Weekly Roundup
Writing Behind Labels
For FAIR’s Substack, Melissa Knox writes about the challenges of being a writer with the “wrong” labels.
Don’t get me wrong. Journals open to one and all still exist. I still submit to those journals. But I understand the temptation to which some writers have succumbed of discarding their WASP-y surname and writing under a name that appeals to literary journals seeking to expand the number of nonwhite authors. There are probably more than a few Rachel Dolezals creeping into the pages of established literary magazines. If you’re too white or too male, you might not get published.
Coleman Hughes on Progressive ‘Neo-Racism’
Quillette podcast host and FAIR Advisor Jonathan Kay talks to writer Coleman Hughes about his acclaimed new book, ‘The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America.’
The caricature of colorblindness is that it’s just pretending not to see race. And if you pretend not to see race, then people argue you can’t see racism. Some defenders of colorblindness have set up a very convenient target for enemies of colorblindness by using the phrase, “I don’t see race.” The other side can simply say, “Well, actually you do see race, so stop pretending you don’t.”
And that’s a powerful argument, which is why my version of colorblindness is not to pretend you don’t see race. We all see race. And, more than that, we’re all capable of being racially biased, in theory, right? And we should be aware of that possibility. Colorblindness, I argue, is trying your best to not treat people according to their race, to not treat people differently as a result of their race.
Jonathan Haidt: Smartphones Rewired Childhood. Here's How to Fix It.
For Honestly (a podcast of The Free Press), Bari Weiss speaks with FAIR Advisor Jonathan Haidt about his most recent book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.
Why are kids today more anxious than ever, more depressed than ever, more risk-averse than ever, lonelier than ever, and less social than ever?
It’s pretty simple, Haidt argues: We changed childhood.
The mass migration of childhood, Haidt says, from the real world to the virtual world has completely changed what it means to be a kid. By replacing free and independent play and quality time with friends with the isolation of screens and phones, we instigated what he calls the “Great Rewiring of Childhood.” What resulted, he argues, is a childhood that is “more sedentary, solitary, virtual, and incompatible with healthy human development.”
The Importance of Neutrality and Free Speech on Campus
For Discourse, Michael Strambler writes about why university faculty should take the principles of free speech and neutrality seriously and debate the best way to achieve them, without demonizing the other side.
It’s possible to value principles of justice, diversity, openness and inclusiveness and still criticize specific approaches to achieving them. All of us, but especially academics, who care about such principles should be open to, even eager to hear, such points of view because doing so leads to better ideas and solutions. In this age of viral social media and cancel culture, that nuanced discussion is almost certain not to happen if people fear that their livelihood is threatened for simply stating or endorsing a viewpoint.
In defence of forgiveness
For The Spectator, Douglas Murray writes about the importance of forgiveness.
Forgiving people only when they happen to agree with you or when it is politically advantageous cannot be the answer. Nor, in practical terms, is the answer immediately obvious. The only thing that is clear is if our culture wants to escape the situation of the apprentice without the spell, we might spend this Easter thinking of the story and the teachings that gave our culture its breath. And wonder whether that breath mightn’t find a way to breathe through us once again.
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.