This holds up no matter what the trauma. This is a bit personal, but I was sexually assaulted by a family member when I was 3. I didn't realize how much it affected the way I saw the world until I was in my 20's and went to therapy. The therapist helped me to change the way I operated around men. She allowed me to free myself from approaching every single male on the earth in the exact same way (a destructive way that was eating away at my self-esteem). I was able to see men as individuals, rather than as part of some collective I had invented to protect myself. And, it changed my life. It probably saved my life.
Yes. And people who have been truly traumatized find it very difficult to listen to those who say they are traumatized by unpleasant -- but normal -- life events. Maybe these people need to spend a day helping out in the burn unit or volunteering with trafficking survivors.
1. Challenge claims of racism. Racism is horrible and as such should be seriously considered. Claims of racism may be actually false. Accepting any and all claims without scrutiny, without the expectation of evidence beyond one’s feelings perpetuates the perceived problem.
2. Challenge claims of inter generational trauma. If someone is feeling trauma from something that happened to someone else then the first person is just appropriating the second person’s trauma. And thank goodness for that. All people have ancestors who were brutally treated. All people likely have relatives who were enslaved.
To help people we should help them learn to challenge their perceptions and conclusions. It is very likely they are just wrong.
Definitely. It's created 1,000 mental tripwires everywhere triggering "trauma". Real trauma, I've seen, is often on the other end of unspeakably horrible events not comments on hair texture. We are literally training people to be weak of mind.
As a heterosexual white male - I’m feeling the trauma of racial preferences in the work place. Maybe a safe space would help…but I think growing thicker skin is the real solution. Hard work and a belief in Meritocracy will take me farther than wallowing in self pity over my supposed “trauma”. Time to get back to basics were merit matters and DEI hires flounder (Aka Claudine Gay).
So-called racial/generational/historical trauma and microaggression are fictional social constructs designed to perpetuate victimhood status and expand its reach. Trauma does indeed touch many more people than simply combat veterans, but its use in explaining every ill in society does nothing more than lay a foundation for reparations payments and other empty symbolic gestures. These categories are part of a larger trend of psychopathologizing and politicizing ordinary behavior in order to promote the social status of anyone with vague grievances.
Wow! You are the rebel warrior, aren't you, Dr. Gustilo! I just Googled you and found your lawsuit against a healthcare facility for racial discrimination - for not being a racist enough person of colour ;) You are Da Awesome! I can just imagine you got into all sorts of trouble being 'pro-human', refusing to be a victim, refusing to infantilize others with victimhood. I've actually been writing about FAIR this week in connection with some work they're doing fighting DEI initiatives in a New England school system. They sure are gadflies to the 'woke' - their critics paint FAIR as 'right-wing' and I'm like, "Dude, you don't know what 'right-wing' is!" You wrote an AWESOME article and I'm so glad to see another POC standing up for what's right. We all have to fight against the extremists of our own tribe, because they won't listen to outsiders. You said what 'antiracists' need to hear whether they like it or not (it's like spinach to toddlers; it's good for them!) 'Antiracism' and 'DEI' is clearly a lot more racist and I think the 'E' in DEI stands for Exclusion - of anyone who's no white, woke, or has an alternative opinion. Thanks for your article and keep up the good work, Dr. Gustilo! Power to the (human) people! :)
FAIR is doing something about DEI in a New England school district?? Could you link any info? K-12, under blue state dept of education directiives, is indoctrinating children so effectively that it'll soon be a school-to-Antifa pipeline. Higher ed is becoming irrelevant. Thanks for any info!
I've been writing an article about it but it won't be out for another few weeks. Follow me if you want to see if when it comes out. My slant is on how detached from reality the pro-DEI parents are, that they can't fathom considering whether perhaps they're going too far with 'racial equity', that perhaps their critics have a few good points. At least MA is less white (72%) than the northern New England states, all of which hover at around 90% white. (I'm from CT myself although I live in Toronto now). This article is slanted pro-DEI which is why I based my own article on it. I also note that it's more of a face-off of liberals vs illiberals than right vs left and that it shows some cooperation with right-wing groups which we need to see more of if we're going to fix our problems. (Hoping moderate conservatives will likewise see the need to work with left-wing groups sharing similar goals).
