I run a not for profit arts organization, all of this is spot on. My organization is straight up barred from the vast majority of private foundations in my area because our board is too “white.” The FIRST questions on most foundation applications are about how I identity as the director, down to my gender identity. I’m toying with becomi…
I run a not for profit arts organization, all of this is spot on. My organization is straight up barred from the vast majority of private foundations in my area because our board is too “white.” The FIRST questions on most foundation applications are about how I identity as the director, down to my gender identity. I’m toying with becoming a they/them, because in 2023 being just old gay is nearly as “bad” as being straight (after all gays reinforce the dreaded “gender binary” by virtue of the fact that we’re only attracted to one gender).
And what this DEI initiative has done to arts organizations and artists is disgusting. It’s full scale brain washing. Cultural organizations are devolving into nothing more than amen-corners for the church of woke; echo chambers for radical leftists where no diversity of opinion is allowed, and dissent is punishable by losing quite literally everything.
I am someone who is entirely self made in my field, I have no family or generational wealth, which means I can’t afford to say anything that goes against the grain. I’m being purposely vague on what sector of the arts I work in, because if this heresy ever got tied back to me, I’d be finished-- we aren’t allowed to have any position other than the most Marxist, extremist, Orwellian views on DEI-- Peace be upon it.
It is a crime that we’re in this space. We have allowed our universities to be completely taken over by extremist leftists, who are turning out waves of completely brain washed, radicalized Marxist foot soldiers. That is the core of our problem. We used to just say, oh well the college campuses are crazy and not pay it much mind, but those inmates are out of the asylum now, and they’re seizing power at all of our institutions, and the old guard liberals are all folding like wet rags to their demands. As the saying goes we all live on campus now.
This life time democrat is now a closet independent. I voted Republican for the first time in my life as a protest against the crazy coming from my side. The gop makes me sick for its own crazy problems (Election deniers, trump, etc.) but the democrats have gone equally crazy in the other direction. Where’s a sane person to turn?
I work in Hollywood. Exact same issue. I was once at a group dinner, and made people "uncomfortable" by not being anti-Trump enough. And I don't even like Trump! I think he's crazy. I'm just anti-marxist (came from a Soviet country).
You must have lots of stories. From my perspective here in Dixieland, I imagine that the replacement for “saying grace” in Hollywood must be everyone at the table condemning Trump and hoping their children, if any, decide to “transition” soon.
You know what's crazy? I really don't. It really is just the extremes. But if you bump into an extreme, and they have an issue, nobody wants to stand up and counter act it.
You are pretty new to realizing the consequences of the progressive/leftist/woke ideology. I would only say this regarding "election deniers," the picture you have of them is crafted by the same people who bring you all the tragedies you write about. One must go much deeper into the evidence hidden from you. Most people are unfamiliar with the sources for this. And these sources are drying up just as classical music is drying up. If you no longer accept the woke's view on the arts, know their dishonest bullying is consistent across the board - even on Trump and election deniers. Read Bari Weiss's co-workers at twitter who are exposing the incredible corruption of the media and our woke government in The Twitter Files. Bari, Matt Taibbi, Michael Shellenberger are providing the evidence for what those of us who have been "red-pilled" longer had concluded a long time ago - the woke disaster destroyed virtually every American institution, starting with the mainstream and social media. Be skeptical of everything they preach.
While the first several paragraphs were informative (though not surprising), the last paragraph hits home.
I am in a very similar position. Liberal, not progressive. Did vote for an R for senator this year because the D was unacceptable. First time in decades. Won't be the last, but I'll take a sane R over a progressive D every day of the week.
To those R's out there, stop putting forth crazy nominees, and you might just get some surprises in who gets elected. There's a lot of folks ready to cross party lines but won't if the other side is just as nuts.
There's a lot of reason to push electoral change, which enables better representation than what comes out of closed primaries. Center for American Progress wrote an interesting (non-partisan) piece on this earlier this week on this. Alaska is a state which has already benefited from it.
