Weekly Roundup
I'm a Black lesbian with a Harvard law degree. Even I got censored by Big Tech
For Fox News Opinion, FAIR Advisor Monica Harris writes about her experience having her article about transgender issues censored by Medium.
You don’t have to be gay, female, or a person of color to appreciate the danger this poses to all Americans. If the boundaries of prohibited speech keep growing, then we can be silenced by anyone who disagrees with us. All they have to do is call us "hateful." Yet if we live in constant fear of offending others, then how long will it be before we’re too afraid to say anything?
Freedom of speech is one of our most cherished rights. The free and open marketplace of ideas is what makes our country unique. It’s enabled groundbreaking innovation and thought and has empowered historically disenfranchised groups. Given my unique background and experience, freedom of speech holds a special place in my heart. Where would I be today if voices that made others uncomfortable had been muffled?
Jason Aldean Isn’t ‘Pro-Lynching.’ And His Critics Know It.
For The Free Press, FAIR Advisor Coleman Hughes writes about the recent controversy surrounding Jason Aldean’s newest song, Try That in a Small Town.
A culture that values free speech and artistic expression should defend the ability of artists to express themselves lyrically no matter their identity or politics—even and especially when their lyrics strike some segment of the populace as obscene.
It is in the nature of art that what is obscene to one consumer is beautiful to another. The great thing about our society is that if you don’t like it, you don’t have to listen.
California’s War on Math
For The Free Press, Julia Steinberg writes about the new California Mathematics Framework that promises to minimize racial inequity at the expense of mathematical excellence.
The board’s overriding concern is not education or mathematical excellence, but minimizing racial inequity. Since a disproportionate number of white and Asian kids perform at the high end of the mathematics spectrum, and a disproportionate number of black and Latino children are at the bottom end, the board was left with two options: pull the bottom performers up, or push the top performers down. They did the easier thing…
The thing is, the CMF will exacerbate racial inequities. I went to a private school in Los Angeles filled with white and Asian students, and I know exactly how those kids—and definitely their parents—would react if they were told they could no longer take advanced math. They would enroll in rigorous programs outside school, like the Russian School of Mathematics, that would push them way beyond wherever their peers are. By the time college applications came along, the racial gap would be more like a yawning chasm.
This is America, No, This Is America
For his Substack, The WinStack, FAIR in the Arts Fellow Winston Marshall writes about Jason Aldean and “the Two Americas.”
There is an America that sees this. The half of America that didn’t turn a blind eye to the rise in crime from 2020. The half of America that saw the destruction caused by the BLM riots that saw 19 killed in their first 14 days. The side of America that notices when such incidents are not reported in the media. That side of America have sent Aldean up the music charts.
So how is it that one video can evoke such drastically different responses in one nation? It seems there are two versions of America, two histories that the American people have not reconciled. One a story of Original Sin, slavery, and racism being so inescapable and pertinent as to be relevant to every single imaginable issue. The other of a great America, a patriotic people who escaped persecution in Europe and across the world to build small communities in a new land. A people who defeated the Nazis and the Communists.
My Family Was Hunted by Nazis. But I Was Fired For ‘Defending Hitler.’
For The Free Press, David Josef Volodzko writes about how his criticism of Lenin in The Seattle Times led to his eventual firing.
I considered going silent, hoping one day to find work again once my fifteen minutes of infamy had passed and my reputation as the unhirable Hitler guy had faded. But staying silent won’t help me pay rent and childcare, or salvage my ability to continue doing journalistic work. It also won’t repair my good name or provide me with a clean Google search.
What kind of journalist would I be if fear made me shy away from discussing my experience of viciousness masquerading as social justice? What would it say about my devotion to injustice if I remain silent when it is visited upon my family? This is not an abstract problem. I am now jobless, living in downtown Seattle, which is costly, and unable to help support my family, including my baby daughter. We can no longer afford our apartment, but neither can we afford the fee to break our lease.
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I hope this is ok place to ask a question about your org's approach. (If not, where should I direct my question/find the answer?)
I really enjoy so much of what FAIR is working on and having been diving into your articles and presentations for a few weeks now. I see a lot of really accurate detailing around the problems with censorship, compelled speech, race essentialism, and denial of science/evidence that progressive social justice fundamentalism has.
And so many of the solutions you are suggesting make so much for sense (gender exploratory therapy, the FAIR approach to anti-discrimination, I love these!)
I am curious about what I do not see being covered. Namely things like censorship, book bans, potential civil rights violations, and the denial of science/evidence that we see occurring in right-wing "anti-woke" places including huge, impactful state-level policies.
For instance, here in Florida the suggested replacement to CRT approach to US's history of slavery includes things like stating the "benefits" like skill-building that slaves received (definitely not a democracy-based or evidence-based approach to our history)...
...or the concerning legal allowances for things like driving a car into a group of peaceful protestors.
These sorts of moves are just as alarming and threatening to democracy as what we see going wrong inside of SJ fundamentalism.
Are the issues of fairness, civil rights, and democracy violations that are occurring in places and policies outside of progressive social justice fundamentalism, covered by your organization?
If so, are they attended to in balance? I ask these because I feel like I see a whole lot more focus (perhaps exclusive focus?) on the issues occurring with SJ fundamentalism?
If you don't cover issues of "undemocracy" on other places in the political spectrum, would you mind talking about your reasoning?
Thank you for the space to ask this question!
With regard to the Monica Harris article. The problem is that gays and trans really don't have that much in common and trans activists have pushed a number of divisive issues that have the potential to harm women and children. Trans women (aka men) in women's sports, locker rooms and prisons and the sterilization of children simplv have no counterpart in the relations between gays and heterosexuals. It's the spillover from these controversial issues that is adversely affecting the view of gay rights. Time for a divorce.