On March 20, 2018 at 4:04 pm, Charles Moritz wrote:
Hi Mark, it would seem to be human nature to want to belong to an "IN group". But to do so, an "OUT group"
must be identified. Is there any way to reconcile this without trying to homogenize society? Would love to
hear your thoughts. Thanks, Charlie
On March 20, 2018 at 4:09 pm, Emily Maxymiv wrote:
Hi Mark,
Although identity politics exists on the assumption that everyone is a victim, it's becoming obvious that the real victims in society are actually ignored and dismissed. Take the 45,000 U.S. victims that died in the last year just from opioid addiction. This week Trump announced a plan for tougher sentencing on serious drug traffickers. The critics argue that Trump is being "divisive" and that these victims just need more compassion and better treatment programs. As a registered nurse I can attest that compassion and even quality treatment do little to help with true addiction. As I can tell, the number of firearm deaths fall far below the victims of drug related deaths – so why are we not marching for tougher drug laws this Saturday? Do you think common sense will ever triumph to cure the identity politics epidemic?
On March 20, 2018 at 4:12 pm, Michelle Dulak wrote:
No, that's the new Kinder Egg; now the toy and the chocolate are in literally separate compartments.
On March 20, 2018 at 4:14 pm, Andrew wrote:
We've seen identity politics turn the Left against itself: gays against Muslims, white women against black women, trans women versus radical feminists. Do you think the identity politics movement will cannibalize itself out of existence?
On March 20, 2018 at 4:18 pm, Eric McGeer wrote:
Dear Mark, looking forward to your Q&A this afternoon. This is more a comment than a question, but a key point that emerged in your conversation with Lindsay Shepherd was the easy path of conformity that most academics choose to follow. This meshes with my experience over many years teaching at the university and high school level, during which I have never failed to be amazed at the sheer intellectual laziness of so many professors and teachers. They make the exceptions all the more honourable, in my mind. I remember my dissertation advisor, a fine scholar and a gentleman (not a common combination, believe me), telling me that the one indication of intelligence he trusted was the students' ability to change their minds -- the more they did that, the more they were thinking for themselves. Any fool can spout the postmodernist mumbo jumbo, but subject that person to any serious cross-examination and his cover is blown. The lack of general knowledge and context, the inability to express oneself properly in one's own language, the stunted conformity and dullness of the academy add up to the sorry legacy of our school system. The sooner certified online courses begin to challenge the university, the better, since only the open market can break the hold of school and university staff and administrators whose shameless careerism and ideological obeisance have pretty much ruined higher education in the English-speaking world.
Thanks for your interview with Lindsay Shepherd, and all best wishes for this afternoon's session.
On March 20, 2018 at 4:22 pm, Owen Morgan wrote:
British Conservative MP Ranil Jayawardena was condemned for opposing chain immigration. A Labour critic offered this criticism:
"Many will wonder how someone from his background can have developed such views."
In other words:
"Stay on the reservation!"
How does the left get away with its right-through-the-bone-marrow racism?
On March 20, 2018 at 4:25 pm, Alan Miller wrote:
I try to see the bright side of things, so I maybe we're missing a trick with this issue. It's now clear on the pecking order of Identity Politics, that if you're a white male, or even if you're not a dark enough Hispanic (like George Zimmerman), you're automatically far more guilty than any of the other groups.
It's also clear that if you just say a word out of the currently fashionable political narrative, your life will be destroyed by means of abuse and doxing on social media.
So why don't we just save a load of money, scrap all the courts and judiciary, and just let the 'people' do trial-by-media instead? The legal system now seems to be totally superfluous to the punishment process. We could even bring back trial by witch dunking as well.
Should we also legalise the rape of 11 year old white girls by Pakistani Muslims, since that is now a normal part of life in vibrant diverse British society, and it would also formally recognise their clear supremacy on the Identity Politics ladder?
On March 20, 2018 at 4:26 pm, Debra Milligan wrote:
This question is an avowed 2-fer from the start, but the questions are inter-related.
Recently I bought some flats from a brand called MeToo, a company which pre-existed the Hashtag Hysteria. I was hesitant to buy these shoes because of the name of the company. But good shoes are hard to find and these shoes are good. The reflexive hesitation on my part led me to wonder if this entire purge of the perverts, subsequently glommed onto by the Narcissists-in-Search-of-Fame — is there now underway a #NotMeEver? Has the yin of that yang already begun?