So far, I can't confirm the allegation that FAIR works with Moms for Liberty, but I speculate in the article that they could have found themselves at those 'town halls' on the same side, cooperating by happenstance. If we work together more, maybe we'll accept each other's ideas, and even slightly moderate our own?
FAIR is lumped in with the right-wing groups and I defend them against that in my article. Also, PDE (Parents Defending Education) IS a right-wing group funded by the Koch network. We need to stop running from the 'right wing' accusation and own our alliance sometimes with them. Like it or not, we've ALL got to work together to end this 'social justice' crap. And let's keep reminding the illiberals (the woke) that they're neither liberal nor progressive (anymore). WE are the true 'progressives'.
This is priceless! Thank you! Wow, those all-white women "upstanders" must be fired up from their Race2dinner self confessions. How do they not see how patronizing they are? I have a million ideas on this, but the most important is the need to get immigrant parents involved. You're right, MA is more diverse than most of New England and much of that diversity is in immigrant communities that are much more socially conservative than average. Also more patriotic in most cases. FAIR needs to get on Spanish and Portuguese language media for starters. Parent groups also need to demand information on parent's rights in all the home languages of the district. I would love to see Arabic and Somali translations explaining the "gender spectrum" curriculum and rules preventing teachers from sharing information with parents, for example. White elites are using DEI and faux compassion to railroad through highly unpopular and divisive ideologies. Let the people rise up! Thanks so much for sharing and for your work!
My article comes out next Wednesday if you want to see it. The WGBH story is interesting, innit? The virtue signalling made me want to hurl. "It's all about WHITE SUPREMACIST politics! If they don't agree with us they're riding the Klan trail straight into Boston!" I'm reading more about LWA - Left-Wing Authoritarianism - now that I finally have a name for what I've been seeing but not sure what to call it. A book I just read (Left Is Not Woke) traces how the far left is slowly coming into alignment with the far right - they may actually become allies ;( This authoritarian streak has *got* to be squashed...on both sides. And this crap they're forcing on parents is where Ground Zero for reclamation of sanity resides.
Dr. Glenn Loury had me rolling on the floor with laughter after reading the expressions of his alleged integrity. He hasn't realized that his *honorary white card* is limited. He has melanin, unlike the Irish, Italians, Slavs, and Mexicans. Many Mexicans identify as white, noting it on documents. Lol!
White women and migrants have been the greatest benefactors of affirmative action policies. Silicon Valley is an excellent example. And there aren't enough good jobs for everyone. Prisons handle the surplus labor, wherein corporations greatly profit. For example, Burger King's beef mostly comes from black prison labor at Angola State Prison where they raise cattle for beef.
I just finished Douglas Rushkoff's Survival of the Richest about billionaire bunkers and why they'll never work - and how the 'apocalypse' is only everyone wins, or everyone loses, but we all win if we change to more of a circular growth economic model, and he uses black communities that have done this for decades, reinvesting in their communities rather than growing linearly and accumulating wealth. As a result, all boats are lifted and everyone lives comfortable lives (although no one has enough to build giant interstellar penises :) ) So there IS a way out, but do we have the imagination and the willpower to pull it off?
I agree! Focusing on others' (possibly) bad views and beliefs teaches people to limit themselves.
I grew up overweight in the 90s, which was no fun. Skinny equaled pretty. When I was a tween, I went through a horrible phase where I was convinced everybody was aware of and commenting on my chunkiness. In reality it was my own fears and insecurities. Exactly 2 classmates ever teased me about it.
