Thanks for sharing this. I love the clip of Sowell where he’s asked, “you used to be a Marxist--what changed your mind?” His simple response? “Facts.”
Not to suggest that conservatives are the only group that has the “facts”, but there is something foundational about that other quote of his where he says some people espouse things to look good and feel good, when it’s just trendy and the hot social topic of the moment. It’s often easier, as humans, to push the button for the dopamine than to fight to stay firm in the truth.
I was always skeptical of the left, but I didn't think they had lost their collective mind. Now, like you, I do. I've also discovered many of these black intellectuals since 2020. Glenn Loury is my personal favorite.
Shelby Steele and Jason Riley are also good thinkers. Loved the Uncle Tom movie. Peter Robinson at Hoover had a fantastic interview with, among others, Condi Rice in Birmingham. Well worth a listen.
“She was traumatized and coping in the trendiest, most celebrated and maladaptive way possible.” -- This struck me.
I’ve been saying this for years, but it’s such a deeply unpopular stance it often brings on a lot of attack... consistent with a traumatized person reacting to their coping mechanism being pointed out as harmful...
I don’t speak on it publicly much because I haven’t found ways to express it as thoroughly, thoughtfully, and respectfully as you have.
I really enjoyed learning about healthier ways to discuss opposing viewpoints on gender ideology. Thank you!
Liked your essay. But, I must insist that this behavior by liberals, especially in academia, are relatively new. I got a PhD from the most radical liberal sociology department in the country in the 1990s. We studied the post modernist. But, there were many professors and graduate students that didn't buy into the post modernists anti-objectivity and were vocal about it. There was zero push back. In fact, we regularly invited speakers in to counter the post modern narrative. There was a sense of intellectual inquiry that was open and honest. It wasn't until about 8-10 years ago that the university went woke. The funny thing is that the sociology department has never gone completely woke like many lesser ones. I still see interesting sociology and social-psychology being done there. They lean heavy into feminism as they have for decades, but they also filter it through social class with a genuine concern for people from all walks of life. One of my peers, who is brilliant won a prize for her book bringing biology back into gender identity and queer studies. This is all to point out that this movement isn't liberal, but illiberal and propagated more by administrators and journal editors than professors.
Great read, thanks! Going to have to check out some of those writers; there were a few I hadn’t heard of.
I come from a long line of liberal-minded people with allegiance to the democratic party. I mostly kept the former and basically never had the latter. The dem party has little to do with liberalism. Left values are consistently shat on by those corrupt assholes.
Then, irrespective of party, there is this new, weird strain of identitarianism that’s taken hold on the “left.” I put the word in quotes because as far as I can tell, any philosophy that’s divorced from people’s material conditions isn’t leftist.
I hate all this shit so much. We’ve lost our damn minds.
I’m very sorry for what you’re going through with your daughter, btw. I can’t imagine the pain. Both my kids have thankfully avoided gender confusion, but I still worry about them. It’s a tough time to be a parent.
In many ways your story parallels my own and has many of the same protagonists. I feel you. It just so happens that I graduated from the very college that Bret Weinstein was ran out of, which made it all the more poignant. I meet more and more former lefties as time goes by. I love that you can find the positive, transformative elements in your story without losing sight of all that is painful and shocking in it.
I guess the lesson to be learned here is that it shouldn’t require the shock of a child embracing the anti-reality of trans for a person to grasp that the left is wrong on everything of substance and must be rejected wholeheartedly once one is an adult and before becoming a parent.
Simply, the left are enemies of humanity and everything they do and say must be seen and heard in that context. Reject them - or they will destroy you, your family, your civilization. Rejecting the left should require no additional commentary or proof. People should require the left to present facts and history supporting the left before ever listening to anything of which they try to convince one. Anti-leftism must be the default for any sane person and society.
That's pretty much where I landed. One person commented in the notes section that it was wrong to switch parties wholesale, as if I was a flake, but I was too aggravated to try to explain. I thought the essay was plenty. But some leftists are mired too deep to see the truth.
Reading Sowell is transformative. I’m a life long liberal who fell off the Woke bus after Oct 8th and now see all the TDS, media hysterics and liberal hypocrisy clearly. Ben Shapiro does make sense!
Welcome back from the Black Hole of Dysphoria, i.e., the Woke Left! Just remember that neither Left nor Right has a monopoly on the Truth ... or on mendacity.
Thanks for saying this! Some of my values are left-aligned (I am not going to list them because I don't want to either argue or echo-chamber over them). I just don't think we have to bundle our political views like packaged services. We got to think of each issue separately and be honest (at least with ourselves)
It's always best I think, to try and live in the grey areas of life. I am liberal on some topics and very conservative on others. Life is never a black and white exercise, unless one is Borderline Personality Disordered. :~]
If I can use a marriage analogy then "leaving the left" is less like a divorce and more like trans-widowhood (if we consider that what used to be left/progressive is just bat-shit crazy and not what you signed up for) or real widowhood (if we are less generous and admit that they are brain-dead). But when you first "married" them it was different (even if you were a child bride, as most of us were). Or am I fooling myself and it always was shit?
