would this be a hardship? Sure, welcome to the world, but you've chosen to make this a public issue and you have to be willing to take the consequences.
People tend to regard "free speech" as an absolute good. It's not: it's a good relative to the common good of those to whom one belongs. Should tolerance be exercised? Yes! Everyone benefits from a liberal approach to speech, which is why it should be allowed: it makes truth more reachable by combining the resources of the community, both in the speculative and practical realm. But when one publicly commits to "I don't believe in our community and what we stand for any longer," then how is that person supposed to be a constructive contributor to the community except as a "Devil's advocate" of sorts? This can be helpful as a minority to keep people honest, but what happens when the majority becomes "Devil's advocates"? Can a community survive? Should it, if it didn't care enough to maintain its identity?
So, if a student entered BYU under a religious test and fails that test along the way, why should BYU continue to hold to that contract? Unless there is some stipulation saying, "If you change your mind later you can stay," they are well within their rights, and relative to their own common good dismissal is probably the right thing for them to do.
To think otherwise would be to impose a foreign religious test upon BYU: Free-Speech Absolutism. People who believe in this (theoretically, at least) are holding to a particular value system based on a more or less implied anthropology that is philosophical, not empirical, and therefore metaphysical. Though it doesn't have a god to worship (or does it?), it remains a quasi-religious metaphysical belief system, somewhat like ancient metaphysics. They should found their own university. I bet it would be a disaster. 😂
Well said! And it doesn't have to be a religious test. I urge everyone to look up the diversity statement by the University of Chicago; it's magnificent. And it explicitly says, "If you cannot stand robust discussion, even offensive views, go somewhere else" "Comfort" is a dirty word at Chicago...
Amen. If you sign a contract which entitles you to obtain certain benefits, and you breach a material provision of the contract, your entitlement to the benefits should reasonably end. The same is true for the education provider. If BYU breaches a material term of the contract, the student’s obligations to BYU also end.
Very thought provoking! I am fascinated by the “contract” argument that you posed. Perhaps the university can indeed decline to continue their side of the good faith contract. A student can go elsewhere. Consequences should apply. It reminds me of how British politicians take responsibility and resign….American politicians take “full responsibility” and stay entrenched without consequence. Sigh…sad state of affairs.
I attended BYU in the mid-1980s, and "participating in Church services" was not part of the Honor Code. Given that non-LDS people have, historically, been allowed to attend BYU, it is antithetical to Church doctrine--specifically to the concept of Free Agency--to require non-LDS students to attend LDS services (which is the only thing I can conclude from the capitalization of "Church services").
I don't pay a lot of attention anymore to happenings at BYU, ever since they decided in the 00s to stop supporting the science fiction symposium (which was then gladly welcomed to Utah Valley University, whose President is Matt Holland, son of former BYU President Jeff Holland). But it sounds to me as if BYU has gone in the wrong direction.
Sadly I do not think DEI is going to die that easily, plus with the money it generates I can’t see the devotees getting off the gravy train without the threat of a mushroom cloud descending down on them.
It may be moving back in some places, but it’s still advancing in others. Cornell University has decided to go all in. So much for learning something from Harvard’s recent issues.
Yeah I think TFP is celebrating too soon. DEI is entrenched. People brainwashed by it aren't going anywhere. Liberal MSN has been decrying right wing racism attacking DEI and harming vulnerable groups, etc. etc. The same old song.
The "wonderful" thing about DEI is that in certain hands it is very useful. For example, the teaching of an intro chemistry class is a hard lot. The subject is difficult and demanding and not an easy A class which means that students will give the class and professor poor reviews. These reviews can negatively impact career evaluation so what can a concerned professor do?
Thanks to DEI a professor can switch to "Afrochemistry" and include inequities in chemistry (Rice University). Finally, a chance to call out the noble gases ( noble is after all a supremecy title) for refusing to mix with other elements and give everyone the feel good A.
Yes you are doing excellent work! So thankful!! Now you must do something about the border since our government is unable. This is yet another huge problem that is going to bring problems of more magnitude for decades. The FP does get results and our country needs you. You got more work to do! 🇺🇸
In the wake of my National Review article on the launch of the American College of Surgeon's DEI Toolkit ( https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/12/its-dei-or-bust-for-the-american-college-of-surgeons/ ) the ACS quietly took down the Toolkit less than two weeks later, without fanfare. When asked why, the ACS leadership equivocated, stating something to the effect that it was revising it. The ACS leadership, in adopting critical race theory, antiracism, and DEI has proved itself just as unqualified to lead the House of Surgery as Claudine Gay was to lead Harvard. It is time for new leadership before surgery is so degraded that patients will have to question their surgeon's competence. Were they chosen to train as surgeons based on merit or because they fit a diversity box? Richard T. Bosshardt, MD, FACS
Addendum: I contacted the ACS today to ask what happened to the DEI toolkit. I received an email from the office of the Executive Director, Patricia Turner, MD, FACS informing me that the toolkit was accessible. I went back to the ACS website and confirmed that the Toolkit is back up. I do not know what, if anything, was done to the toolkit while it was down. Stand by for more on this on my substack: richardtbosshardt.substack.com
Carole Hooven's story is the tip of a huge iceberg. Anyone who imagines that a corner has been turned in the Left-groupthink corruption of the American (and Western) academy....something that has been brewing for 50 years and yet only hit the headlines now....should read Heather Mac Donald's 'The Diversity Delusion' (2018) which I reviewed here: https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/how-diversity-narrows-the-mind
I have enjoyed an email relationship with Heather, who I greatly admire. I read her book, The Diversity Delusion and, as usual with her writing, found it excellent.
