I am one of the 99% who doesn't speak up publicly or professionally. I talk about it with friends and family, specifically the "woke" ones, but I won't, for example, share an article like this on Facebook or speak up when a colleague casually mentions the prevalence of white supremacy in America. I work in an entirely different field but…
I am one of the 99% who doesn't speak up publicly or professionally. I talk about it with friends and family, specifically the "woke" ones, but I won't, for example, share an article like this on Facebook or speak up when a colleague casually mentions the prevalence of white supremacy in America. I work in an entirely different field but one only marginally less woke than higher education. I'm 34 and my career is just starting to have something resembling momentum. I think the ongoing revolution at American universities is the single most important threat to our country, including China, but I'm not going to be another white male easily dismissed for wrong think. I just can't do it.
It seems to me you’re making a Faustian bargain. Sooner or later the woke mob will come for you or the rational among us will render your employer irrelevant. I was once faced with a dilemma similar yours. It had nothing to do with woke fanatics but to my mind a more relevant issue- competence. I was hired to shepherd through several development projects that had been stalled because of existing staff incompetence . The design budgets had been depleted ands the clients were refusing to ante up any more money until previously agreed to milestones were met. It fell upon me to spend literally hundreds of uncompensated hours to meet them. When the absentee partner showed up to finalize billing I went off on the office manager and laid out the sheer incompetence of him and his staff. Within days I was laid off. At the same time I had a newborn baby, a wife on maternity leave and lots of bills to pay. The good news is that I landed a better paying job with support employees who were willing to develop skills necessary to make the company successful.
I appreciate your dilemma. The moral of my story is to have faith in yourself. If you lead well, others will follow and you’ll prove yourself to be indispensable.
By the way that company no longer exists and after it was bought out the partner retired and the manager I exposed was fired. I’m now at a point in my life where I can tell any problematic snowflakes to go fuck themselves, in more subtle phraseology of course. Even better, there’s nothing they can do about it.
I disagree with the others below and am on your side for staying and advancing quietly. I believe the universities will need reasonable people at all levels to reveal their true colors when the time comes. The fight had best be led by those who can go all out, those whose choice is retire or fight. Not that I am saying the retire choice is wrong; but certainly legal battles will have some impact.
I understand your predicament Pemulis and I really don't know what I would do in your situation, but consider this: Keeping silent because of fear of speaking up is exactly what the authoritarians count on. You are in that way helping the woke project along.
That is part of the way the Leftist ideologues came to power in 2020 - failing to speak up meant you were complicit in the systemic racism. I see no reason the sink to that level. I believe in the right of the individual to make their personal decisions. Otherwise this side is no better than that one and the division is complete. I do think Vernon is correct though that over time it comes at a cost to the psyche.
You are making an equivalence that is false. Just because the left employed the "silence is violence" method does not mean that speaking up against something that is wrong is somehow sinking to the left's level. In your estimation, was speaking out against Communism in the USSR or against Nazis in Germany uncalled for (or in your terms applied today, sinking to the left's level)? One may choose to speak out or not but there are consequences to each decision. On a final note, I would observe that your comment rather proves my point (i.e., the left's speaking up is how they got control of the narrative).
I am a proponent of speaking up. I am just not a proponent of forcing or pressuring other's to do so. Also I made the point that the left's bully tactics of forcing agreement was how they gained control. We are on the same side.
This is an understandable reaction. I'm further along in my career - a tenured faculty member at a public university in the South - but I'm not yet in a position to retire nor to sustain dismissal or an unpaid leave.
And yet, someone has to show some courage sometime. My advice would be to find allies, advocate for freedom of thought wherever and whenever you can, and prepare yourself mentally, physically, and - as much as possible - financially to face down the leopard if and when it shows itself.
I’m a tenured professor too. The only thing that has kept me sane is that I have cultivated a very small group of likeminded colleagues with whom I can talk to about the madness going on in my department and university.
I struggle with this. I’m 51 and don’t know how much longer I can take the bullshit. You might think you can handle it, compartmentalize it, but eventually, in my experience, it all gets to be too much to bear. Too much hiding, too much swallowing down your objections and opinions. The worst is the feeling that I’m part of something deeply wrong, maybe even evil. I try to be subversive, try to find and talk to like minded colleagues but all this living in the shadows is getting to me. It’s no way to live in the long term. I want to be free, intellectually, spiritually and emotionally.
It’s much harder to make a change at 51. You should really consider what the next twenty years will feel like for you. Hope this doesn’t sound harsh, because I do identify with your struggles. I don’t know what the fuck to do myself, but I’m looking for ways out.
I’m a 54 year old professor and agree… it is a struggle. The academy has changed so much from when I first started. If I thought I could get a job outside of academia, I’d do it in a flash. But because of my age and what I do, it’s not realistic. All I can really do is count the days to retirement.
Frankly, I’m not sure what I’d do if I was your age. If you can, I would try to get out, as I think it’s going to get worse.
BP, I share your pessimism. I have thought about leaving what feels like an infinite number of times. My issue is similar to yours: I am quite stuck because of what I do (essentially, a highly specialized humanities subdiscipline that involves plenty of analytic rigor, but no data crunching or quantitative analysis, which are the only academic skills that are seen as valuable in the market these days). In 2021, I talked to a friend who is recruiter in my pre-doctorate line of work and she told me that it would be very difficult for me to get back in because it’s so incredibly competitive. In fact, her only advice was for me was to try to get my foot in the door by applying to be a administrative assistant, so basically a secretary. I was so depressed after that conversation and frankly a bit offended - an admin with a PhD, really? So basically, my writing, communication, and analytic skills are basically worth nothing in the market? On top of that, being an observant Catholic, I have a bunch of kids, the oldest of which is starting high school. So starting over completely would be a big ask, because my current employer, bad as they may be, pays me a lot more than a secretary would make. Plus, in four years I can access tuition benefits for other Catholic schools for my oldest. Sadly, never did I think I would have such an appreciation for the phrase “golden handcuffs.”
Hi Antigone! I can't imagine being in the humanities, as it contains among the most woke people on campus (at least at my university). And given that you are an observant Catholic (assuming that your colleagues know that about you), it must be even worse for you. In my experience, the two things that academics abhor and actively discriminate against are Republicans/conservatives and people who are religious--unless you ascribe to the Islam religion (the latter is at least quasi acceptable, whereas Christianity most assuredly is not). So much for "diversity and inclusion."