LOL... oh, I firmly believe the Democratic party once had lofty ideals~ which is why so many hopped onboard with it. Then things took a radical, bizarre turn, and I doubt seriously, if they're ever gonna come back and be anything even close to 'center.'
You have just defined what the term “awakening” is all about. The immense propaganda that has flooded our culture through media, social media, academia, Hollywood, the medical establishment, etc has made it very difficult for the average person to see truth and reality. I applaud you for using true critical thinking skills to understand more deeply these issues and to then resist the pressure to conform. It is not easy to push back against authority and so-called experts, but that it what we must do. Even as a conservative, I had my own awakening within the party because as you have figured out, we are constantly being lied to. With the emergence of Substack and Rumble and other free speech platforms, the flood of independent information is pouring out for all to see (those that are willing I should say), and it’s invigorating and rejuvenating and empowering! What you will come to discover next in your evolution is that the lies (darkness) you are turning away from, and the truth (light) you are moving toward, is the real awakening. And I say this from experience. It by no means happens overnight, but you will find that you are drawn and motivated to be around people who have one thing in common - they all have deep faith in God.
Thanks for sharing this. I love the clip of Sowell where he’s asked, “you used to be a Marxist--what changed your mind?” His simple response? “Facts.”
Not to suggest that conservatives are the only group that has the “facts”, but there is something foundational about that other quote of his where he says some people espouse things to look good and feel good, when it’s just trendy and the hot social topic of the moment. It’s often easier, as humans, to push the button for the dopamine than to fight to stay firm in the truth.
I love that clip too! And agree 💯
I was always skeptical of the left, but I didn't think they had lost their collective mind. Now, like you, I do. I've also discovered many of these black intellectuals since 2020. Glenn Loury is my personal favorite.
I feel indebted to the black conservatives. Going to have to listen to more Glenn Loury.
Thomas Chatterton Williams is also a talented and essential intellect worth reading and listening to…if you haven’t already.
I have his books in my kindle library! Thanks for the reminder!
Shelby Steele and Jason Riley are also good thinkers. Loved the Uncle Tom movie. Peter Robinson at Hoover had a fantastic interview with, among others, Condi Rice in Birmingham. Well worth a listen.
Check out Thomas Sowell. He is a GOD
He is every white MAGAs favorite.
You say that as if it’s not a good thing, but actually Sowell should be everyone’s favorite. He’s spot-on right using few words to hit the target.
“She was traumatized and coping in the trendiest, most celebrated and maladaptive way possible.” -- This struck me.
I’ve been saying this for years, but it’s such a deeply unpopular stance it often brings on a lot of attack... consistent with a traumatized person reacting to their coping mechanism being pointed out as harmful...
I don’t speak on it publicly much because I haven’t found ways to express it as thoroughly, thoughtfully, and respectfully as you have.
I really enjoyed learning about healthier ways to discuss opposing viewpoints on gender ideology. Thank you!
Thank you!
Liked your essay. But, I must insist that this behavior by liberals, especially in academia, are relatively new. I got a PhD from the most radical liberal sociology department in the country in the 1990s. We studied the post modernist. But, there were many professors and graduate students that didn't buy into the post modernists anti-objectivity and were vocal about it. There was zero push back. In fact, we regularly invited speakers in to counter the post modern narrative. There was a sense of intellectual inquiry that was open and honest. It wasn't until about 8-10 years ago that the university went woke. The funny thing is that the sociology department has never gone completely woke like many lesser ones. I still see interesting sociology and social-psychology being done there. They lean heavy into feminism as they have for decades, but they also filter it through social class with a genuine concern for people from all walks of life. One of my peers, who is brilliant won a prize for her book bringing biology back into gender identity and queer studies. This is all to point out that this movement isn't liberal, but illiberal and propagated more by administrators and journal editors than professors.
That is very good to know, thank you for the comment!
Great read, thanks! Going to have to check out some of those writers; there were a few I hadn’t heard of.
I come from a long line of liberal-minded people with allegiance to the democratic party. I mostly kept the former and basically never had the latter. The dem party has little to do with liberalism. Left values are consistently shat on by those corrupt assholes.
Then, irrespective of party, there is this new, weird strain of identitarianism that’s taken hold on the “left.” I put the word in quotes because as far as I can tell, any philosophy that’s divorced from people’s material conditions isn’t leftist.
I hate all this shit so much. We’ve lost our damn minds.
I’m very sorry for what you’re going through with your daughter, btw. I can’t imagine the pain. Both my kids have thankfully avoided gender confusion, but I still worry about them. It’s a tough time to be a parent.
