Kathryn Marshall: Shameful that Toronto school board opposed Marie Henein event - "In 2016, I attended an event where Marie Henein was the keynote speaker. It was one of those events geared to young women in the legal profession... Henein told the crowd of young female lawyers in the room to avoid becoming cynical about the justice system and to never forget why we went to law school in the first place. She said “take your rightful place in this profession” and be confident about what you are doing... I was, therefore, disgusted and appalled to learn that the organizer of a book club for adolescent girls was told by the Toronto District School Board that they would not promote an event scheduled with Henein this month about her new book, Nothing But the Truth: A Memoir . As reported by the Globe and Mail , the book club, which is largely attended by teenaged girls who come from low-income families, had planned an event where the girls would discuss the book and meet with Henein for a virtual discussion. Apparently, Henein is too good at her job for the liking of the TDSB. Tanya Lee, the organizer of the book club for four years, has alleged that she was told by the TDSB last month that they would not be promoting the event to their students because Henein defended former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi, who was acquitted of multiple sexual assault charges. Apparently this sends the wrong message to girls. In the past, the TDSB has promoted Lee’s book club events. It is so absurd it is hard to believe this actually happened. The only wrong message this is sending to girls is that it isn’t ok to be the best in your field unless what you are doing is within the confines of what society believes women should be doing... It is outrageous to hold a lawyer responsible for the alleged conduct of his or her clients. The job of a lawyer is to advocate for the rights of their client. Heinein does this extremely well and is top of her game. In the criminal defence context, strong advocacy is of utmost importance given the significant imbalance of power that exists between an accused and the state. Lawyers like Henein hold the state to account and help to uphold the justice system. When Globe and Mail went to the school board for comment, the TDSB attempted to gaslight all of us into believing it was one giant misunderstanding. Henein of course is having none of this spin, and has stated “there are words for this. Misunderstanding is not one of them.” Shame on the TDSB for reinforcing the glass ceiling."
Feminism only supports women who obediently follow the feminist agenda
Hillel Neuer on Twitter - "Toronto District School Board superintendent vetoes student book event with Yazidi activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad because her memoir about being captured and sexually enslaved by Islamic State terrorists “would foster Islamophobia.”
Anti-racism today means deplatforming victims of genocide."
Addendum: School CANCELS event with ISIS survivor Nadia Murad saying visit would be offensive to Muslims (aka "Canadian school CANCELS event with ISIS survivor Nadia Murad because her harrowing description of torture and rape 'would be offensive to Muslims and foster Islamophobia'")
Katherine Brodsky on Twitter - "Sounds like it's the school board that's Islamophobic, conflating extremism with regular Muslims."
Lawrence M. Krauss on Twitter - "Sadly, Toronto educators appear to not want to educate, if education means taking students outside their comfort zone and promoting free speech"
Douglas Murray on Twitter - "Woman who has suffered unimaginably gets cancelled because of false risk of imaginary suffering by dishonest actors. A fine tale of our time."
Douglas Murray hasn't heard of "accountability culture"!