Graham, your dates are significant. The group-think corruption began, I think, immediately following the exposure of the socialist tide as an emperor with no clothes; the high tide was around 1975, with America's ignominious retreat from Vietnam, but then the tide went out and socialists have been scrambling around for a raison d'être ever since.
First, the bogey was capitalism (this one never went away); then it was climate change; then inequality; then colonial oppression; then racism. Sometimes - rarely - they made a good point: yes, society needed to wake up about AGW; yes, there were racist cops; yes, wage inequality needed addressing, but too often their disappointment at the failed socialist experiment (the collapse of the USSR; ejection of profligate leftwing governments worldwide) led them into evermore extreme (even delusional) solutions, all of them involving an oppressive state. The current fashion is to call these "culture wars". I think that looks in the wrong place. This is a 50-year (and running) fight about not only cultures but more fundamentally, about who gets to decide how we live our lives and how we have to pay for it.
In my view the roots of all this are a kind of intelligentsia snobbery that goes way back - at least to the 1930s if not before. Socialism and all the other xyzisms have been essentially a peg on which to hang the intelligentsia's sense of itself as more-sophisticated-than-thou....than 'you ordinary people out there beyond our ivory tower'. And it was the relentless expansion of academia that put it all on a exponential upward curve. I have expanded on these themes in various essays including this one: https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/are-we-making-progress.....including this excerpt about my own experience in academia in the early 1970s: "My own father was disdainful of both Progressivism and Capitalism but, in 50s, 60s and 70s Britain, such attitudes were rare even among Tories. My own teenage political stirrings - in the time of Labour Party politics and All You Need is Love youth culture - were a mixed bag. On the one hand society’s need for ‘Equality’ seemed axiomatic to me but, on the other hand, most everyone who talked about it (both politicians and my own teenage peers) struck me as have-your-cake-and-eat-it merchants. Then there was university and the instinctive sense that not being ‘on the Left’ would be really bad for your love life."
Dr B , enjoyed your article. I hope doctors like you keep letting us know what is being taught in our meds schools ( we need to hear more about nursing programs as well in light of what I have heard from recent graduates of these programs).
Leftist worms have burrowed deeply into almost every professional organization and NGO. The results are as devastating as they are unmistakable.
It will take YEARS to unspool the damage done to the country, institutions, communities, and families by the belief in “correct” thought and in “being on the ‘right’ side of history”.
Don’t get me wrong - I LOVE TFP and this fun community of commenters we have, but I do worry about us becoming an echo chamber, here. Comprof2.0 is obnoxious, but that poster seems to be the only one that regularly pushes back on us and I have yet to see an argument that doesn’t end up in “Nyah, Nyah - go away, you troller.” Not to encourage him so much but to ask for more true diversity of thought and commentary here.
Anyway, I do cheer this uncovering of the self-righteous defrauding of Western Civilization while cautioning that I feel this is, as Churchill once said, “rather than the beginning of the end, this may only be the end of the beginning.” Let’s stay on track to more truths being brought to light and leading to a truly more just and fulfilling future (whatever the hell that is…)
On another note, I know of a few people from Obama’s administration and campaigns who left Boston and moved to Chicago to work for OFA to continue Obama’s goals for the country (shudder).
How come nobody ever mentions that? What’s going on with that and how has it stayed under the radar so successfully? What programs and initiatives does it still have up its sleeve?
What’s up with the Obama Presidential Library?
How come Valerie Jarrett’s daughter has rocketed up the ladder at NBCNews and is already a weekend anchor?
Let’s not break our arms patting ourselves on our backs, yet - lots of plot twists and turns coming this year, I’m sure…
Genuinely curious: What would a diverse discussion of DIE look like? Whilst perhaps not as extreme as attempting to nuance various Hamas practices during the 10/7 Unpleasantness, (at risk of proving your point) DIE is a really really hard cesspool in which to find merit. When "compromise" means accepting so much as a tablespoon of raw sewage in a barrel of wine, I have difficulty with it. "We'll fix it later" has as much longevity, it seems, as "never again." (And there IS lively discussion here; most obviously in various candidate-selection arenas.)