Ranked voting often elects the more extreme marginal candidates. Lots of places that have tried it reverted back to regular understandable voting when it bit them in the ass. Be careful on that one.
Thank you for this post. I was always an Independent - voting for whoever seemed the least bad each time - Dem or Rep. Now, the only Dem I'd vote for is Tulsi Gabbard and she's become an Independent. And, I will not vote for any Republican who is uninterested in "culture wars" and does not speak out against the cult of Gender Ideology. I'm a big fan of DeSantis right now.
Along those lines, please do not put yourself down as a "they/them". It is so destructive to the young to indulge this cult religion. No one is "assigned sex at birth".
I live right down the road from Madison, WI where The Pleasant Co was founded. I'm so disgusted by what they have done to the brand. Once upon a time it was a wholesome company. And you're right, no one is ASSIGNED sex, it's observed. It's pretty obvious. SMH.
I wrote a letter to Rowland Pleasant, the founder of American Girl dolls! I think I even sent her a copy of my memoir. No one should put pronouns in their bios, emails, letters &etc. No one is a "they/them." I just wrote a letter to a local "woke" activist, telling her I no longer call my ex-husband any kind of "she," since discovering the second fraud he committed to get out of paying child support. (did not submit complete financials, he was in an equity contract, became COO of his tech company, but listed his job as low level data entry) As an acquaintance in his database management area wrote me, "his coworkers talk about a meanness and spitefulness, all hidden beneath a veil of inclusivity and tolerance." I'd say that goes for just about any man who says he's female. Thanks, LovingMother!
Thank you so much for writing to Rowland Pleasant, the founder of American Girl dolls, Ute. I appreciate that very much. Right, no one is a "they/them/non-binary" and no one is "assigned" a sex at birth - such harmful gibberish! How did we ever get there? We've got to dispense with that language. If a fella wants to wear a dress and grow his hair long - that's his thing - but he is no kind of woman. I am so alarmed that we have a justice on the Supreme Court of the United States (a respected institution) who cannot say what a woman is!! Eeeeeee. Your ex husband sound like a narcissist - like so many - like that guy who wins women's cycling contests, "Rachel" McKinnon. They seriously Do Not Care about others. The crazy thing is that our society is fine with this and enables them. One of the worst cases are the men who take a hormone concoction in order to "breast feed" using non-mother's milk to feed a baby. The "milk" is bad for baby and using the baby as a sex toy is bad for baby. This is not a male "mother". Meanwhile, actual mothers, like those of us on the PITT substack, would die to save our daughters. Wake up America!
"his coworkers talk about a meanness and spitefulness, all hidden beneath a veil of inclusivity and tolerance." I'd say that goes for just about any man who says he's female." Amen to that. - LM
I volunteer for a tiny arts nonprofit here in Georgia, have written grants for it and am working on one now. I am required to answer how we serve underserved communities. We serve fine artists and know from our personal experiences that we make up a very minute minority of the general population in the first place.
I used to do a lot of volunteer work with the Dems and stopped after like the 10th time i just had to "listen and learn" while someone said something hostile to me. I still volunteer just not in politics and people that are still in act like I'm some asshole who is now actively making the world worse. They honestly believe 1. that I owe them my time, 2. that I have to accept any kind of treatment, and 3. that only their pet cause is worthy.
Praise the Lord for people like Jordan Peterson who are trying hard to fight against what is going on in universities. https://youtu.be/hkXKZ6Tl_Fc. UATX is another option and of course you can't go wrong with Hillsdale College...slowly but sure change WILL take place.
Liberal Not Progressive - great post. Good luck and hold on. DEI has turned into social monster enveloping and devouring all and everything in front of its path. A dark spreading stain where one's personal gain is matched by another's personal pain. We can call it The New Order. What perhaps might have started out as a college affirmative action campaign suited for this new century, adapted for all fields from the arts to the corporate world, it has now morphed into a tool for a resegregation of sorts. It can politely be called mission escalation. And now, poison. People are divided by colour and ethnicity again, some included, others excluded. Regardless of talent or skill. The door is open for some, but not for others. It's Jim Crow and old style anti semitism all over again but with the roles reversed.
