TIF Podcast: November 3rd Is Here

Click Link: November Issue 2020

The Radical Left & Their Coming Judgment Upon Us All

Here now is our special November Issue for 2020. These are articles written across the country concerning The Four Horsemen of western apocalypse who are trotting forth in the apparitions of: 1) Social Justice, 2) Identity Politics, 3) Socialism, and 4) Corporatism. Ladies and gentlemen what awaits us is totalitarianism from a behemoth of government, corporate, and institutional structures both private and public whose reach goes from west to the east, north to south that have adopted a leftist ideological framework. No one is truly safe from these rabble-rousers. This is dark money, big business and big banks; it is Wall-Street and government agencies. The Real Deep State.

Totalitarian Incantations: Late Modernity’s Radical Manifestations

(November Issue 2020)

By E. Kyle Richey

Once pegged as special, a citizen, even if accepting sterilization, dropped out of history. He ceased, in effect, to be part of mankind. And yet persons here and there declined to migrate; that, even to those involved, constituted a perplexing irrationality. Logically, every regular should have emigrated already. Perhaps, deformed as it was, Earth remained familiar, to be clung to. Or possibly the nonemigrant imagined that the tent of dust would deplete itself finally. In any case thousands of individuals remained, most of them constellated in urban areas where they could physically see one another, take heart at their mutual presence. Those appeared to be the relatively sane ones. And, in dubious addition to them, occasional peculiar entities remained in the virtually abandoned suburbs. — Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

History is rift with zealous idealist demented by their cause, their purpose, their reason for existence however unrealistic or distorted or false. Now once again they have successfully seized power, but this time on a global scale at a point when society has become interdependent to a fault. Science and technology, religion and philosophy, higher education and the workforce are all being highjacked to obscure even the transience of life into barriers of opposition and final judgement. Today it is the far-left: Radical feminists, LGBTQ activists, Queer theorists, Postmodernist, and Critical Race Theorists who adumbrate context, meaning, and purpose for their Identity driven nomenclature under a quasi-socialism; a merging of corporate and state, the real deep state, in the name of their religion, social justice, in order to recreate what humanity thinks, says, and does. 

It comes at an exasperating cost on humanity and it all comes from a well of desire to break free—the psyche. Late Modernity has spawned a permanent spirt of emancipation of postmodernism that deconstructs and liberates to the point that it is now inconceivable for the radicalized to not equate between the demands of liberation with that of an ensuing conflict between “good and evil” “us versus them” “they or them” attitude. They no longer recognize that their causes now enslave everyone including themselves. Blinded by identity Politics, a bubble within the brew of totalitarian reality, humanity is now caught within a perpetual state that modernity birthed and late modernity is only beginning to see its awakening after generations experienced it rather vicariously. 

Benito Mussolini argued that Fascism was foremost a spiritual exercise of the will of man to rise up and overcome: 

“Fascism sees in the world not only those superficial, material aspects in which man appears as an individual, standing by himself, self-centered, subject to natural law which instinctively urges him toward a life of selfish momentary pleasure; it see not only the individual but that nation and the country; individuals and generations bound together by a moral law, with common traditions and a mission which suppressing the instinct for life closed in a brief circle of pleasure, builds up a higher line, founded on duty, a life free from the limitations of time and space, in which the individual, by self-sacrifice, the renunciation of self-interest, by death itself, can achieve that purely spiritual existence in which his value as a man consists.” (Fascism: Doctrine and Institutions, 1932)

Third-way politics, most notably Fascism, was perturbed by a leftist communalism from communist and capitalistic individualism. For Mussolini the concept of the State could override both by making it—the State—the sole proprietor of Adoration and Judgement; King and God; Lord and Master. Heaven and Earth were now the sanctuary of the mighty State to preserve the corrupted foundation of the Homo-Sapien. 

Leftist politics also looks to the State through means of socialism and communism in order to free the masses, as Karl Marx remarked “to develop in greater spiritual freedom, a people must break their bondage to their bodily needs – they must cease to be the slaves of the body. They must, above all, have time at their disposal for spiritual creative activity and spiritual enjoyment” (Wages of Labour). Redistribute wealth, turn the privately owned into public hands, erase race and class warfare through a great equalization, and provide material good and services from free healthcare to free housing.  

Radicals all march to their own heavenly drum of a utopia never too far off away.

Conflict creates the enigma necessary to achieve this spiritual hunger within the inner belly of male and female. Vanquish thy enemy, achieve victory. Myth has an essential role regardless of ideological sway. Rene Girard argued that the innerness of mankind, the myths that bind us, are a making of the violent for which the sacred is conjured. Roger Scruton in his book, The Soul of the World, explains that for Girard “scapegoating is society’s way of re-creating “difference” and so restoring itself. By uniting against the scapegoat, people are released from their rivalries and reconciled” (p.19). Radical ideologies mimic religions through similar ritualization, creeds, works, and demands on society. Myth and fact are dizzyingly intertwined to contextualize an oppressed and the oppressor. David W. Shenk, author of Global Gods, argues that sometimes ideologies become the new gods including Marxism and Capitalism:

[M]arxism provided a program for the unification of the entire global community within one universal philosophy and political system. Its competitor has been capitalism, which also claims to be the ideal good capable of saving the global community from poverty. These dual ideologies and systems tended toward absolutism which gave them an aura of godlikeness as powerful as the ancient and unchallengeable Marduk of Babylon or the god-king, Pharaoh, of Egypt (p.34). 

