Weekly Roundup
The Case for Pride
For FAIR’s Substack, James Beaman writes about what Pride means to him.
To me, it’s impossible to express Pride without a sense of gratitude. It’s great to be proud of who you are; even defiant if need be. But there’s a difference between pride and arrogance. None of us got to where we are by ourselves. It’s ultimately hubris—not pride—to approach June’s celebrations with no awareness of your part in the continuity of the legacy of those who fought and secured your right to express yourself freely. Sure, there’s still injustice in the world, and yes, there are things worth protesting. But there’s also much to celebrate, to share, to embody and express: generosity, joy, laughter, style, courage, and above all, humanity. These qualities and more are the essence of what being gay in the world has always meant to me.
Love Wins
For FAIR’s Substack, Leigh Ann O’Neill offers reflections on the 57th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, the case that challenged anti-miscegenation statutes.
We’ve all probably felt the power of indeterminable forces trying to divide us based on immutable characteristics. After searching widely to find the exact source of this power, I still couldn’t tell you what it is. But I grow more and more convinced that it’s mostly imagined, fueled primarily by our willingness to give it oxygen. Thankfully, these misguided forces are weak; they only survive when we choose to breathe life into them. At the end of the day, they are built upon one critical, fatal flaw—they ignore that our common humanity transcends immutable traits. Love overlooks those differences, and now, so too does the law.
Transcending American Political Polarization with John Wood Jr.
For Straight Ahead – The Omni-American Podcast, FAIR Advisors John Wood Jr. and Greg Thomas explore how bridging divides has been a prime focus in John’s familial background, religious and spiritual orientation, and political allegiances.
Journalists Shouldn’t Depend on the State for Their Wages
For Quillette, FAIR Advisor Jonathan Kay writes about how more than a third of many Canadian journalists’ salaries are now effectively being paid by Justin Trudeau’s government—an arrangement that’s created an obvious conflict of interest.
For all the edifying talk one hears from subsidised Canadian journalists about “a free press” and “healthy liberal democracy,” it’s notable that an atmosphere of self-censorship often surrounds the topic of how they themselves remain gainfully employed. Canadian journalists who support the subsidies generally are reluctant to defend them publicly because they (rightly) fear that such talk might encourage public distrust in their reporting—while those journalists who oppose them (again, rightly) fear incurring the wrath of their corporate bosses.
The Common Ground We Dare Not Speak
For Queer Majority, Chris Ferguson writes about the importance of reaching across the aisle to find common ground.
It’s time for a vibe shift. It’s time to integrate the common ground we live and breathe in our everyday lives into the ways in which we understand and behave in the political sphere. Most of all, it’s time to commend the people who reach across the aisle to find consensus, instead of branding them as traitors. The false narrative that American society is fracturing leads to the false belief, highlighted in the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group, that “politics is a rigged game.” There is an illusion all around us, and a profound truth hiding in plain sight. If there is anything we should be “woke” to or “red-pilled” about, it’s the reality that we are all a lot more alike than we think. Imagine what we could do together if we only realized that.
How Public Schools Became Ideological Boot Camps
For The Free Press, Robert Pondiscio writes about how in nearly every public school in the country, children are given curriculum materials that have no official oversight or approval.
All of this should be sobering to parents and policymakers who think “curriculum transparency” is the solution to classroom controversies. Knowing the curriculum or programs a school district has “adopted” is a cracked lens. Absent regulations specifically requiring teachers to post all lesson plans and materials online on a daily basis, including material they create or find on the internet, it’s nearly impossible to say with any certainty what occurs inside the black box of the public school classroom.
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