There is a whole new vernacular that has taken our nation by storm overnight, and a whole lot of confusion about that vernacular as well. Communication is at an all time low while noise is at an all time high. Words are being thrown around like “social justice”, “systemic racism”, “white privilege”, and “antiracist” for instance. However not everyone means the same thing.
What we are talking about are the ideologies behind the rhetoric, and these ideologies are driven by visions of the world which could also be thought of as gut assumptions and beliefs. What I would like to do is to look at what the current world influencers mean by their rhetoric and why they define the terms accordingly. The main person that I will focus on for right now is Robin Diangelo the author of "White Fragility." The world is talking about her book whether in Silicon Valley in Corporate America, in faculty meetings, or in churches... in essence, her ideas are worth talking about because she represents an entire movement with legitimate authority. She is not just a lone wolf out there peddling the latest ideological fad.
References:
- "Afraid to Speak Your Mind" by Bernard Goldberg published in "The Hill"
- "Is Everyone Really Equal?: An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education (Multicultural Education Series)" by Özlem Sensoy , Robin DiAngelo (pp.50-52)
- "White Fragility" by Robin Diangelo
- "Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World" by Tom Holland
- From the movie, the Matrix: “The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around. What do you see. Business men, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system, and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inert, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it.”
Correction:
- This is extremely important. Cypher wished he had taken the blue pill, not the red pill. I repeat, not the red pill! I will feel really guilty if some people took the red pill based on misinformation. And it's a good thing that I didn't post this podcast on Facebook or Twitter because this episode could have been censored, I mean taken down, for "fake news."