That duality of conflict is essential to understand. What I am arguing is that Modernity produced this perpetual state of conflict that has now morphed into a monster all together its own totalitarianism—a crony woke capitalism; neoliberalism; corporatism. The latest of spiritual awakenings intertwined to that of secularism and secularity; a projection of religion but the kind found within Fascism as described in an 1925 anonymous article published in a magazine for Italian fascist outside of Italy:

Reasoning does not communicate, emotion does. Reasoning convinces, it does not attract. Blood is stronger than syllogisms. Science claims to explain away miracles, but in the eyes of the crowd the miracle remains: it seduces and creates converts (Fascist Mysticism, Italian Fasci Abroad, Roger Griffin pp 54-55). 

What socialism offers is a materialistic promise for a very material world. Conversely,  capitalism offers materialistic hope. Hope is ethereal in nature, it requires great dedication. Promises though are tangible, they are material through in through. In an age that disavows Scripture, the material becomes ethereal. Ironically, socialism is more materialistic than capitalism because of its promises provide means and resources through goods and services. Nothing other than hope can be offered by capitalism. One must earn their land and fortunes. Crony capitalism however has distorted this hope as corporations and banks and private institutions run amok with government institutions. Corporations now utilize the State to their benefit on a globalist scale like never before in human history. What was once considered communal or sacred are blurred by the privatized and the secularized. Nothing is as it once was. Not even nature is safe. Nor is Capitalism. All that was once capitalist is increasingly untrustworthy due to an array of factors outside of its original intended design. Boundaries are continually being broken by technology, multinationals, global elites, and the beast we know as the Leviathan. Out of fear and misfortune the promises of socialism have never appeared better to billions of people starving for a promise of recognition and social justice. 

After World War 1, the economist Ludwig von Mises sought to explain a deeply rooted problem within modernity, “the socialist idea dominates the modern spirit. The masses approve of it. It expresses the thoughts and feelings of all; it has set its seal upon our time” (Mises 1922, Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis, p. 15). Part of the modern spirit is the belief that the mighty individual deserves whatever it is they desire. This is Nietzsche “last man.” Modernity’s incantation of liberalism, capitalism, secularism, and socialism ultimately produced a society that sought the easy rather than the good life, the mundane instead of the truly spiritual and virtuous life; all the while demanding treasures once only belonging to kings, queens, and heroes. Nietzsche and C.S. Lewis share similar tones in their description over this last, much weaker human. “Men without chests” according to Lewis or “Hallowed chests” according to Nietzsche are descriptives of a culture lacking in virtue and honor, imagination and enterprise. It is the same side of the coin of greediness. Greed is not simply a capitalistic vice, but part of the DNA of mankind including the Marxist offshoot of Neo-marxism.

Admittedly much has occurred since Ludwig wrote those words, but wisdom has a way of redeeming itself through the actions of mankind. Take further Mises conception of Socialism: 

According to the Marxist conception, one’s social condition determines one’s way of thought. His membership of a social class decides what views a writer will express. He is not able to grow out of his class or to free his thoughts from the prescriptions of his class interests. Thus the possibility of a general science which is valid for all men, whatever their class, is contested… Thus Marxism protects itself against all unwelcome criticism… Marx and Engels never tried to refute their opponents with argument. They insulted, ridiculed, derided, slandered, and traduced them, and in the use of these methods their followers are not less expert. Their polemic is directed never against the argument of the opponent, but always against his person. Few have been able to withstand such tactics (pp. 18-19).

This is equally true today of identity politics and postmodernism found in far-left minded groups and political organizations. Any form of opposition is pitted against being called sexist, racist, or diagnosed a Munchausen syndrome by proxy all of which seek to demean rather than provide substantive debate. Free speech has become hate speech by proxy of the groups feeling an inkling of disagreement. Words are being made meaningless; a girl is a boy as a boy is a girl and disagreeing means hate. Scales of privilege were formulated to weigh this new public morality. Higher education perfected these privilege scales of justice that now doctors must obey, students must profess, and corporations will enforce. Disobedience currently results in losing jobs and public humiliation. Yet if history is correct much worse will come. For now society will begin to be put under the restrictions of what I have titled as Progressive Pseudo Dominari of Terms, Ideas, and Practices: A Lexicon of Postmodern Irreality and Oppression. That long-winded title is partly to jest, yet sadly intentional concerning the dominari aspect. Ruling over mankind is a corporate culture mindset found in institutions of higher education, hospitals, governments, and businesses who have adopted these new set of rules. For now with little detail provided some of the terminology in which I am speaking of are cultural appropriation, microaggressions, gender pronouns, white fragility, inclusion, and diversity.

Out of this ill toward different viewpoints, the malaise of modernity created polarization. Unchecked polarization brewed the extremism now found in late modernity. Globalism under late modernity converged and diverged hundreds of belief systems creating a calamity of ideas. Unbeknownst or not, atheists and christians, liberals and conservatives, rich and poor are all finding themselves under a new umbrella concerning the ideas and practices of this age.

