752 Comments
founding

Can the writer cite any specific examples of conservatives, past or present, attempting to "censor research or suppress knowledge"? I am speaking of examples within her own field of study or within the academy. Assuming that such things did happen, did they result in the actual censoring of research or suppression of knowledge? I very much doubt it. Now, compare that to what the Left is doing today in higher education. The fact is that the right has always been in support of free speech, while with the left, censorship and suppression of speech are institutional: and it must be so or their ideas would not survive fact-based scrutiny, as for example, the biological reality of the two sexes in human beings.

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Galileo’s troubles with the Roman Catholic Church of his day pale alongside the troubles of scientists attempting to do real science in our postmodern world. We should all unite in demanding that the religion of Wokeism be treated like any other religion.

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I believe that the statement, "The more things change, the more they stay the same", is true. People who are invested in the belief that they, and they alone, are in possession of truth, are more likely to defend their beliefs by shouting down opponents than by honest debate. Today's woke generation is very much the same as the church in the Medieval Ages, who stifled knowledge in defense of "revealed" truth. They might not imprison and physically torture those who challenge them, but they do deprive them of position and influence.

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Kind of wish I hadn’t read this! So sad, depressing and discouraging. And the repercussions on so many things(ie: cures for diseases). They say civilizations die from within…….. Too dramatic, maybe. My reactionary self would told those ‘students’ who broke in to the faculty meeting to pack up their stuff and call an Uber! We need to take a stand!

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It turns out that I have some personal experience with Reza Aslan. He is a liar of long-standing. He wrote (among many other things) that the US supplied Saddam with chemical weapons. This is quite untrue, but typical for Aslan.

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Now I understand why our government has decided to forgive students’ loans. Why should they have to pay tuition if they’re not being allowed to pursue the truth in science and everywhere else. The Latin motto of my alma mater, Northwestern University, translates to “Whatsoever things are truth.” That was in the 1970’s. I wonder what it says now?!?!

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Back to the Dark Ages.

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founding

Hey, ain't it great to have zealots in every walk of American life?

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I posted a link to this article on Facebook because I thought some people of my acquaintance might be unaware of this sort of third party that has emerged in the culture war--secular liberals who are alarmed by progressive authoritarianism. The only person who responded rejected the article entirely, in large part because of this bit: "One of the most fundamental rules of biology from plants to humans is that the sexes are defined by the size of their gametes—that is, their reproductive cells. Large gametes occur in females; small gametes in males."

He says that this is factually incorrect. Is there anyone here who is scientifically qualified to comment on that? He also objects to the idea that physical sex is binary, on the grounds that phenomena such as intersexuality exist. So he believes these alleged errors make everything else the author says dubious at best.

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When thinking about the restrictions being placed on teaching and research in the US, let's always remember that those countries with which the US competes for success and leadership in various fields are having none of it. In a generation or so, people coming out of the American educational system may only need to know how to read the words, "Pardon my dust."

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We need a new age of enlightenment.

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Beautifully written and necessarily truthful. Thank you so much for this.

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Meanwhile, north of the 49th. The Ontario government, earlier this year, considered a law that would fine students & teachers who question the dogma. (See Bill C67)

(1.1) Every person who disrupts or attempts to disrupt the proceedings of a school or class through the use of racist language or by engaging in racist activities is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine of not more than $200″

The dominant ideology in our schools, current government and media is CRT - it sees as virtuous as discriminating by skin colour to decide who is racist.

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I teach at the graduate level, and in the area of regulatory affairs, so no signs of this pernicious movement - at least not yet. But I’m an adjunct and not dependent on my job. I would find it intolerable otherwise.

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I wish Dr. Maroja and her colleagues find a copy of the novel “White Garments” by Vladimir Dudintsev and indulge in his beautiful prose.

The novel describes the horrors happening in Soviet genetics in the 194Os. It doesn’t only focus on usual villains like Stalin and Lysenko-but also pictured a society that, either through passivity and indifference, or ambition and greed, allowed these abuses to happen.

White Garments tells the story of those Soviet specialists in plant physiology and breeding who were forced either to recant the foundations of classical genetics that had been laid by non-Soviet researchers such as Gregor Mendel and the American Nobel laureate Thomas H. Morgan, or take their experimental work underground. The official Soviet agenda was rejecting classical genetics as a “cosmo- politan” and “racist.”

Underground research seems to be the sad and viable option; It is tragic, that we as a society retracting to this Soviet style mentality and pondering underground research…. 🤦‍♀️

And yet, “White Garments” by Vladimir Dudintsev feels like a read right now for biologists, scientists and simple concerned citizens as it help facing the greed, cowardice and hubris of what the modern scientific world has turned into…

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the religious scholar Reza Aslan stated that “we need to write on a stone what can and cannot be discussed in colleges.” I agree. That stone carving should read:

ANYTHING THAT'S TRUE.

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