Poll: Overwhelming majority say cancel culture has gone too far - "An overwhelming majority of voters said cancel culture has gone too far, a new Hill-HarrisX poll finds. Seventy-one percent of registered voters said they strongly or somewhat believe that cancel culture has gone too far... Seventy-six percent of Republicans, 70 percent of Democrats, and 68 percent of independents said they either strongly or somewhat agree cancel culture has gone too far"
If Isaac Newton can be cancelled, no one is safe - "The administrators in charge of higher education in the UK have embraced some of the worst features of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. One of the aims of the Cultural Revolution was to mobilise young people to loathe their ancestors and to purge the present of their influence. It seems that Sheffield University has wholeheartedly embraced this doctrine and is planning to discredit the reputation of one of the world’s greatest scientists, Sir Isaac Newton. In the case of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the purging of the past was promoted because it was viewed as essential for the realisation of communism. British university bureaucrats, on the other hand, justify their war against the nation’s historical figures in the name of the sacred principle of diversity. A leaked copy of the ‘draft inclusive curriculum development’ to ‘decolonise’ the engineering curriculum at Sheffield University warns that Newton may have benefited from ‘colonial-era activity’. Apparently, the engineering faculty at Sheffield will decolonise its curriculum in an effort to tackle ‘long-standing conscious and unconscious biases’ among students, to challenge ‘Eurocentric’ and ‘white saviour’ approaches to science and maths, and to promote ‘inclusive design’. That is another way of saying students should feel guilty and show their loathing for the founders of the science they are studying. It is important to understand that the planned ‘inclusive curriculum development’ has nothing to do with academic education, and has even less to do with engineering or science. Its sole aim is to distance engineering students from their nation’s past and to make them feel that there is something morally wrong with the intellectual and scientific legacy of their discipline. Its objective is to socialise students to despise their background and induce a sense of guilt... If they come for Newton, then it is only a matter of time before individuals like Louis Pasteur, Michael Faraday or Albert Einstein will be targeted by the know-nothing, philistine, diversity-inspired cultural revolutionaries. So it is not surprising that Sheffield’s draft curriculum indicates that world-renowned scientists like Paul Dirac, Pierre-Simon Laplace and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz could also ‘be considered as benefiting from colonial-era activity’. The outlook that inspires the proposed engineering curriculum is best described as a form of woke presentism. Presentism incites people to despise their past. It encourages a sense of moral complacency and self-congratulation. It flatters students who buy into this project. They may not be on the same scientific plane as Newton, but because they have acknowledged their unconscious bias, they are a better person than the leading light of the scientific revolution. In recent years, historically illiterate diversity entrepreneurs have come for virtually every leading figure of the Western Enlightenment. Edinburgh University has decided to rename its Hume tower because some students claim that the 18th-century philosopher’s views on race cause them distress. The liberal philosopher David Hume, who is now branded a racist, apparently fails to measure up to the present-day standards set by diversity trainers. From this standpoint, John Locke, whose philosophy developed the idea of tolerance, is just another 17th-century racist. Adam Smith, another towering figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, is also a racist, apparently. According to one 21st-century critic of Smith, his sin was to make a distinction between ‘savage’ and ‘civilised’ nations. One of the main advantages of presentism is that it endows its supporters with a sense of moral superiority – at least over important historical figures. Whenever the past is interpreted through the prism of present concerns, it inevitably fails to match up to the supposedly superior values of the 21st-century diversity industry."
Sargon of Akkad - Posts | Facebook - "University professor gets off scot-free after comparing trans community to QAnon. She also compared gender confirmation surgeries to eugenics. So much for cancel culture, eh?"
"Pink News are decrying a lack of cancel culture in universities."
Apparently delusion is only wrong when it's from the "right"
Comments: "You failure to cancel her does not mean you didnt try. Your failure to cancel her does not invlidate the existence of cancel culture."
"I thought the left kept arguing that cancel culture didn't exist and now they're saying there isn't enough of it."
Tulane Canceled a Talk by the Author of an Acclaimed Anti-Racism Book After Students Said the Event Was 'Violent' - "Life of a Klansman: A Family History of White Supremacy is the latest book by Edward Ball, whose award-winning 1998 book Slaves in the Family traces the histories of people enslaved by Ball's own ancestors. In Klansman, Ball tells the story of a racist great-grandfather who joined the Ku Klux Klan. The New York Times hailed it as "a haunting tapestry of interwoven stories that inform us not just about our past but about the resentment-bred demons that are all too present in our society today," and the anti-racism scholar Ibram X. Kendi participated in a virtual discussion about it with Ball. Tulane University was slated to host another such event, featuring Ball and Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, an assistant professor of geography and African American studies. That event was supposed to take place tonight, but the university opted to postpone it following blinkered outrage from students who insisted that the event was "not only inappropriate but violent towards the experience of Black people in the Tulane community and our country." Other members