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Today, Jesse Singal wrote an opinion for the New York Times where he argued that Trump defunding youth gender research was a bad thing, despite the terrible research coming out of that part of science. He thinks that reform is in order, not slash-and-burn practices. In my opinion, there is definitely enough research out there by now that you can confidently release something like a Cass Report without anything new. Certainly, funding bad actors makes no sense, but to me, reform is little gain, and even a good new study must follow around minors that have gone through the unethical transgender science grinder.
It reminds me of an (unpopular) opinion Trace shared the other day on Twitter regarding the axing of funds for museums and libraries. Even if anthropology is 99% leftist, well, the institutions belong to those who show up, so right wingers just need to get in there and fix it themselves. While I appreciated that stance as it related to conservative law organizations, and as it related to Twitter when left-wingers were leaving the site en masse, I find it pretty distasteful to give up anthropology to positive feedback loops, and let our history become a mockery when it is within one's power to just raze it.
Deus Ex took a look at this perspective. Spoilers for Deus Ex:General Carter, after the UNATCO plot is exposed, decides to stay within the organization, because institutions are only as good as the people that comprise them. Later in the game, you see him in the Vandenburg compound. He has given up on his idea of reform and joined the resistance.
I'm going to guess most of this forum disagrees with Trace and Jesse on this matter in pretty much the same way that I do. Can you name any areas in government or other organizations where you do agree with them?
Trace doesn't mean to, but I see an invitation for conservatives to organize their own Long March. If he means to it is because he has no fear that conservatives have a chance to do this. If conservatives do capture the institutions, produce equivalent cultural output, then I am confident Trace would partly ask for cooperation rather than bark for an imaginary assault. Just based on what I have read from the guy.
If more conservatives became sociologists they would, at worst, complain less about it. At best, they may help to right the ship. There is no cost or effort on behalf of these institutions-- which are responsible for their standing, public facing reputation, and credibility. That's what good stewards inside an institution are meant to facilitate. They are a curator who considers and advocates for the institution. They protect it and enrich it. The institution forever remains larger than themselves and lasts longer than their lives. The mission was changed, the principles were subverted, and our institutions sought different kinds of stewards.
We can bicker over who to blame and why conservatives fell out, were pushed out, or lost interest in the humanities over the past 50 years. We might also consider whether the same conservative professors in 1960 can even be created anymore. This doesn't move us any closer to fixing them. Neither does standing high up in the fort to yell down "bring more men and a longer ladder!" Not when an apparent cannon is nearby and a fuse lit.
I like museums. I like libraries, too. Free children's books are amazing. We're keeping those, though. Personally, I don't care about a hypothetical target of 20-80 or 40-60 ideological split among librarians, anthropologists, or in psychology departments. We are so far beyond parity and so far off the ground that destruction feels better to many. This includes educated people here. I'd like the institutions be slanted in direction that I can easily (dis)miss. My tolerance for the slant is higher than Jim from North Carolina who, while uninterested 30 years ago, now has learned a stronger distaste for concepts like higher education. The value of a university education in these fields is objectively lower than the past. Beyond that, it is going to require change and effort for his son to return to his father's previously uninterested position.
I'm not sure it matters if Trace means to tease conservatives to start their own Long March because he does not consider this possible, or if he really does want to egg more conservatives to bootstrap back into sociology departments. It is defensive rhetoric about preserving stuff he values, aimed at people who also value it, but not at people he believes should value them. If one were to genuinely try, then how does one convince someone who no longer is uninterested, but actively places negative value on your institution, that you are worth preserving?
To do so, we're looking at a project of a generation if we were to tear stuff down and start over. The destruction method, besides being an overstatement of what's occurring, would be quick and painful. Reform, on the other hand, might never happen. There needs to be outreach, invitations, scholarships, hard work, propaganda, genuine accounting, and a renewed interest in stewardship. Those could all be indicators of reform. It is a lot more than anyone offers. If people want change to occur as reform, then begin the reform! Start a new department. Aim it at undergrads from Missouri. Cut the Exceptional Black Lesbian Celebration exhibit from the Smithsonian. That one is easy.
A long view is good, but few are prepared to wait 40 years for enough conservatives to apply, enter, and manage to fix anthropology. Not when we can't be certain what higher education will look like in 20. Not when the cannon is right there, fuse lit.
The institutions should function in a way that they can manage their own reputation and credibility. If Trace wants anthropology saved rather than smashed, then anthropology's movers must move to facilitate this. If the nascent conservative friendly institutions mature and reproduce they may threaten the old regime and spur reform. Trump is doing some stuff, but Trump is gone in a few years. If he sticks to his guns, then 4 years is a good amount of time to change policy and stewardship. I doubt sociology will be saved in that time frame. I doubt it will even try to be saved ever. Museums might redirect. That's plenty of time to find better stewards, realign the mission, create some outreach, and start fixing the brand. 4 years isn't that long though. Easy to wait it out.
I wrote about the trans half, too. I have some questions about trans medicine and research. I'll save it for another time.
This is what Skibboleth rejects, "demanding liberals think conservative thoughts for them". It can't be conservatives doing this, after all, because the conservatives have been successfully removed from the positions where they could do so. OK, rejection noted. Bring on the cannon.
Couldn't Trump & al try forcing appointments, as the middle solution?
If the enemy is unwilling to cooperate why go for a middle solution that will let them try again when Conservatives fall out of power instead of a Final Solution?
As other people have said, I think appointing lots of qualified conservatives to tenured positions is more likely to help the conservative agenda weather another Democratic presidency than simply freezing everything. If you just fire people and lock down buildings, the Dems can just un-lock them and re-hire everyone. Harder to do that if the vacancies are filled.
but even if filled, the progs will do their march again, pushing conservatives out under false pretenses (be it #metoo2, racism accusations, or a new moral panic). And what I think the conversation is about razing the institution instead of freezzing it.
There's no such thing as "razing" an institution in a democracy that swings back and forth. Anything one party can slash by executive order, the other party can resurrect by executive order. It's either an actual bloody coup, or you accept that the best you're going to get is slowing down the other side's reconstruction when they're voted back in. Stopping it altogether is a fool's errand. With that in mind, I think appointments would be 'stickier', on top of being more pro-social.
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