Saturday, February 18, 2023

Links - 18th February 2023 (2 - Critical Race Theory)

Florida Rejects Dozens Of Math Books Containing ‘Critical Race Theory’ And Other ‘Indoctrinating Concepts’ - "41% of proposed K-12 mathematics books intended for use during the 2022-2023 public school year did not meet state academic standards due to their apparent inclusion of Critical Race Theory principles and other controversial approaches to education. “Reasons for rejecting textbooks included references to Critical Race Theory (CRT), inclusions of Common Core, and the unsolicited addition of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in mathematics,” Florida’s Department of Education said... “The highest number of books rejected were for grade levels K-5, where an alarming 71 percent were not appropriately aligned with Florida standards or included prohibited topics and unsolicited strategies,” Florida’s D.O.E. added.  “It seems that some publishers attempted to slap a coat of paint on an old house built on the foundation of Common Core, and indoctrinating concepts like race essentialism, especially, bizarrely, for elementary school students,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) said... While SEL has been around for decades, in recent years, many believe it has transformed into a vehicle for pushing many of the same principles of Critical Race Theory, such as the concept of equity, privilege, and systemic racism. According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social Emotional Learning, equity goes hand-in-hand with SEL"

Facebook - "Parents claim they have the right to shape their kids’ school curriculum. They don’t."
"“Democracy Dies in Darkness” isn’t a warning from the Washington Post. It’s their mission statement."
§ 1-240.1. Rights of parents - "A parent has a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of the parent's child."

I’m a Former Teacher. Here’s How Your Children Are Getting Indoctrinated by Leftist Ideology. - "Your children are being indoctrinated. The education system designed to teach them how to think critically has been weaponized by the radical left to push an anti-American agenda.   As someone who has worked in education for four years, I have seen firsthand how your children are being ensnared by the left and their teachers.  I worked with kids from ages 3 to 13 and saw the brainwashing that exists at all levels of education. The left uses a combination of propaganda and suppression to push kids into the ensnaring grip of socialism and anti-patriotism. First is the propaganda. Teachers will assign work instilling the idea that the pillars of Western civilization were evil, and their memories deserve to be thrown in the trash... “Well, how about Winston Churchill?” I recommended.  “Oh no, not him,” she replied. “He was a racist and didn’t think women should have rights. He wasn’t a good guy.”  I was floored. It clearly wasn’t something she came up with on her own. She was just regurgitating propaganda her teacher had taught her. All sense of nuance and critical thinking about the man who saved Europe from the Nazis was gone. Churchill committed “wrongthink,” so in the bin he goes.   Another way the left propagandizes is through the normalization of its views and positions as nonpolitical.   The Black Lives Matter organization is a prime example of this. Many of my colleagues wore Black Lives Matter pins and apparel to school in blatant violation of school rules forbidding political statements on clothing.  When I asked for a justification of the behavior, I was told it wasn’t political to support the group, it was a matter of human rights. The children would see these pins and clothes and connect radical leftist groups with basic human dignity. “How dare you question Black Lives Matter? I was taught this is a matter of human rights!”  But it isn’t just a matter of actively teaching that America and the West are evil. Suppression of “wrongthink” is equally as important to the brainwashing process. The lessons I was allowed to teach also were censored.  I was preparing a lesson on Thanksgiving involving Pilgrims and American Indians, with an activity centered on making paper teepees for arts and crafts. Cue the progressive panic.  Other teachers at the school were incensed that a non-Indian was “appropriating” Native American culture for an activity. Of course, these teachers weren’t Indians either, they just wanted to virtue signal.   The whole thing culminated in a hilarious incident where my colleagues tracked down the one teacher on staff who was one-sixty-fourths Native American and asked her if it was cultural appropriation. In her esteemed authority, it most certainly was. The school administrators pulled me aside and promptly nixed the project.  The suppression extends to American religious values as well. I would try to engage my students with folk stories from around the globe to teach them world history and other cultures.  Story time went on without a hitch until I decided to tell stories from the Bible. Other teachers began to complain I was preaching Christian values to the children and attempting to convert them.   Keep in mind, this wasn’t a problem when I was sharing stories from other ancient cultures throughout history. Stories about ancient India and China were fine and encouraged as “sharing unheard voices.” After sharing the story of the Tower of Babel, I was told to switch back to non-Christian stories or face consequences."

