The Great Awokening, Lecture 7

In this lecture series, "The Idolatry of Identity," Dr. Matthew Petrusek discusses contemporary progressive ideology, also frequently referred to as “wokeism,” and the response of the Catholic social thought tradition.

https://youtu.be/7AU9HPzsmCM In Lecture 1, Dr. Petrusek identifies the ideological components that constitute progressivism and examines what makes contemporary progressive ideology attractive. He also demonstrates how progressivism both appropriates and distorts competing political theories—and yokes those distortions into the service of a particular group’s self-interest.

https://youtu.be/Qm9If1EQ3yc Lecture 2

https://youtu.be/KsAzLPKyPZs Lecture 3

https://youtu.be/BmzYsBvSr8Y Lecture 4 Post modernism

https://youtu.be/WNR3ehSzpQ4 Lecture 5 Post Colonialism, Pt. 1 Fanon

https://youtu.be/jZNG81w-eEw Lecture 6 Post Colonialism, Pt. 2

https://youtu.be/hVfGzO65SiM In Lecture 7, Dr. Matthew Petrusek sheds light on the shadow side of “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” as he explains how all the widely disparate strands of progressivism/wokeism find a tenuous but politically potent unity in the concept of “intersectionality.”

https://youtu.be/vL9IRQxElBE Lecture 8

https://youtu.be/XdvE3O7Iye8 Lecture 9

Gimme some of that

The St. Louis Federal Reserve website has an "Economic Equity Series" within its publications category. "Podcast about advancing a more inclusive and equitable economy." Sorry, Charlie, the job's already finished! Just watch the ads on TV. All the actors (and I assume writers, directors, stage managers, set designers, camera operators, editors, and producers) are 99% black and/or the occasional Asian or Hispanic. You can see for yourself that American blacks drive Mercedes, vacation in $100,000 RVs, wait in line for Starbucks $10 coffee, grill in the back yards of multimillion dollar homes with neighbors of all makes and models, wear designer clothes, visit the doctor and dentist regularly, and travel to exotic locations. The only white actors are filling the roles of the farmers, plumbers, wind shield replacers and gutter cleaners. Not only are the upper middle class consumers black, but the servers and salespeople are too! It's amazing how since May 2020 America has become so woke that there are no more "marginalized and poor" people of color. That must look pretty good to those border jumpers from 160 countries rushing our southern border.

The equity is that because most of the poor and marginalized 13% in the USA are actually white, the low income blacks can now sit in front of the TV just like low income whites and wonder how they can get on that gravy train.

Academe is having a short fall—Ohio State

Ohio State University (a few miles from us) is having a financial short fall: “The virus, things not related to the virus, the election, social unrest, a hiring pause, the inability to travel and hold in-person events, and even things like (the) leadership transition (at the university) have all had an impact on our fundraising to date,” Michael Eicher, senior vice president for advancement and president of the Ohio State University Foundation, said at the Nov. 19 meeting.

OSU brought in $113.9 million from 74,501 donors during the first three months of the 2021 fiscal year, which started July 1, according to the university. That’s 24% less than it brought in during the same period last year, when it raised $150 million. The number of donors during that period last year was 121,816, meaning there are nearly 50,000 donors who haven't given this year." (Columbus Business First, Dec. 1, 2020)

Most of that list looks Covid related to me. Even the so-called "social unrest." I'm retired OSU faculty and I know the "social unrest" had been building for years, egged on by faculty looking for some sort of "equity," but always encouraging divisiveness instead of true diversity, which should have included conservatives, but they'd all been chased away. 2020 has been a perfect storm building in influence and power incrementally since the 1980s through diversity and inclusion programming graduating people with no place to go. Yet now it's all called "systemic racism. The pandemic certainly worsened things, as the liberals all blamed President Trump and no one looked at the social turmoil the universities and colleges had been encouraging for years.

As the blue collar and service industries all continued in their "essential" jobs, the spoiled college kids signed on to march, destroy and disrupt with Antifa and BLM, and wealthy alumni waved their little flags in support.

The No-Fear Act

Today when I was looking up some COVID19 statistics at the CDC site, I noticed something at the bottom of the page called the "No-FEAR" Act. Have you heard of that? Trust me, President Trump hasn't removed all the ridiculous red tape and piles of useless paperwork in DC. "The Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002 is a United States federal law that seeks to discourage federal managers and supervisors from engaging in unlawful discrimination and retaliation. It is popularly called the No-FEAR Act, and is also known as Public Law 107–174."