Take a look at the Cultural Marxist Movement of Black Lives Matter (now deleted) manifesto: 

The Black Lives Matter Global Network is as powerful as it is because of our membership, our partners, our supporters, our staff, and you. Our continued commitment to liberation for all Black people means we are continuing the work of our ancestors and fighting for our collective freedom because it is our duty. Every day, we recommit to healing ourselves and each other, and to co-creating alongside comrades, allies, and family a culture where each person feels seen, heard, and supported. We acknowledge, respect, and celebrate differences and commonalities. We work vigorously for freedom and justice for Black people and, by extension, all people. We intentionally build and nurture a beloved community that is bonded together through a beautiful struggle that is restorative, not depleting. We are unapologetically Black in our positioning. In affirming that Black Lives Matter, we need not qualify our position. To love and desire freedom and justice for ourselves is a prerequisite for wanting the same for others. We see ourselves as part of the global Black family, and we are aware of the different ways we are impacted or privileged as Black people who exist in different parts of the world. We are guided by the fact that all Black lives matter, regardless of actual or perceived sexual identity, gender identity, gender expression, economic status, ability, disability, religious beliefs or disbeliefs, immigration status, or location. We make space for transgender brothers and sisters to participate and lead.

We are self-reflexive and do the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege and uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence. We build a space that affirms Black women and is free from sexism, misogyny, and environments in which men are centered. We practice empathy. We engage comrades with the intent to learn about and connect with their contexts. We make our spaces family-friendly and enable parents to fully participate with their children. We dismantle the patriarchal practice that requires mothers to work “double shifts” so that they can mother in private even as they participate in public justice work. We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable. We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise). We cultivate an intergenerational and communal network free from ageism. We believe that all people, regardless of age, show up with the capacity to lead and learn (Black Lives Matter, What We Believe)

BLM, Mussolini, Karl Marx—they are not all the same by any means but they do all have this innate drive to exterminate the “enemy” at large that systemically oppresses their ability to engage fully all that life has in-store for their résistance à la révolution.  

Late modernity symbolize’s the archetype of a tyrant. Disturbingly tyranny comes in many forms concerning the new coming age. Hence statism, corporatism, and globalism as actors to this effect. Each of these institutions push a similar agenda onto the masses. Employees, citizens, or subjects must use gender pronouns, check their microaggressions, and obey the golden rule of Inclusiveness, Diversity, and Equity! It is no wonder that Jordan Peterson, Stephen Hicks, and James Lindsey see links between Marxism and Postmodernism because the lines have all blurred. And soon we will all become nothing more than blank citizens awaiting an opportunity to be free, for the tent of dust to disappear once more.

The Convergence of the Progressive Telos

The Great Reset: A Peak Behind the Veil of the New Soft Authoritarianism

(November Issue 2020)

By Thomas Doane

The secular world has long held to a mythos, lasting well into the postmodern era with its disdain towards the existence of metanarratives, that humanity was progressing towards a bright and glorious future. If one were to ask the question to what direction was this progression heading, the answers over time evolved from the grand future of western civilization, being considered the highest ideal of modernity, to the idea of the fruits of progress being shared globally after the upheaval of the world wars. As the cold war ignited, the idea of progress shifted to that of a victory of liberalism over the forces of authoritarianism and after the fall of the Soviet Union, the path towards global progress could be resumed with total fanfare. 

The world was forever changed in the intervening years of the great calamities of the twentieth century that bookended the hope of modernism and the scrutiny of postmodernism into the era of late modernity. The forensic approach towards the failings of last modernity fractured the direction of progress into the factions that sought to restore the grand vision of modernity and those who, due to its failings, looked to overhaul, if not start anew progress towards a hopeful future. Does that mean that each proceeding worldview builds upon the rubble of those which it seeks to replace or are they a mere repackaging of an older concept to market something grander in vision?

A great unveiling has been rapidly coalescing from widely disparate parts, each overly concerning to the survival of the liberal values long held as sacrosanct. These disparate parts, once visible only through fleeting glimpses through the veil, have rapidly come into focus, first as the turbulence of the rise of nationalism blew at the thin veneer that had long been the marketed version of what was to come. Either as a manifestation of the adage of never letting a crisis go to waste, or part of a labyrinthine enterprise to move forward a globalist agenda, The Great Reset.  

What would have been dismissed merely a year ago as a sheer conspiracy theory, the Great Reset has been announced a proposal to “reset” the global economy, that mirrors the sweeping changes proposed by the Green New Deal  . The plan proposes broadly socialist policies and reforms, calling for an end of private ownership and the usual call for equity, inclusion, and social justice as a measure to move the world forward into a glorious vision of the future. Now that the veil has been fully drawn open, the era of plausible deniability has passed.

To those who have been closely watching the leftist agenda over the last few decades, this may come as no surprise as the Great Reset follows the trajectory the progressives have long since been on. Before Covid-19, it looked as if the forces buttressing the rule of law in the west would be able to at least put up a fight in the halls of the legislatures and courts, the pandemic now seems to have been a carrier for something far more virulent than any pathogen. What we are seeing is the goal of the progressive left finally being exhibited for a tired and frightened world as an antidote for their malaise. We can only sit back and wait to see if the gaslighting and sloganeering of the left has been enough of a candy coating for the general populace to be able to swallow this large pill.