Meme - "IF CRITICAL RACE THEORY ISN'T BEING TAUGHT IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
WHY IS THE MEDIA SO ALARMED PEOPLE ARE TRYING BAN IT FROM SCHOOLS?"
"This is not happening, and it's good that it is"

Meme - NPC: "Nobody is teaching your kids CRT in school"
Normal Person: "So you have no problem with us banning it then?"
NPC: *Blue Screen of Death*

Meme - TenaciousTCastroGill @TCastroGill: "On the left is me teaching CRT to sixth graders. Note the title, "Student Race and Equity Team," and the word wall behind us. On the right is me teaching CRT a la Dr. Crenshaw and lntersectionality right now. #lTeachCRT #TeachTheTruth"

San Diego teachers asked to attend 'white privilege' training - "A school district in San Diego held “white privilege” training for teachers in which they were told, “you are racist” and asked to commit to becoming “anti-racist” in the classroom"

Space Force Officer Relieved of Duty for Attacking Marxism - "Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier has been relieved of his duties pending an investigation after he appeared on a podcast and criticized the rise of Marxism in the United States military... In the book and podcast, Lohmeier questions critical race theory... Irresistible Revoltion has debuted in a strong position... The subject of a “woke” military has come up repeatedly in the first few months of the Biden administration. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the Navy to conduct a service-wide stand-down in February to address what the Biden administration deems “radicalism” within the ranks. The training to which the Navy subjected sailors during the stand-down was overtly political and partisan, according to sailors who spoke out against it... Having served on active duty in the Air Force myself, nothing about the first months of the Biden administration disturbs me more than the politicization of the military. It’s extremely dangerous and unnecessary, and very likely to lead to toxic divisions within the ranks and a far less effective military just when China and other threats are rising around the world. It may also create more division between the American people and the men and women in the military."
On Irresistible Revolution

Anti-Marxist Book by Ousted Space Force Commanding Officer Tops Charts, Sells Out on Amazon - "Lohmeier also told Hannity about the woke videos he was sent during his time in command that are all too familiar for anyone who's been subjected to critical race theory trainings or the teachings of the 1619 project in school or at work:  "There were videos being sent out to every base service member that we were asked to watch in preparation for our extremism down days and discussions on race in which we were taught that the country was evil, that it was founded in 1619 and not 1776, and that whites are inherently evil, and so I speak up against those things in my book." This situation comes after the CIA released a series of nonsensical recruitment videos, featuring in one, as Leah explained, "a 36-year-old Latina agent describes herself as an 'intersectional,' 'cisgender millennial who’s been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder.'"... And in the intersectional woke olympics, the Army announced it would return to an Obama-era policy of "prioritizing climate change considerations" that was detrimental to America's military readiness and operational abilities."

Kenny Xu on Twitter - "If Critical Race Theory is supposed to yield racial reconciliation, why are so many people in every state speaking out on the harms to their children that teaching racial division has done to them? Curriculum that encourages division and hatred should not be taught to children."
Of course, the only possible answer is that they are racist