I find the irony so blindingly obvious that I'm surprised I don't read too much in mainstream media into how we're turning into a Black Mirror image of this country of a hundred years ago. But now combined with a groupthink mentality based on the rewriting of history to suit a growing prevailing view of the present, with all 'incorrect' thinking to be whited out, censored and barred from the new catechism.
It seems though that it is still primarily powerful white people engineering all of this. The true believers among them seem genuinely eager to inflict punishments and blame upon themselves, while others prefer to persecute others, but one way or another they mostly focus on white people. It is very disgusting to see white corporate executives using DEI initiatives to intimidate and terrorize their employees. I live in an ultra woke, predominantly white, highly educated city, so my observations may be biased by my context.
Ultimately, in the two party system we have (Tweedle Dee vs Tweedle Dum) we have to make a choice for the least bad. Republicans are it right now. So, though yours was a protest vote, thanks for that vote against totalitarian ideological insanity. And I hope they don't discover your Wrongthink!
Hey friend, good comment, but you do need to know...the 2020 election was rigged, on multiple levels. The suppression of Hunter's lap top is only the tip of the iceberg. Don't forget: the same people pushing DEI are basically the same ones who told you that the election wasn't rigged.
“I am someone who is entirely self made in my field, I have no family or generational wealth, which means I can’t afford to say anything that goes against the grain.”
Look into Solzhenitsyn, or more recently dreher’s live not by lies… I’m not gonna judge you, I promise, but the people in those books with the most intimate experience of totalitarianism all say this is the wrong approach. You can’t afford to stay quiet, the truth will set you free…
It can also cause you to lose a needed job, or earn less than you could by maintaining a pretense. I wonder how soon it will be necessary to treat woke Americans like an army of occupation. Some people resist by speaking out, but that can also become a path to martyrdom if not enough other people will step up.
Not that it specifically applies here, but the tendency of conservatives is to go along, eventually. We simply don't have the unlimited supply of emotional energy required to sustain fights like this with the Left, and they know it. There are really only two possible outcomes (either/or binary thinking!), and neither of them is good, but you can only swing the pendulum so far before it comes back the other way, with more force than ever before.
Mike E - Yes, this. We normal people are not ideological warriors who wake up every day thinking about the next phase of our crusade or revolution. However, when the balance does tip...it will be a messy response.
I had turned here but lately it's become a platform for whining cops and misogynists. So I'm going to try to find somewhere else. Jesse Singal's newsletter is good.
We all feel that way sometimes just about [fill in your preferred them] and [fill in your favorite perjorative]. But you might be surprised by the evolution of YOUR thought if you stick it out.
Be sure to use your pronouns, ukraine flag emoji , have a picture with a mask, a pfizer tattoo, and tell how many jabs you got emoji (bonus if you say "you got covid, but thanks to the vaccine your symptoms were mild") on the way out.
You're not alone. It's bad in journalism too. I worked in it for 25 years and have been out for 4 and just can't bear to think about going back. I mean, look at Bari...
I run a not for profit arts organization, all of this is spot on. My organization is straight up barred from the vast majority of private foundations in my area because our board is too “white.” The FIRST questions on most foundation applications are about how I identity as the director, down to my gender identity. I’m toying with becoming a they/them, because in 2023 being just old gay is nearly as “bad” as being straight (after all gays reinforce the dreaded “gender binary” by virtue of the fact that we’re only attracted to one gender).
And what this DEI initiative has done to arts organizations and artists is disgusting. It’s full scale brain washing. Cultural organizations are devolving into nothing more than amen-corners for the church of woke; echo chambers for radical leftists where no diversity of opinion is allowed, and dissent is punishable by losing quite literally everything.
