Gen Y Speaks: This is why I don’t want to be woke. Don’t cancel me for it - "What I cannot get on board with is the cancelling of people and organisations for believing or saying something that opposes the “woke stance”, whatever the issue.The push for kinder and more inclusive norms should not entail condemning dissenters...Can we no longer have discussions? To what extent are we going to take this “cancelling” (extreme censorship)?... I can’t even admit that I’d like to know! Because now, even asking can be construed as disagreeing or being unsupportive of “the cause”, and thus, offensive... In a room full of woke people, I would probably just sit quietly, smile, and nod if someone said: “Children should have access to puberty blockers, no questions asked!”And that doesn’t help the trans community at all. All I’d be doing is pretending to understand and embrace all their choices, a facade erected to mask how ignorant and uncertain I actually am.If I were allowed to speak freely without risking being crucified, I’d ask questions like: “There are people who de-transition (regret and reverse transitioning), if you halt puberty in children, could that be really bad for them? Because de-transitioning already sounds like a complex process."Add in the fact that they never developed fully — would it still be possible to help them de-transition? Also, how young is too young?”Then we’d be able to have a real discussion, instead of just agreeing like sheep.Being woke isn’t just being sensitive or caring. It also encourages narrow-mindedness, and refuses to acknowledge, let alone respect, even the mere suggestion of differences in opinion.So what? So, people end up opting for fake niceness over their true opinions, presenting an inauthentic (but acceptable) version of themselves to you, Mr Hella Woke.No, you haven’t influenced them. No, they aren’t woke like you.But yes, your outrage has created such a climate of fear that no one will ever speak their minds around you.Congratulations, you’re officially in a room full of virtue signallers. Who, by the way, may behave badly in private, hurting the communities you so vehemently claim to protect.The fact is no single individual is capable of gathering all the information there is on any topic.The world and the repositories of information it offers are far too large and complex.Which is why we actually need others to find out about these things, create their own views, and share them with us. Even if they come to us with opinions we deem less-than-savoury... “Wokeism” and cancel culture threaten genuine collaboration and discussion, and subsequently, the expansion of thought and knowledge.Taken to an extreme, they are truly a disservice to humanity.So if you’re anything like me, I hope you can find the courage to disagree with the mob and speak your mind. And if you’re “hella woke”, please don’t cancel me."
Naturally, she's getting a lot of flak, and people are trying to cancel Bertha Henson, and maybe Dana too. Which just proves her point
Facebook - "It started as a class assignment on how, as millennials, they viewed the “woke’’ culture. Of 24 scripts, I thought Dana’s was the best. She has a style of writing that stands out among the class - and from most Gen Y Speaks pieces we have critiqued. I thought she was brave to be so direct about calling out the negative effects of the woke culture and for using the transgender issue as an example.I was surprised that people took umbrage at what I saw as a column asking for moderation in discussions on controversial topics. This is a young woman who concedes that she knew little about transgender issues but is afraid to ask questions lest she be “cancelled’’.The focus of the attacks was not on the cancel culture but instead on her “ignorance’’ and “lack of research’’ with accusations that she’s transphobic... Would more research make her change the point of her column? Or is it expected to make her more sympathetic to the transgender cause so that she won’t write what things exactly?She gave the example of one such “dissenter’’, J K Rowling, who was attacked for her views. She suggested that rather than cancel out the author, an attempt can be made to understand her words. For that, she was attacked, for not knowing the context and so forth. You would have thought she was backing Hitler.Now, her own column seems to have made her a dissenter instead.People focus on this line: "I myself am not particularly well-versed in trans issues, trans rights, and the trans experience overall. I’d say I’m pretty ignorant on the topic.'' And ignoring what came after: "But as a young person who lives on the internet, I would never ever admit that I think being transgender is a little out there for me.''I find it perfectly reasonable for anyone to feel that “being transgender is a little out there’’. And given the vocal nature of Netizens, be afraid of declaring this openly... Instead of engaging the writer who says “I would like to know what someone else — who may be very different from me — thinks about an issue as novel as trans rights and transphobia’’, she is attacked for her ignorance and fallacies.What’s worse is that she’s right.In the very next line, she adds:“‘But I can’t even admit that I’d like to know! Because now, even asking can be construed as disagreeing or being unsupportive of “the cause”, and thus, offensive.’’Telling people to go read up and don’t take up online space is a response that can be applied to any topic anyone chooses to weigh in on. But she isn’t talking about whether she agrees or disagrees with the transgender group and supporters, she is asking them to understand that cancelling others (who aren’t even anti in the first place) is not doing themselves any favours... To those who asked if this was a social experiment I cooked up, well, I am not daft. Nor would I throw a student under the bus with the intent of getting her flamed. Both Dana and I had expected some kind of response. But not like this.I look at the bullying vitriol that has been poured on her column and on her - and I feel for her. Re-direct your ire to me. She is my student. I assigned the piece and cleared it. I know that some have already jumped in to kick me, my work and my reputation and even hope that I will lose my job. It’s nothing I haven’t been through.But stop bullying my student. You’re only validating her point"
Facebook - "One interesting lesson from this is that pandering doesn't work. It's pretty apparent that she wrote in the bit on being "ignorant about trans" to leave open the possibility of a moderate response, say, offering to engage in discourse. It's an "I admit I don't know everything" peace flag.Instead that flag is immediately seized and used to beat her (and her known associates, including Bertha) as shown in many of the comments.Teaches a lesson. Never pander to the feelings of the woke. They are a mob. Mobs don't care.Hope her heart is hardened and emboldened by the attacks against her. Could do with a new generation of journalists with guts."