Honestly, I can't imagine that you would ever get hired as an administrative assistant because you would be way too overqualified for the position. Further, it doesn't sound realistic for you to do that given your responsibility to your family. That said, it doesn't hurt to look to see what's out there. While I haven't looked myself, I've heard that there are websites and consultants that can help academics who are considering alternative careers, as you do have skills (as you say, writing, communication, and analytic skills) that ought to be of worth to some potential employers. These websites/consultants might be able to help you think outside the box for job opportunities you might never have considered otherwise.
As for me, I think it's too late largely because of my age, but also what I do (I do research and so I have some quantitative skills, but I am by no means a statistical wizard). I am also super worried about the economy and, therefore, I would be reluctant to make any big career changes (I've heard that layoffs are expected among the professional class this fall). So, I'm pretty much stuck, I think.
Have you been able to engage with colleagues who feel the same way that you do about the academy? I do have a couple likeminded colleagues that I can commiserate with and if it wasn't for them, I think I'd be even more miserable than I already am! I would love it if there was a support group of sorts for academic folks who don't subscribe to wokeness. I'm not sure that's realistic, though. I think people might be too scared to put themselves out there.
Again, with any luck (and lots of prayer!), maybe the academy will straighten itself out with time. Who knows.
Julia, because there are absolutely no incentives, nor any Internal or external pressures, in place to change the trajectory. Absolutely none. It’s very dire indeed.
Excellent question! The reason I think the academy will deteriorate further is that (a) the ideology is firmly entrenched, with the vast majority of faculty being progressives who are loathe to admit that they are wrong (this is, after all, where the ideology originated and careers are built on it); (b) the students who adopt the ideology do so with a religious zeal and it is these students who will one day make up the academy, presumably pushing it further leftward (conservatives, for sure, and probably middle of the road liberals know better than to pursue a career in academics these days; they will not be welcome); (c) many universities, including my Midwest one, are working to include misgendering and bias complaints under Title IV (which is horrifying, in my view); and (c) DEI is big business on campuses (see https://www.heritage.org/education/report/diversity-university-dei-bloat-the-academy).
The winds may very well be shifting in the larger society, but I've seen no evidence that this is occurring at universities--at least not at my major university in the Midwest. I sincerely hope that I'm wrong about this and that it gets better. But they (the progressives, Marxists) have been on a long, steady march to get to this point and so I don't see them abandoning their cause anytime soon, especially now that they have gained societal acceptance. The only thing that can stop them would be if parents stopped sending their children to college.
It keeps me up at night too. I'm not in academia, BTW, but in a very woke industry. I want to leave, but building a new career at this stage would be difficult. I feel really lucky that I don't have kids to support, though. These are tough decisions, but ultimately our peace of mind, our quality of life and our health are more important than anything.
I’m in the same situation. The last two companies I worked for are super-woke. I think critical theory is ridiculous and corrosive to society and culture. I was angry at mandatory “Privilege” training that said meritocracy and individualism are problematic concepts. But, I would never publicly say some of the opinions I hold at my current company because overall I like the job, I like my team, and I need the paycheck. I also have significant financial and family obligations, and I cannot afford to be railroaded out of the company with a stain on my record. So, for me it is separation of church and state. My opinions about politics stay among my friends—at least the ones who aren’t brainwashed yet.
The ideology is truly sick, but the people who push it are quite smart, at least tactically. They understand that the way to push the ideology is to tie it to your paycheck. They knew that infiltrating elite universities would lead to infiltrating corporate America because upper management of corporate america pulls directly from elite educational institutions. And why wouldn’t they pull from those institutions? To get into those institutions you have to be intelligent, highly motivated and highly competitive. I don’t fault companies for that, and I don’t fault a lot of the young folks who graduate from those institutions. Again, these people are highly competitive, and wokeness has become another competitive avenue for them. They can’t just be woke, they have to be the most dedicated wokesters.
So here we are. What can you do? You and I don’t make the rules, we are expected to live by them.
I am just going to vote Republican. That’s a very hard thing to do for me, but I just don’t see what choice I have.
life must be tough holding all that in , scared to mention your views . Dump facebook there is nothing there for you . So you have a career , as long s you goosestep in line with the others , how long to you go along with this ? Or do you stop before you goosestep off the cliff with the other lemmings ? Sorry still asleep
Coming out in the seventies was better, I think. Back then, being gay meant having to be verbally circumspect but also being allowed to focus on one issue—finding love—instead of dozens!
Is it not? Are people not allowed to be themselves or speak freely about their thoughts because of the tenets of the ideology of the mass of their contemporaries. Seems to be similar to me. I would argue that this is exactly what the woke folks want. They feel that great injustice was done to various groups by others and the answer is to commit injustice to their perceived enemies? Funny because the Kendis of the world promote that very tactic. Current discrimination is the answer to past discrimination, no?
Let me be more clear: I am not addressing whether or not discrimination is taking place--clearly it is. Why, I'm a white male myself, I should know ;-)
But: Academics, media workers, Google employees, etc. have CHOSEN to work in industries that embrace this toxic nihilism. The historical examples (Jews in 1930s Germany, black people in the Jim Crow South, etc) did not. It is typical of today's intellectually featherweight discourse to equate the problems some privileged, upper-middle-class, Americans experience to the worst excesses of human savagery--and I don't buy it. God forbid these privileged softies ever have to stare down anything more scary than a slow supermarket checkout line...
You don’t think that there were gay people who were otherwise privileged, upper-middle-class softies who still weren’t allowed to be openly gay because the other upper-middle-class privileged softies were predominantly Christian and anti-homosexuality?
In the Army, where I learned most valuable life lessons in the simplest and crudest way, I learned that shit rolls downhill. That was simply the explanation for what occurs when those in the hierarchy above you do something wrong, and how it ultimately will become your problem because those higher up don’t often accept consequences because they don’t have to. I believe the overall point was that those with less power are subject to the whims of those who have more.
So I empathize with the more powerful, not because they deserve it implicitly, but because shit rolls downhill and if we can end this with the privileged class, we should. Otherwise they will screw everything up and the people who they think they are trying to help will ultimately be the ones who suffer the most.
I cannot like this but I do feel your pain. Best of luck to you. Document what you see and hear. Don't join the mob and that is what it is. Use fear of confrontation as an excuse. Perhaps in the future you can be a voice of reason. A mole of sorts.
I like the metaphor of the leopard eating the face of your neighbor, with the sudden realization that it has future designs yours. It seems what many in academia failed to acknowledge is that what starts out as a cute little cub grows up with an ever-increasing appetite. There was a time when the little leopards could have been caged or in this case engaged directly by their colleagues and forced to justify their “petty spite” and/or “spiritual purification” pogroms. There was a time in academia when open discussion or formal debate was a cherished means of doing so. Alas, it seems neither Mr. Manson nor his colleagues chose to do so, not even when the leopard was one cubicle away. Perhaps he felt he needed permission, as in the case of his colleague Jeff. Of course, some would argue that you never need permission to do the right thing.