One point of discussion on DEI that has been largely missing is the damage it has done to minorities - especially Blacks. A Black person who has done well in school, worked hard to obtain an MD degree and finishes a prestigious residency in surgery will face patients (of all races) who wonder if this is truly a qualified surgeon because of DEI policies. Is this different from the past when racism was the reason for the doubt? No - but current progressive policies have also perpetuated the racism using stupid ideas like “anti-racism” and DEI that are liberal lies that have done as much damage as any old fashioned racism. Truly - Jim Crow 2.0 is the real damage done by DEI in higher education and particularly medical education.
I have now and for a long while viewed any Anmerican Black person in position of responsibilty in government or certain corporations as a token minority hire.
As a person of color myself I was taught to understand, first from mentors and then reinforced by experience that I had to be better than. I had carefully execute my tasks and then when questioned be able to demonstrate the how and the why. Additionally when Murphy's Law struck I had to go to greater lengths than white counterparts and superiors to show where fault lay. Eventually you earn grudgingly given respect but you're only ever as good as what you're doing right now.
The current crop of blacks don't pass my test.
Sorry.
That typed neither do the others.
I was reading that the US Navy is falling way behind in the deliveries of all manner of new construction. The culprit is a lack of skilled labor and especially welders. The few they can find aren't worth their paychecks. That's irrespective of any racial component.
A diverse DISCUSSION of DIE would have to occur IN PERSON, imo. It's become too easy and comfortable to call the Comments and replies on this forum or any other , a "discussion "
In person, there is no where to hide- you are less likely to to simply reply w a sparky comment or NOT reply at all to something that makes total sense.
Just like comedians should not be afraid to 'offend' , Hollywood should be brave enough to push back on the so called ethnic/ gender requirements to CREATE a great storyline, WE should engage with family and friends by asking substantive questions....etc
However, since we have the crutch of Social Media, I'm not sure what it will take to start seeing a
BRAVE
NEW
WORLD 😊
I agree that real world activity is required. But I see value in what happens here. In part because this is a pretty diverse group. I think the common denominator is that there are smart people here capable of genuine critical thought. From different areas of expertise and different locales. And what some describe as an echo chamber I begin to see as building a consensus. I like that people from NY and California see the same things I see from Texas. I even appreciate the input of the lady from France; I rarely agree with her and I frequently do not appreciate the way she expresses herself but I like seeing her point of view. I have really appreciated the input of those from Israel and would like very much to hear from those in Palestine. People have commented about personal knowledge of Ukraine. And Russia. I have scads of life experience and have pretty strong opinions. But I learn here and that has helped refine my POVs which I take with me in my real world interactions.
Who is the Lady from France?
I too would like to see educated. well inform, free thinking, leftist comment on this BBS.
However, well inform, free thinking leaves anybody on the left out.
Compro, never gives a direct answer to a post he doesn't like. Myrna yesterday did nothing but regurgitate left wing propaganda.
So far, from what I have seen, the leftist who post here are ignoramus nut cases who have never questioned their left wing masters.
I am a conservative but I question everything that comes out of our corrupt capital's politician's mouths.
Both parties disgust me. To be fair, this is how our leaders have acted since the first congress met in 1789. I don't believe anything will ever change.
In my opinion the Dems/Connies scare me more that the incompetent Reps.
Casey, Bill Ackmann said it all better than anyone in his piece in TFP, especially because he declared his sympathies with the starting aims on DEI but then exposed how its all gone wrong - devastating! I've sent his articles to everyone who's shown interest.
Oh, and by the way, what was the Harvard groupthink response? No, not serious introspection but an attack on him by attacking his wife. Jeez!
I don't know if your spelling of "DIE" was an unintentional typo or an intentional spelling of the acronym DEI. Whichever, I think "DIE" explains the policy perfectly.
You noticed! I've been as much of a scourge as possible to those who surrender the language. One small example of the pushback.
Well done! hahahaha
Good points.
If you look at the past you will see the many times I tried to engage with Comprof in a spirit of good fellowship. He's a one-trick racist pony with a deep sense of grievance that is anathema to the bounties bestowed on him by this nation. Sorry but that's on him.
I never learn anything from a thread in which Comprof is involved, so I just skip them. I have no time for simple exchanges of insults.
Comprof doesn't provide anything of substance to engage in a meaningful debate. He's just here to stir the pot and troll conservatives.