To those who have been at the front lines of the culture wars, this serves as no surprise as it has been the expressed position of the left for well over a century. We have seen the gradual infiltration of the halls of academia and the government and we have been warning of the consequences. Now that the veil has been lifted, we must now double our efforts to stem the tide of this grand leftist telos; slowly revealing the great marketing schemes used to promote this shift towards global socialism. The Great Reset will be the greatest threat faced in a millennia; the unholy marriage of socialism and globalism with the groomsmen of big tech and the bridesmaids of academia, once consummated, will be irreversible outside of divine intervention. Lenin must be smiling in his embalmed state; the rebranded Comintern has come to fruition.

References

“The Great Reset,” World Economic Forum, accessed October 31, 2020, https://www.weforum.org/great-reset/

Daniel Allott, “Introducing the ‘Great Reset,’ World Leaders’ Radical Plan to Transform the Economy,” Text, TheHill, June 25, 2020, https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/504499-introducing-the-great-reset-world-leaders-radical-plan-to

“BILLS-116hres109ih.Pdf,” accessed October 31, 2020, https://www.congress.gov/116/bills/hres109/BILLS-116hres109ih.pdf

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Releases Green New Deal Outline,” NPR.org, accessed October 31, 2020, https://www.npr.org/2019/02/07/691997301/rep-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-releases-green-new-deal-outline

Political Indoctrination and Enzyme Inhibition: How Imbalances Prevent Unity

(November Issue 2020)

By Thadyn Du Pont

It is easy to recognize when a political view or ideology is different from our own. And it is easy to recognize that these views are brought about by some level of indoctrination. Upon thinking about this topic, however, I want to first of all be very careful, and recognize that there is a difference between differing opinions and freedom of thought as allowed by our Constitution, and biblical falsehoods and strange doctrines when it comes to Christianity and God’s Word. What God has mandated in His Word as true is undebatable, and therefore non-negotiable. Regardless of what the rest of the world decides to believe, practice, and teach, wrong is still wrong in the eyes of God. 

Through the forced teaching of a single, corrupted worldview, we are being fed lies to shape our minds into distorting what God has called right and wrong.

It is true: the freedom of thought and the freedom of the expression of opinion is what makes the United States what she is. Because this freedom appeals to the heart of man in its desire to be unbridled, this country is a melting pot of cultures, races, and ethnicities. This consequently also makes her a melting pot of political and ideological baggage. One side is convinced they are right and that their opinion is superior, while the other tries to carry out the opposite. 

As a pre-med biology major, the first things that come to mind in relationship to this idea are enzymes. Fundamentally, an enzyme functions as a catalyst in the human body, speeding up a reaction that would ordinarily take twice, three, maybe even ten times as long. However, as the body does not always need that reaction to run continuously, inhibitors bind to the enzyme to reduce the rate of the reaction. Of the many different inhibitors present in the body, they can all be grouped into four main categories: one of which is called Competitive Inhibition. In Competitive Inhibition, the enzyme speeds up the reaction by binding to substrates or particles within the reaction; but when inhibitors are present, they compete with the substrates for that single binding site. Because the inhibitors almost always share the same structure as the substrates in this type of inhibition, all it takes is for the inhibitor to bind to the enzyme, and the enzyme can no longer fulfill its purpose. The only way to prevent an inhibitor from out-competing the substrate is if the concentration of the substrate is significantly higher. Now, don’t tell my biochemistry professor of my explanation, as I have left many important details out for simplicity’s sake; but what do enzymes, reactions, and inhibitors all have to do with political ideologies, difference of opinion, and ultimately indoctrination? When things are placed in an environment for two opposing forces to thrive, there is inevitably chaos. There is only victory when one is greater than the other. 

Indoctrination can simply be defined as the repetition of an idea or belief so that the listener accepts the idea as true without question and without opposition, regardless of how true the idea actually is. We know that this idea of repetitive teaching and, quite frankly, brainwashing is prevalent primarily in our education systems: our daycares; our child-focused television programs; our elementary, middle, and high schools; our colleges and universities; and yes, even some churches that claim to preach the name of Christ. As a recent transfer student to the University of Oklahoma, I am required to take webinars in diversity and microagression, sexual assault and awareness, and responsible alcohol use. Even our workplaces serve as sources of indoctrination. My part-time job as a bank teller requires me to sit through Human Resource initiated training on diversity, inclusion, empathy…the list can just keep going. Not to say that all training in these categories are fundamentally and morally wrong: in fact, some could recognize that the intentions of training are good. But where do these required webinars and training lead to? Indoctrination.

Indoctrination of ideologies that may initially align with morally and spiritually acceptable behaviors, but then deceive the indoctrinated into allowing the education systems, the workplaces, and ultimately the government into determining what to believe, how to believe, when to believe, but with no explanation why. Through the forced teaching of a single, corrupted worldview, we are being fed lies to shape our minds into distorting what God has called right and wrong. Our children are being taught by drag-queens and sexually promiscuous individuals in the name of inclusion and acceptance, yet are being raped, molested, and assaulted behind closed doors in our school bathrooms, offices, and even online. Yes, racism is wrong. But it is more wrong to funnel people into one single politically-influenced-and-nominally-anti-racist propaganda, and then label those as racist who oppose, not the statement, but the corrupt organization. Yes, rape is wrong. But advocating for the destruction of human life when that human life had no choice in their existence is more wrong. Yes, birth defects and genetic mutations that cause cancer, Down’s syndrome, Turner’s syndrome, and countless other diseases are not what we consider to be an ideal life. But to deny any chance at a life at all is to deny the humanity of one’s self. 