I realized from this experience that I was essentially oppressing myself. I kept myself from trying new things and talking to people because I "knew" I would be judged and bullied. Most of it was in my head, and the rest was in fashion magazines.
Many people at my school were fat, too, but I got so defensive that I couldn't see all that. It was me against the world, and any glance at me or conversation I couldn't hear was "proof" of "their" attitudes towards me. Turns out, it was mainly just me.
It seems like there’s an underlying incentive for presenting oneself as a victim in some interactions. It’s breaking apart conversations or civil discourse, because a person’s merit gets thrown out the window or they don’t get the benefit of the doubt if the person doing the supposed “micro aggressions” or proposals are from a certain race. It’s annoying that a simple question like “where are you from” could spark offense. Like yes, if it really is from ill intent then shut that down. But making that statement like a taboo thing inhibits our ability to understand each other. Asking questions too. Because it’s either that or assumption, which we wouldn’t want either.
Its just patently obvious how the obsession with 'race' has turned, against of all groups, African-Americans. There is a seething irritation, a frustrated rancor, now facing African-Americans but not all the other diverse groups of non-white people, based on nothing to do with their 'race', history, attributes or character, but simply stemming from an infuriating exhaustion at this nonstop barrage of race guilt.
Right, making every third actor in ads, popups, billboards, TV shows, movies, and websites black - that was always going to solve the problem. Great thinking!
The only thing worse than the endless DEI/CRT fusillades is the complete lack of evidence used to support the whole corrupt system. We all know numerous Claudine Gays. We all know why people are hired, why some people can't be corrected at work regardless of the inanity of their statements, why some people are favored, why some are clearly in over their heads, and why so many, usually white people, are overlooked or insulted on a daily basis.
Thank you for such a great description of the problem.
Teaching people to assume and search for mal intent is no way to have a healthy multicultural society or any healthy society.
You are so right, but the people driving this crazy movement are making out like bandits....publicity, “honor”, funding of all kinds.
This holds up no matter what the trauma. This is a bit personal, but I was sexually assaulted by a family member when I was 3. I didn't realize how much it affected the way I saw the world until I was in my 20's and went to therapy. The therapist helped me to change the way I operated around men. She allowed me to free myself from approaching every single male on the earth in the exact same way (a destructive way that was eating away at my self-esteem). I was able to see men as individuals, rather than as part of some collective I had invented to protect myself. And, it changed my life. It probably saved my life.
Yes. And people who have been truly traumatized find it very difficult to listen to those who say they are traumatized by unpleasant -- but normal -- life events. Maybe these people need to spend a day helping out in the burn unit or volunteering with trafficking survivors.
1. Challenge claims of racism. Racism is horrible and as such should be seriously considered. Claims of racism may be actually false. Accepting any and all claims without scrutiny, without the expectation of evidence beyond one’s feelings perpetuates the perceived problem.
2. Challenge claims of inter generational trauma. If someone is feeling trauma from something that happened to someone else then the first person is just appropriating the second person’s trauma. And thank goodness for that. All people have ancestors who were brutally treated. All people likely have relatives who were enslaved.
To help people we should help them learn to challenge their perceptions and conclusions. It is very likely they are just wrong.
Definitely. It's created 1,000 mental tripwires everywhere triggering "trauma". Real trauma, I've seen, is often on the other end of unspeakably horrible events not comments on hair texture. We are literally training people to be weak of mind.
As a heterosexual white male - I’m feeling the trauma of racial preferences in the work place. Maybe a safe space would help…but I think growing thicker skin is the real solution. Hard work and a belief in Meritocracy will take me farther than wallowing in self pity over my supposed “trauma”. Time to get back to basics were merit matters and DEI hires flounder (Aka Claudine Gay).