Yeah - me, too - of course, as soon as I happened to mention him, he popped up an another comment with a tired racism trope. I was just trying to point out the need here for dialog, but used a pretty bad example…
Good info. Thanks. As for Comprof, the reason I label it a troll is it does not offer a meaningful pushback, just snark. I think it may well be artificial. As such it is a waste of my time. I have read others that do offer meaningful pushback though and it has been a pleasure to interact therewith. Plus TFP readership is a pretty large and diverse group, is it possible that rather than being an echo chamber it is the formation of a general consensus among diverse people? Isn't that what we need?
I just phrase it differently -stick to facts and analysis thereof. I can even tolerate a certain amount of ideaology as long as it is honestly expressed. But once your ideaology starts to color your facts you have lost me because then I am suspicious of everything you have said. A corollary of once caught in a lie you are subject to the are you lying now or were you lying then query. And if you are devoid of facts to support your position you are useless to me in terms of my analysis.
It is fatally naive to engage trolls.
JD, how do you know that you are, though?
Nicely written, with a proviso. Almost everyone who tried to engage Comprof2.0 on TFP in a reasonable dialog was met with insults and puerile epithets hurled at them. Hence no one takes the poster seriously, it’s why they get poked regularly and why patience is thin if not completely run out with the poster. Comprof2.0 revels in the behavior by the way, no desire to reach out as far as I can tell.
We can all get testy at times and write fractiously, but to make it a habit, no, a given, is peevish and childish.
Otherwise all are welcome and I for one would enjoy a dialog or debate with serious, but civil posters of the opposite worldview.
Indeed. The average person has no idea, because the scope of it is so vast. For example:
Despite recent near-disaster air incidents, the FAA (in its wisdom) has announced it is doubling down on its diversity programs. It is, in particular, looking to hire people with “...complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability...psychiatric disability”. Now, isn’t that reassuring?
Imagine: Flight 2462 is incoming with an SOS, but Air Traffic Control can’t handle it because one of the controllers on shift is having an epileptic episode, and another is in psychiatric crisis. Fabulous.
And this is for the greater good because, according to the FAA, “diversity is integral to achieving FAA’s mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel across our nation and beyond.”
Bon voyage! [https://www.faa.gov/jobs/diversity_inclusion]
Unfortunately, these ill conceived programs have been so completely integrated into our legal and governmental systems over the past few years that it would take a decade or more to completely unravel them. We have won a few skirmishes lately, but they are a drop in the bucket.
To be fair, the FAA has more positions than ATC, they are an enormous government bureaucracy with clerks and all sorts of jobs. However, this is clearly government handouts with extra steps. You hire someone with a severe disability, they’re even more unfirable than a regular gov. employee.
You are right to point out that my hyperbole with my ATC crack may have been excessive, but even if they are being hired as clerks (until AI takes over), is this really a good way to run anything (even a government agency)?
Perhaps the most odious part of Wokeism is its unrelenting promotion of identity over merit. Human beings should be “equal under the law”, but we can NEVER be “equal” (in intelligence, athleticism, beauty, mechanical ability, humor, etc.). That’s why watching the NBA is massively more entertaining than watching third graders in PE class -- people at the top of their game (in any field) represent humanity at its best.
Plus can you legally deny them any position? Are we about to have an army, navy and air force of special needs folks too?
Abso-frigging-lutely!
We are so fortunate to have The Free Press. After years of MSM gaslighting, the momentum for moderate and truth-seeking voices is building. It couldn't be more timely. Hopefully one day, truth will be the norm again, not the exception.
God willing!
Ref Superintendent Rafael Alvarez on Israel being left off the map, "...I express my personal apology for the effect the map has had on some members of our community” - that's what's known in our house as a Bill Clinton apology ("I'm sorry if you were offended"). What other classrooms have that map? Is there going to be a review of ALL the materials furnished by those fine people in Qatar? Why is any foreign government funding NYC education? I mean, how stupid are we??
Moreover if you think the funding is limited to Qatar, I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale. What about all those Confucius Institutes? All the foreign students whose tuition, board and expenses are paid by their governments. Our entire university system is nothing but a gigantic fifth column with the aim of destroying the United States of America as we know it.
You should see some of the contracts employed with regard to Chinese national students at our research institutions. It has been a few years since I read one but it was stunning.
💯
"I mean, how stupid are we??"
I'm going to assume that question to be rhetorical. The real answer is far too depressing to contemplate
“The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.”—Albert Einstein
Brilliant!
How about she expresses regret for having wrong information in the classroom? The pronoun game goes the same route of teaching students incorrect English. It's one thing to have a debate about the topics, it's an entirely different universe when facts are not allowed to be presented.
"Bill Clinton apology ("I'm sorry if you were offended")"
Thumbs Up!
Loved that comment!
How about the fact that 20% of Israelis are Arabs and that Arabic is an official language and appears on signs all over Israel. So the excuse that the map was intended to reflect Arabic- speaking countries is just a tad disingenuous.
“We”?