A leopard can’t change its spots and nor can the Marxist "woke" crowd. To use another metaphor, it’s become clear that the animals are running the zoo. The only defense against being eaten is to stop feeding them, force them back into the wild, or in this case the non-academic world where one needs to produce something someone else is willing to pay for. Not to diminish Mr. Manson’s field, but I doubt there is much of a market for “nonhuman primate behavior” or “human personality variation”. Given the interaction with his colleagues, I think he makes my point on the last one. “Higher” education has become one big scam with decreasing market value. Just ask those who graduated with a degree in “gender equity” now working at Starbucks to pay $60,000 in student loan debt. Just like the housing bubble of the early 2000s, it about to pop like an infected abscess. I suppose the good news for Mr. Mason is he won’t be around to get covered in puss.
Every government agency , every university and almost all large corporations now have divisions of diversity, equity and inclusion. There are plenty of jobs for ethnic and gender studies majors. They don't do anything useful, but they draw paychecks, sometimes quite large ones.
DEI is a veritable industry. It was a clever way to employ otherwise unemployable BIPOC graduates who graduated with Blacks / Gay / Queer / Feminist / Studies majors. Do note that after Michelle Obama failed to become partner at her law firm she went to a local Chicago hospital and became its 'diversity counselor' @ $125K per year. After her husband, Barak, became a Senator and he landed a $2 million grant for the hospital - they bumped Michelle's pay to $300K. This was all published in a 2009 New Yorker article.
As soon as companies are stung by the recession, DEI depts. will be the first on the chopping block. All DEI depts. bring to the table are expensive lawsuits and under productive whiny employees.
That would be logical- but don’t you think they’d be thrashing & wailing should that happen? The societal pressure to goose-step to this movement/ religion is powerful…
DEI employees aren't producers. They have no skills, and contribute nothing to an organizations bottom line. They are a trend, a red line on the ledger, and will be trimmed as soon as the timing is right. They will get cut before the marketing budget.
A company's loyalty is to their shareholders. The top producers who add quantifiable value will remain at a company during a recession. These jobs have nothing to do with monitoring pronouns or creating safe spaces.
During recessionary times, anyone with DEI on their resume or anything resembling wokeism in the body copy, will end up in the "pass" pile. I'm sure there will be an algorithm created so they don't even make it to the hiring managers inbox.
I certainly hope so, but in the meantime, DEI officers and their minions are doing plenty of damage within universities and corporations. While I could see DEI newbies being passed over in the next recession, I don’t see the current DEI budgets shrinking much. There is too much political pressure for organizations to put their money where their mouth is on these matters. So those DEI offices will continue to do much damage one way or another.
If wokesters sense rounds of layoffs are coming, learn job offers are scarce, and covid bucks dried up, their tune will change quick. Pronoun compliance will be the least of their concerns..
Abscess: A localized collection of purulent material in any body part, resulting from invasion of a pyogenic bacterium or other pathogen. Sterile abscess: An abscess from which microorganisms cannot be cultivated as a tuberculous or mycotic culture at one week. How prevalent are true sterile abscesses? I admit they do exist.
Ah, memories. I graduated from the University of Arizona back in 1980. If memory serves the out of state tuition (I was from New Jersey) back then was about $5,000 for two semesters. I had a 67 Plymouth Barracuda that I bought for $600 when I was in high school. It had a slant six and a three gear, column mounted shifter. It took three days to make the trip from my house to Tucson. The first night I would sleep in the car, the second in a cheap motel and the third where I would be living during the school year. On the last trip home my brakes were failing, and I had to pump them before they would engage. Luckily it was all highway driving and I made sure to stay a good distance behind cars and trucks.
In between classes and working various jobs so I could eat, I had some truly remarkable experiences. We would take trips down to Guaymas, Mexico in my friend’s van and camp on the beach. I remember pulling over one moonless night to pee (we always packed plenty of beer) and looked up to the most amazing array of stars I’ve ever seen. They looked like clouds. Another night we camped on Mt. Lemmon, outside of Tucson when a thunderstorm rolled in across the valley below. It was like being on Mt. Olympus, watching thunderbolts hurtle earthward below us. And then there were the girls. Back then you didn’t have to ask permission before you kissed them. All you had to do was look in her eyes and she would let you know how she felt….
School I went to had women’s (womxn?) dorms, I still remember cruising by “Stengel Beach” in the spring when boatloads of coeds would be out sunbathing…
I had an old Norton in school (basket case literally, bought in about six different baskets of parts), dumped it more than once cruising by Stengel Beach
I think I know the town you grew up in quite well...almost bought a small building in the town center about 15 years ago. Good think we didn't pull the trigger because that was right before the 2008 crash.
Those days of sacrificing a lot of immediate comfort to reach a larger goal later never felt like a sacrifice, did it? I did the same as you folks here . . . affordable state college, worked year-round to pay the bills, graduated with zero bank but zero debt, then went to work and never looked back.
Even working on the mall landscaping crew summers was fun, albeit sweaty and back-breaking.
Exactly! I was bored with school by May, then summering on the "chain gang" gave me fresh appreciation that my college time meant I wouldn't HAVE to shovel snow from mall entrances when I was 50, as the full-time men on my landscaping crew had done their whole lives.
I was the "college boy" on the crew, which was otherwise hard-case working-class guys who gave me shit until I proved I would work as hard as they did--and slack off when the bosses weren't looking like they did, too. The funniest guy was a paroled murderer, fresh out of Stateville. I asked what he'd done, and he explained with great earnestness that a gangbanger was stealing his mother's Social Security checks from her mailbox, and he told him twice to stop, and when the banger did it a third time, he put a knife in his heart.
This is stuff you do not learn in school, ever, and I thought it was grand. Every kid should do this kind of work, it teaches respect for those doing it for a living, even if you go a different direction.
Math is hard. Science is boring. These fields unfairly assume that there are correct answers and that you have to know what they are. I feel safer in a field where my feelings and opinions are important.
Married into a somewhat lawyerish family. Father in law and one son went into law. Father, very fair, very smart, worked on insurance fraud. Son did some law in a very high end law firm. Only conservative in the staff. Owner use to tease him about being his token conservative. Son went on to do military law, rules of engagement, who knew you needed banks in a war! Father in law passed away, brother in law lives outside of the US. Never thought of him living outside of the country, Did so because wife is a doctor.
Well, at least you're honest, but it begs the question: why in the world did you go down that path in the first place? ALL of this was going on when you made the decision.
