Brilliant and Brave parent objects to Woke culture, soft racism, and the culture of fear at schools

Hands up who thinks Good Civilizations are driven by fear, censorship and by dividing their citizens by the color of their skin?

US Flag, Flying.Here’s someone brave enough to say the obvious and call out the Bolshevik intolerance, tribal hate and a spreading fear that now grips much of the intellectual “upper class” of The West. Bravo to Andrew Gutmann.

The background to this is that Bari Weiss, formerly of the New York Times, wrote last month about the crippling fear of Brearly School parents where children are taught to be ashamed of their race, and are afraid to speak up in class. Despite paying $54,000 a year in fees, the parents feel so powerless and in fear of the new orthodoxy that they have to meet in secret to strategize. They can’t zoom or email lest they lose their jobs, and their social circles. And since the school is a prep school for Harvard and so forth, even if they are willing to speak up, they are afraid of what would happen to their children if they did. Indeed, sometimes their children beg them not to say anything, even though the situation is intolerable.

‘If You Publish My Name It Would Ruin My Life’

“The school can ask you to leave for any reason,” said one mother at Brentwood, another Los Angeles prep school. “Then you’ll be blacklisted from all the private schools and you’ll be known as a racist, which is worse than being called a murderer.”

One private school parent, born in a Communist nation, tells me: “I came to this country escaping the very same fear of retaliation that now my own child feels.”

— Bari Weiss, The Miseducation of America’s Elites

Finally, one parent has broken the spell, pulled their children out, and was brave and articulate enough to put his name to his reply and send it to all 600 or so families in the school.

April 13, 2021

Dear Fellow Brearley Parents,

Our family recently made the decision not to reenroll our daughter at Brearley …

It cannot be stated strongly enough that Brearley’s obsession with race must stop. It should be abundantly clear to any thinking parent that Brearley has completely lost its way. The administration and the Board of Trustees have displayed a cowardly and appalling lack of leadership by appeasing an anti-intellectual, illiberal mob, and then allowing the school to be captured by that same mob. What follows are my own personal views on Brearley’s antiracism initiatives, but these are just a handful of the criticisms that I know other parents have expressed.

I object to the view that I should be judged by the color of my skin. I cannot tolerate a school that not only judges my daughter by the color of her skin, but encourages and instructs her to prejudge others by theirs. By viewing every element of education, every aspect of history, and every facet of society through the lens of skin color and race, we are desecrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and utterly violating the movement for which such civil rights leaders believed, fought, and died.

I object to the charge of systemic racism in this country, and at our school. Systemic racism, properly understood, is segregated schools and separate lunch counters. It is the interning of Japanese and the exterminating of Jews. Systemic racism is unequivocally not a small number of isolated incidences over a period of decades. Ask any girl, of any race, if they have ever experienced insults from friends, have ever felt slighted by teachers or have ever suffered the occasional injustice from a school at which they have spent up to 13 years of their life, and you are bound to hear grievances, some petty, some not. We have not had systemic racism against Blacks in this country since the civil rights reforms of the 1960s, a period of more than 50 years. To state otherwise is a flat-out misrepresentation of our country’s history and adds no understanding to any of today’s societal issues. If anything, longstanding and widespread policies such as affirmative action, point in precisely the opposite direction.

I object to a definition of systemic racism, apparently supported by Brearley, that any educational, professional, or societal outcome where Blacks are underrepresented is prima facie evidence of the aforementioned systemic racism, or of white supremacy and oppression. Facile and unsupported beliefs such as these are the polar opposite to the intellectual and scientific truth for which Brearley claims to stand. Furthermore, I call bullshit on Brearley’s oft-stated assertion that the school welcomes and encourages the truly difficult and uncomfortable conversations regarding race and the roots of racial discrepancies.

The soft racism of systematically low expectations:

I object to the idea that Blacks are unable to succeed in this country without aid from government or from whites. Brearley, by adopting critical race theory, is advocating the abhorrent viewpoint that Blacks should forever be regarded as helpless victims, and are incapable of success regardless of their skills, talents, or hard work. What Brearley is teaching our children is precisely the true and correct definition of racism.

Turn their own words against the cult:

I object to Brearley’s vacuous, inappropriate, and fanatical use of words such as “equity,” “diversity” and “inclusiveness.” If Brearley’s administration was truly concerned about so-called “equity,” it would be discussing the cessation of admissions preferences for legacies, siblings, and those families with especially deep pockets. If the administration was genuinely serious about “diversity,” it would not insist on the indoctrination of its students, and their families, to a single mindset, most reminiscent of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Instead, the school would foster an environment of intellectual openness and freedom of thought. And if Brearley really cared about “inclusiveness,” the school would return to the concepts encapsulated in the motto “One Brearley,” instead of teaching the extraordinarily divisive idea that there are only, and always, two groups in this country: victims and oppressors.

Read it all, pass it around, share. 

h/t Charles

9.8 out of 10 based on 112 ratings

81 comments to Brilliant and Brave parent objects to Woke culture, soft racism, and the culture of fear at schools

  • #
    René Fries

    Under https://sciencefiles.org/2021/03/31/die-vernunft-schlagt-zuruck-britische-regierungskommission-haut-linken-ihre-institutionelle-rassismus-manie-um-die-ohren/ one can read the official report of a 11 members British Govt commission (2 “white” Britons, 9 non-Europeans), “Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (2021): The Report” in pdf format and in English.

    VERY enlightening.

    51

  • #
    PeterPetrum

    Wow! As Sir Humphrey would say “very brave”! However it only takes one brave person to break the dam and one would hope that the other parents of children at this school will support this parent and get stuck into the school board and principle. Good luck to them, we need more of it. I heard today that in my birth country, Scotland, the SNP, in its election manifesto is embracing that the policies of BLM and anti-colonial race baiting are to be taught in schools. Poor fellow, my old country.

    480

  • #
    Paul

    We must fight back against these communists

    230

    • #
      John Galt III

      Bearley School has been Communist since I went to private school in New York City in the 1950’s. I knew lots of bratty girls who went there. We all knew to avoid Brearley girls and we did. Just as Left Wing as The Little Red School House where Robert DeNiro went and The Dalton School – 4 blocks from where I grew up.

      It took 70 years for a parent to object?

      190

  • #
    Sue Harris

    While I greatly admire Andrew Gutmann for his brave (and accurate) letter, the response from the school is profoundly depressing.

    There needs to be more people speaking out before we can hope to get any actual chance of change – the extremely vocal minority have captured the ears of those who make the decisions. Until they start feeling the effect of people removing their children from the toxic stew the school has become, they have little reason to change and a censorious and violent crowd of fools and villains to “punish” them if they try.

    220

    • #

      Sue
      The response from the school principal Jane Fried was disgusting. Absolutely no reference whatsoever to the REAL issues he raised about his daughters education and lots of smearing, claims of frightening etc.

