Weekly Roundup
Reading List
Live the Question
For FAIR’s Substack, Chloé Valdary writes about the deep study and self-work that was required to bring the Civil Rights Movement to fruition.
But if we get quiet enough and observe what is going on inside us, we will be able to watch and see: When pain rises in us we often transform it into projected, directed hatred against an enemy in the form of reducing them—an enemy who in some cases has just inflicted pain on us—to the exclusive role or symbol of the bad, the evil, and the monstrous. And when we do this unconsciously, we fortify the very logic out of which our assumed roles and identities emerge.
Leaked WPATH files show gender clinician abuses
For UnHerd, FAIR advisor Michael Shellenberger writes about how his nonprofit organization Environmental Progress released the WPATH Files, a treasure trove of insider emails and documents that expose the pseudo-science underlying the practice of transgender medicine advocated by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).
The documents also reveal that, despite decades of surgeries and drugs, there is nothing scientific at all about so-called gender medicine. WPATH has produced eight versions of its “Standards of Care”, but they are based on ideology rather than science. As a result, the surgeons, doctors, and therapists practising “gender medicine” are essentially making it up as they go along, conducting uncontrolled experiments and doing barely anything to follow up on whether they work.
The Minor Joys of Chance Encounters
For the Wisdom of Crowds, FAIR advisor Shadi Hamid writes about an unexpected encounter with an Uber driver.
It was almost as if she sensed I was searching, cautioning me about the perils of excessive ambition and correctly guessing why a previous relationship went wrong. She said something in particular that eerily echoed a particular thought that I had been having in recent days, as if she had somehow gained access to my own deliberations like a reporter who sneaks into the otherwise closed upper chamber of a fractious parliament.
As we approached our destination, an apartment filled with memories and regrets, she seemed to suggest that I had found myself in her Uber out of all the other Ubers because I was ready. Ready for what, I wasn’t entirely sure.
New Hate Speech Laws Threaten Freedom Across the West
For The Free Press, Rupa Subramanya writes about how those fighting censorship in Canada, or Britain, or Ireland wish they had a First Amendment to fall back on.
The First Amendment is a feature, not a bug; a strength, not a vulnerability; and the bedrock of American freedom and flourishing.
Across the English-speaking world, we once took our civil liberties for granted. Freedom of speech was understood as a blessing of democracy, not something that needed to be fought for every day. We thought that opaque and vague laws were used by those in power to punish their political or ideological opponents only in illiberal autocracies such as Russia or China. But we were wrong. And those now fighting censorship in Canada, or Britain, or Ireland, wish they had a First Amendment of their own to fall back on.
I’m a Black Professor. You Don’t Need to Bring That Up.
For The Atlantic, Tyler Austin Harper writes about the overcorrection of antiracists.
As a Black guy who grew up in a politically purple area—where being a good person meant adhering to the kind of civil-rights-era color-blindness that is now passé—I find this emergent anti-racist culture jarring. Many of my liberal friends and acquaintances now seem to believe that being a good person means constantly reminding Black people that you are aware of their Blackness. Difference, no longer to be politely ignored, is insisted upon at all times under the guise of acknowledging “positionality.” Though I am rarely made to feel excessively aware of my race when hanging out with more conservative friends or visiting my hometown, in the more liberal social circles in which I typically travel, my race is constantly invoked—“acknowledged” and “centered”—by well-intentioned anti-racist “allies.”
Mike Ramsay: Divisive DEI ideology is harming our students. It’s time to ditch it
For The Hub, Mike Ramsay writes about Ontario’s education system being captured by the counterproductive diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology.
I don’t know if the government is tiptoeing around the issue out of fear that the far-Left radicals entrenched in our education system will attack them. More and more parents and education workers from all backgrounds across our province are paying closer and closer attention to the damage being done. It is time for the Ford government to respond firmly and issue clear directives to boards to end these divisive practices.
FAIR News Podcast
For audio versions of our FAIR News and FAIR Weekly Roundup newsletters, subscribe and listen to FAIR News Weekly on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or via RSS feed.
Join the FAIR Community
Join us, and become a member of FAIR.
Become a FAIR volunteer, or join a FAIR chapter.
Take the Pro-Human Pledge and help promote a common culture based on fairness, understanding, and humanity.
Sign-up for a Welcome to FAIR Zoom information session to learn more about our mission.
Share your reviews and incident reports on our FAIR Transparency website.
The more that the substance and style of our public policy discourse can sound like this the better.
There is so much upside from what you're doing and how you're doing it.