An Edifying Spectacle

My brother is a tenured history professor at a university in our mutual home town. Like many academics in the social sciences, he's generally left leaning. But he's not the sort you'd read about in the anti-SJW blogosphere. My bro, much like myself, is living testament to the fact that a based left is not only possible, but taking shape online and in the academy, little by little.  He recently posted this, evidencing the fact that greatness flows in the family veins! <grin> It reads as follows: 

An Edifying Spectacle: “Freedom of Expression and Making the Campus a Safe Space: Where Should the Line be Drawn?” Public Forum, Mount Royal University, February 9, 2018.

A Review 

Proviso: I had to leave the Edifying Spectacle at about 3:50, before observers were invited to ask questions, make statements, and/or render judgment. Or "freak out." I suspect that the proceedings remained cordial. The inevitable grumbling and “unpacking” took place elsewhere, perhaps on “Twitter.” 

This is my "truth." 

I have long admired Dr. Frances Widdowson. She will not be cowed. Her views are not “correct” in an age when Sir John A. MacDonald, Canada’s first prime minister, and most famous functional alcoholic, is no longer deified but reviled by many. 

Dr. Widdowson has been called racist for questioning the well-meaning enthusiasm for allowing First Nations elders to bless business proceedings at Mount Royal University. Her commitment to materialist empiricism – thought by some to be a white supremacist construct - cannot be doubted. She is MRU’s Jordan Peterson. This despite being a self-described Marxist and presumably a foe of capitalism. 

Such are the times we live in. 

Meanwhile, people earning six figures nodded sincerely and disapprovingly while hearing of “privilege,” which encompasses qualities (whiteness, heterosexuality, having a penis) that supposedly define all social relations. Guest speaker James Turk, an old white dude who gave up a tenured position to work in the trade union movement, tried to substitute “privilege” with the term “power,” bravely daring to suggest that money trumps other factors in placing people in their place. 

Fool. Dupe! 

In Europe, for centuries, wealthy people, mainly white dudes (in Europe – imagine that!) determined what constitutes “Truth.” Today others scrap over crumbs from that feast. All truths are equally valid. Except for Turk’s truth. Being an old white guy, he was doomed from the beginning. Nevertheless, I am joining the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship (SAFS), which he represents. 

You should too. 

Meanwhile, Francis Widdowson continued to insist that there exists an objective reality, Sinclair MacRae did his best to be reasonable, and Marc Schroeder prevented a riot by massaging the interchange. Epistemology was mentioned. The mood was subdued. 

Offering other perspectives were Rinaldo Walcott, member of the Department of Social Justice Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, and MRU’s own Kimberly Williams, director of the Women’s & Gender Studies Program in the Humanities Department. Both scholars offered heartfelt rebuttals to the cold and fiercely “logical” viewpoints represented by Widdowson, MacRae, and Turk. Both of them transcended intellect and connected with feeling.. 

There can be no doubt that injustice stalks the land, in Canada and everywhere else. Times have changed, but “alt-right” crypto-Nazis are stinking up the land and non-white people remain disproportionately represented in prisons and elsewhere where poor people dwell. (Although it needs to be pointed out that plenty of poor whites dwell in those places as well. Sorry if this sounds like a “White Lives Matter Too” moment!) 

I had to sneak out before the conflab ended, but not before Dr. Williams offered some top-notch advice based in some solid wisdom: “Be kind.” 

Wow! What a concept! BE KIND! 

We live in an age of anxiety and uncertainty. The only thing that is certain is this: We are trapped together in this gravity well called “earth.” Stop being creeps. Maybe that atheist is Not a racist, and maybe that feminist does NOT hate men. Maybe we are all humans who just want to be treated with kindness. 

Maybe.

Indeed. While I don't see myself agreeing with the Women's and Gender Studies Program Director on many of the finer points of the distribution of wealth and power in western civilization overall, I'll join with my wise elder brother and concur here. Be kind.

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