Weekly Roundup

Reading, watching, & listening list

Rethinking Representation This Black History Month

For FAIR’s Substack, Erec Smith writes about how resilient figures in black history have been, and how resilient black Americans can be right now.

I am of the mind that the best way to honor black Americans who came before us, who certainly did not have the representation many black people feel they need to move ahead, is to thwart the need to see ourselves in particular professional spaces. What did those black heroes fight for? What is the point of putting all that time and energy into opening doors of opportunity if no one is willing to walk through them? For what did they endure physical, mental, and emotional pain if we’re just going to act like we have it as bad as they did? The need for representation is a sacrilege for two reasons: it downplays the triumphs of black history and shows that black resilience may have weakened when the whole point was to strengthen it.

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Lisa Bildy: Human rights rules on gender ideology are just blasphemy laws

For the National Post, FAIR Advisor Lisa Bidly writes about the case of Barry Neufeld, who was fined $750,000 for criticizing curriculum for young children that embedded gender ideology.

This case expands limits on freedom of expression in two significant ways. First, disparaging gender ideology — even when targeting ideas, not people — was found to be discriminatory. B.C.’s human rights commissioner argued that’s the way it should be. Excluding opinions on matters of “legitimate public interest” from the tribunal’s authority, she argued, created a loophole that should be closed. Mark Steyn avoided punishment for his commentary on Islam, also litigated in B.C., because it was considered political commentary within the bounds of free expression. Today’s human rights functionaries won’t abide such limits on their power.

Second, the expanded interpretation was applied to an elected trustee, whose role is to challenge policies and raise concerns about educational changes. Bureaucrats now dictate what elected officials can say on public policy matters.

Stop Pretending the Tumbler Ridge Killer Was Female

For Quillette, FAIR Advisor Jonathan Kay writes about Canadian police and journalists extending fraudulent courtesies to a trans-identified mass murderer.

This kind of institutionally mandated misuse of language is dishonest at the best of times. But it is especially offensive when it serves to misrepresent reality on behalf of a murderer (posthumously or otherwise). While Jesse Van Rootselaar’s criminal motive is unknown, he left a trove of digital clues about his identity—all of which paint a picture of a deeply disturbed young man with a stereotypically male fixation on firearms and violence.

Unmasking Academic Lies with Wilfred Reilly

FAIR Advisor Wilfred Riley joins the Center for Christian Virtue to discuss how mid-level bureaucrats are rebranding the poison of DEI as "belonging" or "togetherness" to stay entrenched.

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What $1 Million of Anti-Racist Leadership Training Buys You

For The Atlantic, Tyler Austin Harper writes about his disagreement with Wesleyan University's president and the inefficacy of DEI initiatives.

It is precisely because I respect Roth that I was surprised to read his response to my recent article about the Mellon Foundation, the billion-dollar nonprofit that has been using its de facto monopoly on humanities grant-making to push a “scholar-activist” agenda—one that seems to measure the worth of knowledge by its real-world impact on liberal causes. Roth’s letter, which appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education, accuses me of peddling “fantasies” about Mellon’s undue influence. He also compares my critiques to the views of the segregationist Senator Jesse Helms, a man who is known primarily not for his views on higher education but for being one of the most openly racist American politicians to have held office this side of the moon landing. Roth’s letter is vaporous, obfuscatory, and symptomatic of the very problems I highlight in the Mellon article that he objects to.

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