      This is the Left all over, totally incapable of any argument , or even understanding there may a point of view different from their own, and descending into labelling, sloganing and false rhetoric. Anything but actually debating the point or caring about the children they teach, seeing them only as minds to be moulded.

      I had casual acquaintance at some time with a man who escaped the Soviet Union and sought asylum in the US. His stories talked of an incapability of being able to speak out at the totally false world which existed. And another work colleague, also from the Soviet Union described a world built around propaganda. Both had no desire whatsoever to return to such a horror. But here we are with Jane Fried, indoctrinating young children and turning them into robotised unthinking automatons, regurgitating utter rubbish on demand with original thought extinguished.

      As I have noted before, I am in my later years and a lifelong friend in the US said she was glad she had had the good fortune to live a good life in freedom so far. She pities the young who will grow up in a nightmare world of evil and dictatorship if an enormous U turn does not occur very shortly. I am afraid that such a turn is not coming and we are in for a tough time.

      380

      • #

        Litigation, especially in America, would seem to be the only way to stop this rot! Boycotts of companies which profess Wokist views is another proven weapon. Locally here in Victoria a regional high school in Warrnambool had to apologise after forcing boys to renounce the abuse of women caused by their male ancestors at a school assembly. The parental backlash forced the backdown. At least we’re not as bad as America, but we need to learn from them quickly if we want to continue to be the lucky country.

        170

      • #
        Deano

        As you point out, the Left don’t do debate, they just abuse rather than offer a counter argument. So perhaps the reason they fear free speech is that they imagine everyone else is like them – unable to assess ideas on their merits, only absorbing uncritically. So they believe if you or I hear an idea they don’t like we will believe it at once. They do!

        121

      • #

        Yes, the Marxist left has no tolerance for points of view that conflict with theirs, especially when presented with logic, reason and data. Their defensive self righteous indignation supported with lies, hateful rhetoric and anger is never a valid way to support a position, but it’s all they have. They have taken this to such an extreme level of absurdity, it’s only a matter of time until one of their media benefactors gets some kahones and wakes up the woke mob with a dose of reality.

        130

        • #
          OldOzzie

          Their defensive self righteous indignation supported with lies, hateful rhetoric and anger is never a valid way to support a position, but it’s all they have.

          Nolte: Journalists Dox, Intimidate Paramedic Who Contributed $10 to Rittenhouse Defense Fund

          A Utah paramedic who contributed ten dollars to a defense fund for Kyle Rittenhouse is now the victim of a media terror campaign.

          It all began Friday when the far-left Guardian took advantage of a data breach at a Christian website to publish the names of private citizens who contributed to the fund. Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, is charged with shooting and killing two people during last year’s Black Lives Matter riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse is pleading self-defense, and after video of him under attack was released online, many believe he is being unfairly scapegoated and prosecuted.

          Using this hacked material, a monster journalist named Jason Nguyen from ABC4, Salt Lake City’s ABC-affiliate, decided to make a play for a CNNLOL gig by terrorizing this paramedic (whose name won’t be published here):

          Nguyen named the man, and with cameras in tow, even showed up at his house in a way that revealed all kinds of details that gave away the location of this private residence.

          This fascist media monster, who obviously has a problem with the presumption of innocence and due process, also tried to get the paramedic fired by ratting him out to his employer. The city responded by releasing a statement that said it is “conducting an investigation into the matter”:

          70

  • #
    glen Michel

    The pervasion of critical theory at university and it’s filtering into the lower echelons of education must be stopped and eradicated; free thinking must replace it with evidence-based based instruction. Sadly, many academics are too compliant and entrenched in this Neo-Marxist crap. How to purge the system?

    260

  • #
    Nicholas (Unlicensed Joker) Gray

    ‘illiberal’? I thought all this was very much an American Liberal interpretation! ‘Pro-Liberal’ would have been a better word. He should be sent to a re-education camp.

    20

    • #
      Dave in the States

      I know what your saying, but to return to the true meanings of words, and further bastardization of language by political I avoid using the term liberal in a political context at all. I only use it in the classic context such as John Locke would have.

      In the US and Canada a liberal is a lefty. The meaning of the word and who it is applied to are polar opposites. Self described “Liberals” in the USA and Canada are all about restricting liberty, especially of others. This applies to speech especially. But also applies to academic freedom, economic freedom, what others drive, where they go, who they associate with, how much of their money they allowed to keep. Self described Liberals in the USA and Canada don’t apply the same restrictions upon themselves. They feel free apply labels of race on everybody and everything.

      The same applies to the word progressive. Progressives are always trying to roll back the progress of the Enlightenment and the American Revolution. They are, indeed, regressive. Critical race theory and such mis-teachings as the 1619 project are counter revolutionary to the American Revolution.

      220

      • #
        Kalm Keith

        🙂 🙂

        41

      • #
        wokebuster

        Yes, except a lot of the nonense we see today traces directy back to enlightenment luminaries like Rousseau and Kant. We need to clearly distinguish between good and bad enlightenment.

        40

        • #

          I get your point re Rousseau who inspired Marx during his French sojourn. But not so sure about Kant? He was a champion of individual moral sovereignty, far removed from the structural collective morality that underlines CRT.

          20

          • #
            WokeBuster

            Kant is difficult to read and unless you fully understand the nuances of his ideas it’s hard to pigeon-hole him. Nonetheless, connection with Marxism/critical theory is well covered in the literature. For example:

            “The connection between Kant’s main philosophy, more accurately described as Transcendental Idealism, and Marxism is more to do with its formal features than with Kant’s well-meaning opinions on ethics and politics. Germans love systems, and Kant’s philosophy is about the most systematic there is. Basically Aristotelian in its reliance on logic, it establishes a theory about space and time as logical categories which was at once original and convincing. The link to Hegel and then to Marx, though, comes in his treatment of some logical contradictions, which he calls the Antinomies of Pure Reason. An example of this kind of contradiction is that between Free Will (the belief that I act because I want to) and Determinism (the belief that my actions, like everything else in the universe, are determined by physical laws). Kant wanted to argue that both halves of these contradictions could be true at the same time. Hegel, as part of his attempt to create one vast philosophical system including everything (i.e., to out-German Kant) wanted these contradictions to be explained by the forces of history, so that they would have different answers at different periods of history, and this approach definitely influenced Marx in constructing his theory of history, according to which objective conditions caused societies to go through definite stages, the overarching narrative being that of control of the means of production. Kant’s contradictions were now transformed into the dialectic of historical forces.”
            https://newdiscourses.com/2020/04/disneyfication-critique/

            10

            • #

              Wokebuster, your quote is 100% accurate. And the link to Hegel is correctly interpreted (I’ve read all his books and Kant’s three critiques: some of the most boring books I’ve ever read!). But Kant can’t be blamed for Marxism’s inversion of Hegel’s reaction to Kant. Marxists use the dialectic to synthesise history at the material level of man’s necessary economic engagement with the world. Hegel was only interested in the synthesis of ideas on the road to Absolute knowledge, a fantasy of speculative metaphysics that Kant would never accept! Kant’s formalism is often credited as the foundation for post Enlightenment human rights ‘theory’ (mistakenly, in my opinion) which, of course, Marxists eschew because the rights of the individual can too easily compromise those of the collective, especially in a democracy. The idea of a ‘collective essence’ bigger than the sum of the parts is an old Romantic one that features in Hegel’s work, especially The Phenomenology of Spirit. It’s the very opposite of Locke’s view he borrowed from Bacon that the sum of the parts defines society. Thatcher famously used Hayek’s interpretation of this claiming there’s no such thing as society, only the individuals who live in it.