I am someone who is entirely self made in my field, I have no family or generational wealth, which means I can’t afford to say anything that goes against the grain. I’m being purposely vague on what sector of the arts I work in, because if this heresy ever got tied back to me, I’d be finished-- we aren’t allowed to have any position other than the most Marxist, extremist, Orwellian views on DEI-- Peace be upon it.
It is a crime that we’re in this space. We have allowed our universities to be completely taken over by extremist leftists, who are turning out waves of completely brain washed, radicalized Marxist foot soldiers. That is the core of our problem. We used to just say, oh well the college campuses are crazy and not pay it much mind, but those inmates are out of the asylum now, and they’re seizing power at all of our institutions, and the old guard liberals are all folding like wet rags to their demands. As the saying goes we all live on campus now.
This life time democrat is now a closet independent. I voted Republican for the first time in my life as a protest against the crazy coming from my side. The gop makes me sick for its own crazy problems (Election deniers, trump, etc.) but the democrats have gone equally crazy in the other direction. Where’s a sane person to turn?
I work in Hollywood. Exact same issue. I was once at a group dinner, and made people "uncomfortable" by not being anti-Trump enough. And I don't even like Trump! I think he's crazy. I'm just anti-marxist (came from a Soviet country).
You must have lots of stories. From my perspective here in Dixieland, I imagine that the replacement for “saying grace” in Hollywood must be everyone at the table condemning Trump and hoping their children, if any, decide to “transition” soon.
You know what's crazy? I really don't. It really is just the extremes. But if you bump into an extreme, and they have an issue, nobody wants to stand up and counter act it.
Self-inflicted wounds. So sad.
Oy vey.
Sad. Equity is not equality. And art is suppose to be in the eye of the beholder. Not mandated
Sad. Equity is not equality. And art is suppose to be in the eye of the beholder. Not mandated
like under fascist regimes
You are pretty new to realizing the consequences of the progressive/leftist/woke ideology. I would only say this regarding "election deniers," the picture you have of them is crafted by the same people who bring you all the tragedies you write about. One must go much deeper into the evidence hidden from you. Most people are unfamiliar with the sources for this. And these sources are drying up just as classical music is drying up. If you no longer accept the woke's view on the arts, know their dishonest bullying is consistent across the board - even on Trump and election deniers. Read Bari Weiss's co-workers at twitter who are exposing the incredible corruption of the media and our woke government in The Twitter Files. Bari, Matt Taibbi, Michael Shellenberger are providing the evidence for what those of us who have been "red-pilled" longer had concluded a long time ago - the woke disaster destroyed virtually every American institution, starting with the mainstream and social media. Be skeptical of everything they preach.
Yes - "election deniers" are all the way around. Remember #Resist/"Not my President" in 2016? Anyway, I think DeSantis should be next.
Wait, I like classical music.
While the first several paragraphs were informative (though not surprising), the last paragraph hits home.
I am in a very similar position. Liberal, not progressive. Did vote for an R for senator this year because the D was unacceptable. First time in decades. Won't be the last, but I'll take a sane R over a progressive D every day of the week.
To those R's out there, stop putting forth crazy nominees, and you might just get some surprises in who gets elected. There's a lot of folks ready to cross party lines but won't if the other side is just as nuts.
There's a lot of reason to push electoral change, which enables better representation than what comes out of closed primaries. Center for American Progress wrote an interesting (non-partisan) piece on this earlier this week on this. Alaska is a state which has already benefited from it.
Ranked voting often elects the more extreme marginal candidates. Lots of places that have tried it reverted back to regular understandable voting when it bit them in the ass. Be careful on that one.
Thank you for this post. I was always an Independent - voting for whoever seemed the least bad each time - Dem or Rep. Now, the only Dem I'd vote for is Tulsi Gabbard and she's become an Independent. And, I will not vote for any Republican who is uninterested in "culture wars" and does not speak out against the cult of Gender Ideology. I'm a big fan of DeSantis right now.
Along those lines, please do not put yourself down as a "they/them". It is so destructive to the young to indulge this cult religion. No one is "assigned sex at birth".