What Is #DisruptTexts? - "the #DisruptTexts movement does not conceive of education as the process, inter alia, of transmitting Western cultural heritage to the next generation. Why would they, when they perceive that heritage to be a dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime? Why should they give primacy to literature which interprets the world through the white gaze? “Let us be honest,” Germán admits, “the conversation really isn’t about universality, and this isn’t about being equipped to identify all possible cultural references. This is about an ingrained and internalized elevation of Shakespeare in a way that excludes other voices. This is about white supremacy and colonization.” To Kill a Mockingbird was voted “America’s Favorite Novel” in a PBS competition in 2018, but #DisruptTexts finds that Atticus Finch is a white savior, and an ineffectual one at that. And Lord of the Flies, a novel featuring “elite, upperclass, private school [students] who are white, cisgender, European males,” is condemned for what it implies about civilization and savagery. So #DisruptTexts has created reading guides which pair the classics with complementary YA literature by authors of color, an intelligent and appropriate remedy for the lack of diversity in the canon. However, the curated list is diverse in everything but theme—five of the eight books are about teenagers of various ethnicities struggling with their identity. One of the recommended reads is Ibram X. Kendi’s Antiracist Baby... The leaders and followers of the #DisruptTexts movement hold the following truths to be self-evident:
It is a “professional responsibility to… develop students’ critical literacy skills to question the status quo.”
Teaching literacy is teaching kids “to discern where and how oppression exists in society, to articulate the oppression we witness or experience and argue for justice, and to strive for a more equitable world.” This “gets at the crux of why we read and write.”
We must “recognize the ways we are all complicit in perpetuating systemic oppression and consequently responsible for dismantling it.”
These truths are non-falsifiable because any objection (invariably described as an “attack”) is motivated by white supremacy.
And while the average parent may never have heard of #DisruptTexts, the movement has made a significant impact in public education... Randy Ribay, the YA author mentioned above, praised #DisruptTexts in his speech at a workshop for the National Council of Teachers of English, and recommended coaching students to use “three critical lenses—feminist, Marxist, and post-colonial.” (Marx was a racist who believed in the inferiority of non-whites. Presumably Ribay will not be including anti-Maoist works like The Aquariums of Pyongyang or Jung Chang’s Wild Swans on his #othervoices reading list.)... As a thought experiment, consider a teacher as enthused about Ayn Rand as Ribay is enthused about Marx; or a teacher who believes in promulgating the precepts of Scientology; or a teacher like the late Canadian white supremacist James Keegstra, who taught that the Holocaust is a myth. On what grounds could those teachers be denied the right to propagandize in the classroom if critical race theorists can? If only we could turn to the great thinkers and writers of the past to help us to grapple with these issues... As Julia Torres, another #DisruptTexts co-founder unironically announced, “We have to really consider how are we rewarding conformity and punishing resistance.”"
We are still told that it's a myth that teachers are trying to indoctrinate children

School teaching kindergarteners that ‘whites make it harder for black people’ locks down after being featured by Libs of TikTok - "You can always tell that someone’s been caught when they protect their Twitter account. St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Austin, Texas, protected its tweets after Libs of TikTok featured a kindergarten lesson plan talking about freedom. Are there some people that have more freedom? Well, sure. Black people have less and whites have more. Also, whites boss POC around. And that doesn’t even touch on the gender ideology."
Kindergarteners taught 'whites make it harder for black people' - "Tuition for kindergarteners at SAS costs a hefty $26,870 a year. Notably, the two daughters of President George W. Bush attended middle school at St. Andrews. Despite the steep price tag, parents are still struggling to maintain authority over what is being taught to their children... “Whites make it harder for black people,” read one line. “Whites boss POC [people of color] around,” another read. Children were also taught, “New York has more freedom to vote than Texas.” Keep in mind these children live in Texas. Here’s a photo of the lesson plan... The concerned parent said they also recently discovered that the book It Feels Good to Be Yourself was read to the kindergarten class. The book is about gender identity and non-binary people. A page from the book (shown below) reads, “What a baby’s body looks like when they’re born can be a clue to what the baby’s gender will be, but not always.” It also teaches that doctors “guess” what gender babies are, and sometimes they get it wrong. Parents voiced concern to the school about the lessons but were reportedly dismissed. One parent told Libs of TikTok, “When parents confront them like I did, they will first say it was an oversight, and if you keep asking too many questions, they will tell you that you're an extremist.” The parent continued, “When I asked my kindergartener how often they talked about topics like the one in the picture, he said it was every day.”  St. Andrew’s did not respond to our request for comment."