of the Tulane community called it "harmful and offensive," and demanded its cancellation. Still others said the university should apologize and take action against whoever approved the event. (I verified that the people who made these kinds of comments were Tulane students, graduates, and employees. I chose not to name most of them in order to prevent individual harassment, though I did identify two student government officials who affixed their names to an appalling demand for censorship.) The feedback was so unhinged that a casual observer might wonder whether they mistakenly thought the book was written by a Klansman, or endorsed the Klan. The comments on the event's announcement page—as well as statements by student government officials—make it abundantly clear this is not the case. They know exactly what the book's point of view is. "The last thing we need to do is allow someone who is even reflecting on the hatred of their ancestors to speak about white supremacy, even if their efforts come from a place of accountability," one student wrote on Instagram. "There is nothing that a book on white supremacy written by the descendant of a Klansman can do to promote or influence an anti-racism atmosphere," wrote another. But this wasn't just random students leaving comments; Tulane's student government weighed in as well. In a letter to the administration "on behalf of the entire student body," Undergraduate Student Government Vice President Ingeborg Hyde and Liberal Arts Student Government President Amanda Krantz demanded the event's cancellation. And they did not mince words... Again, this is a book that NPR called "resonant and important." The New Republic—currently one of the woke-est of the progressive magazines—wrote that Ball "builds a psychological portrait of white supremacy, which then radiates outward and across time, to explain the motives and historical background behind racist violence." Yet leaders of Tulane's student body think it is their solemn duty to prevent anyone from learning about this history... One Tulane graduate commented on the Instagram post about the event's postponement that he was disappointed with this decision. An associate director in Tulane's admissions office responded: "Go cry about it." This controversy has unfolded at a time of increasing public focus on racism; In July, Tulane University's Black Student Union released a list of poorly-thought-out demands that included the enactment of a zero-tolerance policy for offensive language, as well as reparations for students who suffered emotional trauma. It would be one thing if the students were merely demanding additional speakers of color, but their comments make clear that they do not believe someone like Ball should speak under any circumstances—and that they consider the very suggestion that he be allowed to speak (in a virtual space) an act of violence against marginalized students. They are possessed of a smug certainty that he has nothing of value to say to anyone at Tulane. This view is ridiculous and should be anathema at a university."
Oxford college run by former equalities head apologises for hosting Christian conference - "An Oxford college run by the former head of the equalities watchdog has apologised to students for hosting a Christian conference... In what has been described as the latest incident of “cancel culture” at British Universities, Worcester College acknowledged the "distress" that it had caused students by hosting a Christian Concern training camp, and vowed to use the profits for "diversity initiatives". The move comes just months after David Isaac took over as the Provost of the college from his role as chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). He was previously chairman of LGBT charity Stonewall. During his time at the helm of the EHRC, it released guidelines for universities and student unions in order to protect freedom of expression amid growing criticism of no-platforming decisions. Mr Isaac also wrote a blog, Freedom of Speech in Education, in which he set out “core principles”, including “that decisions about speakers and events should seek to promote and protect the right to freedom of expression”. It is understood that he personally ordered an investigation into the conference after receiving a complaint from the president of a student union... The self-styled “People’s Republic of Worcester College” has previously made headlines for its left-wing stance and was until July led by Prof Kate Tunstall, or “Red Kate” as she is called by fellow dons. As interim provost, she joined a boycott of Oriel College over their decision to keep a controversial statue of Cecil Rhodes, attempted to abolish the traditions of grace before meals and standing for dons, and installed a multi-faith prayer room as an alternative to chapel."
Religious discrimination is good. If the religion is Christianity
Of course Christians who say they are discriminated against are dangerous religious extremists who are untethered from reality and need to be institutionalised
Food bloggers call for word 'curry' to be cancelled over claims it is rooted in British colonialism - ""The word curry does not exist in any South Asian language to my knowledge." Professor Furest attributes the term to the "British bad ear" during colonial rule in India. Several historians claim British officials misheard the Tamil word 'kari', which has varied meanings depending on the region, but can translate to both "blackened" and "side dish"... Professor Furest claims this is why 'curry' should not be used as an umbrella term, because it is largely incorrect and "rooted in white, Christian supremacy"... Ms Bansal says the word does not need to be 'cancelled' completely, as particularly in South India it describes a variety of dishes from meat ones in gravy to vegetable side plates. "My partner is Sri Lankan, I have friends that are Malayali, friends that are Tamil, and yes they use the word curry""
‘Man of Steel’ star Henry Cavill receives backlash for dating Gina Carano - "the couple dated in 2013 around the time that “Man of Steel” came out. Social media criticized Cavill for having dated Carano in the past. It’s not a stretch to say that social media users tried to cancel Cavil for dating Carano almost 10 years ago."