I'm not sure where the final total of these discrimination and retaliation reports goes, but every government department and agency seems to be required to fill them out. . . quarterly. Then annually, then compare them to the last 4 years (at least that's all I found so I was looking at annual totals from Obama years also). I didn't investigate in depth--only about 10 minutes. What I found out from the agencies I looked at is that it takes about 200 days to investigate a complaint (race, color, religion, reprisal, sex, PDA, national origin, equity pay, age, genetics (?), awards ). The biggest complaints seemed to be performance evaluations and non-sexual harassment. There were miniscule number of filings considering the size of some of the agencies, and in most cases there were zero findings of discrimination and retaliation. Maybe if you complain about your boss, the investigation and findings would be to get demoted to this awful job.

https://www.opm.gov/equal-employment-opportunity/no-fear-act/

https://www.cdc.gov/eeo/nofearact/index.htm

https://www.fema.gov/about/offices/equal-rights/no-fear-act

https://home.treasury.gov/footer/no-fear-act

The most detailed report was the Bureau of Consumer Financial  Protection which is awash in helpful and eye opening acronyms  https://home.treasury.gov/footer/no-fear-act

How to take advantage of the pandemic to promote your own cause

In reviewing the OnCampus on-line newsletter for Ohio State University, I noticed two offerings under health, which I am assuming qualifies for some sort of special grant money to fight Covid19, since they are listed under that heading. The first concerns a dialogue, a favorite word for "you keep quiet and I'll talk"; the second an ethical obligation to become an ally of people confused about their sexuality.

It's impossible to imagine there is a "dialogue" in the traditional and accurate sense of the word if offered by IED, which doesn't promote diversity of thought, or the inclusion of conservatives but does promote equal outcome for unequal effort. IEDs exist in all colleges and universities and in the various departments--they are part of administrative bloat.

The "ethical" obligation for social workers to become an ally for LGBTQ is similar in planned outcome. "You will be with us, or you are against us."  We also know that the shift in emphasis is to the T, even within the BLM movement. The T and the G should be at odds with each other, but are lumped together.  The T says there is no such thing as a defined biological sex and therefore logically the G could be heterosexual if so desired.  To qualify for pandemic money, "safe spaces" training is included.  3 continuing education units for social workers. Sweet.

Preparing for an Effective Dialogue (Part 1)
Many staff and faculty members are interested in hosting dialogues around race and social injustice. Dialogue can lead to more insightful and well-supported decisions and can allow individuals to feel heard. But effective dialogue is not always easy to achieve. The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Facilitators Committee is hosting a two-part panel discussion series on preparing for an effective dialogue session. Part one is July 15 at 10 a.m.

New online course on being an LGBTQ+ Ally
The College of Social Work offers “The Ethics of Being an LGBTQ+ Ally,” a new asynchronous course that will provide participants a better understanding of the ethical obligation social workers have to advocate for and become an ally to the LGBTQ+ community. The course includes how to develop safe spaces for clients identifying as LGBTQ+. Three CEUs are available.

Are you a coward or just a racist?

Have you seen the hand lettered signs "Silence is violence?" It's the opposite of what it says. That means you aren't allowed to speak your truth at all, you can only bow and scrape. In fact, your silence is compliance and acceptance of the racism myth and that as a white person you are evil. "Silence is compliance." A Catholic priest in Carmel, Indiana, is the Bonhoeffer of our times. He's telling it like it is. He's not being silent. He actually called out the rioters and looters. Called them names! Melted a few snowflakes. Support him by not being silent about this insanity.

I realize you may not be retired like I am, you don’t have a monthly pension, so you're afraid to speak out--might loose your job. Or friends. It doesn't matter if my pastor sees my criticism of the church--he has no idea who I am. You tell me on the QT that you support everything I write but, . . you must be silent. I do understand, really, and thanks for the private messages. I'm not posting for glory or likes. I post the truth. But please stop being cowards. You are letting them destroy Columbus (or whatever city you live in). You know they won't stop with the removal of the Columbus statue, or the stand down order of the police, don't you? That just encourages them. It's like whacking a hornets nest--they won't go away. And NO, you are not safe in UA or Worthington or Hilliard.

When OSU or your high school says we need more staff for IED (Inclusion, equity, diversity) classes and more reprograming of your kids' minds, JUST SAY NO! Pull them out. Don't pay ridiculous tuition and fees. Do not let the Controllers of BLM/ANTIFA turn your children's minds to mush. Your life matters, too. Learn from history. How do you think a few overseers were able to control 50 slaves in the fields of the plantation if not through fear and intimidation? How were the Nazis able to round up thousands of Jews and keep them compliant?

No country in the world has offered hundreds of nationalities and religions and ethnic groups the opportunity to live side by side under a Constitution that says they rule the government, not the other way around. Stand up and be proud.

This isn't about slavery in the 17th century. It isn't about microaggression or unconscious bias. This isn't about Police. Those are tools they use against you. Don't let them reprogram you.

Silence is compliance. Don’t be a coward.