"It’s wrong to play the transgender pronoun game"
https://mercatornet.com/pronouns-game/77649/
This stuff is even pushed by the popular American Girl doll company:
American Girl Uses Body Positivity Guide to Groom Girls for Transgenderism
https://pjmedia.com/culture/matt-margolis/2022/12/07/american-girl-uses-body-positivity-guide-to-groom-girls-for-transgenderism-n1651556
I live right down the road from Madison, WI where The Pleasant Co was founded. I'm so disgusted by what they have done to the brand. Once upon a time it was a wholesome company. And you're right, no one is ASSIGNED sex, it's observed. It's pretty obvious. SMH.
Yes, thank you. - LM
I wrote a letter to Rowland Pleasant, the founder of American Girl dolls! I think I even sent her a copy of my memoir. No one should put pronouns in their bios, emails, letters &etc. No one is a "they/them." I just wrote a letter to a local "woke" activist, telling her I no longer call my ex-husband any kind of "she," since discovering the second fraud he committed to get out of paying child support. (did not submit complete financials, he was in an equity contract, became COO of his tech company, but listed his job as low level data entry) As an acquaintance in his database management area wrote me, "his coworkers talk about a meanness and spitefulness, all hidden beneath a veil of inclusivity and tolerance." I'd say that goes for just about any man who says he's female. Thanks, LovingMother!
Thank you so much for writing to Rowland Pleasant, the founder of American Girl dolls, Ute. I appreciate that very much. Right, no one is a "they/them/non-binary" and no one is "assigned" a sex at birth - such harmful gibberish! How did we ever get there? We've got to dispense with that language. If a fella wants to wear a dress and grow his hair long - that's his thing - but he is no kind of woman. I am so alarmed that we have a justice on the Supreme Court of the United States (a respected institution) who cannot say what a woman is!! Eeeeeee. Your ex husband sound like a narcissist - like so many - like that guy who wins women's cycling contests, "Rachel" McKinnon. They seriously Do Not Care about others. The crazy thing is that our society is fine with this and enables them. One of the worst cases are the men who take a hormone concoction in order to "breast feed" using non-mother's milk to feed a baby. The "milk" is bad for baby and using the baby as a sex toy is bad for baby. This is not a male "mother". Meanwhile, actual mothers, like those of us on the PITT substack, would die to save our daughters. Wake up America!
"his coworkers talk about a meanness and spitefulness, all hidden beneath a veil of inclusivity and tolerance." I'd say that goes for just about any man who says he's female." Amen to that. - LM
I volunteer for a tiny arts nonprofit here in Georgia, have written grants for it and am working on one now. I am required to answer how we serve underserved communities. We serve fine artists and know from our personal experiences that we make up a very minute minority of the general population in the first place.
Yup. I voted GOP for the first time in my life last fall at age 65. Good luck.
Thank you.
I used to do a lot of volunteer work with the Dems and stopped after like the 10th time i just had to "listen and learn" while someone said something hostile to me. I still volunteer just not in politics and people that are still in act like I'm some asshole who is now actively making the world worse. They honestly believe 1. that I owe them my time, 2. that I have to accept any kind of treatment, and 3. that only their pet cause is worthy.
Kudos to you.
Praise the Lord for people like Jordan Peterson who are trying hard to fight against what is going on in universities. https://youtu.be/hkXKZ6Tl_Fc. UATX is another option and of course you can't go wrong with Hillsdale College...slowly but sure change WILL take place.
Liberal Not Progressive - great post. Good luck and hold on. DEI has turned into social monster enveloping and devouring all and everything in front of its path. A dark spreading stain where one's personal gain is matched by another's personal pain. We can call it The New Order. What perhaps might have started out as a college affirmative action campaign suited for this new century, adapted for all fields from the arts to the corporate world, it has now morphed into a tool for a resegregation of sorts. It can politely be called mission escalation. And now, poison. People are divided by colour and ethnicity again, some included, others excluded. Regardless of talent or skill. The door is open for some, but not for others. It's Jim Crow and old style anti semitism all over again but with the roles reversed.
