As a youth George Washington studied the ideal man, then spent his life conforming himself to that ideal. He deliberately cultivated virtue and repressed frivolous desires that would prevent him from attaining it. This is a truer vision of freedom than what is offered today.
~ Dorian Schuyler Abbot
A professor on Twitter is calling attention to the latest victim of the cancel culture. This time the victim is a distinguished geophysicist who was slated to speak to MIT.
The cancel culture is actually the mob of totalitarians ruling over social media and networking in colleges and businesses to eliminate all opinions they disagree with. If you want to know who they are, read on to the end.
THE STORY
“Dorian Abbot is a geophysicist at the University of Chicago,” Professor Robert P. George begins. “He was to give MIT’s prestigious Carlson Lecture on Oct. 21. The topic was to be climates of extrasolar planets. Shamefully, MIT canceled the lecture under pressure from activists who objected to his political views.”
“Those who pressured MIT to cancel Dr. Abbot’s lecture oppose his views on “diversity, equity, and inclusion”: https://t.co/WYHpV1bFu5. As you can see, these have nothing to do with the topic of his Carlson Lecture. The activists cancel anyone who dissents from their dogmas.”
This is one of the unacceptable statements Dr. Abbot made in an essay at Newsweek:
The words “diversity, equity, and inclusion” sound just, and are often supported by well-intentioned people, but their effects are the opposite of noble sentiments. Most importantly, “equity” does not mean fair and equal treatment. DEI seeks to increase the representation of some groups through discrimination against members of other groups. The underlying premise of DEI is that any statistical difference between group representation on campus and national averages reflects systemic injustice and discrimination by the university itself. The magnitude of the distortions is significant: for some job searches discrimination rises to the level of implicitly or explicitly excluding applicants from certain groups.
DEI violates the ethical and legal principle of equal treatment.
Professor George continued:
“It is impossible to exaggerate how disgraceful MIT’s capitulation to a mob’s demands to cancel Dr. Dorian Abbot’s lecture is. That he was qualified on the basis of his achievements as a geophysical scientist to give the Carlson Lecture was never questioned–nor could it be.”
This next statement is the most important statement he made. It’s not simply about the man. This is the politicization of science and science can’t survive politicization:
“MIT’s caving in to a cancel mob’s demand to disinvite a distinguished scientist who had been invited on the basis of his achievements to give an honorific lecture shows just how badly science today has been politicized. The integrity of science can’t survive politicization.
Professor George wants everyone to start speaking out against this.
“It’s time to stand up to these mobs and hold accountable institutions that capitulate to them. Let’s finally say enough is enough. “You yield to a mob; you’ll have to deal with us.”
If you go to Professor Dorian Abbot’s thread, you’ll find he forgives the cancel culture.
You would never know from the response how brutally he has been treated nor how long the siege has been.
Many of the demands these agitators make would result in the humiliation and social ostracization of Prof Abbot. They demand stripping him of titles, courses, and privileges. These people want the department to publicly denounce him and require DEI statements on all future department job applications.
1/ @UChicago Prof. Dorian Abbot is currently being targeted by student activists for questioning his department’s DEI policies. They claim his opinions “threaten the safety and belonging of all underrepresented groups” and are “an aggressive act.” They issued 11 absurd demands. pic.twitter.com/elGpQqNf0C
— Colin Wright (@SwipeWright) November 27, 2020
Look at who these people are. You won’t be surprised:
3/ This is an ideological witch hunt. I’ve censored student names on the document (to protect their individual rights to free expression), but look how nearly every student prominently displays their pronouns.
Not a lot of ideological diversity on display here. pic.twitter.com/bZZoH5x5YV
— Colin Wright (@SwipeWright) November 27, 2020
We need fighters in these colleges and universities.
The morality and thought processes of the totalitarians who cancel others are dangerous.
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