The conservative political party has not gotten in right every time, and there cannot be an expectation for it to be right every time. However, we are what is necessary in this country to stop the spread of evil that is prevalent. Perhaps in days gone by, the moral compass of the nation was such that the spread of wickedness was easier contained. Perhaps in days gone by, we functioned as an inhibitor in an enzyme-catalyzed reaction, where our influence in the minds of the American people overpowered the influence of what is now radical, leftist ideology. In these modern times, the concentration of evil and sin-nature has not necessarily increased, but has been encouraged by a lack of inhibition, to the point where we as the inhibitors are being overpowered by the way-ward minds of a catalyst pushing towards complete and utter destruction. Speak out. Step up. Not for influence. Not for power. Not for fame, and not for glory. But for the hearts of the American people, the spiritual state of our world, and ultimately for the glory of our Almighty God.

When things are placed in an environment for two opposing forces to thrive, there is inevitably chaos. There is only victory when one is greater than the other. 

Totalitarian ‘Diversocrats’ and American Higher Education: A Review

(November Issue 2020)

By Kaleb ‘Kal’ Demerew

Mac Donald, Heather (2018). The Diversity Delusion: How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin.

The Diversity Delusion is a scathing critique of the politics, methods, and concepts that have informed contemporary diversity policy in American colleges. Mac Donald argues that diversity is fashioned into an ideology for coercing compliance, contrary to the spirit of a university education. In developing this argument, the author cites several quantitative studies and some notable case studies, centering on the identity politics of race and gender in college campuses.

Mac Donald develops her argument systematically, beginning with an assessment of diversity politics as a system that empowers pandering administrators to engage in thought policing on behalf of certain ‘preferred’ groups. This system is implemented under the guise of promoting ‘multiculturalism’, but in effect produces negative value judgments on those forms of knowledge and expression associated with non-minority categories such as males or whites. These negative value judgments are institutionalized through a group of administrators the author refers to as ‘diversocrats’. By silencing those they disagree with, the author argues, diversocrats claim to espouse postmodernism or relativism while actually imposing a form of totalitarianism (p. 20).

Mac Donald argues that totalitarian ‘diversocrats’ threaten the pursuit of humanities, truth, and science in university, promoting niche fields that provide narrow support to the ‘diversity’ project. Examples of this include the replacement, rather than supplementation, of classical curricula in classical rhetoric, oratory grammar, and literature with abstract study areas in fields like gender, race, and sexuality studies. For Mac Donald, this reflects a narcissistic turn, as these policies assume that students can only gain value by learning about things that they can relate to experientially. In the process, this approach may undermine the transmission of nuggets of knowledge considered more neutral, especially those in the humanities.

Finally, the author argues that diversity policies rely on falsehoods to pander to gender and racial identity politics. For instance, when it comes to race, diversity policies provided reduced nominal standards for less qualified minorities to access elite flagship state schools like UC-Berkeley and UCLA, through newly-adopted ‘holistic’ admissions criteria. Mac Donald identifies a number of faults with these policies, the most important being the proliferation of what she calls ‘victimology’. This concept relies on ‘mismatch theory’ and links obsessions with ‘microaggressions’ to a psychology of inadequacy created when students are admitted into colleges in which they are not equipped to excel. The real hindrance to URM achievement, according to Mac Donald, is an ideological rejection of cultural values pertaining to education, and a rejection of the meritocracy associated with bourgeois culture. Mac Donald also presents a historical case study of sexual promiscuity and the campus rape movement as another instance of diversocrat totalitarianism.

The Diversity Delusion is a bold and controversial assault on the campus ideology of diversity, but it is helpful to explore some of the weaker methodological choices in the book. While most case studies in the book focus on how diversity and identity politics play out in college campuses across the United States, these themes are also explored in the context of the corporate world and Hollywood. In other words, the book has a very broad focus. While this may help with reaching a variety of mainstream readers, there are times when it seems that the book’s central message is lost. For instance, Mac Donald devotes an entire chapter to a critique of the #MeToo movement in the context of Hollywood, and another to discussing the racial politics of policing. While it is clear that the author is trying to provide the broader societal context of diversity policy and identity politics in these chapters, logical connections to campus politics are not clearly made. The book would have thus likely benefited from the omission of these two chapters, in favor of a more singular focus on diversity ideology in American higher education. Still, there are a few instances when the college-corporate themes are connected more logically. For instance, Mac Donald projects skepticism about the notion that victimology proponents can ‘grow out’ of victim politics, since the same politics are increasingly being adopted into corporate diversity training programs (p. 22).