The Uvalde police couldn’t either. You will have to live with yourself. Perhaps a direct attack is futile but think strategically and look for opportunities
I mostly agreed with the other responses to my comment, and I'm not one to get worked up by any online comment, but I'll say that you comparing my stance that I shouldn't comment on this topic publicly to the Uvalde police is inflammatory and dimwitted.
It comes down to courage. I sympathize with the Uvalde police and you. I hope I have the courage to say and do the right thing in the challenging moment.
I own a small restaurant in a very liberal midwest university town. I can't post on social media, as I'll end up being boycotted (it's happened before) and forced out of business. It's simple to state that you should 'go down swinging' when it's someone else's livelihood, it's a bit different when you're sacrificing yourself.
You definitely should keep your business and personal opinions separate (unless your opinions are part of your brand). If you can’t do it, then you are being wise.
Courage, yes, is the essential pre-requisite to fight evil. But intelligence is also high on the list.
Concurrent with speaking out (or perhaps even leading it), we need to develop methods to become more robust on an individual and communal level. Tyrants of all stripes ALWAYS target basic life needs (mostly food and income, but increasingly access to energy) and so serious consideration is required to minimize single points of failure. Save, live below your means, and have multiple lines of income -- these are some of the obvious ones. (And of course, easier said than done.) Beyond that: community. There is a massive groundswell happening in the "alternative economy" space (or whatever you choose to call it) with millions of people who are very well aware that this is a critical inflection point in the story of human freedom. For me, that means I now go FAR out of my way to patronize businesses aligned with my values - a previously unimaginable thing based on my (rapidly shifting) secular, capitalist worldview.
As it pertains to a small business in a leftist enclave, I wish I had any answer at all. I’ve been a business owner and I know how vulnerable that position can be. You might have hard questions to ask yourself. Will those Leftist areas even be sustainable in a few years? Is your investment built atop a rotting carcass and, if so, is it better to bail sooner or later.
Beyond that, nothing is ever a monolith and a big part of a small niche can easily eclipse of a small part of a large one. Can you lean into the cancellation to bring out a new customer base? The Alt Economy is replete with examples of people who parlayed their cancellation to greater success.
This is not to say this avenue is available to everyone or that there isn’t a massive struggle involved. It isn’t, and there is. But it does point a way forward which I think essentially boils down to: 1 – get robust and 2 – help those aligned with your values.
Courage is special because it’s rare. Rare and, yes, necessary. But it’s also incumbent on all of us to support the courageous in any way we can.
This is the fight of our lives. The fight that will determine not just the course of the rest of our individual lives, but the very path of human civilization itself. The longer we wait to fight, the harder it becomes.
I wonder. If a small business in a woke town stood for the unwoke truth, would it encourage others who are keeping silent out of fear to come out of the woodwork? Could it perhaps result in increased business? (I know I specifically patronize businesses who refuse the woke message.) Such an experiment could end in ruin...otoh, it might not. And I would say that if it does end in ruin (perhaps likely?), the woke have already prevailed.
They've definitely prevailed in my town. I was attacked once, and withstood it, but it's not worth it to fight it again, when our city and county government are all progressives.
It's happened many times where I live as well. Disgruntled employees with poor work ethics love to make false allegations and rally the wokesters to destroy a person's livelihood around here.
very true seen it happen to a good friend he had to step down from a business he built from nothing , all because some slacker accused him of racism for not advancing said slacker . Very sad all I can say is good thing I retired , don't think I would last long at any job these days
But then again there's the famous recent case of Gibson's Bakery v. Oberlin College where Gibson's sued Oberlin and took them to the cleaners. Maybe not exactly on point but if nobody stands up the the leftist bullies - and make no mistake but they are a minority - we will all go down with the ship.
Never forget what Ronald Reagan said:
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
Our America is worth fighting - and dying - for. Who disagrees? I'd like to hear why.
they will find a way to take you down , I feel for you having to watch what you say or post , must be terrifying not knowing when or why the hammer will drop . All I can say is good luck .
Will you enjoy living in a Stalinist world? Because that's the end-game. Most people are cowards and followers. I learned that very early on in life when I stood up. But the alternative is unthinkable.
I would have agreed a year ago. I am starting to realize that it is a trap designed to weed out traditional or independent thinkers. They should stay. They should document (not on an office computer) what they observe. We need moles.
I would say to you and the the Rationalist that, without taking any offense to your comments, I don't consider it intellectual cowardice when the rules of the game as established by the majority woke negate any chance at rational discussion. When I'm one on one with a friend, I can rationalize with them, get them to stick to a point and try and actually back it up with anything tangible, etc. Online and in the workplace, challenges are immediately shot down with claims of trauma and a reminder of their official victim status. From there, any further arguing only proves the point in the woke minds.
But I don't know, you're probably both right. Better to go down swinging than end up as the woman at the end of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
I am one of the 99% who doesn't speak up publicly or professionally. I talk about it with friends and family, specifically the "woke" ones, but I won't, for example, share an article like this on Facebook or speak up when a colleague casually mentions the prevalence of white supremacy in America. I work in an entirely different field but one only marginally less woke than higher education. I'm 34 and my career is just starting to have something resembling momentum. I think the ongoing revolution at American universities is the single most important threat to our country, including China, but I'm not going to be another white male easily dismissed for wrong think. I just can't do it.
Thank you for writing this, Prof. Manson.
Did you read the part about the leopard eating other people's faces, then finally coming for yours?
It seems to me you’re making a Faustian bargain. Sooner or later the woke mob will come for you or the rational among us will render your employer irrelevant. I was once faced with a dilemma similar yours. It had nothing to do with woke fanatics but to my mind a more relevant issue- competence. I was hired to shepherd through several development projects that had been stalled because of existing staff incompetence . The design budgets had been depleted ands the clients were refusing to ante up any more money until previously agreed to milestones were met. It fell upon me to spend literally hundreds of uncompensated hours to meet them. When the absentee partner showed up to finalize billing I went off on the office manager and laid out the sheer incompetence of him and his staff. Within days I was laid off. At the same time I had a newborn baby, a wife on maternity leave and lots of bills to pay. The good news is that I landed a better paying job with support employees who were willing to develop skills necessary to make the company successful.
I appreciate your dilemma. The moral of my story is to have faith in yourself. If you lead well, others will follow and you’ll prove yourself to be indispensable.
By the way that company no longer exists and after it was bought out the partner retired and the manager I exposed was fired. I’m now at a point in my life where I can tell any problematic snowflakes to go fuck themselves, in more subtle phraseology of course. Even better, there’s nothing they can do about it.