              20

              • #
                WokeBuster

                Lionel, the point you raise is fair. I would imagine Kant would not be impressed how the relatively modest scope of his transcendental idealism has evolved into the nonsense we see today. Nonetheless, it still stands that without Kant we most likely would not have seen the radicalisation of Kant’s idea into the absolute idealism championed by Hegel and other disciples of Kant.

                00

  • #
    tonyb

    There are far too manty people here perpetuating white racist superiority by expecting others of different races to be able to spell properly, add up correctly and know where countries are located. Apparently people of other races are, according to woke theory, completely unable to do any of these things.

    Now you or I may say that believing others to not be as capable as white people in general academic matters is demeaning and racist but somehow that has been twisted round.

    It is equality of outcome that is now important now equality of opportunity. So in the belief that some races are not as clever as others the world must be turned upside down

    200

    • #
      John R Smith

      tonyb,
      I’d be interested in your thoughts on this situation and any parallels with the English civil war.
      (Historical parallels being fun but not necessarily useful.)
      Seems to me that politics is now religion and we are experiencing a New Reformation.
      I don’t understand the English civil war, except that I might not be American without it.
      (For me, things have been going downhill since 1300.)
      “World Turned Upside Down”
      A book I remember enjoying very much.
      Do you know any Sub-levelers?

      130

      • #
        tonyb

        John

        What an interesting question. The roots of the civil war lay in the Dissolution of the monasteries and the two steps forward one step back in moving from Catholicism to Protestantism

        The current situation is rather like Brexit, whereby the great and the good didn’t want it and thought they could ignore what the population wanted. There is a continual movement to drag us back in. In breaking away from Rome there was arguably a 100 year long plus battle with the very much more powerful Pope and his followers who infused every strata of society. This eventually led to the Civil war . I think this is quite a good account

        https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Origins-of-the-English-Civil-War/

        It was in Elizabeth the Firsts reign however, that we could see it was about ideas as well as religious freedoms, with many factions all trying to assert their authority and Monarchs mostly trying to retain the protestant faith, but with much backsliding against some ferociously religious factions who ultimately came up against a King-Charles- who thought he had a divine right to rule having been chosen or blessed by God.

        So certainly we are currently seeing lots of new ideas, much trashing of the past and a great deal of Religious fervour in the form of green issues and various aspects of Wokery, some of which have nothing at all to do with green issues, other than those practising both are likely to be on the left

        So a vast range of new ideas has been unleashed, due almost entirely to the internet and Covid whereby many people had nothing else to occupy them for a year.

        Those battling the Reformation so ferociously for a Century were small in number but influential, but it divided families. Brexit undoubtedly divided families. Green ness and wokery does the same. Mask the latter in ‘virtue’ and ‘rightness’ and ‘fashion’ and ‘youth’ and ally it with the internet, and although the numbers who shout so loudly may be relatively small, ordinary people are afraid to question the narrative for fear of being seen as not believing in ‘God’ or in this case an idea.

        When did things start to go wrong? I think with the internet-although undoubtedly it has enormous benefits as well-together with the breeding of a fervent class of credulous people who believe the only correct opinion is the one they and their friends hold (very apparent during Brexit) and we have a whole raft of quasi religious people who know how to get their own way.

        So I think the pinnacle of Human civilisation was reached around 2010-for the West. As regards other societies they are likely to think differently, as with their systems they are not allowing the ‘religious’ green fundamentalists or the ultra woke, to gain power.

        110

        • #
          John R Smith

          tonyb,
          Thanks.

          “ordinary people are afraid to question the narrative for fear of being seen as not believing in ‘God’ or in this case an idea”

          Well put … I experience this everyday in my small personal world.
          I feel like the old American church of free thought is being forcibly replaced by the new state religion.
          But Joe Biden already has a child.

          40

        • #
          Richard Owen No.3

          tonyb:

          There was also a huge change caused by the introduction of printing and the rise of literacy. An outpouring of new ideas + old ideas, all furiously advocated and debated. The rulers and their aristocracy were against anything they thought would challenge their position, and tried to impose censorship and control of the presses (the latter continued in England under Walpole 1720 -40’s). The problem is that printers were able to change location to countries with different ideas and circulate material back to their target).
          O/T but I read recently a comment that the ideas of Copernicus weren’t really accepted in England until the Civil War. When times are disturbed, disturbing ideas may become popular when people can make up their mind, whatever the establishedment wants. The current enthusiasm for WOKE is an attempt by the Left to regain the influence they had in the 1970’s before Thatcher and Reagan, and the collapse of communism. Hence their desperate attempts at censorship. History proves they will fail.

          40

      • #
        wokebuster

        > “downhill”

        You could go all the way back to ancient times. The Roman historian Tacitus, for instance, never stopped talking about cultural relativism. These ideas seem to get recycled over and over again.

        James Lindsay has written a good article on the rise of contemporary wokism: https://newdiscourses.com/2021/04/rise-woke-cultural-revolution/

        10

    • #
      Curious George

      Equity: the equality of outcome. Kamala Harris, the U.S. Vicepresident, posted a short animated video on Twitter to illustrate the concept. It worked for me. I now believe that everybody should be a famous singer, a top football player, or a U.S. Vicepresident.

      10

      • #
        Sean

        Many years ago, the editor’s column in Analog science fiction magazine talked about ‘hyperdemocracy’, which he distinguished from democracy in that democracy is supposed to provide equality of opportunity, while in a hyperdemocracy, equality of opportunity is measured by equality of results. If people identifiable as belonging to a particular group make up, say, 25% of the population, then if a result group — for example, college admissions — only has 10% of its members in that group, it is by definition unfair and biased, even if the members of that group make up only 5% of the people who apply for admission, and are admitted at twice the proportion of their application share. It has been depressing to see a situation that was discussed as a ‘we must guard against letting this happen’ state of affairs become the de facto goal for ‘equity’.

        00

  • #
    Philip

    Fantastic. Unfortunately 99.99% don’t do this and send their children to be brainwashed everyday, even if the parent is aware of it. And it’s very effective brainwashing too.