Michelle Tandler on Twitter - "Good morning, Sunflowers! … Let’s keep talking about freedom. Are there some people that have more freedom? Let’s share our thoughts.
1. New York has more freedom to vote than Texas.
2. Black people have less and white (people) have more.
3. $ - [up] money means more freedom
4. Whites make it harder for black people.
5. Whtes boss POC around. Threatening body language"
6. Disabled could get hurt; ramps? cannot enter buildings
7. You have to fight in a war
P.S. Tomorrow is Pajama Day
<3 Love, Ms Praxis and Ms Shafa"
"All my liberal friends say CRT "isn't being taught" in the classroom. I'd love to hear their thoughts on this Kindergarten's welcome note."
I still see liberals claiming CRT isn't being taught in schools and conservatives are just upset kids are learning history about slavery and the reality of racism
Of course Libs of TikTok is in the wrong for posting this. Presumably because it is "out of context"

AT&T's Racial Reeducation Program - "AT&T Corporation has created a racial reeducation program that promotes the idea that “American racism is a uniquely white trait” and boosts left-wing causes such as “reparations,” “defund police,” and “trans activism.”   I have obtained a cache of internal documents about the company’s initiative, called Listen Understand Act, which is based on the core principles of critical race theory, including “intersectionality,” “systemic racism,” “white privilege,” and “white fragility.” CEO John Stankey launched the program last year and, subsequently, has told employees that private corporations such as AT&T have an “obligation to engage on this issue of racial injustice” and push for “systemic reforms in police departments across the country.”   According to a senior employee, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, managers at AT&T are now assessed annually on diversity issues, with mandatory participation in programs such as discussion groups, book clubs, mentorship programs, and race reeducation exercises. White employees, the source said, are tacitly expected to confess their complicity in “white privilege” and “systemic racism,” or they will be penalized in their performance reviews. As part of the overall initiative, employees are asked to sign a loyalty pledge to “keep pushing for change,” with suggested “intentions” such as “reading more about systemic racism” and “challenging others’ language that is hateful.” “If you don’t do it,” the senior employee says, “you’re [considered] a racist.” AT&T did not respond when asked for comment."

Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ on Twitter - "SCOOP: Google has launched an "antiracism" initiative claiming that America is a "system of white supremacy" and that all Americans are "raised to be racist"—including Ben Shapiro, who is depicted as a layer of the "white supremacy pyramid," culminating in "genocide." Thread.🧵... Denial of racism is proof that a person is racist. "For me, the heartbeat of racism is denial and the sound of that denial is 'I'm not racist,'" Kendi told Google employees. "It's a critically important step for Americans to no longer be in denial about their own racism." In another video, guest lecturer Nikole Hannah-Jones claimed that she created the 1619 Project to verify her "lifelong theory" that everything in the modern-day United States can be traced back to slavery: "If you name anything in America, I can relate it back to slavery.""

Meme - Student: "You said we were going to learn division today"
Teacher: "We are. *Critical Race Theory*"