We're no longer the home of the brave, so don't let your timidity worry you
I disagree with the others below and am on your side for staying and advancing quietly. I believe the universities will need reasonable people at all levels to reveal their true colors when the time comes. The fight had best be led by those who can go all out, those whose choice is retire or fight. Not that I am saying the retire choice is wrong; but certainly legal battles will have some impact.
I understand your predicament Pemulis and I really don't know what I would do in your situation, but consider this: Keeping silent because of fear of speaking up is exactly what the authoritarians count on. You are in that way helping the woke project along.
That is part of the way the Leftist ideologues came to power in 2020 - failing to speak up meant you were complicit in the systemic racism. I see no reason the sink to that level. I believe in the right of the individual to make their personal decisions. Otherwise this side is no better than that one and the division is complete. I do think Vernon is correct though that over time it comes at a cost to the psyche.
You are making an equivalence that is false. Just because the left employed the "silence is violence" method does not mean that speaking up against something that is wrong is somehow sinking to the left's level. In your estimation, was speaking out against Communism in the USSR or against Nazis in Germany uncalled for (or in your terms applied today, sinking to the left's level)? One may choose to speak out or not but there are consequences to each decision. On a final note, I would observe that your comment rather proves my point (i.e., the left's speaking up is how they got control of the narrative).
I am a proponent of speaking up. I am just not a proponent of forcing or pressuring other's to do so. Also I made the point that the left's bully tactics of forcing agreement was how they gained control. We are on the same side.
This is an understandable reaction. I'm further along in my career - a tenured faculty member at a public university in the South - but I'm not yet in a position to retire nor to sustain dismissal or an unpaid leave.
And yet, someone has to show some courage sometime. My advice would be to find allies, advocate for freedom of thought wherever and whenever you can, and prepare yourself mentally, physically, and - as much as possible - financially to face down the leopard if and when it shows itself.
I’m a tenured professor too. The only thing that has kept me sane is that I have cultivated a very small group of likeminded colleagues with whom I can talk to about the madness going on in my department and university.
I struggle with this. I’m 51 and don’t know how much longer I can take the bullshit. You might think you can handle it, compartmentalize it, but eventually, in my experience, it all gets to be too much to bear. Too much hiding, too much swallowing down your objections and opinions. The worst is the feeling that I’m part of something deeply wrong, maybe even evil. I try to be subversive, try to find and talk to like minded colleagues but all this living in the shadows is getting to me. It’s no way to live in the long term. I want to be free, intellectually, spiritually and emotionally.
It’s much harder to make a change at 51. You should really consider what the next twenty years will feel like for you. Hope this doesn’t sound harsh, because I do identify with your struggles. I don’t know what the fuck to do myself, but I’m looking for ways out.
This resonates so much. I’m a 41 year old college professor and the stress around this issue keeps me up at night and has even led to health issues.
College is supposed to be an institution where the free exchange of ideas is welcomed. Not anymore! The insane are running the asylum.
What subject do you teach?
"Beware the man with one sandal." That was a paraphrase. I have forgotten the real quote but the result was the same.
I’m a 54 year old professor and agree… it is a struggle. The academy has changed so much from when I first started. If I thought I could get a job outside of academia, I’d do it in a flash. But because of my age and what I do, it’s not realistic. All I can really do is count the days to retirement.
Frankly, I’m not sure what I’d do if I was your age. If you can, I would try to get out, as I think it’s going to get worse.
BP, I share your pessimism. I have thought about leaving what feels like an infinite number of times. My issue is similar to yours: I am quite stuck because of what I do (essentially, a highly specialized humanities subdiscipline that involves plenty of analytic rigor, but no data crunching or quantitative analysis, which are the only academic skills that are seen as valuable in the market these days). In 2021, I talked to a friend who is recruiter in my pre-doctorate line of work and she told me that it would be very difficult for me to get back in because it’s so incredibly competitive. In fact, her only advice was for me was to try to get my foot in the door by applying to be a administrative assistant, so basically a secretary. I was so depressed after that conversation and frankly a bit offended - an admin with a PhD, really? So basically, my writing, communication, and analytic skills are basically worth nothing in the market? On top of that, being an observant Catholic, I have a bunch of kids, the oldest of which is starting high school. So starting over completely would be a big ask, because my current employer, bad as they may be, pays me a lot more than a secretary would make. Plus, in four years I can access tuition benefits for other Catholic schools for my oldest. Sadly, never did I think I would have such an appreciation for the phrase “golden handcuffs.”
Hi Antigone! I can't imagine being in the humanities, as it contains among the most woke people on campus (at least at my university). And given that you are an observant Catholic (assuming that your colleagues know that about you), it must be even worse for you. In my experience, the two things that academics abhor and actively discriminate against are Republicans/conservatives and people who are religious--unless you ascribe to the Islam religion (the latter is at least quasi acceptable, whereas Christianity most assuredly is not). So much for "diversity and inclusion."
Honestly, I can't imagine that you would ever get hired as an administrative assistant because you would be way too overqualified for the position. Further, it doesn't sound realistic for you to do that given your responsibility to your family. That said, it doesn't hurt to look to see what's out there. While I haven't looked myself, I've heard that there are websites and consultants that can help academics who are considering alternative careers, as you do have skills (as you say, writing, communication, and analytic skills) that ought to be of worth to some potential employers. These websites/consultants might be able to help you think outside the box for job opportunities you might never have considered otherwise.
As for me, I think it's too late largely because of my age, but also what I do (I do research and so I have some quantitative skills, but I am by no means a statistical wizard). I am also super worried about the economy and, therefore, I would be reluctant to make any big career changes (I've heard that layoffs are expected among the professional class this fall). So, I'm pretty much stuck, I think.
Have you been able to engage with colleagues who feel the same way that you do about the academy? I do have a couple likeminded colleagues that I can commiserate with and if it wasn't for them, I think I'd be even more miserable than I already am! I would love it if there was a support group of sorts for academic folks who don't subscribe to wokeness. I'm not sure that's realistic, though. I think people might be too scared to put themselves out there.
Again, with any luck (and lots of prayer!), maybe the academy will straighten itself out with time. Who knows.
Serious question: why do you think things will deteriorate further? It seems to me the winds may be shifting.
Julia, because there are absolutely no incentives, nor any Internal or external pressures, in place to change the trajectory. Absolutely none. It’s very dire indeed.
Excellent question! The reason I think the academy will deteriorate further is that (a) the ideology is firmly entrenched, with the vast majority of faculty being progressives who are loathe to admit that they are wrong (this is, after all, where the ideology originated and careers are built on it); (b) the students who adopt the ideology do so with a religious zeal and it is these students who will one day make up the academy, presumably pushing it further leftward (conservatives, for sure, and probably middle of the road liberals know better than to pursue a career in academics these days; they will not be welcome); (c) many universities, including my Midwest one, are working to include misgendering and bias complaints under Title IV (which is horrifying, in my view); and (c) DEI is big business on campuses (see https://www.heritage.org/education/report/diversity-university-dei-bloat-the-academy).