    Problem is however, it is in fact the civil liberties movement the parent loves so much that has resulted in this. And this is the only place it can go.

    There is no will for the promised post racist world among the preachers of equality. That’s a smoke screen, the lie they throw up because eventually civil moral western people will accept it. No one else would.

    By 2020, most have bought the lie, but this is where it gets you. No point arguing if it does or not, or how and why. IT just does, we’ve done the experiment. Civil liberties in the 1960s, and 40 years later they do nothing but call you racist. Results are in.

    So wake up. No point going around saying “I’m not racist they are” like this parent is doing. They don’t care. They know you’re not racist. They’re not slightly concerned if you are or not. But they will call you racist, because it works.

    And now the children have been brainwashed to receive the message, implement it, and transfer power, willingly and happily. And you, and you’re children’s children, will be a hated minority, with no power, and no country.

    I say, serve yourselves right. It seems clear but you ignore it, and continue to push for higher morals like MLK. You ignored the bigots. Ridiculed them. But the bigots were right, not for their thinking, but for their instincts. The bigots were right.

    41

  • #
    Anton

    Not quite sure what the fuss is about… nobody has to pay 54,000 US dollars per year to Brearley to have their daughter’s heads filled with drivel. Just pull your daughters out, and if you don’t then we shall understand that you are woke yourself.

    Save your energy for the battle against the people who will try to prevent the opening of schools, for the children of the wealthy, which do not promote this agenda.

    170

    • #
      Deano

      You can imagine that if a school set up in competition to Brearley with the same original high standards but none of the garbage, the better Brearley teachers would jump ship and parents would vote with their wallets.

      120

      • #

        All very sensible, but the problem is bigger than that. It’s the Harvard and Ivy league pressure that created these monster-schools in the first place. The hot independent school with great scores would soon get a reputation for “difficult” students who “weren’t team players”, “non-collegial” etc. And they wouldn’t be offered places in the Ivy League — or only a few of the absolute highest scorers would. The bar would suddenly shift.

        The parents dilemma then is whether their kids ought go to the prestigious universities that generations of top US families have aimed for. And it;s easy to think of reasons why they shouldn’t. But as the salaries and friendship network of the uber qualified grow beyond all proportion, it’s a rich reward. It used to be a great goal too.

        It’s easier for us to dismiss it, but for some of these people, they were raised on the plan.
        Of course, kids may have their own ideas and who wants to raise rich savvy kids who are estranged by Woke?

        280

        • #
          Kim

          Independent thought, critical analysis, that’s what drives scientific and technological advancement. What the wokies are trying to do is to create a new dark age.

          What’s happening at the moment is that the Dems and their supporters are looting the treasury and they are capitalising their gains on the stock market etc. That’s where the inflation is as there is an imbalance between money coming in and opportunities for it going out. The CPI has finally been hit but has been kept down by all the cheap manufacturing – that’s why they like China so much.

          30

        • #
          Simon B

          The problem is exacerbated by many of these ‘graduates’ becoming ‘political advisers’ to politicians in all Western countries. When this becomes the narrative around the corridors of power and the lobbyists pile on, it’s easy for inattentive and lazy politicians to believe this is inevitable, so they must incorporate, or make this their policy priorities. Soon we have the ridiculous critical race theory enacted in bureaucracy which Trump reversed and Biden brought back by Executive Order. This same propaganda is permeating Australian bureaucracy at all 3 tiers.
          If our Conservative Federal government doesn’t reflect the majority values now, we’re in deep trouble with a left wing social engineering government.

          20

          • #
            Deano

            Yes – I often notice a minister making an announcement designed to pander to the noisy minority and you can see by their face, they honestly imagine it’s going to boost their popularity into the stratosphere (and must be utterly amazed when it doesn’t!). They rely on focus groups and researchers without realizing these people are now 100% working to an agenda separate to good government.

            30

        • #
          Anton

          I’d extend my comment to the humanities side of the Ivy League, too. Nobody sensible now wants to send their children there and anybody who does is making informed choice against their own civilisation and comprise part of the problem. The quandary is on the science side.

          10

  • #
    TdeF

    The racist attack is exclusively on Western democracies. Racism in China? Absurd. India? Thailand? Rwanda? Never heard of it.

    No one is excluded from thinking that people who look different, act differently, dress differently, speak differently and believe different things are different. Of course they are. The foundation of modern liberty and equality is that everyone is equal under the law, except that it is not true in most countries.

    The whole business of BLM, AntiFA, male Partiachy, Sexism and the rest are suddendly made up stories designed to undermine the amazing and novel freedoms everyone shares in the United States, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Germany, Sweden and the rest. Try lecturing the mobs in Pakistan about equality of women, freedom of religion and racial equality. You would not survive.

    What is very strange is that Western, Anglophone Education authority from primary schools to secondary schools like Brierley and universities accept this incredible assertion of systemic racism without without facts, without allowing debate, without allowing even diverging opinions. Who is writing this obligatory script for teachers and professors? What happened to teaching real history based on facts, real philosophy and real rational science? Why has the whole education system taken a knee without so much as a whimper?

    Since the abolition of slavery by the British and their systematic elimination of the endemic and eternal slave trade in all societies, the Western world has been remarkably free and prosperous, partly because it coincided with the British led Industrial revolution which truly freed the slaves. And now the people who freed the slaver are the villains? Winston Churchill?

    So who is driving this? Who is plotting the downfall of successful, free, non racist Western British style Democracies? The same people who tell us Carbon Dioxide will kill us and the seas are rising rapidly and we will soon drown. The United Nations, the European Union, the Chinese Communist Party, all world governments in waiting whose members cannot believe their success in spreading this absolute rubbish through Western Education and media.

    More Chinese windmills and solar panels, please. They will save us. The real danger is Carbon Dioxide not laboratory manufactured killer pandemics. At present 12,000 people a day are dying from a laboratory invention in a military facility. No one’s fault apparently. The real danger is racism.

    360

    • #

      Having travelled to Africa and Asia, and lived in the Third World I can tell you that racism is very much alive and well in those countries. Here it is virtually non existent in its supposed form, but exists very much in the grievance stoking of our Indigenous people amongst other areas.

      My wife worked as a nurse in country NSW in a town with a large Aboriginal population not long ago, and she occasionally encountered significant hostility because she was white. She was forced when working in QLD to recite a white privilege nonsense prior to assisting any Indigenous person. Of course she met many fantastic indigenous, as have I (the best worker I ever had was indigenous) – but the continual evil stoking of grievance and regular repitition about “evil whites” has a very negative result with some, breeding harmful hatreds.

      Nothing good can come from continual false portrayals of people, due solely to their skin colour.