2. The Scarlet-Letter-Effect: The Lindsay Shepherd incident calls to my mind the huffy-self-righteous Ministers of a Faux Religion, with Miss Shepherd being awakened to truths she probably needed to learn anyway, but in a rather wretched manner of humiliation (that got heroically turned back on the Pompous Parasites).
If you plan any New England fictional fare, may I request that you dis-regard that work by Nathaniel Hawthorne. He used a mallet to imply symbolism! Of course, you could read it as farce, which is your forté!)
On March 20, 2018 at 4:28 pm, James Patey wrote:
Any thoughts on the conviction of Count Dankula? The Scottish YouTuber who has just been found guilty of a grossly offensive Nazi dog skit.
On March 20, 2018 at 4:30 pm, Matthew McWilliams wrote:
Mark,
One observation from your discussion with Miss Shepherd that I found interesting was that in her view the Left/Right division within politics seems to be based entirely on the position one takes with respect to a variety of social and cultural issues. For example, pro-gay is a Left wing position and anti-gay a Right wing position, or so we are led to believe.
Historically, political debate had always been about the proper scope and role of Government with totalitarianism at one end of the spectrum and anarchy at the other. One's politics were largely defined by where one fell on that continuum. Where you fell on that continuum would be based at least in part on your opinions about things like free speech, property rights, etc. Opinions on things like race and gender within a society were generally held in common across the political spectrum.
Did you get the impression that Miss Shepherd and her classmates even understand the basis political debate in this traditional sense?
Matt McWilliams
On March 20, 2018 at 4:33 pm, Alex wrote:
Mark I am sorry that I am repeating myself but since today topic is Macro aggression such as what is going on in Telford and Rotherham I can not avoid it. Essentially what is going on there is state sponsored Genocide of the Native British population by invaders. It is not only cultural genocide but it is actually physical genocide same as what the invaders perpetrated in their home countries. Just think about it those girls that were gang raped, terrorized and some of them even murdered what will become of them if they become older if they survive? They were supposed to be as they grow up the mother's of the future generation of Britons, essentially what those grooming gangs have done to them is sterilize them by forced abortions including mental and physical abuse. They never will be mothers and the children of the Muslim grooming gangs will take over the villages and the cities where this is going on, not only by fertility of the Muslim women but by the forced infertility of the native girls.
On March 20, 2018 at 4:36 pm, TF Boggs wrote:
What's the over/under in years on how long it takes a U.S. city to go all Telford/Rotherham on its teenage girls? Is this possible in a country with a 2nd amendment like ours? What surrounding city of Dearborn does it happen in first?
On March 20, 2018 at 4:38 pm, Mike wrote:
Mark, isn't the situation in the UK, where the police won't do their jobs, a new best advert for 2nd Amendment rights?
On March 20, 2018 at 4:43 pm, George Pereira wrote:
Mark,
In the Boston area we have another Canadian (Turned American) who speaks much the same as you (and other Americans) about illegal immigration and the corrosive effect it has on society in general.
Yet when you (and in this case I mean you) speak about illegal immigration and the evils immigration wreaks on America and the American people, you are attacked and told you ought to go back to Canada, and if you don't want to go voluntarily, you ought to be run out on a rail.
I don't understand this.
I can't wrap my head about the sentiment.
Why is the legal Mark, doing the job American journalists refuse to do, the problem while the illegal Jose, preying on the American people and American generosity, the next saint.
On March 20, 2018 at 4:46 pm, Alan Miller wrote:
Mark,
You have now used the expression 'super micro aggressions' several times. Well, clearly you are referring to the new 'nano aggressions'.
However, what worries me now is that I see where this is going. The next tranche of aggressions will be called 'quantum aggressions'. Then, like Shrodinger's cat, merely by ASKING if an action is a quantum-aggression, you will have established that IT IS and are already guilty of triggering it!
Even more frightening, as with the electron, these aggressions will not exist at a specific point, but will exist everywhere! (but with varying degrees of probability)
Scary times are ahead.
On March 20, 2018 at 4:51 pm, Jill Felzan wrote:
Hi Mark,
Love the voice of the lady who does your intros for this and for the audio books. Your stuff is always very interesting anyway, but she makes it sound even better. Just pass along the compliment. Thanks.