I tried to read the local school budget (it's available online). It is next door to impossible to decipher it unless you're an accountant. I guess I should go to the next board meeting and simply ask the question: Hey are any terrorists supplying curriculum materials to our children?
They deliberately do that to confuse the parents. The grift starts from the budget or as my late Dad would have said “Bullshit baffles brains”
Best of luck getting an honest answer to that.
They would crayfish. Maybe a FOIA for the identity of all curricula materials and the source of funding thereof. Remember that 501(c)(3)s have to post their tax returns and many of these funds are distributed under the guise of charity. Then go to that meeting with very pointed questions. Usually there is a time limit in members of the public. They won't know the answers so get them to commit to a future response.
Though it is great to see DEI getting rolled back, what to combat it with? These people are not going away quietly. I suggest a movement that goes after each pillar. Rather than Diversity, celebrate the individual. When we look at a person as part of a group, we miss who they are as a person. We want you to be the best version of yourself and not be pigeonholed into thoughts assigned to you that might be popular.
Rather than Inclusion is Teamwork. When joining any organization, you join the team and assume the responsibility within it. This is the tricky part: You can be the best you, but when you are on a team, it has to blend harmoniously as in a symphony. If you want to be yourself, be an entrepreneur and create your own band.
Finally, replace Equity for Excellence. Equity is a weasel word for Communism. It has and will never work. In any organization, one has to perform. One only gets a piece of the pie if one earns it and gets more than agreed upon unless one achieves it. Society progresses through the excellence of great people and organizations. We should want everyone to be the best version of themselves, which makes an organization great. Then, you can attack the proponents of DEI, protecting your flank from the charges of racism, and instead go after them as ideologues who are pushing a failed and destructive ideology. I am so happy it's getting pulled out, but winning the ideological battle is so essential.
While DEI might get pulled out of some, perhaps many universities. You’ve got better odds of catching on fire than it ever coming out of HBCUs. It’s become part of the very fabric of HBCU administration & leadership. Only a federal ban & withholding of federal dollars will root this out and there’s no political will on either side of the aisle to fight that battle.
You have to wonder if this is by design. Saddle those poor students with tens of thousands of dollars of debt and no skills to compete, then when they fail, scream systemic racism, its a vicious cycle. The only way I see it is going after the people with debt and say you were sold a bill of goods but sadly you are right. That is an edemic problem we have going forward.
Create the problem, sell the solution.
Let the country get infected because, "racism is more dangerous than a virus", then make tens of billions of dollars on selling the shot.
Tell people for 20 years racism is everywhere, then make 200k a year to tell them where the racism is.
Wonder?
Excellent, well thought and said. 👏🏻
This makes my heart sing.
I like your thinking but two thoughts: First, the individual being key is a sine qua non for any sustainable structure. Possibly THE sine qua non. Extending the basis to even small groups is what makes group IDs possible (and too-frequently abusable). The other is marketability. What I like about Mr Loveland's oeuvre is (near) punchiness -- you could fit its points on bumper stickers and/or within the couch potato attention span. You've done well on the how-tos.
This discussion makes my heart sing.
This discussion makes my heart sing.
Let us all know when the DEI departments in colleges and corporations have been scaled back substantially if not eliminated. TFP: please publish the size and budgets and key salaries of major college and corporate DEI groups. It would tell quite a tale.
It's disgusting what DEI people make.
People in my job need to actively keep up with a dozen modern, evolving technologies to do our work, and the DEI people get paid double to chant a formulaic catechism and host ethnic parties. They are a parasitic priest class with a racist belief system.
As part of the budget cuts this year, University of Nebraska/Lincoln has proposed cutting DEI budget by $800K. Not sure what the total DEI budget is (no reporter is interested I guess). We'll have to see if the cuts go through.
My friend is an alum of the University of Michigan. They have 27 (!) diversity officers. Human nature being what it is, they will of course find lots and lots of failings in the university's diversity, requiring compulsory training sessions, mea culpas all round, etc.
“If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” Abraham Maslow
🔥
so happy to hear Ala Mohammed Mushtaha father was released!
Isn't that the greatest news? How often does something good happen?
Gratifying as well to read that a fatwa was issued by Iraqi clerics against Hamas. We are always asking whether there are any sane Muslims.
While I’m glad to see some of the DEI overreach get checked in several states, I’d much rather see the institutions themselves roll these programs back due to their ineffectiveness and conflicts with free speech, rather than legislators in only red states banning them. Lots of these places will merely rename their DEI offices like one is the TX schools and continue doing the same. I wish there were good news here, but I don’t think we’re there quite yet.
My thoughts exactly.
If you think DEI programs drive apart colleagues and students, what do you reckon the senile imbecile in the White House shrieking and yammering about illusory "white supremacists" and MAGA insurrectionists is doing to our beloved nation? Biden is a clear and present danger to America and needs to be removed and excised like the metastasizing tumor he is.