Thanks Noah! Much appreciated.
In many ways your story parallels my own and has many of the same protagonists. I feel you. It just so happens that I graduated from the very college that Bret Weinstein was ran out of, which made it all the more poignant. I meet more and more former lefties as time goes by. I love that you can find the positive, transformative elements in your story without losing sight of all that is painful and shocking in it.
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Brilliant and beautifully written, thank you!
A wonderfully poignant essay with which I agree. Thank you for sharing this. Sincerely, Frederick
I guess the lesson to be learned here is that it shouldn’t require the shock of a child embracing the anti-reality of trans for a person to grasp that the left is wrong on everything of substance and must be rejected wholeheartedly once one is an adult and before becoming a parent.
Simply, the left are enemies of humanity and everything they do and say must be seen and heard in that context. Reject them - or they will destroy you, your family, your civilization. Rejecting the left should require no additional commentary or proof. People should require the left to present facts and history supporting the left before ever listening to anything of which they try to convince one. Anti-leftism must be the default for any sane person and society.
That's pretty much where I landed. One person commented in the notes section that it was wrong to switch parties wholesale, as if I was a flake, but I was too aggravated to try to explain. I thought the essay was plenty. But some leftists are mired too deep to see the truth.
Reading Sowell is transformative. I’m a life long liberal who fell off the Woke bus after Oct 8th and now see all the TDS, media hysterics and liberal hypocrisy clearly. Ben Shapiro does make sense!
He was so great after October 7 too. Great to meet you here, Jess!
In their community:
Black lives matter (unless the blacks are Jewish or right-leaning)
We fear no faith (except Christianity and Judaism)
Women’s rights are human rights (unless the women are Jewish)
No human is illegal (except a “settler-colonialist”)
Science is real (when consistent with “lived experience,” “Native American lore,” and “women’s ways of knowing”)
Love is love (except for pedos and zoophiles; and if not them, who else?)
Word. Sometimes I wish pedos would make it onto the flag so the whole thing could implode already.
I’m very much afraid it wouldn’t.
I imagine my daughter and a handful of friends realizing, hey wait a minute. This is not what we signed up for. Though I could be chasing a dream...
So many parents have had so many dreams of this kind dashed already. Sorrier than I can express.
Thank you for this great article! I came here from the PITT blog, which just published a very thoughtful article on the same topic:
https://pitt.substack.com/p/ive-got-the-blues-part-1
I will point PITT readers to your article. There's a lot of good observations to share.
Thank you!
Welcome back from the Black Hole of Dysphoria, i.e., the Woke Left! Just remember that neither Left nor Right has a monopoly on the Truth ... or on mendacity.
Thanks for saying this! Some of my values are left-aligned (I am not going to list them because I don't want to either argue or echo-chamber over them). I just don't think we have to bundle our political views like packaged services. We got to think of each issue separately and be honest (at least with ourselves)
It's always best I think, to try and live in the grey areas of life. I am liberal on some topics and very conservative on others. Life is never a black and white exercise, unless one is Borderline Personality Disordered. :~]
If I can use a marriage analogy then "leaving the left" is less like a divorce and more like trans-widowhood (if we consider that what used to be left/progressive is just bat-shit crazy and not what you signed up for) or real widowhood (if we are less generous and admit that they are brain-dead). But when you first "married" them it was different (even if you were a child bride, as most of us were). Or am I fooling myself and it always was shit?
I think maybe it was always shit. 🙊🙉🙈 Oopsie! 😂
LOL... oh, I firmly believe the Democratic party once had lofty ideals~ which is why so many hopped onboard with it. Then things took a radical, bizarre turn, and I doubt seriously, if they're ever gonna come back and be anything even close to 'center.'
You have just defined what the term “awakening” is all about. The immense propaganda that has flooded our culture through media, social media, academia, Hollywood, the medical establishment, etc has made it very difficult for the average person to see truth and reality. I applaud you for using true critical thinking skills to understand more deeply these issues and to then resist the pressure to conform. It is not easy to push back against authority and so-called experts, but that it what we must do. Even as a conservative, I had my own awakening within the party because as you have figured out, we are constantly being lied to. With the emergence of Substack and Rumble and other free speech platforms, the flood of independent information is pouring out for all to see (those that are willing I should say), and it’s invigorating and rejuvenating and empowering! What you will come to discover next in your evolution is that the lies (darkness) you are turning away from, and the truth (light) you are moving toward, is the real awakening. And I say this from experience. It by no means happens overnight, but you will find that you are drawn and motivated to be around people who have one thing in common - they all have deep faith in God.
Thank you for this. God has become unavoidable for me now that I've stepped on this path. It's fascinating and I'm here for it.
Me as well :)
I have no idea how the left can claim science when the gender science is all garbage.
Exactly 👍🏼