Facebook - "As you can probably imagine, the massive rebranding of Critical Race Theory is about to begin in schools, etc., now that people know what it is and don't like it. (Next step will be to rebrand and criticize CRT itself while still doing CRT.) Gotta keep your eyes open. If they are teaching about racial privilege, they're teaching CRT. If they are teaching about racial equity or racial justice (outside of narrow, historical uses), they are teaching CRT. Words like "voices," "decolonize," "transformative," "diverse," etc. are giveaways. Currently, essentially everything related to "inclusion" is treated under a Critical Social Justice (thus, when racial, Critical Race Theory) lens. There are various ways for them to downplay this, like saying "whiteness" isn't really part of CRT, or CRT is just about law. The truth about Critical Theories in general is that they are abusers of language and manipulators. They will gladly say "Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT)" isn't "Critical Race Theory (CRT)" so "you don't even know what's happening." They probably arranged that on purpose. We talk a lot about the virtues and skills needed to combat Critical Race Theory and Critical Theories more generally, and I only rarely mention discernment. Discernment requires knowledge and wisdom, so you must get informed and pay attention. If it feels wrong, dig. This, though, is why it's so important to combat Critical Social Justice Theory at the level of what it DOES, not by its name. To these liars and manipulators, the names are all disposable. You have to stop their stereotyping, scapegoating, discrimination, segregation, etc. Regarding Queer Theory, they're probably less apt to rebrand and more apt to accuse you of encouraging childhood suicides if you don't give them their way. You have to stand firm and ban inappropriate sexualization, unscientific characterizations, etc. Then it gets ugly."

Meme - "This is Critical Race Theory in a single image.
DIVERSITY
INTERSECTIONALITY
MINORITIES
EQUALITY/EQUITY
PEOPLE OF COLOR
SAFE SPACE
WHITE PRIVILEGE
CAPITIALISM
RACISM
*ALL WHITE PEOPLE ARE RACIST
PAYPAL ME/ASHLEIGHTHELION
ashleyshackelford.com"
Ashley Shackelford

Meme - "Segregation was one of the ugliest points in American history. I'm so glad we now live in a time where all races live together with constant racial hostility and grievance, that I work everyday to make worst so no one knows peace."

Meme - "How to Lie without Lying: Critical Race Theory & the Motte-&-Bailey technique
"Parents, this year we'll be teaching your children about America's history of racism & slavery."
- "Excellent. The children need to know our nation's history, both good and bad."
"We'll be teaching Critical Race Theory, Robin DiAngelo's White Fragility and Ibram X. Kendi's How to be an AntiRacist."
- "Hold on. I've read those books. They teach that all white people are racist, Blacks cannot be racist, Racism is everywhere, all Blacks are victims, all whites are oppressors, Black conservatives are dupes, successful Blacks 'enact Whiteness', Asians are successful because they 'enact Whiteness', that being on time and working hard are 'Whiteness', that all group differences are caused by current racism, that any disagreement with their ideas is proof of your racism, and that we must completely restructure society. No! I don't want that ugly, divisive cult-like ideology taught to my child."
"So you're against teaching about slavery."
- "No. I'm against teaching Critical Race Theory."
"So you're against teaching about racism."
- "No. am FOR teaching about slavery and racism. I'm AGAINST teaching Critical Race Theory."
"So you're against teaching about slavery & racism."
- "No. I'm against teaching Critical Race Theory."
"So you're saying racism doesn't exist."
- "No. I'm against teaching Critical Race Theory."
"I understand. You're against teaching about racism & slavery."
How the manipulation works...
The Motte = Teaching about history
The Bailey = Critical Race Theory
1. Establish the Motte.
2. Attack from the Bailey.
3. Wait for the counterattack.
4. Retreat to the Motte.
5. Defend from the Motte"

