Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Speaking of the moral weakness of the Western Left when it comes to the war between Israel and Hamas, Susie Linfield, a professor at NYU, has written in Quillette a thoughtful, thorough, and trenchant analysis of the situation. She’s no unalloyed cheerleader for Israel, recognizing that any lasting peace will require the removal of … Continue reading How American progressives have gone astray
I see that Quillette is now being demonized by many Leftists as some sort of “alt-right” or conservative website. And although some of their articles are indeed too Right-wing for me, most of the articles seem to be doing what I do—calling out the excesses of the Left, the same excesses that, I suspect, held … Continue reading Social-justice turbulence at Haverford, self-abasing administrators, and some lessons
There’s a new site called New Discourses that has content similar in style and content to Quillette, but most of the articles, at least so far, appear to be written by the “grievance studies” scholars Helen Pluckrose, Peter Boghossian, and James Lindsay, liberal scholars who have been demonized for criticizing the excesses of the academic Left. … Continue reading A new “anti-woke” site
I have nothing to say, but it’s okay (Good morning!). Actually, duck duties in the pouring rain (yes, I got soaked, but in a good cause), combined with overdue grocery shopping, has put a crimp in my day. But, mirabile dictu, I have five—count them, five—pieces that are worth your time to read. I’ll give … Continue reading Five timely readings for the day
You may be aware of Titania McGrath, apparently the reincarnation of Godfrey Elfwick. Both Titania and Godfrey trolled the Authoritarian Left by pretending to be social justice warriors and mocking the extremes of that ideology. In fact, both Titania and Godfrey were so convincing that their tweets were taken seriously by some SJWs, and non-SJW … Continue reading Titiania McGrath suspended from Twitter, then returns in glory and defiance
This new piece at the increasingly important site Quillette by two academics with the same name (brother? father and son?), is well worth reading. It’s amusing even if not 100% accurate, but it’s accurate enough to strike home, and to make you rethink what Authoritarian Leftism is all about: The Winegards’ thesis is not entirely new. The … Continue reading Is being “woke” a way to gain status?
Yesterday three academics, James Lindsay, Peter Boghossian, and Helen Pluckrose, announced that they’d engaged in a year-long project submitting “intentionally absurd papers to leading scholarly journals as part of an investigation to expose extreme bias in fields that study race, gender, sexuality, and other politically charged topics.” As the media release says (links to all … Continue reading Big academic scandal brewing: three researchers deliberately publish seven bogus papers on “grievance studies” to highlight abysmal academic standards in the humanities
Quillette, a website of classical liberalism that eschews (and criticizes) identity politics and authoritarian Leftism, seems to be doing well, and deserves your attention. The articles aren’t clickbait, but intellectual, yet are full of stuff to make you think. Here’s one from about three weeks ago on the intellectual uniformity of literary theory. The author, Neema Parvini, … Continue reading The pretense of “diverse viewpoints” in the academic study of literature
