📘 2+2=4 Vol. 7: Of truth and virtue
Some great reads for a warm summer night. This week: On canceling unwanted scientific research, breastfeeding men, the ubiquity of porn, and more.
As summer unfolds in most of the Northern hemisphere, bringing warmth and light and joy, my reluctance to open the phone or laptop to read the news has exponentially increased. It has always been a fine line for me to navigate between my natural curiosity to find out the truth of what’s going on in this world (to the extent that it is possible in today’s era of post-truth) and the desire to just stay blissfully ignorant of the catastrophy and destruction surrounding us. One gets sick of the lies and malice, the violence and misery. It would be much easier to just enjoy summertime, go to the beach and stick your head in the sand.
But the quest for truth will always remain. While taking a step back every once in a while is important to keep your sanity, it is not an option to be ignorant. This week’s round-up of articles and podcasts shows that, on the contrary, we need to be more vigilant and outspoken than ever about defending common sense, freedom, truth and virtue. As Bertrand Russell said in The Prospects of Industrial Civilization, which was published in 1923: “The governors of the world believe, and have always believed, that virtue can only be taught by teaching falsehood, and that any man who knew the truth would be wicked. I disbelieve this, absolutely and entirely. I believe that love of truth is the basis of all real virtue, and that virtues based upon lies can only do harm.” A hundred years later, this holds true more than ever.
#1 In Canada, ‘Decolonization’ Has Become a Profitable Enterprise
by Amy Eileen Hamm (Quilette, published on July 3, 2023)
Amy Eileen Hamm is a Canadian nurse who was inadvertently thrust into the limelight for defending biological facts about sex and gender that were deemed “controversial” and “transphobic” (such as the idea that sexual dimorphism is real and that a person cannot change their sex). Following complaints against her, the BC College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM) is now investigating Hamm, threatening to revoke her nursing license over endorsing a billboard that says “I [heart] JK Rowling”, among other “discriminatory acts”. However, as Hamm lays out in her newest article for Quillette, the BCCNM has not only fully embraced gender ideology but is also at the forefront of promoting the toxic pseudo-values of “equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization”. With a healthy dose of sarcasm, Hamm exposes how lucrative the “DEI” business has become, as companies are paid tens of thousands of dollars to make hospitals more “inclusive” and “educate” the white nursing staff who, according to these companies, must be so incredibly racist that Indigenous people neither dare nor manage to file a complaint: “Too many complaints? That’s racism. Too few complaints? Well, that’s racism, too. Make it make sense,” writes Hamm. But the true racism, of course, lies in the denigration of Indigenous people who are deemed so incapable that they need special guidance and help when filing a simple email compaint.
#2 Activists Now Have the Power to Spike Scientific Research They Don’t Like
by Wilfred Reilly (National Review, published on June 24, 2023)
The newest case of suppression of scientific research involves Springer-network journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, which retracted a study on rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) on rather dubious grounds. Using “technical administrative concerns” as a pretext to pull the paper by Dr. Michael Bailey and Susanna Diaz, Archives of course didn’t mention that powerful trans activists and academics such as Dr. Marci Bowers of WPATH threatened to boycott the paper and demanded that Archives editor Kenneth Zucker be removed. Wilfred Reilly, who is a professor himself, shows how unwanted scientific results that defy the current political and ideological narrative – whether it be about ROGD, police shootings or colonialism – are de facto disregarded, and the scientists defamed, discredited and bullied. The bottom line is: Science as we knew it has been ruined; its reform is more urgent than ever.
#3 Part II: At High School Debates, Watch What You Say
by James Fishback (The Free Press, published on June 26, 2023)
Back in May, James Fishback wrote a fantastic piece for The Free Press revealing how judges at the National Debate & Speech Association (NSDA) effectively discourage young people from speaking their own mind or using certain “unwanted” arguments at high school debates. In his new follow-up article, Fishback dives deeper into the issue, showing how students lose debates not because their arguments don’t hold up or because they don’t present them convincingly enough, but because the judges don’t concur with their personal views expressed on Twitter. He shows that the NSDA as a promoter of critical thinking and free speech is being destroyed from within, by its own judges who promote online spying to find dirt on the opposing team and encourage young people to self-censor. Students are being taught that thoughtcrime can cost them their victory, just like thoughtcrime can cost you your job (see article #1). Orwell says hello.