Along these lines, the organizational structure of the book also leaves much to be desired. Diversity Delusion is organized into four parts, the first on race, the second on gender, the third on university bureaucracies, and the fourth on the purpose of the university. A total of sixteen chapters constitute these parts. While the organization of chapters within the individual parts is logical, the book reads like a collection of essays at times and the thematic organization of the four parts is not always effective. Although the race and gender sections were likely provided first to entice mainstream readers, a more logical organizational scheme would likely move parts 3 and 4, on educational bureaucracies and educational theory, respectively, to the beginning of the book where they could provide some initial conceptual grounding. 

With all this being said, Mac Donald’s findings regarding the failings of counter-bourgeois culture, and the idiosyncrasies of diversity politics in college campuses are alarming. They present a challenge to liberal educators, who must balance any needs for inclusion with the realities of cultural difference as well as the preservation of curricula that have made American universities elite to begin with.  The most effective arguments in Diversity Delusion are those that present human stories that portray counterintuitive narratives to those espoused by diversity promoters. One particularly poignant case in this regard is that of Kashawn Campbbell, an affirmative-action admit at UC-Berkeley whose first-year GPA suffered as a lack of his academic preparation and inability to master even basic writing. While Campbell’s inflated grades in African American courses allowed him to continue into sophomore year, the experience took a mental toll, making him feel inadequate and unwelcome, although the university clearly skewed its admission standards in his favor. In the end, the cognitive dissonance resulted in Campbell’s attribution of his feelings towards racism and microaggressions, rather than his clear lack of academic preparation. This story is what pushes Mac Donald to decry, “[r]acial preferences are not just ill-advised; they are positively sadistic” (p. 61).

The driving theme in Diversity Delusion is that diversity promoters may continue to hold on to flawed ideas about minority achievement and culture, often with the best of intentions. While Mac Donald made these assessments in 2018, it is helpful to consider them today in the context of two controversial articles that have recently made similar assessments. First, Mead (2020) asserted that poverty in the United States has more to do with minority rejection of Western individualist cultures, than with systemic failures to accommodate diversity. Similarly, Wang (2020) relied on mismatch theory to argue that affirmative action discriminates against non-minority students with superior credentials, and even hurts talented minorities. Both authors cited academic data and published their findings in reputable academic journals, but both have since been decried as racists, subjected to severe academic discipline. Both authors have since retracted their articles, perhaps forcibly. The eerily similar trajectories of these two cases seem to support Mac Donald’s more concerning assertion, that diversity promoters may use totalitarian means to enforce their ideas on anyone who disagrees. At the very least, readers will likely question whether and why ‘diversocrats’ may want to promote every kind of diversity except the type that has to do with alternative viewpoints.

In the end, Diversity Delusion is crucial reading, both for campus diversity promoters and for anyone with more critical viewpoints on multiculturalism. The book will have limited appeal to policy-makers in curriculum and instruction, as issues related to epistemology and preservation of classical curricula are mostly left unaddressed. There is indeed a cursory chapter near the end exploring a subscription service known as the Great Courses, but it seemed that Great Courses found profitability outside the university system. The implication in Mac Donald’s review of this case thus seems to be that there is no solution forthcoming from within the academy, where postmodernism seems destined to reign. Still, it is not clear that the politics and curricular implications of diversity and victimology in college campuses were analyzed deeply enough in this volume to reach this disconcerting conclusion.

Additional References

Mead, L.M. (2020). “Poverty and Culture.” Society https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-020-00496-1. (retracted)

Wang, N. (2020). “Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity: Evolution of Race and Ethnicity Considerations for the Cardiology Workforce in the United States of America From 1969 to 2019.” Journal of the American Heart Association 9(7). https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.120.015959.  (retracted)

The Left’s Feminist Narrative Killer

(November Issue 2020)

By Kimberly Hagen

“Her very existence repudiates the left’s binary thinking about womanhood, that women have to deny what makes women different from men to achieve professionally. And that’s why they hate her.” – Joy Pullman

Justice Amy Coney Barrett is debunking all the leftist well spun narratives. She goes against everything the anti women coalition and what they stand for with her husband, 7 kids, and her unfaltering faith and her quickly advanced career. ABC poked holes into their well manicured doctrine as the lefts finely crafted web of lies began to unravel. 

During their anti-women’s marches, some stand with signs saying, “I want to break glass ceilings!” Yet, when a woman is being considered for the highest court in the land, we begin to see the irony drip from their playbook. They can’t wrap their “open minds”  about how Christianity isn’t something one can simply define. With all of its ambiguity and “rules” they would have to follow. 

It should be no surprise to the left that in fact not only do Christian women have their own minds but they can also choose to be mothers and doctors; teachers and scientist; lawyers and even a Supreme Court Justice.

The hearings continued on about how a Justice Barrett would force us back to a time where women will be fearful of strong work force discrimination and the rights of women would be rolled back. Conclusions were drawn from a woman, who has four daughters, will somehow take the power out of the lawmakers hands into her own. Democrat leaders poked and prodded at ACB to see if she would crack under their hypotheticals and tiresome questioning over the Second Amendment, Affordable Care Act, and Roe v. Wade. Under the Code of Conduct for US Judges are included the ethical canons that apply to federal judges and provides guidance on their performance of official duties and engagement in a variety of activities. Barrett stated, “Judges can’t just wake up one day and say ‘I have an agenda. I like guns. I hate guns. I like abortion. I hate abortion.’ and walk in like a royal queen and impose their will on the world.” She said she’d “keep an open mind” on any case coming before the court.