Bruce, I love your subtlety!
When we remove this tumor, can we agree not to implant an orange haired cyst?
The "orange haired cyst" of course did none of the things you prophesied or accused him of. You're really quite mad to make light of Biden's treachery.
I prophesied before he was elected that he would complete jerk. Got that one right
I thought he was self-centered and acted like a five-year-old most of the time. Check
He’s fired or said bad things about every intelligent person who’s ever worked for him. I will admit he’s right on occasion, but so is a broken watch.
I voted for him once, but January 6 was entirely too predictable. He’d loved it. Anyone who thinks he would put America above his own interests is a fool.
My plumber is a jerk, but he cleans up the sewage in my basement. Shows up on time and and charges a fair rate. I am neither interested nor care what he does in his free time, nor who he sleeps with (unless it's children or animals.)
You derive a lot of those beliefs from his critics, whose integrity could not be lower.
I derive most of my beliefs from watching what he says on TV and reading direct quotes. I don’t need his critics to tell me what I can see with my own eyes.
If he had ever actually learned to keep his mouth shut, he would be president now with a majority in the Senate. He has had every chance to prove me wrong, but so far…
"orange haired cyst"
And You Say This...Why?
He was a pretty good CENTER/Right President. Not perfect, but pretty good. And that's as much as any reasonable person can expect.
Oh, I can expect a lot more than Donald Trump in the White House. Unreasonable people seem a lot happier with him.
Couple of thoughts (in no particular order)
1. I have seen Polls that show Large numbers of people (voters?) don't want either Donald Trump OR Joe Biden.
2. I consider myself (and those in my circle) pretty reasonable. While others would prefer another candidate,, they would with a smile on their lips and a song in their heart Vote for Donald Trump. Reason being he would be 148.732% better than anyone one the (modern Post Obama) Democratic Party puts up. (BTW would be surprised if it was Grand Pa Joe. Shortly before the Convention He will drop out to "Spend More Time With His Family". I don't know Who it will be.)
3. On Jan. 20 2017 Donald Trump was an amateur politician. didn't really know The Rules and how to get things done. This is no longer true. I expect him to get More of his agenda done IF he wins. (Assuming he is the GOP candidate. Talk to me in early March)
How about NO for Trump, NO for Biden, and above all, NO sequel, as The Media© will double-down on all the flaws (real or imagined) on both. Creating an electorate that hates and is voting against both candidates is a great media strategy. Just not very good for the country.
Wait, hold the phone, the media points out Biden's flaws? Where? When? If it is so it is only to grease the wheels for that last minute, after he is ordained at the primary, switcheroo.
You're stuck voting for the two choices a majority of America wants.
A vote for anyone else may offer temporary satisfaction, but in the end it's throwing a vote away at best and at worst it's casting a vote for or against one of the very people you don't want.
It's either the ancient, dried up chicken or the duck a l'orange. I know my menu choice.
I don’t think that’s how democracy works, Chuck. People are supposed to get to choose.
What part of “can we agree” doesn’t sound like a choice? We get to vote. Let’s not vote for Donald.
Don't vote for Trump.
Vote for what he represents....the party, its principals, and the people they protect.
Only if he does the things the “Biden Administration” does (which is in reality run by unelected elites). Or calls half the country terrorists as Biden periodically screams maniacally at us.
By the way you may be taken more seriously if you don’t use peevish pejoratives to describe people. After all isn’t that what Trump does.
I do not care for your analogy but if you must, it was a benign cyst as opposed to a malignant tumor. Plus it appears, so far, that the people have spoken. Which the R side that is still possible, notwithstanding the likes of McCinnell, Romney and Cheney.
But who is he replaced by? Is there ANY DEMOCRAT who wouldn't be a clear and present danger to America?
No, it's your opinion and I value it. But the "white supremacists" and "white nationalist" rhetoric is deliberate and calculating to be divisive and, worse, foment discord among the races in our pluralist society. Just as the Hutus called the Tutsi "cockroaches" to murderous and genocidal effect. That Biden uses such terms - regardless of whether he has the mental capacity to understand their caustic effect - makes him a cancer to our society. That's why I used the term and I stand by it because the Democrats are playing with fire.
Hooray for the FP making a difference. Hooray that Imam Mushtaha has been released. I look forward from more stories which highlight the ordinary Gazans voices. Hooray for Ritchie Torres launching an investigation. Instruction not indoctrination is the way to go.
Reasons why I am pleased to subscribe to the FP
Yes and, even more delicious, can you imagine the hissy fits thrown and gnashing of teeth in the offices of the NY Times every time Bari gains readership or makes news.