#4 The bizarre case of the breastfeeding dad
by Jo Bartosch (spiked, published on July 3, 2023)
A few days ago, British news channel ITV caused quite a stir. In a TV segment about rising water bills and the cost-of-living crisis in the UK, the news channel featured a trans-identifying male called Mika Minio-Paluello as a “mom” who was struggling to make ends meet. Public outcry over the fact that Minio-Paluello is in fact not a mother was immediately deemed “transphobic”, as is to be expected. Feeling the need to respond to this “anti-trans hate”, Minio-Paluello subsequently went on Twitter, claiming that he is so motherly that he even breastfed his child and posting a photo to prove it. In her commentary, Jo Bartosch powerfully argues how inherently narcissistic the trans movement is, how babies are being used (and abused!) to serve a man’s fantasy, and how men mimicking breastfeeding “mothers” are the “final insult” to women.
#5 Mother’s Milk
by Sarah Phillimore (Sarah’s Newsletter, published on July 3, 2023)
In another excellent commentary on the Minio-Paluello case, Sarah Phillimore, much like Jo Bartosch, argues that the child’s welfare is what is truly at stake here, but most willfully and scandalously ignored. Step by step, Phillimore lays out how Minio-Paluello’s claim of being a “mother” (or “woman” for that matter), of following a “protocol” for inducing lactation (i.e. producing the same breast milk as the child’s actual biological mother) and of being able to “feed” the baby (i.e. so that it would survive on Minio-Paluello’s nipple secretion) are simply untenable. She asks the one important question we should all be asking ourselves: “[H]ow far are we willing to go in order to service male affirmation and validation?”
#6 Reality vs. Trans Ideology | Helen Joyce & Peter Boghossian
by Peter Boghossian (Peter Boghossian Podcast, published on July 3, 2023)
This podcast is a dream come true, bringing together two of my favorite intellectuals who are both fighting the fight against the erosion of common sense and critical thinking: Peter Boghossian, a former philosophy professor at Portland State University who resigned following a massive smear campaign against him, and Helen Joyce, an acclaimed journalist and author of Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality. In their one-hour conversation they delve deep into the topic of gender ideology, touching on many different aspects such as the current mental health crisis, the power of social contagion and the cost of speaking out. Boghossian’s deeply seated curiosity to understand the current cultural moment and Joyce’s astuteness and eloquence make for a very worthwhile podcast to listen to.
#7 The pornification of everything
by Helen Joyce (The Critic, published in July 2023)
Helen Joyce’s most recent column for The Critic examines the powerful impact of porn on today’s dating market, as sexual practices on the screen are becoming increasingly more extreme and more ubiquitous. As self-control and self-denial have gone out of fashion, every “kink” is now to be celebrated, and while Pornhub and OnlyFans already deliver on possibly every single fetish in the book, we probably haven’t seen the end of it: AI-generated porn is on the rise and it will decouple sex from reality in a way that might damage its consumers even more than real porn.
#8 Absolute claims to truth are not the enemy, but the foundation of openness and tolerance
by Giuseppe Gracia (Neue Zürcher Zeitung, published on July 5, 2023)
The postmodern idea of limitless acceptance of absolutely everything (except, of course, of people who do not agree with the idea of limitless acceptance) is, in my opinion, one of the most dangerous trends we are experiencing at the moment. It is at the root of the current cultural and moral crisis, tearing down every single boundary and taboo, and silencing people who dare say that certain things are simply unacceptable (such as the mutilation of children for example). In this outstanding column for Swiss newspaper NZZ, Giuseppe Gracia soberly examines the touchy subject of cultural relativism and argues that it is both illogical and inconsequent to state that all cultures are equal. If one culture declares tolerance to be its highest good, it will destroy itself by tolerating intolerant cultures that have different priorities. To counter the current societal crisis, he concludes, we need to reestablish absolute truths and values. (For the automated English translation of the article, click here.)
> Public outcry over the fact that Minio-Paluello is in fact not a mother was immediately deemed “transphobic”, as is to be expected.
Remember, a phobia is an irrational fear. As the last few decades of experience have shown us quite clearly, there is nothing irrational whatsoever about fearing a movement of rabid ideologues who jump to brutal attacks on your reputation, livelihood, property, and sometimes even your person, as a *first* resort rather than a last. Calling the fear that such tactics rightfully instill a "phobia" is an Orwellian abuse of our language, twisting the jargon of psychology to insinuate that there's something wrong with you for being completely normal.