The winds may very well be shifting in the larger society, but I've seen no evidence that this is occurring at universities--at least not at my major university in the Midwest. I sincerely hope that I'm wrong about this and that it gets better. But they (the progressives, Marxists) have been on a long, steady march to get to this point and so I don't see them abandoning their cause anytime soon, especially now that they have gained societal acceptance. The only thing that can stop them would be if parents stopped sending their children to college.
It keeps me up at night too. I'm not in academia, BTW, but in a very woke industry. I want to leave, but building a new career at this stage would be difficult. I feel really lucky that I don't have kids to support, though. These are tough decisions, but ultimately our peace of mind, our quality of life and our health are more important than anything.
I’m in the same situation. The last two companies I worked for are super-woke. I think critical theory is ridiculous and corrosive to society and culture. I was angry at mandatory “Privilege” training that said meritocracy and individualism are problematic concepts. But, I would never publicly say some of the opinions I hold at my current company because overall I like the job, I like my team, and I need the paycheck. I also have significant financial and family obligations, and I cannot afford to be railroaded out of the company with a stain on my record. So, for me it is separation of church and state. My opinions about politics stay among my friends—at least the ones who aren’t brainwashed yet.
You have my sympathy.
The ideology is truly sick, but the people who push it are quite smart, at least tactically. They understand that the way to push the ideology is to tie it to your paycheck. They knew that infiltrating elite universities would lead to infiltrating corporate America because upper management of corporate america pulls directly from elite educational institutions. And why wouldn’t they pull from those institutions? To get into those institutions you have to be intelligent, highly motivated and highly competitive. I don’t fault companies for that, and I don’t fault a lot of the young folks who graduate from those institutions. Again, these people are highly competitive, and wokeness has become another competitive avenue for them. They can’t just be woke, they have to be the most dedicated wokesters.
So here we are. What can you do? You and I don’t make the rules, we are expected to live by them.
I am just going to vote Republican. That’s a very hard thing to do for me, but I just don’t see what choice I have.
life must be tough holding all that in , scared to mention your views . Dump facebook there is nothing there for you . So you have a career , as long s you goosestep in line with the others , how long to you go along with this ? Or do you stop before you goosestep off the cliff with the other lemmings ? Sorry still asleep
did writing this make you feel tough and cool?
sorry i'm not tough and for sure not cool , don't care what others think of me . And you ? what are you ?
Just a guy sharing my thoughts, responding to a guy named jerry who was needlessly aggressive in his response
I’m sure there was a time when gay folks pretended to be straight Christians to keep a job or get along with coworkers. We do what we must to survive.
As many a Jew back in the day changed their names from "Goldstein" to "Garrison" to avoid the wrath of Christian warriors.
Do you remember Archie Bunker's line about that, to which Meathead retorted "Abe Lincoln?"
Classic.
Oh, god, yes. That was hilarious. And then Edith said . . .
"I didn't know Lincoln was Jewish."
Sorry, but this is in no way similar
As an older gay man I have to disagree with you. It’s very similar. I feel pretty much the same way I did in the 90s.
Coming out in the seventies was better, I think. Back then, being gay meant having to be verbally circumspect but also being allowed to focus on one issue—finding love—instead of dozens!
Is it not? Are people not allowed to be themselves or speak freely about their thoughts because of the tenets of the ideology of the mass of their contemporaries. Seems to be similar to me. I would argue that this is exactly what the woke folks want. They feel that great injustice was done to various groups by others and the answer is to commit injustice to their perceived enemies? Funny because the Kendis of the world promote that very tactic. Current discrimination is the answer to past discrimination, no?
Let me be more clear: I am not addressing whether or not discrimination is taking place--clearly it is. Why, I'm a white male myself, I should know ;-)
But: Academics, media workers, Google employees, etc. have CHOSEN to work in industries that embrace this toxic nihilism. The historical examples (Jews in 1930s Germany, black people in the Jim Crow South, etc) did not. It is typical of today's intellectually featherweight discourse to equate the problems some privileged, upper-middle-class, Americans experience to the worst excesses of human savagery--and I don't buy it. God forbid these privileged softies ever have to stare down anything more scary than a slow supermarket checkout line...
You don’t think that there were gay people who were otherwise privileged, upper-middle-class softies who still weren’t allowed to be openly gay because the other upper-middle-class privileged softies were predominantly Christian and anti-homosexuality?
In the Army, where I learned most valuable life lessons in the simplest and crudest way, I learned that shit rolls downhill. That was simply the explanation for what occurs when those in the hierarchy above you do something wrong, and how it ultimately will become your problem because those higher up don’t often accept consequences because they don’t have to. I believe the overall point was that those with less power are subject to the whims of those who have more.
So I empathize with the more powerful, not because they deserve it implicitly, but because shit rolls downhill and if we can end this with the privileged class, we should. Otherwise they will screw everything up and the people who they think they are trying to help will ultimately be the ones who suffer the most.
I cannot like this but I do feel your pain. Best of luck to you. Document what you see and hear. Don't join the mob and that is what it is. Use fear of confrontation as an excuse. Perhaps in the future you can be a voice of reason. A mole of sorts.
I like the metaphor of the leopard eating the face of your neighbor, with the sudden realization that it has future designs yours. It seems what many in academia failed to acknowledge is that what starts out as a cute little cub grows up with an ever-increasing appetite. There was a time when the little leopards could have been caged or in this case engaged directly by their colleagues and forced to justify their “petty spite” and/or “spiritual purification” pogroms. There was a time in academia when open discussion or formal debate was a cherished means of doing so. Alas, it seems neither Mr. Manson nor his colleagues chose to do so, not even when the leopard was one cubicle away. Perhaps he felt he needed permission, as in the case of his colleague Jeff. Of course, some would argue that you never need permission to do the right thing.
A leopard can’t change its spots and nor can the Marxist "woke" crowd. To use another metaphor, it’s become clear that the animals are running the zoo. The only defense against being eaten is to stop feeding them, force them back into the wild, or in this case the non-academic world where one needs to produce something someone else is willing to pay for. Not to diminish Mr. Manson’s field, but I doubt there is much of a market for “nonhuman primate behavior” or “human personality variation”. Given the interaction with his colleagues, I think he makes my point on the last one. “Higher” education has become one big scam with decreasing market value. Just ask those who graduated with a degree in “gender equity” now working at Starbucks to pay $60,000 in student loan debt. Just like the housing bubble of the early 2000s, it about to pop like an infected abscess. I suppose the good news for Mr. Mason is he won’t be around to get covered in puss.
