Woke The Fck Up

 

Both of these people are rational. Both are sensible. And both are, predictably, being pilloried out the wazoo. 

Katz, a tenured professor, lost his job. He lost his job because he dared speak a dissenting opinion. Shrier is persona non grata in publishing. Also for speaking a dissenting (not to mention science-informed) opinion. 

It's gobsmacking that the only audience they can get is via rightwing outlets, because the left has utterly abdicated its commitment to free speech, not to mention common fricking sense. 

The left -- rather, the ostensible left -- now approves of -- in fact, applauds -- censorship. I remember when the left used to oppose censorship. I remember when the left used to welcome dissent. I remember when it used to believe in reason. Ah, the good old days!

The world is on fire, fascism is on the rise, workers can't get decent healthcare or a living wage, GOPers want to take over women's uteruses (oops! I mean people's uteruses!), and what is the left doing? Screaming about pronouns, denying biological reality, policing every word that comes out of anyone's mouth, indulging in white liberal guilt, and pretending it's all activism.

But hey, don't worry. When the woke mob comes for you or yours, you can tell them you capitalized the "b" in "Black"! Whoa, what bravery! What courage! What an advance for society! Really stuck your neck out there, didn't you?! And when the ostensible left keeps losing elections because of its proud, determined jackassery, just remember who asked for it. Who handed the radical right a gift on a silver platter. 

A Declaration of Independence by a Princeton Professor

https://quillette.com/2020/07/08/a-declaration-of-independence-by-a-princeton-professor/ 

Gender Activists Are Trying to Cancel My Book. Why is Silicon Valley Helping Them?

https://quillette.com/2020/11/07/gender-activists-are-trying-to-cancel-my-book-why-is-silicon-valley-helping-them/

This Is Why The Dems Will Keep Losing Elections

Pretentious, narcissistic, batshit-insane bio from the program at Everyman Theatre for a play we saw recently. 

There are so many things wrong about this it's hard to know where to begin. But then I guess I don't have to. Anyone with more than two synapses snapping will see it. And this person is getting paid for this shit. 

P. T. Barnum was right: there's a sucker born every minute. 

Wokerati, or the Lunacy of the Left

As a leftist, I often find myself hanging my head in shame at the idiocy and decidedly il-liberal tenets of political correctness. I've been railing against p.c. lunacy for over 35 years, every chance I get, not that I make much headway with my lefty brothers-in-arms (oh, lord, I just used a "gendered" expression -- oh, the horror!).

The wokerati stand firmly against the entire history of liberalism, with their insistence on "safe spaces" and "trigger warnings" and "sensitivity" and "cultural appropriation" and the whole raft of language-policing bullshit. They don't believe in freedom of speech. They don't believe in the First Amendment at all. They are little modern-day counterparts to the Maoists and Stalinists of old. They would be perfectly happy with struggle sessions (if they even know what those were, ahistorical as these people are).

They are, in short, frighteningly similiar to the far-right loons they love to decry. Hell, I decry them, too. But decrying two sides of the same coin doesn't give me much hope for the future, especially since these woke ones don't recognize their rightwing mirror images.

So several weeks ago, I wrote the first of what I imagine will be many such op-eds on this topic for my hometown newspaper, the Baltimore Sun. Here's the first part of it, with link to the whole thing:

Oh, dear. I have just discovered that I’m supposed to be offended. Furthermore, apparently I should have been taking offense for most of my life. Who knew? 

You see, I’m a first-generation Italian-American. I have dark hair, dark eyes, and skin that tans after 10 minutes in the sun. All my life, people have asked me what nationality I am — how quaint, such an old-fashioned word — or where I’m from.

Read the whole thing here. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Here's something I wrote 6 years ago, for a now-defunct blog. Of course, it rankled the p.c. folks no end. I'd like to hope they've grown up since then, but somehow I doubt it:

In addition to Papa Bear O'Reilly's inane "War on Christmas," there are other seasonal idiocies afoot. One is the taking-offense by certain wet blankets when someone wishes them a Merry Christmas. So if I may:

Ted Rall Fires Back

In case you missed it yesterday, Ted Rall's brilliant riposte:

Daily Kos's Hypocrisy and Ted Rall's Capitulation

UPDATED BELOW.

As you know, I'm a great admirer of political cartoonist Ted Rall. I've done many posts on him and his brilliant, scathing political cartoons (click the tag "Ted Rall"). Along with Mr. Fish, he's one of the most provocative and truthful cartoonists out there.

Which truthfulness and provocation, of course, makes them both ripe for attack.

And attack is what's happening to Rall right now, thanks to the hypocrites and Obamabots of Daily Kos.