      330

      • #
        TdeF

        Exactly. The Anti Fascists are fascists. And the Anti Racist BLM are the racists. Try that in Rwanda, the greatest racist slaughter in my lifetime. Black on black.

        It’s an age old technique, blame others for your own great fault. So the Chinese are now calling the Americans racist to their faces at a diplomatic level? And the US ambassador agrees? Unbelievable.

        Meanwhile Joe Biden agrees with President Xi to address the real world crisis. Climate Change.

        251

      • #
        Dave in the States

        “Having travelled to Africa and Asia, and lived in the Third World I can tell you that racism is very much alive and well in those countries. ”

        I have many friends from Asia and Africa. Their race and origin and my race and origin have never really been a thing among us. However, many Americans tend to lump people together into groups, such Asians or Africans, or Hispanics. In reality Japanese and Koreans, and Chinese, and Vietnamese generally don’t really like each other in Asia. A Korean and a Japanese may be disowned by their families if they intermarried.

        A friend of mine from West Africa once told me: “Please don’t associate me with American Blacks, we are different.” It was not race issue but a culture one and I respect that. I understood that he held no hate for American Blacks. In America we had almost become a color blind society until politicians starting using it as means of agenda pushing in recent years.

        250

      • #
        Kalm Keith

        Thanks for that.

        30

    • #

      Sorry TdeF, there is a degree of racism in every country. Think about the caste system in India beside that if you are very dark as are most “untouchables” there is little chance of being a public servant or a manger in a company. On a visit to China I met some Nigerians who were at a University for training. They said the Chinese hated them and they were not getting any training. As you know the Chinese are at odds with the Moslems who look different. In Tibet I noted there was a division between the Tibetans and the different looking Han Chinese. I have been to Japan many times for business. Again skin colour matters. If you are very dark no chance of getting into a top university such as Tokyo or getting a high level management position. The Japanese dislike Koreans and Chinese. I noticed that higher management people had a squarer light face compared to the rounder face of Chinese. Thailand has discrimination and so has Myanmar (Burma)where the Rohingya -dark skinned Moslems from Bangladesh are a cause of conflict. In Russia there is division between the European types and the Asian looking ones. I could go on. Australia is one of the most tolerant societies.

      210

  • #
    cohenite

    The left in it’s various manifestations -alarmism, BLM, antifa, greens generally- does not engage in rational discourse; for them language is a weapon used not to inform but to subjugate; meaning is lost in the true Orwellian sense and victims are forced to parrot nonsense which they know are lies. There are many examples in the world of alarmism but one of it’s most insidious forms is the 2 tier justice system and the use of blanket slogans like racism which are applied to non racism situations while also masking the real racism of the left. For example the voter ID dispute where the left argue ID penalises black voters implying black voters are inferior and incapable of obtaining ID. The left also make use of victims when it suits their narrative while ignoring true victims when it doesn’t: Ashli Babbitt is a case in point.

    171

    • #
      SimonB

      Satirist Ami Horowitz has an excellent vox pop where he interviewed African Americans on their apparent inability to obtain ID. He went to both Berkeley University to see what the brightest academia believe and then went to Harlem to test the hypothesis. Suffice to say those in Harlem were bewildered by the question. Ironically he was addressing this as far back as 2016.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JGmKHrWKMQ

      20

  • #
    Peter C

    Ashli Babbitt is a case in point.

    Ashli Babbit could be a case of double standards. I find it a most confusing case. Was she shot and is she dead?

    She was ‘shot’ in a hall way of the congress when she attempted to climb through a broken side light in a door frame. She was wheeled out of the building on a trolley, looking very much alive. It was not revealed where she went, nor what happened to her nor when she died. The nature of here injuries have not been made public.

    She was cremated and her ashes were dumped at sea before any inquest. Family and friends attended and said nice things about her.

    The coroner gave a finding of manslaughter, yet made no further inquiries. The DOJ is not investigating and no one has been charged with her shooting.

    None of this makes sense unless she was not shot and did not die. Then a whole lot of people have a lot of explaining to do (if they are ever required to do so).

    170

    • #
      OldOzzie

      Babbitt was shot as she climbed through a broken door into the Speaker’s Lobby. The bullet struck Babbitt in the left shoulder, and she later died from her wounds at Washington Hospital Center.

      Who Killed Ashli Babbitt

      Is it too much to ask to know the name of the federal government employee who, on our behalf, shot an unarmed veteran who was, at worst, trespassing in a public building? Apparently, it is, since no one in our glorious, licensed, and neutered regime media seems to want to tell us. They know. They all know. They just don’t want you to know.

      We know the identity of the incompetent cop who shot the guy with a warrant (for carrying a concealed weapon without permit, which is not even a crime in nearly two dozen free states – racist Democrat gun control laws helped kill him). All we know about Wyatt Twerp, who shot the super-scary Q person for climbing through a window, is that the DoJ thinks it’s A-OK to cap misdemeanor suspects if they oppose the ruling caste and clear him. The dummy who can’t tell her taser from her Glock got charged though, even though it’s absolutely clear she was stupid rather than malicious. Two systems of justice – gee, how could that go wrong?

      90

      • #
        OldOzzie

        Representative Markwayne Mullin Confronts FBI Director Christopher Wray About Difference Between Prosecuting Capitol Hill Protestors vs BLM/ANTIFA Violence – Thus Almost Hitting a Point Many Miss, BLM Funded Joe Biden

        Rep. Markwayne Mullin took his opportunity to question FBI Director Cristopher Wray by asking the FBI Director about the double standard in investigating/prosecuting Capitol rioters vs the Black Lives Matter and Antifa rioters in DC and Portland.

        Rep Mullin smartly uses the example of federal officers who have been attacked, assaulted and injured by Antifa and BLM, yet the FBI does nothing to investigate or prosecute these violent extremists. Mullin even quoted Wray back to himself when the FBI Director said: “Antifa is not a national organization”, a quote Director Wray now stunningly denies. First, WATCH:

        50

        • #
          Chris

          Not only did the BLM fund Joe Biden , but Antifa did also. For months prior to the election, Antifa.com immediately directed you to the Joe Biden donation page.

          30

      • #
        OldOzzie

        BREAKING: Cause of Death for Officer Brian Sicknick Released, Major Blow to Media and Democrat Narrative

        This is an undeniable blow to the assertions that Sicknick died as a result of something that happened to him on January 6th. Not only did he suffer multiple strokes, but those strokes also were not brought on by any chemical irritant such as pepper spray. That was a going theory by prosecutors until this point. The medical examiner determined the death was via natural causes and there appears to be nothing that connects the event to the crowd that day.

        It is absolutely disgusting to think back to how the news media, Joe Biden, Democrats at large, and some Republicans used Sicknick’s death to score political points. And they did so without one ounce of evidence to do so. Sicknick lay in state at the Capitol under the guise that he had been murdered by Trump supporters. We now know that story was completely false. What now? Will there be apologies to the family for using their loved one as a political prop? Will there be apologies to those who wanted to wait and see what was actually true in regards to the claims of “insurrection” that day?