Are not the Gender Studies people becoming DEI political officers?
Every government agency , every university and almost all large corporations now have divisions of diversity, equity and inclusion. There are plenty of jobs for ethnic and gender studies majors. They don't do anything useful, but they draw paychecks, sometimes quite large ones.
DEI is a veritable industry. It was a clever way to employ otherwise unemployable BIPOC graduates who graduated with Blacks / Gay / Queer / Feminist / Studies majors. Do note that after Michelle Obama failed to become partner at her law firm she went to a local Chicago hospital and became its 'diversity counselor' @ $125K per year. After her husband, Barak, became a Senator and he landed a $2 million grant for the hospital - they bumped Michelle's pay to $300K. This was all published in a 2009 New Yorker article.
As soon as companies are stung by the recession, DEI depts. will be the first on the chopping block. All DEI depts. bring to the table are expensive lawsuits and under productive whiny employees.
That would be logical- but don’t you think they’d be thrashing & wailing should that happen? The societal pressure to goose-step to this movement/ religion is powerful…
DEI employees aren't producers. They have no skills, and contribute nothing to an organizations bottom line. They are a trend, a red line on the ledger, and will be trimmed as soon as the timing is right. They will get cut before the marketing budget.
A company's loyalty is to their shareholders. The top producers who add quantifiable value will remain at a company during a recession. These jobs have nothing to do with monitoring pronouns or creating safe spaces.
DEI is a cancer on the body politic.
Spot on. This point (about DEI being a jobs program for otherwise unemployable humanities majors) cannot be overemphasized enough.
During recessionary times, anyone with DEI on their resume or anything resembling wokeism in the body copy, will end up in the "pass" pile. I'm sure there will be an algorithm created so they don't even make it to the hiring managers inbox.
I certainly hope so, but in the meantime, DEI officers and their minions are doing plenty of damage within universities and corporations. While I could see DEI newbies being passed over in the next recession, I don’t see the current DEI budgets shrinking much. There is too much political pressure for organizations to put their money where their mouth is on these matters. So those DEI offices will continue to do much damage one way or another.
If wokesters sense rounds of layoffs are coming, learn job offers are scarce, and covid bucks dried up, their tune will change quick. Pronoun compliance will be the least of their concerns..
“An infected abscess” is redundant. Just saying!
Not necessarily. There are sterile abscesses as well.
Abscess: A localized collection of purulent material in any body part, resulting from invasion of a pyogenic bacterium or other pathogen. Sterile abscess: An abscess from which microorganisms cannot be cultivated as a tuberculous or mycotic culture at one week. How prevalent are true sterile abscesses? I admit they do exist.
Ok, so I took some literary license. You have to admit though, the redundancy does aid in visualizing exploding puss.
$60,000 in student loan debt assuming they dropped out after their second year. :-)
Ah, memories. I graduated from the University of Arizona back in 1980. If memory serves the out of state tuition (I was from New Jersey) back then was about $5,000 for two semesters. I had a 67 Plymouth Barracuda that I bought for $600 when I was in high school. It had a slant six and a three gear, column mounted shifter. It took three days to make the trip from my house to Tucson. The first night I would sleep in the car, the second in a cheap motel and the third where I would be living during the school year. On the last trip home my brakes were failing, and I had to pump them before they would engage. Luckily it was all highway driving and I made sure to stay a good distance behind cars and trucks.
In between classes and working various jobs so I could eat, I had some truly remarkable experiences. We would take trips down to Guaymas, Mexico in my friend’s van and camp on the beach. I remember pulling over one moonless night to pee (we always packed plenty of beer) and looked up to the most amazing array of stars I’ve ever seen. They looked like clouds. Another night we camped on Mt. Lemmon, outside of Tucson when a thunderstorm rolled in across the valley below. It was like being on Mt. Olympus, watching thunderbolts hurtle earthward below us. And then there were the girls. Back then you didn’t have to ask permission before you kissed them. All you had to do was look in her eyes and she would let you know how she felt….
and back then, wasn't it SWTSU?
And if I recall correctly, the student body make up, at that time, was something like 70% women, 30% men.
Could that have had any impact on your decision?!?! Not sayin' I thought about that before enrolling up the road...a friend told me...
School I went to had women’s (womxn?) dorms, I still remember cruising by “Stengel Beach” in the spring when boatloads of coeds would be out sunbathing…
Now I know how much of a misogynist I was (am?)
Hahaha…I understand the name…
I had an old Norton in school (basket case literally, bought in about six different baskets of parts), dumped it more than once cruising by Stengel Beach
I think I know the town you grew up in quite well...almost bought a small building in the town center about 15 years ago. Good think we didn't pull the trigger because that was right before the 2008 crash.
I’m guessing either Fredricksburg or New Braunsfels
damn if that don't sound REAL familiar!
and I find myself smiling as I recall those days...
Those days of sacrificing a lot of immediate comfort to reach a larger goal later never felt like a sacrifice, did it? I did the same as you folks here . . . affordable state college, worked year-round to pay the bills, graduated with zero bank but zero debt, then went to work and never looked back.
Even working on the mall landscaping crew summers was fun, albeit sweaty and back-breaking.
*huero
Similar, worked the oil patch in summers, went to A State uni, last few years worked graveyard shift in a mfg plant making scrapers for Cat
Exactly! I was bored with school by May, then summering on the "chain gang" gave me fresh appreciation that my college time meant I wouldn't HAVE to shovel snow from mall entrances when I was 50, as the full-time men on my landscaping crew had done their whole lives.
I was the "college boy" on the crew, which was otherwise hard-case working-class guys who gave me shit until I proved I would work as hard as they did--and slack off when the bosses weren't looking like they did, too. The funniest guy was a paroled murderer, fresh out of Stateville. I asked what he'd done, and he explained with great earnestness that a gangbanger was stealing his mother's Social Security checks from her mailbox, and he told him twice to stop, and when the banger did it a third time, he put a knife in his heart.
This is stuff you do not learn in school, ever, and I thought it was grand. Every kid should do this kind of work, it teaches respect for those doing it for a living, even if you go a different direction.
Math is hard. Science is boring. These fields unfairly assume that there are correct answers and that you have to know what they are. I feel safer in a field where my feelings and opinions are important.
lol
Don't forget nursing!
My daughter is set to graduate from Drexel's nursing program this September
That's great! Congrats to her!
I've been a nurse for around 30 years and I love it. Two of my kids are in nursing at University of Pittsburgh- they love it.