Axios did a piece on her as the FP is hiring. Over 77k paid subscribers and 540k free. I should imagine that for Bari leaving the NYT and starting Common Sense (now the Free Press) was one of the best things she ever did. I know I am pleased she did it. https://www.axios.com/2024/01/16/free-press-raise-bari-weiss
Bari is so smart and I really admire all of the work she is doing and am excited to see it continue.
A Smart Guy said that revenge is a dish best served cold.
“Though the intentions of the map were to highlight the Arabic-speaking countries around the world, we understand the concerns that have been raised, and I express my personal apology for the effect the map has had on some members of our community,”
"Some Members Of Our Community."
That would be those who Think?
“stand[s] against all forms of hate and bias, including antisemitism or Islamophobia.”
Why do I question that?
Translation: Oh Crap We Got Caught!"
🎯
PS 261 and the MAP: Tip of the iceberg indeed. What else is being SAID in these classrooms (and thousands of others) about Israel and Jews and as importantly America? How many countries in the world have schools and teachers who teach their children to hate their country? Maybe the UK? Any others? The impact and results of these "teachers" is now on full display on college campuses, in front of the white house and cancer centers and bridges and in corporate settings as well ( we shall see whether the DEI reversal actually occurs or is mere lip service).
That principal's apology reminds me of KJP. People are pointing out and asking about antisemitism. What does Islamophobia have to do with it?
There's been no widespread Islamophobia resulting from 10/7. But these people keep crying Islamophobia. What are they talking about?
ABAV. Always be a victim. Apologies to David Mamet
BS, you could start by mobilising your American friends and your Israeli family to oust Bibi ASAP and to do something about the religious/nationalist settlers on the West Bank. They are the obstacle to any chance of a lasting peace. When I bring this up with my Jewish friends, they change the subject; it's all too hard because it requires them to confront the conundrum at the foundation of Israel: the central place of religious ultra Orthodox Jews within the State cf. the secular mildly socialist other citizens (plus the Druze and the Arabs). Time to get started.
The best line in "Inherit the Wind" was "Fanatacism never sleeps."
Claims of backpeddaling on DEI must be suspect until proven otherwise. Look for retrenching and circumventing, the same MO colleges are using to dodge SCOTUS on race- biased admissions. In Georgia, DEI "experts" are tossing the statements but injecting DEI racism directly into the subject matter. Read this:
https://www.thecollegefix.com/georgia-universities-rebrand-rename-diversity-efforts-in-wake-of-new-anti-dei-regulations/
Given the heady, heretofore unchecked power over major institutions, they've no intention of letting it slip from their grasp- the keys to cultural revolution in the United States with virtually no resistance? Hell no. The scope and omnipresence of this thing is astounding. Everything from entertainment awards to the FAA, unelected racist zealots ("experts") are setting the rules, choosing the candidates, dictating the language and the hiring, smearing populations, ditching bothersome standards. With few exceptions, the first thing we see when going to a media or corporate or government website is the DEI pledge. Think, "The Blob."
The effort to undo this will succeed. It will take the same doggedness that got us to this point. The intellectuals and media dissidents who have fought against totalitarianism have so outclassed DEI "scholars" it isn't funny-(actually, it is.) Smart billionaires who care about this country and have vowed to fight indoctrination and racism and antisemitism, are taking the baton.
That's another thing. Cultural and racial Marxists and raging antisemites are co-opting the "Resistance," - as if they're resisting Nazism instead of reviving it. Are you kidding me? Everyone fighting against this is the Resistance.
I'm not any effort to undo it will succeed. i'm just hoping the whole thing will burn itself out as people get sick and tired of it. What happened to ADD and short attention span? For once I wish everyone's short attention span would kick in and move on from this mind virus.
Given enough fuel, most fires don't burn themselves out. You've got to stomp them out.
Nicely put.
Maybe. But contempt,of Congress and of Court are real things. And direct disobedience of SCOTUS decisions has consequences. Expensive consequences. One positive effect of having the decision in our pockets is that all lower courts are, by law, required to hew to it. So if Asian kids get rejected in favor of…others, they have direct recourse and a much quicker route to monetary judgments.
And everyone is watching. Even/especially smart people.
I like your first paragraph (a good expression of the problem), but I’m a lot more pessimistic about the outcome. I think the “scope and omnipresence” of the attacks on Western civilization are so daunting that we cannot slay the Hydra without some apocalyptic restructuring event (which might destroy more than it preserves). Sigh. Not feeling very hopeful lately... I hope you are right and I am wrong!
I'll just opine, without knowing anything more about BYU than what is said here, that it seems like a just prerogative for BYU to have a "religious test of presence."