As a self described originalist, like her mentor Justice Antonin Scalia, Senator Chris Coons claimed that she will follow suit to how he has ruled. “I hope that you aren’t suggesting that I don’t have my own mind,” Barrett said, “or that I couldn’t think independently or that I would just decide like, ‘Let me see what Justice Scalia has said about this in the past.’ ” I assure you I have my own mind.”

In a recent Vogue article, Michelle Ruiz writes, “white women voters are establishing themselves as maddeningly, confusingly . . . unsisterly.” 

“It’s tempting, in light of all this, to want to give up on white women. But even if we see history for what it is and adjust our expectations accordingly, the fact remains that white women make up a voting bloc that is too massive to ignore or simply write off.”

The goal post of equality has moved from rights over our own body and equal pay to abortions on demand and free birth control. Without them, they will divert to some perverted idea of the Handmaids Tale and must stay submissive. They assume white Christian women go aimlessly into a voting booth, checking the red box like our patriarchal husbands who command over us (sarcasm insertion complete). 

The goal post of equality has moved from rights over our own body and equal pay to abortions on demand and free birth control.

Since the beginning Satan has tried to drive a wedge between God and His creatures. Genesis 3:5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  Satan deceived Eve by causing her to make her decision based on what she could see and not what her emotions and reason told her to be right, even when it was contrary to what God had already told her. Eve thought that if she and Adam ate the fruit they would gain infinite wisdom and live forever.

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide you a way out so that you can stand up under it.” 

For Christ to accomplish God’s will, he had to face Satan and prevail. In Matthew 4, Christ is presented as one who served faithfully regardless of opposition. Showing temptation doesn’t mean to succumb to failure. It should be an encouragement to all that find themselves as pawns in Satans clever underhanded plans. 

Just like the wedge of the enemy the unsuccessful attempts to make ACB one of their own was a devastating blow to feminists everywhere. It should be no surprise to the left that in fact not only do Christian women have their own minds but they can also choose to be mothers and doctors; teachers and scientist; lawyers and even a Supreme Court Justice. That we can choose to show our large families love and stand firm in a boardroom. It is a loud cry for Christian woman to stand true to who you are. Do not let anyone create a narrative other than the one God has written for you and your life.

“In-Doxycated”

(November Issue 2020)

By: Brandon Galbreath

In today’s crazy postmodern society Christians cannot really define themselves with words such as orthodoxy or heterodoxy (heresy). Indeed, both words by definition are clearly direct opposites, such as right vs. left. However, the “doxy” of ortho vs. hetero is really just a paradox. What I mean by that is heresy can easily be orthodoxy because, the side of truth sometimes loses against a more powerful force of heretics. As Alister McGrath characterizes it, “heresy is the orthodoxy of history’s losers”(McGrath 2009, Heresy: A History of Defending Truth).  We have not seen this much tension and uncertainty since the brink of the Civil War. Sadly, most media outlets work for the radical left and are not concerned in the interest of truth. So, we must take a “heresy” in today’s context as a social and political approach, where heresy is seen as an ideology used in world views struggling solely for power. We see this today in the political and social clash that has divided America once again.  Truth has simply been destabilized for the absorption of power. 

Ironically, the title of the Communist Party’s source of news for the people of the Soviet Union was called  Pravda, which means truth. Pravda emerged as a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union after the October Revolution in 1917. One of the most controversial events that the Soviet Union with Pravda lied and falsified the truth was the Katyn Forest Massacre. 

We must take a “heresy” in today’s context as a social and political approach

Katyn Forest Massacre  

In the spring of 1940 the NKVD or “Soviet Secret Police” executed an estimated 22,000 Polish nationals at several locations including the Katyn Forrest. The Soviets kept this mass killing secret until it was discovered by the Nazi Germans in 1943. The Soviets blamed the Germans for the mass killings, claiming that the Nazis committed the killings in 1941. The Soviets organized a cover-up to prove their false claim and formed a special commission called the Burdenko Commission.

It was not until 2010 the Russian Parliament voted a declaration blaming Stalin and other Soviet officials for having personally ordered and approved the Katyn massacre. 

Background: Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact

On August 23rd of 1939 Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union singed a non-aggression pact. Then on September 1st, less than 10 days later, World War II officially started when Germany invaded Poland. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ordered the invasion of Poland shortly after on September 17th “The roots of the Katyn massacre lie in the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of 23, August 1939, which led to the German-Soviet partition of Poland” (Materski 2007, Katyn : A Crime Without Punishment).

This is important politically in two aspects. This was a strategic act of deception by Hitler, because, the pact would be broken in 1941 when Germany invaded Russia during Operation Barbarossa. In my own personal view this is significant because of the fact that both the Nazis and the Soviets invaded Poland, but only war was declared on Germany. Why did major powers such as England and France not also declare war on the Soviet Union?

The Marxist idea of a utopian society is enticing too many, especially the poor and broken masses.