Just say medical field. Covers a wide range. I don’t know about law though!
Married into a somewhat lawyerish family. Father in law and one son went into law. Father, very fair, very smart, worked on insurance fraud. Son did some law in a very high end law firm. Only conservative in the staff. Owner use to tease him about being his token conservative. Son went on to do military law, rules of engagement, who knew you needed banks in a war! Father in law passed away, brother in law lives outside of the US. Never thought of him living outside of the country, Did so because wife is a doctor.
Well, at least you're honest, but it begs the question: why in the world did you go down that path in the first place? ALL of this was going on when you made the decision.
You won't make it to 40 in your career - they will come for you.
The Uvalde police couldn’t either. You will have to live with yourself. Perhaps a direct attack is futile but think strategically and look for opportunities
I mostly agreed with the other responses to my comment, and I'm not one to get worked up by any online comment, but I'll say that you comparing my stance that I shouldn't comment on this topic publicly to the Uvalde police is inflammatory and dimwitted.
It comes down to courage. I sympathize with the Uvalde police and you. I hope I have the courage to say and do the right thing in the challenging moment.
But until you can say that you were faced with it and did the right thing, you might want to refrain on judging others.
I'm speaking as one who has paid a significant price for fighting the establishment, and lost both times.
Jon...if the fight was just, then You did not lose.
So you think this is a huge threat but don't say anything. You know a lot of people who see it too but don't speak up.
Cause and effect....you being a white male will be taken out anyway, if this keeps up, because that's the goal.
So keep quiet and wait.
I own a small restaurant in a very liberal midwest university town. I can't post on social media, as I'll end up being boycotted (it's happened before) and forced out of business. It's simple to state that you should 'go down swinging' when it's someone else's livelihood, it's a bit different when you're sacrificing yourself.
You definitely should keep your business and personal opinions separate (unless your opinions are part of your brand). If you can’t do it, then you are being wise.
Courage, yes, is the essential pre-requisite to fight evil. But intelligence is also high on the list.
Concurrent with speaking out (or perhaps even leading it), we need to develop methods to become more robust on an individual and communal level. Tyrants of all stripes ALWAYS target basic life needs (mostly food and income, but increasingly access to energy) and so serious consideration is required to minimize single points of failure. Save, live below your means, and have multiple lines of income -- these are some of the obvious ones. (And of course, easier said than done.) Beyond that: community. There is a massive groundswell happening in the "alternative economy" space (or whatever you choose to call it) with millions of people who are very well aware that this is a critical inflection point in the story of human freedom. For me, that means I now go FAR out of my way to patronize businesses aligned with my values - a previously unimaginable thing based on my (rapidly shifting) secular, capitalist worldview.
As it pertains to a small business in a leftist enclave, I wish I had any answer at all. I’ve been a business owner and I know how vulnerable that position can be. You might have hard questions to ask yourself. Will those Leftist areas even be sustainable in a few years? Is your investment built atop a rotting carcass and, if so, is it better to bail sooner or later.
Beyond that, nothing is ever a monolith and a big part of a small niche can easily eclipse of a small part of a large one. Can you lean into the cancellation to bring out a new customer base? The Alt Economy is replete with examples of people who parlayed their cancellation to greater success.
This is not to say this avenue is available to everyone or that there isn’t a massive struggle involved. It isn’t, and there is. But it does point a way forward which I think essentially boils down to: 1 – get robust and 2 – help those aligned with your values.
Courage is special because it’s rare. Rare and, yes, necessary. But it’s also incumbent on all of us to support the courageous in any way we can.
This is the fight of our lives. The fight that will determine not just the course of the rest of our individual lives, but the very path of human civilization itself. The longer we wait to fight, the harder it becomes.
I wonder. If a small business in a woke town stood for the unwoke truth, would it encourage others who are keeping silent out of fear to come out of the woodwork? Could it perhaps result in increased business? (I know I specifically patronize businesses who refuse the woke message.) Such an experiment could end in ruin...otoh, it might not. And I would say that if it does end in ruin (perhaps likely?), the woke have already prevailed.
They've definitely prevailed in my town. I was attacked once, and withstood it, but it's not worth it to fight it again, when our city and county government are all progressives.
It's happened many times where I live as well. Disgruntled employees with poor work ethics love to make false allegations and rally the wokesters to destroy a person's livelihood around here.
very true seen it happen to a good friend he had to step down from a business he built from nothing , all because some slacker accused him of racism for not advancing said slacker . Very sad all I can say is good thing I retired , don't think I would last long at any job these days
But then again there's the famous recent case of Gibson's Bakery v. Oberlin College where Gibson's sued Oberlin and took them to the cleaners. Maybe not exactly on point but if nobody stands up the the leftist bullies - and make no mistake but they are a minority - we will all go down with the ship.
Never forget what Ronald Reagan said:
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
Our America is worth fighting - and dying - for. Who disagrees? I'd like to hear why.
they will find a way to take you down , I feel for you having to watch what you say or post , must be terrifying not knowing when or why the hammer will drop . All I can say is good luck .
Completely understand.
Will you enjoy living in a Stalinist world? Because that's the end-game. Most people are cowards and followers. I learned that very early on in life when I stood up. But the alternative is unthinkable.
I would have agreed a year ago. I am starting to realize that it is a trap designed to weed out traditional or independent thinkers. They should stay. They should document (not on an office computer) what they observe. We need moles.
What are you saying? I'm a coward?
What else can you call it? Yeah, looks like that's what that is.
No you're not. You're trying to take care of your family.
But if nobody stands up what happens?
you are not a coward , but living in fear will take a toll on your health and life . Hope you can ride out this insanity , good luck
You are not a coward. Prudence is not cowardice.
Those who trade liberty for security end up with neither. As true now as when Franklin observed it.
I would say to you and the the Rationalist that, without taking any offense to your comments, I don't consider it intellectual cowardice when the rules of the game as established by the majority woke negate any chance at rational discussion. When I'm one on one with a friend, I can rationalize with them, get them to stick to a point and try and actually back it up with anything tangible, etc. Online and in the workplace, challenges are immediately shot down with claims of trauma and a reminder of their official victim status. From there, any further arguing only proves the point in the woke minds.
But I don't know, you're probably both right. Better to go down swinging than end up as the woman at the end of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
We just watched Invasion of the Body Snatchers the other day, and I was calling it the Invasion of the Wokesters. The parallels are eerie.
Live to fight another day. Nothing wrong with that while you also live your life.
if ya don't stand up... every single time... it won't be the country we had.
being told what to think and asking permission to speak is submissive; the perfect antithesis of an American.