I find the irony so blindingly obvious that I'm surprised I don't read too much in mainstream media into how we're turning into a Black Mirror image of this country of a hundred years ago. But now combined with a groupthink mentality based on the rewriting of history to suit a growing prevailing view of the present, with all 'incorrect' thinking to be whited out, censored and barred from the new catechism.
It seems though that it is still primarily powerful white people engineering all of this. The true believers among them seem genuinely eager to inflict punishments and blame upon themselves, while others prefer to persecute others, but one way or another they mostly focus on white people. It is very disgusting to see white corporate executives using DEI initiatives to intimidate and terrorize their employees. I live in an ultra woke, predominantly white, highly educated city, so my observations may be biased by my context.
I used to wonder how the Sunni ruled the Shia in Hussein's Iraq but I begin to understand it more every day.
Ultimately, in the two party system we have (Tweedle Dee vs Tweedle Dum) we have to make a choice for the least bad. Republicans are it right now. So, though yours was a protest vote, thanks for that vote against totalitarian ideological insanity. And I hope they don't discover your Wrongthink!
Hey friend, good comment, but you do need to know...the 2020 election was rigged, on multiple levels. The suppression of Hunter's lap top is only the tip of the iceberg. Don't forget: the same people pushing DEI are basically the same ones who told you that the election wasn't rigged.
Thank you.
“I am someone who is entirely self made in my field, I have no family or generational wealth, which means I can’t afford to say anything that goes against the grain.”
Look into Solzhenitsyn, or more recently dreher’s live not by lies… I’m not gonna judge you, I promise, but the people in those books with the most intimate experience of totalitarianism all say this is the wrong approach. You can’t afford to stay quiet, the truth will set you free…
It can also cause you to lose a needed job, or earn less than you could by maintaining a pretense. I wonder how soon it will be necessary to treat woke Americans like an army of occupation. Some people resist by speaking out, but that can also become a path to martyrdom if not enough other people will step up.
am with you but that is true in the long run maybe and it seems to me most people are not prepared to survive independently in the short run.
Yes, this. The arc of justice is long but bends toward liberty--or something like that, anyway--but in the short term people gotta pay the rent.
John 8:32 Then you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free
Not that it specifically applies here, but the tendency of conservatives is to go along, eventually. We simply don't have the unlimited supply of emotional energy required to sustain fights like this with the Left, and they know it. There are really only two possible outcomes (either/or binary thinking!), and neither of them is good, but you can only swing the pendulum so far before it comes back the other way, with more force than ever before.
Speak for yourself🤣 I’m spitting & fighting the woke disease with every breathe I take
Mike E - Yes, this. We normal people are not ideological warriors who wake up every day thinking about the next phase of our crusade or revolution. However, when the balance does tip...it will be a messy response.
Let's hope so.
I had turned here but lately it's become a platform for whining cops and misogynists. So I'm going to try to find somewhere else. Jesse Singal's newsletter is good.
We all feel that way sometimes just about [fill in your preferred them] and [fill in your favorite perjorative]. But you might be surprised by the evolution of YOUR thought if you stick it out.
How will you ever learn anything if you only listen to people with whom you already agree?
Exactly!
Be sure to use your pronouns, ukraine flag emoji , have a picture with a mask, a pfizer tattoo, and tell how many jabs you got emoji (bonus if you say "you got covid, but thanks to the vaccine your symptoms were mild") on the way out.
dont forget my cousins grandmothers baby daddy died of long covid after a short illness
The beauty of the USA and a plurality of options. I hope you find what you are looking for.
Apparently, if you disagree with Kensi, you are a loser.
On the way out don't let the door hit you in the ass.
LOL. Loser.
You're not alone. It's bad in journalism too. I worked in it for 25 years and have been out for 4 and just can't bear to think about going back. I mean, look at Bari...