        80

  • #
    Deano

    While fighting against this crap that infests our institutions, we also need to support those wonderful non-whites who refuse to be part of this. In Australia we have Jacinta Price, a proud aboriginal woman who wants nothing to do with baiting whites and professional victim-hood. For taking a stand, she is mostly ignored or ridiculed by the usual suspects in the MSM and also threatened by members of the victim industry.

    And I know that in USA there are many articulate black commentators who prefer to judge others by that silly old idea of “the content of their character” rather than race. Just like Jacinta, they too get called ‘coconuts’ or ‘Uncle Toms’ by the very people proud of their moral superiority.

    240

    • #
      Kalm Keith

      I’ve listened to Jacinta Price speak at a conference in Sydney a few years ago.
      Her presence and her ideas showed a believable path forward that is in stark contrast to the current situation that sees too many Australians spiraling down into woke hell.

      Common sense is the only way out for us but even defining that is near impossible in this new age of egalitarianism.

      KK

      80

  • #
    Klem

    I sometimes attend church services at my local Church of England, I also receive their bulletins and newspapers. And as far as i can see, for my Anglican church it is Woke all day everyday. I look around the congregation and wonder how many of those blued-haired folks actually believe the incessant Woke talk they get every Sunday, or how many remain silent because it is impolite to object.

    It sure would be nice if the Anglican church would give Woke a rest, it’s boring and is a good reason to stop attending services. Just saying.

    150

    • #
      Annie

      I couldn’t agree more Klem. You can, though, get the opposite of a parishioner being ‘woke’. My husband is an Anglican priest and this time two (or was it three?) years ago, during our Harvest Festival service, he dared to mention in his sermon that there was nothing to fear from the notion of ‘anthropogenic climate change’. I could get him to fish out that sermon if you are interested. Anyway, this particular old parishioner was extremely rude, sticking her fingers in her ears, standing up to emphasise it; it wasn’t the first time she had been very rude to him (nice one dear, as he works pro bono) and one lovely young family have hardly been seen since.

      70

      • #
        Annie

        The ‘woke’ ones used to do the intercessions and I cringed every time they went on about our ‘fragile’ planet and poor Mother Nature. In my experience, MN is a right old so-and-so at times, doing her best to wipe us out. The rate at which our trees grow (fast) and the rate at which my poor veges grow (slowly, battered by all manner of wildlife) and the insect and arachnid life (did they all move to our place?), oodles of birds of all sorts (wreckers of crops which are then susceptible to the myriads of wasps) don’t indicate a poor fragile planet to me!
        I’m feeling fragile!

        60

      • #
        robert rosicka

        It’s all a religion anyway Annie , when faith is the only proof they need what else could it be called.

        30

  • #
    navy bob

    Chickens coming home to roost. I’m sure every one of the school’s wealthy parents, probably including the letter-writer, is a vehement Trump-hater and voted for the Democrats who have unleashed this demonic totalitarianism on our country. They deserve everything they’re whining about.

    111

  • #
    Kevin kilty

    Great article on what goes on at a very expensive school. A person can get roughly the same nonsense poured into their child’s head by simply paying property tax, and attending free school. The public school system is mired in magical thinking everywhere — magical thinking about everything.

    Here is another frightening issue. The City Manager of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota was fired by the city council during a “Zoom” meeting for suggesting that police officer Kim Potter should receive due process. The City Manager is a Black American, by the way. Why did the Council vote to fire him? Here is one member explaining things….

    “He was doing a great job. I respect him dearly,” she said. “I didn’t want repercussions at a personal level.”

    For those keeping score at home, the city manager was fired for standing by the fundamentals of affording the accused due process. At the same time, at least one council member openly admitted she cast her vote based solely on what she thought the mob of rioters might do to her or her property if she voted in a way that displeased them.
    [from Legal Insurrection]

    I will let the City Council person’s words stand without comment, but we have to get away from Zoom enabled public meetings or real governance is going to dissolve. The impersonal nature of a Zoom meeting is aiding the weak thinkers in government to get away with…well, weak thinking; They sit at home and think weakly; and because of technical hurdles Zoom keeps many older people from participating. Zoom advantages the young in these forums, and I am beginning to believe the young have trouble thinking.

    190

  • #

    Aloha! BRAVO!

    In the 1980s we were building schools in California under Public Works projects. The biggest issue then was there was not enough money in the school budget to fill the new library with books! Mainly because of the cost of union teachers and the high cost of administrators. Believe it or not the teachers went around to us contractors asking for money! We did give them thousands of dollars to buy books!

    The next thing I directed their attention to was the $30,000 extruded aluminum museum light fixtures hanging in the kindergarten finger painting class! Add in the huge $90,000 30ft x 40ft extruded aluminum light fixtures in the new library that were tiered in four levels to the height of the 40ft ceilings.

    This is typical California teachers union and government. It was and still is NOT ABOUT THE KIDS!

    120

  • #
    graham dunton

    Education, expressed on a different level?

    After NASA’s Historic First Flight: Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Update

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM_2hmdRnfQ

    20

  • #
    Penguinite

    Once there was a silly old ram Thought he’d punch a hole in a dam No one could make that ram, scram He kept buttin’ that dam

    Great lyrics of HIGH HOPEs from the Old Blue Eyes stable. Without hope we’ve got nothing!

    50

  • #
    Serge Wright

    I’m sure that the sentiments laid out in this letter are those held my the vast majority of people. Critical race theory is the very definition of institutional racism. It seeks to legislate rights and privilege based on skin colour and race. This is exactly the kind of racism that we saw in Nazi Germany and in the apartheid years of South Africa and this kind of institutional and constitutional racism is something not seen in western democracies in over 50 years.

    I think the discussion in the public domain needs to focus on the motive behind this insidious policy, which is of course to cause division and violence that ultimately leads to a breakdown of society. This is the common denominator of all extreme left-wing policies and they are all designed to create division, poverty and dependency. The open border and climate policies are part of the broader agenda, designed to reduce prosperity and increase the number of people dependent on the state. Once you have a breakdown of law and order with uncontrolled violence and large numbers of impoverished people, then you have the climate to allow the political change being sought. The millions of lives that will be devastated along the way are simply collateral damage for the Marxists.

    The George Floyd case highlights where we are on the road to anarchy. The rule of law and order has now been overruled by the brainwashed mob and justice has already been determined outside the courts. This mob are no different than those brainwashed by the ideals of Hitler’s Aryan race and the brainwashing methods are eerily similar. Stopping this sick propaganda and reversing the damage to the minds of the youth will not be easy but it must start today.

    50

  • #
    OldOzzie

    And is the Australian Government under Liberal Scott Morrison any different?