James Lindsay - Posts | Facebook - "Critical Race Theory is an even crazier conspiracy theory than QAnon, which was a really crazy one. The first assumption of Critical Race Theory is that the ordinary state of affairs in society is racism, that it's a defining characteristic of everything even though nobody knows it until a Critical Race Theorist points it out. The second assumption of Critical Race Theory is that benefiting from this invisible racism is so seductive that the people who benefit from it without even knowing it have no interest in fighting it even though they think they are fighting it. On this second assumption, by thinking you're against racism, you actually become even more racist, according to Critical Race Theory... every act against racism maintains it, strengthens it, and hides it better while benefitting the person fighting it, all without them even knowing it. Critical Race Theory also forwards an idea called "the racial contract." A landmark CRT book from the 90s outlines this idea. Apparently, all white (and "white-adjacent") people have a social "contract" nobody ever mentions or knows about to keep black people down. Really. In Critical Race Theory, everybody but the Critical Race Theorists are the conspirators, without even knowing it or ever talking about it. Everybody but them! Without knowing it! That's how crazy a conspiracy Critical Race Theory is. So, if you want to ban accounts for promoting absolutely batshit insane conspiracy theories that promote and incite violence, property damage, and that foment revolution against the United States, maybe a bit more consistency is needed. Critical Race Theorists need to go. Unlike QAnon, of course, Critical Race Theory is currently being taught in all of our schools, all of our universities, most of our corporations, in our government, and just about everywhere else. Something to think about. Btw, while QAnon might be believed by lots of white supremacists, it isn't white supremacist. Critical Race Theory is both racist and white supremacist, in that it also assumes black people cannot succeed in the existing system and need it needed for them. If that matters to you."
Too bad he got zucced. Possibly because of his good work on this subject

Fundraiser by Harvey C Catherine : Suspended for Objecting to Critical Race Theory - "I work as a secondary school teacher in Ontario, Canada, in a publicly funded board.  In a union meeting Friday, April 9, I raised objections to the critical race theory indoctrination happening in my education workplace."

Here Are The Thousands Of Teachers Who Say They’re Willing To Violate Law To Keep Pushing CRT - "Thousands of teachers have pledged to continue teaching based on critical race theory even if state laws ban it — contradicting those who claim nothing like that has ever been taught in schools.  The Zinn Education Project, named after the anti-American and factually challenged historian Howard Zinn, has collected signatures from more than 4,200 teachers who “Pledge to Teach the Truth: Despite New State Bills Against It.”... Teachers and education officials have increasingly expressed scorn at the desires of parents who entrust their kids to them, telling themselves they have a moral obligation to belabor a sense of pervasive oppression to impressionable young people."

“Unapproved curriculum” surrounding racial inequality prompts Knox County Schools teacher investigation - "Complaints from parents led to an investigation of an art teacher from Sterchi Elementary School, in Knoxville, Tennessee, who taught a lesson to 4th and 5th graders on racial inequality... "This book is not approved for use in our curriculum and I have asked our Human Resources Department to investigate the matter.”  The fictitious book in question is called “Something Happened in Our Town.” It talks about a Black man who was killed by police and how parents can talk to their kids about his death, racism, and race inequality... “It was very misleading. A lot of misinformation in that and to be teaching 10 and 11-year-old children were just really a huge red flag for us as parents. We felt like things were, you know, stereotypes and generalizations about people. And just all over, you know, all around blanket statements,” said the parent.  There is a line in the book which reads “Cops stick up for each other. They don’t like Black men.” This line particularly troubled her daughter because her uncle is a police officer. “She just kept saying that, you know, Uncle So-and-so is one of the nicest people she knows. And so we had to reiterate to her that yes, you know, there are a lot of nice cops out there, you know, and a lot of nice, everybody out there, and there’s bad everybody out there”... “She should be able to teach art. But when you bring in, you know, your own political views or political ideologies, that, you know, I definitely think that’s a no, no,” said the parent."
When you infuse racism into all subjects under the guise of "teaching accurate history"

Georgia’s 'Math Equity' Program Includes CRT-Aligned Curriculum to Remove 'Bias' from Classroom - "A "math equity" program in Georgia includes a curriculum aligned with Marxism-rooted Critical Race Theory (CRT), according to reports.  Georgia’s Department of Education reportedly told educators that they must push the radical ideology onto students while teaching mathematics.  During "math equity" summits in 2019 and 2020, the education department instructed teachers in the state that they must use the CRT-aligned curriculum to remove "bias" from the classroom.  Educators were told to stop grouping students by ability and prioritize their work as teachers around equity."