Beria Memo to Stalin

“The orders for the mass murder had been given by Lavrenty Beria, the head of NKVD, and had  been signed and approved by the Soviet Politburo, including its leader, Joseph Stalin.” (Sterio 2012, Katyn Forest Massacre: Of Genocide, State Lies, and Secrecy. Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law). This memo was written in 1940 and was not declassified until 1990. Furthermore, the Russian government held classified volumes of documents related to the massacre which were released in 2010. 

In 1918,  Pravda became an official publication, or “organ”, of the Soviet Communist Party.  Pravda became the conduit for announcing official policy and policy changes and would remain so until 1991. Subscription to Pravda was mandatory for state run companies, the armed services and other organizations until 1989. 

This organization was a great source of fake news and  actually still exists in Russia today. Currently, the Pravda paper is today run by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, whereas the online Pravda.ru is privately owned and has international editions published in Russian, English, French and Portuguese.

Conclusion

Here and now in the United States, we face a bigger threat of false information and censorship. Take your pick from big tech such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter and radical left news such as CNN, NBC, ABC, and etc. We cannot let this country continue down the dark path of socialist revolution. The Marxist idea of a utopian society is enticing too many, especially the poor and broken masses. However, history has proven any country developed on the ideologies of Karl Marx will only provide more suffering to most of the people  and allow a handful of evil tyrants free reign. 

References

McGrath, Alister. 2009. Heresy: A History of Defending Truth

Materski, W., Lebedeva, N. S., & Cienciala, A. M. (2007). Katyn : A Crime Without Punishment. New Haven: Yale University Press. 

Sterio, M. (2012). Katyn Forest Massacre: Of Genocide, State Lies, and Secrecy. Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law, 619.

Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1944, The British Commonwealth and Europe, Volume III  Document 1155. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/citing-frus

Speak Now, Cause What Comes Next Isn’t Pretty

(Quick Thoughts)

In a 52-48 vote Amy Coney Barrett was elected as the next Supreme Court Justice replacing the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Yay! Okay, moving on. I wanted to speak on Ecclesiastes 3:7, “a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;.” Amy Coney Barrett represented real women of faith, motherhood, and leadership. Beyond all the madness a mom of seven children who successfully graduated from Notre Dame Law School, lawyer, judge, and now Supreme Court Justice is a testimony for the ages. Why? Because she actually cared about her family while working and upheld her faith despite it being a central point of anguish in the eyes of the radicalized left. ACB reminds us that you cannot offend anyone if you are already deemed offensive. Therefore, speak up or forever hold your peace.

This victory is bound to be short lived regardless of who wins the coming election. Radicals will continue to protest and burn; deride and maim all they deem offensive. Christians must prepare for the coming persecution. Even if Donald Trump wins, he is only one man. Our federal government has reached beyond its limits. Corporations and special interests parade the capital. Globalism is shifting power and authority into elites who go unaccountable. Time moves onward while D.C. is slowly eclipsed by a paradigm shift not yet complete.

[Y]ou cannot offend anyone if you are already deemed offensive.

Whatever was once “the way of life” now stands at the precipice of an elite who simply do not give a damn. Beyond politics is a world now facing environmental disaster. Climate change falls in line with the ravaging of resources, pollution of water sources, declining ecosystems, and animal/plant extinction. Mark my words, no one man nor nation can withstand the coming tide.

Humanity is incapable of seeing once faltered political eyes settle in. Plato, it is surmised, wrote the Seventh Letter (my favorite letter) where he is describing events in Sicily. He becomes distraught by the corruption writing:

When, therefore, I considered all this, and the type of men who were administering the affairs of State, with their laws too and their customs, the more I considered them and the more I advanced in years myself, the more difficult appeared to me the task of managing affairs of State rightly. For it was impossible to take action without friends and trusty companions; and these it was not easy to find ready to hand, since our State was no longer managed according to the principles and institutions of our forefathers; while to acquire other new friends with any facility was a thing impossible. Moreover, both the written laws and the customs were being corrupted, and that with surprising rapidity. Consequently, although at first I was filled with an ardent desire to engage in public affairs, when I considered all this and saw how things were shifting about anyhow in all directions, I finally became dizzy; and although I continued to consider by what means some betterment could be brought about not only in these matters but also in the government as a whole, [326a] yet as regards political action I kept constantly waiting for an opportune moment; until, finally, looking at all the States which now exist, I perceived that one and all they are badly governed; for the state of their laws is such as to be almost incurable without some marvelous overhauling and good-luck to boot. So in my praise of the right philosophy I was compelled to declare that by it one is enabled to discern all forms of justice both political and individual. Wherefore the classes of mankind (I said) will have no cessation from evils until either the class of those who are right and true philosophers attains political supremacy, or else the class of those who hold power in the States becomes, by some dispensation of Heaven, really philosophic.

Wherefore the classes of mankind (I said) will have no cessation from evils until either the class of those who are right and true philosophers attains political supremacy, or else the class of those who hold power in the States becomes, by some dispensation of Heaven, really philosophic.

A perfect description of the United States right about now. We need those philosophers or we too will face the similar fate, but this time it may be at a global cost.

Lord Hear Our Prayers.

TIF Podcast: Ep 1: Live Not By Lies By Rod Dreher

Episode One of the new TIF podcast is out! See it at All Things Veritas linked here: https://youtu.be/Z8ill_1ttgs