    Violence vidiocy

    As the Morrison government comes under fire for its treatment of women, a video designed to teach teenagers about consent and respectful relationships has raised a few eyebrows. The resources were announced by Education Minister Alan Tudge last month following the national outcry sparked by the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins at Parliament House. While the intention behind the Respect Matters program may be good, the clips are confusing at best and condescending at worst. One video shows a teenage girl offering her partner some of her milkshake, before smearing it over his face, in a crude metaphor for forced sex. Another clip shows a woman being pressured to swim in shark-infested waters as a way of talking about being pressured into sex. Rape prevention advocates unsurprisingly lashed the videos on Monday, declaring they made a mockery of the situation, failed to meet national education standards and would not help to stop sexual violence. Considering the importance of this national conversation, Strewth thinks it’s back to the drawing board on this one.

    50

  • #
    Macha

    Anyone feel like the company they work for, esp. If a large one is doing the same thing? No need for government based leftism, corporate is doing the heavy lifting for them.
    No comply = no job.

    60

  • #
    Simon B

    Excellent response, more well spoken counter arguments every day, shown far and wide galvanise the majority that they aren’t imagining the ‘elites’ use divisive hate to force their agenda. Ridicule the elitists with their own terms? Don’t arbue, just keep asking questions demanding answers. It cuts the weak from the herd; the brainwashed who parrot propaganda thru fear and naivety, not commitment to a cause. It’s how common sense redresses fanaticism. We need to research and understand the basic premises and simply ask the cultists for answers in the desire to understand. We know they can’t explain how dividing people is tolerance. Call them out. Smart people do that without burning low income neighborhoods!

    20

  • #

    “upperclass” again hard at it trying to control our lives. And yet it is the uber rich sending their kids to a Harvard prep school who are victims, not some sort of struggling working class.

    This is very confusing.

    Did I mention upperclass (I’ll keep mentioning it in the hope that it catches on)

    11

  • #
  • #
    nb

    Off topic, but here is a link to a broadcast about the election in the USA, courtesy of Mike Lindell. Valuable:
    Link via:
    https://thepointman.wordpress.com/2021/04/19/emergency-post/
    Click on the link in the text.

    00

  • #
    Tilba Tilba

    Well … I would like to know the family background of our Mr Andrew Gutmann, who wrote the letter.

    He apparently could afford to spend $500,000 on his daughter’s education over ten years. Did he come from a privileged background himself? Does he understand that the vast majority of African-Americans don’t even earn $50,000 a year – let alone send their kids to flash schools that cost so much?

    There are a lot of questions behind this letter indeed.

    17

    • #

      No, a more useful question is why does Tilba Tilba come here to drop irrational Ad hom arguments and attacks? Is it because you have nothing better to offer? Is it a mental defect — the inability to discuss a topic itself rather than hunt for a character assassination?

      Whether Gutmann earns $2,000 or $2m a month makes no difference to his arguments.

      Here’s one for Tilba — Is Segregation wrong — Yes or No?

      90

      • #

        This from someone whose headline and the paragraphs beneath are full of labels, name calling and stereotypes.

        Watch out Jo, the upperclass might get ya.

        04

        • #

          @GeeAye — The difference between Ad Hom and “labels” is that Ad Hom is a form of reasoning. Labels are a descriptor. The latter might offend you but that’s your problem not mine. If my labels are wrong, you can always find counter examples, rather than just complaining and confusing the two.

          Watch out Jo, the upperclass might get ya.

          Is that a threat, or are you just fantasizing?

          30

      • #
        Tilba Tilba

        Here’s one for Tilba — Is Segregation wrong — Yes or No?

        Segregation is of course wrong, just as systemic racism is wrong. And system racism didn’t end with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the era of separate lunch counters for Blacks.

        There are a whole range of ways in which systemic racism still prospers, and you do not have to be woke or a devotee of Critical Race Theory to see how obvious it is.

        Millions of African-Americans are born into poverty, and for a whole lot of reasons to do with family dysfunction, lack of care, and lack of guidance, poverty, and low-grade education, the cycle repeats itself in the next generation.

        We see it in extremis here in Australia – with inter-generational poverty and lousy, limited lives.

        Of course in Australia and especially in America there are millions of Whites who do it tough, with low income, low ambition, and generally no improvement from one generation to the next. They’re not sending their daughters to Brearley either.

        In other words, after reading his letter on the dangers of judging people by skin colour, your main concern is to know if he was white !

        You misread my words. I didn’t ask whether he was white at all.

        Meanwhile I think it is very relevant whether our Mr Gutmann came from a well-off background … his daughter certainly does. It matters because of the incredible role of CLASS in America – in fact just about all societies where wealth is unevenly shared.

        In relation to his letter, parts of it are fair enough, parts are ingenuous indeed (such as “systemic racism” ending with segregated lunch counters – no hint of privilege speaking there), and parts are toe-curlingly awful.

        I dislike endless discussion of race, I dislike seeing everything through the lens of race continually, I am deeply sceptical about the usefulness of CRT – and I dislike any pressure to demonstrate my white guilt and black empathy constantly in every situation.

        But this from Mr Gutmann is in the toe-curling box:

        The administration and the Board of Trustees have displayed a cowardly and appalling lack of leadership by appeasing an anti-intellectual, illiberal mob, and then allowing the school to be captured by that same mob.

        Who exactly is this “mob”? Is it a majority of parents who agree with the direction of the school?

        And rather than just write a foot-stamping letter about taking his bat’n’ball home – we have no real history or context. Have there been genuine efforts by parents with similar views to address the staff and board on these issues? So many similar questions.

        And finally – I disagree with Mr Gutmann on systemic racism. It is very debatable indeed to say:

        “I object to a definition of systemic racism, apparently supported by Brearley, that any educational, professional, or societal outcome where Blacks are underrepresented is prima facie evidence of the aforementioned systemic racism, or of white supremacy and oppression.”

        There are very complex issues as to why African-Americans are still suffering disadvantage, and still bedevilled by poor lives – and this is despite huge amounts of tax money, all sorts of other support, including much de-segregation and affirmative action.

        We could get down into the weeds about multi-generational disadvantage and discrimination, and also do a whole lot of analysis of family dysfunction and a flawed culture – but there is always the real risk of victim-blaming.

        Mr Gutmann has the right to withdraw his daughter from that toffy private school if he doesn’t like its policies on race – it’s not compulsory – and there are plenty of good public schools on Manhattan. But much of his letter is very problematic and very arguable.

        In fact it might do his daughter a world of good to go to a vibrant multicultural high school – and to make genuine friends with a bunch of girls and boys from all types of backgrounds.

        Perhaps the publicity from the letter might get Brearley to have a look at its policies, but I doubt it … these places are often hugely hard to get in to, so they can set the rules their way, and I suspect most parents approve the school’s approach. It would be interesting to see the demographics of the place as well.