Comment (elewhere): "Remember when Hwachong instructed their students not to discuss politics on social media and activists were like “how can”, and then when Dana posts her unfiltered thoughts on mainstream media activists were like “how can”."
Critical Spectator - Posts | Facebook - "Woke Sudhir strikes again! Obviously that a young student has an opinion about anything and voices any observations about others is an UNFORGIVABLE SIN. How does she DARE!?Worry not, folks, Sudhir Vadaketh is here to enlighten us all again, having spent a few days to come up with some sort of a response in defense of his quasi-religious beliefs.The poor, hounded girl merely remarked that she is "weirded out by photos of post-op bodies, and still struggle with the argument that trans children should be given hormone blockers."🔴 Sudhir is outraged: "Would it be acceptable in Singapore to write a commentary that said “…being Muslim is a little out there for me” or that “..I still get weirded out by photos of circumcised Jewish males/hairy, dark-skinned bodies”?No. So why should the language be acceptable when used to describe a transgender person?"
Apparently being Muslim or Jewish (or of any faith or ethnicity) is comparable to wanting to chop your willy off or allow children to go on hormone therapies.
Can you even imagine sitting somewhere at home coming up with this stuff and thinking it's perfectly reasonable? That nobody has the right to be "weirded out" by the notion (let alone images) of removing one's genitals because they suffer a mental illness? That it's somehow inapproprtiate or controversial to voice your concerns about hormonal treatment for underage children, to pander to these woke beliefs that are telling us that genders are a social construct and males and females don't really exist?Our woke genius then goes on to dismiss her own "lived" experiences - because, you know, it's fine to talk about it when it fits your narrative but when it doesn't you just go and smear everybody as a bigoted right winger...
If you had the good sense to actually speak with some of the students you would have known that many just don't want to open their mouths among their peers anymore, because most of them vocally espouse these demented ideas.But of course, woke oracle knows best and dismisses someone's opinion as mere imagination. No problem, it doesn't exist, there are no "rooms full of woke people" in Singapore.Apparently the problem in the city-state is not that students are afraid to speak up, it's not that they get assaulted by the mob so much that they have to remove their social media accounts (apparently Dana shut down her Twitter now). No, for Sudhir - who had a book printed by effin' NUS Press - it's, lo and behold, THE GOVERNMENT!... Mon dieu! The paper SAW FIT to print an OPINION PIECE! What a SIN! This comes from a guy who had, as I said, his book printed by NUS Press, and ENDORSED by Tommy Koh and Bertha Henson herself! And now Bertha gave a green light to one of her students to speak her mind and Sudhir swoops down to screech how the very government who allowed his misguided musings to go to print through the country's national university is somehow impeding genuine discussion!... This guy has the gall to even talk about "discussion" when a few lines below he's saying that this article should never go to print!...
But Sudhir doesn't end there, and continues with his revolting ignorance by bringing up attacks on Xiaxue... It turns out that Sudhir is a sexist mansplainer, though it's not surprising in the woke crowd - they're all typically wolves in sheep's skin. The woker the guy the more skeletons are in his closet. Small wonder then that our woke Sudhir would trample a woman and her experiences simply because they don't align with his schizophrenic fantasy of the world. Sudhir, you're a guy, let me lecture you using the same words you left wingers love to bark all the time - shut up, know your place and believe the woman.What can you know about being an object sexual harassment in Singapore? How convenient for you to have ignored Xiaxue's own experiences with men which shaped her opinions and found a reflection in many observations throughout her life. And you're dumping it all in a bin just so you can label her a RACIST for having such an opinion - instead of addressing the problem which she clearly raised... Sudhir is basically telling Xiaxue: "shut up woman, know your place, listen to what I tell you, you have no right to speak".These wicked people believe themselves to be judges over everybody else. Sudhir has appointed himself - much like all other armchair pseudointellectual activists - as the ultimate referee on sociopolitical matters, who can decide who gets to have a life and who doesn't.You've just made all women feel a lot more comfortable and understood, buddy."
Facebook - "the revelation today that the article from Dana was actually submitted by Bertha Henson just has me shaking my head.For all I know, Bertha does not allow her beliefs to creep into her classes. She might have been even-handed about LGBT issues in her classes. But because she liked that transphobic article enough and deemed it worthy for national publication, I am now even more concerned for the queer and LGBT people that are taking her course. Because if it were me, I would struggle to see that as a safe space from this point on. I can't help but feel a great deal of distress, the same I felt when I was in that classroom 8 years ago, when my teacher started dog-whistling homophobia in class.And for her to allow Dana to send out that piece, flawed as it is, and to not show wise counsel and judgement just strikes me as a staggering failure, both as a mentor and as a educator. This is not to say that Dana is blameless. But we now have to recognise that Bertha was the one that gave Dana the very soapbox that she stands on now. And this is NUS, so I have very little hope for any kind of recourse on this matter.Dana's article today showed just how much hostility there were to trans people today. But Bertha showed just how people in power continue to perpetuate untruths and bigotry on vulnerable, marginalised communities."
Maybe someone should track how many ruckuses Lim Jialiang tries to start (e.g. Peranakan Nasi Lemak)
