I love your blog so much!!!! I’m pretty sure I didn’t get a job because I’m published in anti woke stuff. That’s fine. You are a great example of being true to yourself!
Read this before, but it’s still great the second time around! I’m reminded of the following quote:
“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained”
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
Just so you know, I think he was probably just trying to make conversation. I am so very happy to learn how this is taught and how it could easily be adopted. The fact is that we all have some insecurities. Mine is my weight. I'm a good weight, but it doesn't matter. If someone says something about my clothes, I immediately start thinking whether they are being sincere or trying to enlighten me to its fit. It's irrational. I don't think that way as much anymore. Thanks for sharing. My husband and I were married on pi day.
My son is autistic. Verbally awkward, lives at home because he can't take care of himself, but he wants friends and says all kinds of cringy stuff. Ha.
Reading about your college experience struck me. Mostly because I currently have an associate's degree from my local community college and have been seriously thinking about whether or not I should go back to school for a bachelor's degree, after working nine-five for the past five years. If all the woke stuff was taken out of the picture, there'd be more reasons why I should than shouldn't; I'm old enough to apply for grants which don't need to be paid back, there's a respected college within a half-hour's drive from my house so I wouldn't have to upend my life too much, the school would likely accept my associate credits so I wouldn't have to go for the whole four years, and I'd be the first in my family to have ever earned a bachelor's degree. But, alas, wokeness is a factor - and the one big reason why I'm reluctant to go back. My main fields of interest are in English and History, so I know this nonsense will weasel it's way into my academic experience. I'm not worried about being brainwashed or anything like that; I'm independently minded and have a good BS detector. I just don't want garbage shoved down my throat, or worry about being harassed for saying what I really think. Such a confusing and chaotic time we live in.
As my daughter was growing up, I knew (OK, I deluded myself into believing) that if she went to college for a STEM degree, the nonsense would be minimized. She has grown up into a smart, conservative young lady who starts UCF this fall with a physics/astronomy major. And with thanks to Governor DeSantis, she may be able to take normal GenEds and avoid DIE altogether.
I *really* hope that this is the case, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that the DIE crap is so integrated into the curriculum that she still gets a ton of it. Examples: in my general ed American Literature class, we read To Kill A Mockingbird and learned that Atticus Finch was a white supremacist because he waited to be assigned Tom's case. If he was a true anti-racist he would've volunteered to defend Tom for free -- even though it was the Depression and he had two kids to feed and by waiting to be assigned, he got paid by the budget of Maycomb County. In psychology (my minor), I was taught the Woke "split attraction" model that I go into in some depth in the "The World Wokists Want" review of a Woke novel -- taught that it was true and accurate and exactly how attraction works for *everyone*. These were wholly separate from the three diversity classes I had to take, and it's but one example among hundreds.
Wow. Great writing and refreshing honesty from a distinctive and powerful voice. I can't wait to share your math links with my son. I related to the victim programming. The radical feminist drilled into me during university still rears her ugly head occasionally. Great article. Thank you.
I’ve always believed that teaching someone that they are victims is abusive behavior. Horrific for the ‘victim’, for the people they will mistakenly hate because of this belief, and disastrous for civilized society.
Once again, Holly NAILS it.
Thank you for this thoughtful exposition of a cultural tar pit we all seem to find ourselves in at the moment.
Lacing it with your own stories, and detailed example of your reactions to things that come up and how you break that down is really helpful.
Here we all are, being imperfect beings in a COMPLICATED world. Doing the best we can in those moments.
You are an example of taking that moment of pause to reflect and RESPOND rather than react.
May we all have--and give--grace today! ❤️
Thank you, and thanks for reading!!
Cultural tar pit. Great analogy, very appropriate.
I love your blog so much!!!! I’m pretty sure I didn’t get a job because I’m published in anti woke stuff. That’s fine. You are a great example of being true to yourself!
Gosh, that sucks. Good luck with the next one. Thanks for reading!
Read this before, but it’s still great the second time around! I’m reminded of the following quote:
“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained”
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
That's a great quote!
That book is just thousands of pages of great quotes.
Wow! Thanks for writing this. Gives me quite a lot to meditate on today.
Thank you for reading!
Just so you know, I think he was probably just trying to make conversation. I am so very happy to learn how this is taught and how it could easily be adopted. The fact is that we all have some insecurities. Mine is my weight. I'm a good weight, but it doesn't matter. If someone says something about my clothes, I immediately start thinking whether they are being sincere or trying to enlighten me to its fit. It's irrational. I don't think that way as much anymore. Thanks for sharing. My husband and I were married on pi day.
Yeah, the Asperger hypothesis is the most likely.
My son is autistic. Verbally awkward, lives at home because he can't take care of himself, but he wants friends and says all kinds of cringy stuff. Ha.
Reading about your college experience struck me. Mostly because I currently have an associate's degree from my local community college and have been seriously thinking about whether or not I should go back to school for a bachelor's degree, after working nine-five for the past five years. If all the woke stuff was taken out of the picture, there'd be more reasons why I should than shouldn't; I'm old enough to apply for grants which don't need to be paid back, there's a respected college within a half-hour's drive from my house so I wouldn't have to upend my life too much, the school would likely accept my associate credits so I wouldn't have to go for the whole four years, and I'd be the first in my family to have ever earned a bachelor's degree. But, alas, wokeness is a factor - and the one big reason why I'm reluctant to go back. My main fields of interest are in English and History, so I know this nonsense will weasel it's way into my academic experience. I'm not worried about being brainwashed or anything like that; I'm independently minded and have a good BS detector. I just don't want garbage shoved down my throat, or worry about being harassed for saying what I really think. Such a confusing and chaotic time we live in.
Great post and best wishes.
As my daughter was growing up, I knew (OK, I deluded myself into believing) that if she went to college for a STEM degree, the nonsense would be minimized. She has grown up into a smart, conservative young lady who starts UCF this fall with a physics/astronomy major. And with thanks to Governor DeSantis, she may be able to take normal GenEds and avoid DIE altogether.
I *really* hope that this is the case, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that the DIE crap is so integrated into the curriculum that she still gets a ton of it. Examples: in my general ed American Literature class, we read To Kill A Mockingbird and learned that Atticus Finch was a white supremacist because he waited to be assigned Tom's case. If he was a true anti-racist he would've volunteered to defend Tom for free -- even though it was the Depression and he had two kids to feed and by waiting to be assigned, he got paid by the budget of Maycomb County. In psychology (my minor), I was taught the Woke "split attraction" model that I go into in some depth in the "The World Wokists Want" review of a Woke novel -- taught that it was true and accurate and exactly how attraction works for *everyone*. These were wholly separate from the three diversity classes I had to take, and it's but one example among hundreds.
Not meant to discourage you, just to express that vigilance is still necessary. If pronoun rituals come up, there's an argument she may be able to use in this essay: https://hollymathnerd.substack.com/p/two-anti-pronoun-ritual-attacks
Wow. Great writing and refreshing honesty from a distinctive and powerful voice. I can't wait to share your math links with my son. I related to the victim programming. The radical feminist drilled into me during university still rears her ugly head occasionally. Great article. Thank you.
Thank you!!
I’ve always believed that teaching someone that they are victims is abusive behavior. Horrific for the ‘victim’, for the people they will mistakenly hate because of this belief, and disastrous for civilized society.
Great stack Holly. Glad I found you here.
Dear Holly,
Given your experience in IT, I thought you might enjoy this article (in case you haven't already seen it)...
https://www.thefp.com/p/ex-google-employees-woke-gemini-culture-broken