Thank you for this article. I have been searching for academics/ professionals who have not lost their minds...looks like I have found one!
I find it terrifying at what looks like world-wide consensus on ideas that perpetuate darkness, destruction and poisonous thinking.
As someone who thanks Cognitive Behavior Therapy for saving my life, saving my self-agency...for giving me back the power I forgot I had: the power to decide mindset, perspectives ..the power to let go of mind-monsters that hold me back from being the best version of myself, etc, etc...I cannot comprehend how all this focus on FEEDING negativity we perceive from OTHERS..how does this HELP anyone? No one has power over OTHERS, we only have control of ourselves- of our own thinking.
As a child- when I DECIDED to stop taking everything so personally, when I started to have a sense of humor about myself, when I stopped always focusing inward and looked outward on how to be kind to others, to know myself ....most of the teasing, bullying stopped. The few who persisted no longer affected me, because I had the tools to not give them power anymore.
How can these new ideologies actually help people deal with life in a positive way?
Rhetorical question, b/c I already know they can't. It really feels like very dark times we are in.
This is all great information and it's a public service to provide this. But like other careful reviews of the academic literature on things like "implicit bias" and "stereotype threat," how do you use it effectively in practice?
When a staff member announces that they will be holding a workshop on "microaggressions" or a faculty member claims that "students of color are constantly suffering microaggressions on our campus" at a meeting, what can you do? The un-falsifiability of the concept works in its favor here to effectively pre-empt all dissent.
I suspect too that pointing out the issues raised in this post publicly will simply enrage supporters and get them to target you professionally. It seems unlikely as well that such events will be cancelled or even modified to include "both sides" if such objections are raised. If anything, offering an opposing view seems likely to lead to enforced DEI seminars for all to "heal" from the "hateful language" and "hurt" caused by raising questions. Maybe there will be an "investigation" by the campus DEI team and the faculty member who raises such objections will be targeted for "causing harm" and barred from teaching required classes.
Very curious to hear from anyone who has successfully pushed back on the specifics of how they framed it.
Thank you for this article. I have been searching for academics/ professionals who have not lost their minds...looks like I have found one!
I find it terrifying at what looks like world-wide consensus on ideas that perpetuate darkness, destruction and poisonous thinking.
As someone who thanks Cognitive Behavior Therapy for saving my life, saving my self-agency...for giving me back the power I forgot I had: the power to decide mindset, perspectives ..the power to let go of mind-monsters that hold me back from being the best version of myself, etc, etc...I cannot comprehend how all this focus on FEEDING negativity we perceive from OTHERS..how does this HELP anyone? No one has power over OTHERS, we only have control of ourselves- of our own thinking.
As a child- when I DECIDED to stop taking everything so personally, when I started to have a sense of humor about myself, when I stopped always focusing inward and looked outward on how to be kind to others, to know myself ....most of the teasing, bullying stopped. The few who persisted no longer affected me, because I had the tools to not give them power anymore.
How can these new ideologies actually help people deal with life in a positive way?
Rhetorical question, b/c I already know they can't. It really feels like very dark times we are in.
Anyway- I enjoy your newsletters!
-Cari
Excellent work Lee, I enjoyed reading it
This is all great information and it's a public service to provide this. But like other careful reviews of the academic literature on things like "implicit bias" and "stereotype threat," how do you use it effectively in practice?
When a staff member announces that they will be holding a workshop on "microaggressions" or a faculty member claims that "students of color are constantly suffering microaggressions on our campus" at a meeting, what can you do? The un-falsifiability of the concept works in its favor here to effectively pre-empt all dissent.
I suspect too that pointing out the issues raised in this post publicly will simply enrage supporters and get them to target you professionally. It seems unlikely as well that such events will be cancelled or even modified to include "both sides" if such objections are raised. If anything, offering an opposing view seems likely to lead to enforced DEI seminars for all to "heal" from the "hateful language" and "hurt" caused by raising questions. Maybe there will be an "investigation" by the campus DEI team and the faculty member who raises such objections will be targeted for "causing harm" and barred from teaching required classes.
Very curious to hear from anyone who has successfully pushed back on the specifics of how they framed it.