The woke mob grows steadily more deranged
Skidmore student: 'Cancel culture organized against us' - "A Skidmore College student who wanted to bring a Libertarian-leaning group to campus said she was a victim of a threatening smear campaign that resulted in her Young Americans for Liberty chapter being blocked from forming... after more than a 100 negative comments on their Instagram account, YALSkidmore, and a Change.org petition with more than 1,700 signatures, which accused YAL of being racist and homophobic, the Student Government Association told Davis that the chapter cannot establish there over “concerns of hate speech and making students on campus feel unsafe.” Davis said she was also told that YAL “would not have a healthy and sustainable future at Skidmore, and it was beyond a reasonable doubt that it would be unsuccessful.”"
The same people who claim affirming biology denies trans people's existence are threatened by the existence of different opinions
Students Demand Skidmore College Fire an Art Professor for Observing a Pro-Cop Rally - "David Peterson is an art professor at Skidmore College, a private liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. In late July, the professor and his wife, Andrea Peterson, attended a "Back the Blue" rally—not as supporters of the cause, they say, but as curious spectators... Now Skidmore students are demanding that both Peterson be fired for "engaging in hateful conduct that threatens Black Skidmore students"... "The Petersons weren't wearing pro-police T-shirts," notes Churchill. "They weren't carrying a banner, holding a sign or waving a black-and-blue flag. They appear to just be listening. But merely listening to an opinion that some Skidmore students find objectionable is apparently enough to get a professor in hot water... In any case, the boycott is evidently succeeding: Peterson said that most of his students have dropped his classes: Those who think the boycott is ridiculous are afraid to speak up, one student told Churchill. Skidmore's administration defended his free speech rights in a statement, but is nevertheless investigating the accusations of bias in the classroom. If this is how they treat a professor who is insufficiently committed to their causes, one wonders how progressive students would treat a professor who holds ardently conservative views—or whether they could peacefully engage with another student, administrator, or any human being who disagrees with them. One gets the sense that a certain kind of liberal arts education is, for some extremely sensitive far-left students, no longer preparing them for the real world, or at least not in the sense this was traditionally intended. Indeed, the real world had better be prepared for them."
Actors, writers and producers warn of 'reverse racism' in the film industry - "Two years ago, a 26-year-old racing driver called Conor Daly lost his sponsors because of something said in the 1980s. Daly competes in the full-blooded series run by Nascar – the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing – which is much-loved in the southern USA. Yet consider this: Daly was not alive at the time of the alleged offence. How had he mis-spoken before he'd even been born? The answer is he hadn't. Daly lost his sponsorship because his racing driver father was alleged to have made a racial slur three decades earlier. And there was no reprieve. This totalitarian instinct has crept up on us with amazing ease. It is the product of a vindictive Leftism which used only to reside on certain US university campuses... a clip from a recent BBC comedy show, The Mash Report, was posted online. Even for those of us who long ago gave up bothering trying to find anything funny on the BBC, it was jaw-droppingly awful. It included a segment of two unfunny comedians agreeing with each other in an unfunny manner. At one stage the female comedian declared 'free speech is now basically a way adult people can say racist stuff without any consequences'. There was no hint of irony. Wrong-headed certainty like this is ruining comedy like much else, as Ricky Gervais said just a few days ago. Who would dare to make a dangerous joke today? Much safer to make political sermons on the BBC under the guise of 'humour'... Today, charities, public sector bodies and whole corporations are increasingly filled with people who have been told what to say and what to believe. Some have been told by their bosses what books they should read – a sinister development. Last month I received a leaked letter sent out by an NHS boss in Birmingham. She had told those working under her to read four books on 'white privilege' so they could 'correct' their attitudes...