But is there really bias. See
https://open.substack.com/pub/unsafescience/p/no-evidence-for-workplace-sex-discrimination?r=v5uda&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
So-called racial/generational/historical trauma and microaggression are fictional social constructs designed to perpetuate victimhood status and expand its reach. Trauma does indeed touch many more people than simply combat veterans, but its use in explaining every ill in society does nothing more than lay a foundation for reparations payments and other empty symbolic gestures. These categories are part of a larger trend of psychopathologizing and politicizing ordinary behavior in order to promote the social status of anyone with vague grievances.
Wow! You are the rebel warrior, aren't you, Dr. Gustilo! I just Googled you and found your lawsuit against a healthcare facility for racial discrimination - for not being a racist enough person of colour ;) You are Da Awesome! I can just imagine you got into all sorts of trouble being 'pro-human', refusing to be a victim, refusing to infantilize others with victimhood. I've actually been writing about FAIR this week in connection with some work they're doing fighting DEI initiatives in a New England school system. They sure are gadflies to the 'woke' - their critics paint FAIR as 'right-wing' and I'm like, "Dude, you don't know what 'right-wing' is!" You wrote an AWESOME article and I'm so glad to see another POC standing up for what's right. We all have to fight against the extremists of our own tribe, because they won't listen to outsiders. You said what 'antiracists' need to hear whether they like it or not (it's like spinach to toddlers; it's good for them!) 'Antiracism' and 'DEI' is clearly a lot more racist and I think the 'E' in DEI stands for Exclusion - of anyone who's no white, woke, or has an alternative opinion. Thanks for your article and keep up the good work, Dr. Gustilo! Power to the (human) people! :)
FAIR is doing something about DEI in a New England school district?? Could you link any info? K-12, under blue state dept of education directiives, is indoctrinating children so effectively that it'll soon be a school-to-Antifa pipeline. Higher ed is becoming irrelevant. Thanks for any info!
https://www.wgbh.org/news/education-news/2023-10-30/right-leaning-groups-opposed-to-diversity-efforts-find-unlikely-allies-in-newton-parents
I've been writing an article about it but it won't be out for another few weeks. Follow me if you want to see if when it comes out. My slant is on how detached from reality the pro-DEI parents are, that they can't fathom considering whether perhaps they're going too far with 'racial equity', that perhaps their critics have a few good points. At least MA is less white (72%) than the northern New England states, all of which hover at around 90% white. (I'm from CT myself although I live in Toronto now). This article is slanted pro-DEI which is why I based my own article on it. I also note that it's more of a face-off of liberals vs illiberals than right vs left and that it shows some cooperation with right-wing groups which we need to see more of if we're going to fix our problems. (Hoping moderate conservatives will likewise see the need to work with left-wing groups sharing similar goals).
So far, I can't confirm the allegation that FAIR works with Moms for Liberty, but I speculate in the article that they could have found themselves at those 'town halls' on the same side, cooperating by happenstance. If we work together more, maybe we'll accept each other's ideas, and even slightly moderate our own?
FAIR is lumped in with the right-wing groups and I defend them against that in my article. Also, PDE (Parents Defending Education) IS a right-wing group funded by the Koch network. We need to stop running from the 'right wing' accusation and own our alliance sometimes with them. Like it or not, we've ALL got to work together to end this 'social justice' crap. And let's keep reminding the illiberals (the woke) that they're neither liberal nor progressive (anymore). WE are the true 'progressives'.
This is priceless! Thank you! Wow, those all-white women "upstanders" must be fired up from their Race2dinner self confessions. How do they not see how patronizing they are? I have a million ideas on this, but the most important is the need to get immigrant parents involved. You're right, MA is more diverse than most of New England and much of that diversity is in immigrant communities that are much more socially conservative than average. Also more patriotic in most cases. FAIR needs to get on Spanish and Portuguese language media for starters. Parent groups also need to demand information on parent's rights in all the home languages of the district. I would love to see Arabic and Somali translations explaining the "gender spectrum" curriculum and rules preventing teachers from sharing information with parents, for example. White elites are using DEI and faux compassion to railroad through highly unpopular and divisive ideologies. Let the people rise up! Thanks so much for sharing and for your work!