Critical Race Theory's Jewish Problem - "People need to understand that the new growth of anti-Semitism that Weiss asks us to stop being shocked at seeing is, if not a deliberate feature, a reliable consequence of the ideology of Critical Social Justice when put into practice. Because of the way Critical Social Justice views the world, it generates certain unavoidable and irreconcilable contradictions where Jews are concerned, and lacking the means to resolve them, it finds itself faced with what some are rightly naming a Jewish question that leads to it having a Jewish problem. As few, if any, clear explanations for this worrying trend currently exist, this essay aims to provide one in thorough detail. Because it looks like liberalism on the surface and yet is openly anti-liberal under the hood, Critical Social Justice is often completely misunderstood by those who have not undertaken the rather unpleasant task of studying it in detail. Critical Social Justice, however, is an ideology that, at the present moment, desperately needs to be understood, not just in its terms but in its totality, including the extremely unpleasant, if not genuinely horrifyingly anti-Semitic, place this new ideology generates for the Jews. Where this ideology’s Jewish problem is concerned, the chief lines of thought contributing to it are the now (in)famous Critical Race Theory and its evil twin sister ideology bearing a lesser-known name called Postcolonial Theory (sometimes, “postcolonialism”). Neither of these sub-Theories has a positive view of the Jews or Jewry, to say nothing of its hostility to the existence and concept of a physical state of Israel. Indeed, anti-Semitic contempt would fall short of the mark by a fair distance...   The Theories of Critical Social Justice, or whatever else we end up calling this ideology, think about the world in exactly one way: in terms of how they conceive of power. They think of power first and foremost in a peculiar but identifiably Marxian way. There is some oppressor, which is a group and not an individual, and there are the groups that are oppressed by it. These are in conflict—zero-sum conflict similar to how Marx envisioned the bourgeoisie and proletariat—for the opportunities, resources, and spoils of society, access to which is referred to not as “equality” but as “privilege.” The groups, today, see the dividing lines of power through a lens to culture that has been boiled down to the meanest of descriptions: identity, like race, sex, gender, sexuality, and all the rest of these soul-crushingly exhausting terms we can’t get away from these days. Here’s where Weiss’s neo-Marxism and identity politics come into the picture... It’s Marx’s idea of societal conflict reinterpreted through the postmodernism Weiss identified. When these are combined with the neo-Marxism and identity politics (and a rather Rousseauian and pop-psychological take on the originally Christian idea of “social justice”), we end up with most of the ingredients in her rightly named ideological admixture. Critical Race Theory and postcolonialism are, more or less, species within the broader Critical Social Justice order...   This worldview has a consequence: “victimhood,” defined as above and only as above, becomes high currency that will be vied for. Intersectionality, now arguably 43 years old (and certainly at least 31), is the set of ideas and practices, for as a practice it is defined, that grades claims of victimhood according to an outline laid down formally in 1990 rather ominously (or histrionically) called The Matrix of Domination. It is in this place that Critical Social Justice’s Jewish problem exists, because Jews present an intolerable paradox to the Theory... Under Critical Race Theory, many Jews are Theorized as having been granted and to some degree embraced—as a matter of effectively indisputable fact if not explicitly in both cases—the status of “whiteness” in contemporary American (and sometimes European) society. This would imply that under Critical Race Theory, Jews have an intolerable privilege they need to check...   Placing aside the obvious complication that not all Jews are white by any reasonable definition (which therefore may not have anything to do with Critical Race Theory’s definitions), there’s a huge problem with this formulation that every Jewish reader of this essay will immediately realize. Jews have quite the incredible history of incredible oppression, including imperial destruction, diaspora, enslavement, and a literal genocide in the Holocaust...   The uniquely Jewish combination of a long history of terrible oppression of a people that isn’t just (at least partly) fair-skinned but also highly successful in what the Theorists would deem a “white” milieu is, in fact, completely intolerable to Critical Race Theory. The Theory distrusts Jewish success as such and, as with everything it analyzes, believes it must have something to do with having been granted access to the privileges of whiteness—illegitimately, by betrayal, and at the expense of blacks."

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