Civil servant Stella Perrett had supplied edgy cartoons for the Communist Morning Star newspaper for years until February 2020 when she found that being on the Left is no protection against cancellation. A lifelong feminist, she had strong views about 'self-identifying' trans women being allowed into female-only spaces such as domestic violence refuges and toilets... 'Cartoons are supposed to be edgy – even offensive – to provoke debate, but these days some people seem to want to stifle views which are different from their own.'...
Charlie Shakespeare had his plans for a virtual gay pride parade earlier this year torpedoed because he had retweeted statements from Nigel Farage and free speech campaigner Toby Young. Left-wing activists led by Labour's diversity adviser announced a boycott when anonymous Twitter posts revealed he was a Tory supporter who had called for a 'clean-break Brexit'...
Dr Adam Perkins, who specialises in the neurobiology of personality, was looking forward to addressing guests at his university, King's College London, on the subject of free speech, but the event two years ago was postponed after organisers said his security could not be guaranteed. An earlier controversial lecture had been abandoned when it was disrupted by demonstrators, and while a new date was offered, Dr Perkins was not available and the lecture never took place. King's, dubbed 'Cancel College' by one of its academics in a recent anonymous article for The Critic magazine, has been accused of becoming a particularly 'woke' institution. In a book entitled The Welfare Trait, Dr Perkins had argued that children whose families depend on benefits tend to be less motivated and more resistant to employment than their parents. He recommended that policies should be altered so the welfare state did not encourage families in disadvantaged households to have more children. His views sparked complaints to his employers, a response that Dr Perkins says is a favoured route for cancellation... 'The unfortunate truth is that scientists like me are permitted to toil away in peace, provided our findings are restricted to obscure journals, but the moment we publicly blaspheme we are targeted by the Witchfinder Generals of the academy. To be fair to King's, the fact I still have a job there despite multiple attempts by the liberal lynch-mob to get me fired shows that it does actually stand up for academic freedom. The same can't be said of other universities, which have caved in and fired non-PC academics after campaigns by online mobs of Left-wingers.'...
Dr Mike McCulloch found himself under investigation by his employers at the University of Plymouth for 'liking' tweets saying that 'all lives matter' and 'gender is real' on his Twitter account. The PhD physics lecturer made clear that 'opinions are mine & not those of my employer', but this did not satisfy those angry at his dissent from the liberal academic orthodoxy. Earlier this month, the 51-year-old former Labour Party member was summoned to a hearing after a colleague sent copies of his Twitter feed to his bosses. 'I was reported to the equalities team over tweets I'd liked, including the 'all lives matter' one and another opposing mass immigration,' said Dr McCulloch, who has worked at the university for a decade. 'I was told there would be an investigation by a senior colleague with a panel, and I could feel my career slipping away. 'I could sense they were going to ask me to promise not to express my political views on Twitter, and I don't like people telling me what I can say or think, and I would have had to say no.' His ordeal ended when the Free Speech Union found a lawyer for Dr McCulloch who pointed out that universities are required to protect the right to freedom of speech of their staff under the Human Rights Act 1998. 'When the lawyer wrote to the university to ask which rule I'd actually broken, they dropped the case the next day,' said the academic. 'It's very sinister if people are now telling me what I am allowed to 'like'."
WARMINGTON: In wake of Canucks singer's firing, Don Cherry reminds only the 'left's view' tolerable - "Don Cherry said Vancouver Canucks anthem singer Mark Donnelly made two mistakes that got him fired. One, is not owning the hockey team. Two, is forgetting the trouble that comes with speaking your mind today... In 2020 there seems be only one decided-upon view permitted and no debate. An opinion cannot only make a person jobless, but also ostracized. Same goes for those daring to support that person’s right to that opinion."
Nathan J Robinson on Twitter - "There is no cancel culture. The fastest way to get a book deal in this country is to whine about cancel culture. Every single one of these people ends up on their feet. They are fine. They have giant platforms. They are heard loud and clear. Right-wing opinions are everywhere."
Nathan J Robinson on Twitter - "One of the most serious threats to free speech is the silencing of criticism of the government of Israel. I have now found this out the hard way, having just been fired as a Guardian columnist for sending a tweet about US military aid to Israel"
I guess he's not for "accountability culture"