My article comes out next Wednesday if you want to see it. The WGBH story is interesting, innit? The virtue signalling made me want to hurl. "It's all about WHITE SUPREMACIST politics! If they don't agree with us they're riding the Klan trail straight into Boston!" I'm reading more about LWA - Left-Wing Authoritarianism - now that I finally have a name for what I've been seeing but not sure what to call it. A book I just read (Left Is Not Woke) traces how the far left is slowly coming into alignment with the far right - they may actually become allies ;( This authoritarian streak has *got* to be squashed...on both sides. And this crap they're forcing on parents is where Ground Zero for reclamation of sanity resides.
Dr. Glenn Loury had me rolling on the floor with laughter after reading the expressions of his alleged integrity. He hasn't realized that his *honorary white card* is limited. He has melanin, unlike the Irish, Italians, Slavs, and Mexicans. Many Mexicans identify as white, noting it on documents. Lol!
White women and migrants have been the greatest benefactors of affirmative action policies. Silicon Valley is an excellent example. And there aren't enough good jobs for everyone. Prisons handle the surplus labor, wherein corporations greatly profit. For example, Burger King's beef mostly comes from black prison labor at Angola State Prison where they raise cattle for beef.
I just finished Douglas Rushkoff's Survival of the Richest about billionaire bunkers and why they'll never work - and how the 'apocalypse' is only everyone wins, or everyone loses, but we all win if we change to more of a circular growth economic model, and he uses black communities that have done this for decades, reinvesting in their communities rather than growing linearly and accumulating wealth. As a result, all boats are lifted and everyone lives comfortable lives (although no one has enough to build giant interstellar penises :) ) So there IS a way out, but do we have the imagination and the willpower to pull it off?
I agree! Focusing on others' (possibly) bad views and beliefs teaches people to limit themselves.
I grew up overweight in the 90s, which was no fun. Skinny equaled pretty. When I was a tween, I went through a horrible phase where I was convinced everybody was aware of and commenting on my chunkiness. In reality it was my own fears and insecurities. Exactly 2 classmates ever teased me about it.
I realized from this experience that I was essentially oppressing myself. I kept myself from trying new things and talking to people because I "knew" I would be judged and bullied. Most of it was in my head, and the rest was in fashion magazines.
Many people at my school were fat, too, but I got so defensive that I couldn't see all that. It was me against the world, and any glance at me or conversation I couldn't hear was "proof" of "their" attitudes towards me. Turns out, it was mainly just me.
Well said!
It seems like there’s an underlying incentive for presenting oneself as a victim in some interactions. It’s breaking apart conversations or civil discourse, because a person’s merit gets thrown out the window or they don’t get the benefit of the doubt if the person doing the supposed “micro aggressions” or proposals are from a certain race. It’s annoying that a simple question like “where are you from” could spark offense. Like yes, if it really is from ill intent then shut that down. But making that statement like a taboo thing inhibits our ability to understand each other. Asking questions too. Because it’s either that or assumption, which we wouldn’t want either.
Agree.
Its just patently obvious how the obsession with 'race' has turned, against of all groups, African-Americans. There is a seething irritation, a frustrated rancor, now facing African-Americans but not all the other diverse groups of non-white people, based on nothing to do with their 'race', history, attributes or character, but simply stemming from an infuriating exhaustion at this nonstop barrage of race guilt.
Right, making every third actor in ads, popups, billboards, TV shows, movies, and websites black - that was always going to solve the problem. Great thinking!
The only thing worse than the endless DEI/CRT fusillades is the complete lack of evidence used to support the whole corrupt system. We all know numerous Claudine Gays. We all know why people are hired, why some people can't be corrected at work regardless of the inanity of their statements, why some people are favored, why some are clearly in over their heads, and why so many, usually white people, are overlooked or insulted on a daily basis.
Everybody knows. People aren't stupid.