        01

        • #

          So you don’t agree with segregation but support using race as a way to divide America? Some skin colors are allowed to talk about racism, but others are not. Is black racism against whites OK? Are you against all racism, or just segregated racism? Some whole races are to be assigned blame, their children to be taught shame, told to say nothing and feel less worthy. Their opinions are not welcome. It depends on the color of the child’s skin?

          Do you support segregated entry standards for different skins — or only merit based entry?

          Do you think it helps blacks to be taught to blame whites? Does it empower them, or cripple and trap them with the low expectations and excuses for failure? Would a culture of individual responsibility (a race blind society) serve blacks better? Is Wokism holding back blacks — trapping them into debilitating lives for the purpose of being pitiful mascots that promote SJW careers?

          And you support classism too. If Gutmann is rich apparently his opinion should be ignored. (You still don’t understand why Ad Homs are a silly way to reason?)

          How’s this for arrogant: you think “most parents” at Brearly agree with a culture teaching their children to be ashamed and silenced, even though Mr Gutmann and a reporter who have spoken to many parents — and say the opposite. What would they know compared to “Tilba” the anon?

          Go figure — if most parents thought the Woke culture was good, why do they need to bully other opinions with threats to cancel and exile people? Why do they behave like a cult?

          The truth is that the only way to maintain a fake toxic culture of weaponized racism and hate is to shout down or terrorize anyone who disagrees.

          If they had truth on their side, they wouldn’t be afraid of other opinions popping their bubble.

          30

          • #
            Tilba Tilba

            Do you support segregated entry standards for different skins — or only merit based entry?

            This is a complicated question and there is no one simple answer. Merit-based entry sounds okay in theory, but who is doing the measuring? And are they measuring the right things?

            I’m old enough to recall the days of free university in Australia, and TEAS (they paid an allowance while you studied full-time), and a focus on mature-age entry. In one way it worked – huge numbers of people (especially women) gained access to our universities and CAEs – and without such assistance many would never had got there. There were parallel programs for Aboriginal People and Torres Strait Islanders.

            A lot of people did really well – people who had never had a chance before, or were simply later bloomers. But there were failures and dropouts as well.

            And at the end of the day, they found that the whole free education movement had made it easier for a whole lot of middle class people to get a degree at no cost, rather than lifting up the numbers of working class and minorities who gained a degree.

            But overall – I support affirmative action where there are good outcomes to be achieved. In other words you don’t let in really under-cooked members of minorities etc, only to have them face huge pressures and often failure. No point in that.

            But what I believe and support is not really at issue here – what is at issue is whether Mr Gutmann really opened the curtain on some deep ideological conflict in a very upscale school, or whether he was just having a tantrum because he was sick of paying that sort of money, and having his kid fed with what he considered woke propaganda.

            It’s hard to judge from here – and I expect there is much we don’t know. But absent more information – particularly on what percentage of the parent community would support Mr Gutmann or support the school’s policies – realistically, when you’re dealing with a private institution or company, your only recourse really is to vote with your feet, as Mr Gutmann did (or at least his daughter’s feet).

            I should add that I am life-long unbeliever in private-school education … personally I think it should all be free, secular, and compulsory – and all in state public schools. Not everyone agrees with me, I am aware of that. But my mate in Manhattan with more than enough money to send his kids to a private school absolutely did not – he wanted them to get a real education in the NY public school system.

            11

    • #
      Serge Wright

      “Did he come from a privileged background himself?”

      In other words, after reading his letter on the dangers of judging people by skin colour, your main concern is to know if he was white !

      This is too amusing for words, own goal x 8 😀

      60

    • #
      DOC

      Tilba Tilba. Your argument is no better than making a judgement of doubt based on race, colour, wealth or creed. It’s as though you believe good or bad or whatever judgement you want to make is based on a belief that one side can only be the suffering and the other is primarily assailing.

      My belief is both sides of those coins are being conditioned to believe exactly the same way as your argument infers you believe. That is why so many are beginning to believe they must be ‘victims’ on the one hand and ‘intimidating white supremacists’ on the other. The latter, in the face of the media and activist based intimidation, are cowed and becoming pushovers for the ‘woke’ movement. On the other hand, being called a victim becomes an excuse for all sorts of one’s own personal deficiencies. It manufactures aggression and support for the left extremes. The principle of the activists is to create national social division.

      As Noel Pearson has said for years, inciting such outrage kills incentive to better one’s own conditions. It creates permanency of the existing conditions and creates the army of support for political malfeasance wielded by the activists with no real concern for the people they have incited. This is not to say many are not faced with difficulties and we can all agree some people on the other side are just straight tyrants. It’s been around since Adam and Eve. The unions have used it (overused it now?) to create the system of ‘downtrodden workers’ vs cruel, ‘money-hungry
      bosses’. Human endeavour and choice by workers have them leaving unions in droves! Hopefully a similar light will soon shine upon the rest of Australia seeing the falsity of the narrative you seem to want to push.

      The letter at the head of this article is exactly the effective response to such intimidation, and nobody runs and hides quicker than the left when facing an overwhelming tide of public reactions to their nonsense.

      60

      • #
        Tilba Tilba

        Tilba Tilba. Your argument is no better than making a judgement of doubt based on race, colour, wealth or creed.

        I only raised the issue of wealth (and more specifically possibly inter-generational wealth) – not interested in the race, colour, or creed of Mr Gutmann; you and others impute that for your own purposes.

        In the context of the school costing over $50,000 per year, it is likely that Mr Gutmann is very well off indeed. So wealth is a very real consideration for how one judges the content of the letter. And call me old-fashioned, but having large wealth – and especially inherited wealth – is always going to colour your political position on just about everything.

        If you come from nothing and make a lot of money – you’re likely to say that “everybody can make it in America”, and if you come from multi-generational wealth you might say the same thing, but far less convincingly. Mostly the old rich make sure (a) they are safely segregated from the masses – perhaps in schools like Brearley and universities like Harvard, and (b) make sure politicians continue to make laws that protect your wealth and privilege.

        It’s as though you believe good or bad or whatever judgement you want to make is based on a belief that one side can only be the suffering and the other is primarily assailing.

        Well – there is a long history of White discrimination against Black Americans … presumably you don’t expect me to argue the opposite?

        Mr Gutmann might have been frustrated that his teenage daughter was being exposed to the issue of racism from a position that was inappropriate for his class … and he didn’t like it. He would much prefer that the ultra-privileged kids at Brearley were taught about the American Dream, and that being white and rich was no more an advantage than being black and poor. Is that what you want Brearley to teach?

        02

  • #
    CHRIS

    Tilba has always been on the wrong Planet…anywhere but Earth

    30

  • #

    […] Brilliant and Brave parent objects to Woke culture, soft racism, and the culture of fear at schools — JoNova […]

    00