I've witnessed, even from the inside, many a Catholic university lose its identity, even to the point of most of its administration and faculty being materially schismatic Catholics, Protestants, non-Christians, or atheists. If an educational institution is defined by a religious identity and mission, at least the majority of its faculty and administration ought to be explicitly such, and any student coming there has to know that there are bounds to what will be acceptable for the sake of the common good of the university community. If you change your mind and can't in good conscience stay there without a public expression of your changed mind, there are other places you can go for an education: you don't have to stay there. Would this be a hardship? Sure, welcome to the world, but you've chosen to make this a public issue and you have to be willing to take the consequences.
People tend to regard "free speech" as an absolute good. It's not: it's a good relative to the common good of those to whom one belongs. Should tolerance be exercised? Yes! Everyone benefits from a liberal approach to speech, which is why it should be allowed: it makes truth more reachable by combining the resources of the community, both in the speculative and practical realm. But when one publicly commits to "I don't believe in our community and what we stand for any longer," then how is that person supposed to be a constructive contributor to the community except as a "Devil's advocate" of sorts? This can be helpful as a minority to keep people honest, but what happens when the majority becomes "Devil's advocates"? Can a community survive? Should it, if it didn't care enough to maintain its identity?
So, if a student entered BYU under a religious test and fails that test along the way, why should BYU continue to hold to that contract? Unless there is some stipulation saying, "If you change your mind later you can stay," they are well within their rights, and relative to their own common good dismissal is probably the right thing for them to do.
To think otherwise would be to impose a foreign religious test upon BYU: Free-Speech Absolutism. People who believe in this (theoretically, at least) are holding to a particular value system based on a more or less implied anthropology that is philosophical, not empirical, and therefore metaphysical. Though it doesn't have a god to worship (or does it?), it remains a quasi-religious metaphysical belief system, somewhat like ancient metaphysics. They should found their own university. I bet it would be a disaster. 😂
Thank you, Father! A robust “free speech” environment does not give you freedom from experiencing discomfort!
Well said! And it doesn't have to be a religious test. I urge everyone to look up the diversity statement by the University of Chicago; it's magnificent. And it explicitly says, "If you cannot stand robust discussion, even offensive views, go somewhere else" "Comfort" is a dirty word at Chicago...
Amen. If you sign a contract which entitles you to obtain certain benefits, and you breach a material provision of the contract, your entitlement to the benefits should reasonably end. The same is true for the education provider. If BYU breaches a material term of the contract, the student’s obligations to BYU also end.
Very thought provoking! I am fascinated by the “contract” argument that you posed. Perhaps the university can indeed decline to continue their side of the good faith contract. A student can go elsewhere. Consequences should apply. It reminds me of how British politicians take responsibility and resign….American politicians take “full responsibility” and stay entrenched without consequence. Sigh…sad state of affairs.
I attended BYU in the mid-1980s, and "participating in Church services" was not part of the Honor Code. Given that non-LDS people have, historically, been allowed to attend BYU, it is antithetical to Church doctrine--specifically to the concept of Free Agency--to require non-LDS students to attend LDS services (which is the only thing I can conclude from the capitalization of "Church services").
I don't pay a lot of attention anymore to happenings at BYU, ever since they decided in the 00s to stop supporting the science fiction symposium (which was then gladly welcomed to Utah Valley University, whose President is Matt Holland, son of former BYU President Jeff Holland). But it sounds to me as if BYU has gone in the wrong direction.
Sadly I do not think DEI is going to die that easily, plus with the money it generates I can’t see the devotees getting off the gravy train without the threat of a mushroom cloud descending down on them.
I’m good with a mushroom cloud over DEI.
It may not be easy, but it will die.
It may take awhile, but there's a budding generation who, like those before them, resist authority and their elders who promulgate it.
And many prefer Trump to Biden
It may be moving back in some places, but it’s still advancing in others. Cornell University has decided to go all in. So much for learning something from Harvard’s recent issues.
Yeah I think TFP is celebrating too soon. DEI is entrenched. People brainwashed by it aren't going anywhere. Liberal MSN has been decrying right wing racism attacking DEI and harming vulnerable groups, etc. etc. The same old song.
The "wonderful" thing about DEI is that in certain hands it is very useful. For example, the teaching of an intro chemistry class is a hard lot. The subject is difficult and demanding and not an easy A class which means that students will give the class and professor poor reviews. These reviews can negatively impact career evaluation so what can a concerned professor do?
Thanks to DEI a professor can switch to "Afrochemistry" and include inequities in chemistry (Rice University). Finally, a chance to call out the noble gases ( noble is after all a supremecy title) for refusing to mix with other elements and give everyone the feel good A.
DEI is a little too new to be entrenched. It may be a fad, or the left's current raison d'etre.
To see it already dying in some places gives cause to celebrate.
Yes you are doing excellent work! So thankful!! Now you must do something about the border since our government is unable. This is yet another huge problem that is going to bring problems of more magnitude for decades. The FP does get results and our country needs you. You got more work to do! 🇺🇸