My Conversation About Critical Social Justice 'Wokus-Pocus'
Insights from Helen Pluckrose, founder of Counterweight.
“Most social acts have to be understood in their setting, and lose meaning if isolated. No error in thinking about social facts is more serious than the failure to see their place and function."
— Solomon Ashe
With so much hyper and hypo-criticality these days it’s becoming increasingly rare to have civil discourse. Critic-me-this. Critic-me that. Tit-for-tat, spit-for-spat. There is a growing chasm between opposing sides, and if you dare express opinions that conflict with a given prevailing orthodoxy, you may be subject to contempt, ridicule or reputation savaging.
Waring factions arguing over the merits of critical race theory, inject invectives about Ivermectin - noble and ignoble men and women fighting for the screed-crest of their chosen clan doctrine with an evermore fervent rallying cry of “No retreat! No surrender! No mercy!!”
It’s no-ones fault. No one is to blame. We are all responsible.
Helen Pluckrose, a British author, cultural writer, and founder of Counterweight, a home of scholarship and advice on Critical Social Justice ideology, is one of the noble ones attempting to sense-make the insensible. Venerably and vulnerably challenging our current unruly discourse with poised reason and a common-and-garden down to earth manner, Helen has earned an ironclad reputation for the most civil of discourses. When so many others joust pithily into the inconsistent quicksand of woke linguistic manipulation (after all, you don't need to change the law if you can change the meaning of the words written in the law), Helen elevates a conversation like biscuits do tea. (That is, if you’re like me and enjoy a good soggy dunking in the freshly brewed.)
She’s known for her critiques of critical social justice and promotion of liberal ethics, most notably in the grievance studies affair. Along with James Lindsay, she co-authored the book Cynical Theories about how “Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity-and Why This Harms Everybody".”
She is one of the three masterminds behind the grievance studies affair series of academic hoaxes and the founder of Counterweight, the home of scholarship and advice on Critical Social Justice ideology. And cor-blimey is she on a mission! And not with just words - actions to boot - to connect people with the resources, advice and guidance they need to address CSJ beliefs as they encounter them in their day-to-day lives.
This Sunday Helen Pluckrose is The Respondent.