[FRIAM] academic freedom

[Marcus Daniels]

The declare-your-pronouns thing seems to me to be about narrativity and social perceptions.   I know two very intelligent people who transitioned in mid-life.  One completely makes sense to me and seems happy now.  The other is constantly bickering about the words people to use to address her, even though they genuinely try.   Some transphobic feminists like Greer are talking about the latter sort of person.   They went through the motions, but somehow it didn't take; didn't learn the nuances that women learn growing up; still a frustrated man in a modified frame.  The first person I'm thinking of just mastered it (in my opinion), which makes me think there was really something inherent in her development that made it natural.   This is not to say anyone has any obligation to master anything.

Anyway, I guess you were making some point about people getting riled up at a pub, and that it being informative somehow.   (Or at least entertaining?)

-----Original Message-----
From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of glen
Sent: Thursday, March 3, 2022 11:44 AM
To: friam at redfish.com
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] academic freedom

I doubt there are any hard and fast answers. But my predisposition is, as I've stated before in other contexts, some of us are more narrative-driven than others. I've known cis-resistant people who don't care, seemingly at all, about where they might land on a spectrum or not. Most of them don't seem to be hanging on to words like "queer" as an insult, either. But some of them emphatically *identify* as this or that. We have one gay attendee who absolutely rejects the term "queer" and the youngsters who "identify" that way are a bit stupid and confused. He's just as narrative driven as they are. It reminds me of the distinction between "atheist" and "apatheist", those who identify vs. those who just don't care.

If we were to look for answers to gender roles, my target would be the biological basis of narrativity. Sex would be largely orthogonal.

On 3/3/22 11:33, Marcus Daniels wrote:
> So, what's a hypothesis for a strong affinity toward a non-cis gender?     I can see that gender is arbitrary, but why non-arbitrary and the opposite?
> Sure, I'd be interested it taking other forms and experiencing life with different frames and sensors.  The imposition of one identity by birth and society is annoying.   But strong preference for one cis or not-cis?   Is gender a real thing, or is it just that people prefer certain kinds of interactions, and want to signal that through their physical manifestation?   What is different about the non-cis gendered people that is distinct from just wanting the freedom to be whatever, and not stuck with their assigned gender?   I guess there is some literature on this, but are there any answers yet?
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of glen
> Sent: Thursday, March 3, 2022 11:03 AM
> To: friam at redfish.com
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] academic freedom
> 
> Yes! We had a particularly explosive conversation at the pub salon a couple of weeks ago. The context is that everyone who attended was easily classified as "liberal", though some leaned pretty far right in some slices of their culture (guns, hunting, political correctness, etc.). Two of the attendees identify as non-cis, one "non-binary" and the other "queer". Because we had 2 actual biologists there (both aggressive arguers), the conflations between sex and gender were rampant. The most vociferously ("gametes are real!") sex-is-overwhelmingly-binary biologist is, ironically, very lefty, almost socialist.
> 
> Nobody was actively trying to shut anyone down. But the more 
> conservative biologist actively claims the non-binary and queer 
> participants *were* trying to shut down the biologists and had clearly 
> shut down their reasoning. I disagree completely. The non-binary and 
> queer participants are extremely robust people used to, comfortable 
> with, being confronted with all sorts of rhetoric and physical threats 
> for their entire lives. The *snowflakes* are the 2 white, well-off, 
> high cognitive power, cis *men* with full-time jobs who are so 
> invested in their Scientism that they cower like wilted flowers when 
> their perspective is challenged. (To be clear, their cowering consists 
> of ape-like chest pounding, posturing ... but it's still an affect of 
> fear.)
> 
> Everyone's so sensitive these days. >8^D
> 
> On 3/3/22 10:39, Prof David West wrote:
>> "Academic Freedom" is an issue that I would love to discuss in the tavern sometime. My side of the conversation would necessarily be personal—based on 25 years as a professor; ten years at a conservative Catholic University and fifteen years at public universities in New Mexico.
>>
>> Lot's of anecdotes about threats—including some that are not typically included in the discussion, like the Kinko's lawsuit that intimidated universities and prevented fair use of material that copyright owners did not want included in course discussions—"bullshit" defenders like the AFA, cases of cowardly self-censorship, and more.
>>
>> It was interesting, to me, how often it was the content of my software design courses that caused problems; e.g., the lecture on "cultural hard coding," with examples like two values for sex and five for 'race', and last names limited to seven characters excluding hyphens.
>>
>> davew
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 8:21 AM, glen wrote:
>>> Here's why I think the Academic Freedom Alliance (and similar things 
>>> like the Heterodox Academy) are bullshit [⛧]:
>>>
>>> In a defamation lawsuit, the hype around digital health clashes with 
>>> scientific criticism 
>>> https://www.statnews.com/2022/03/02/health-fertility-thermometer-val
>>> l
>>> ey-polis/
>>>
>>> There's a *legitimate* case of the expression and defense of 
>>> academic freedom. But what's occupying the attention of the 
>>> "Academic Freedom Alliance"? [sigh] The suspension of an "anti-Woke" 
>>> professor from a Christian propaganda outlet <https://www.cuw.edu>:
>>>
>>> https://academicfreedom.org/letter-to-concordia-wisconsin-on-gregory
>>> -
>>> schulz/
>>>
>>> along with professors facing blowback for "adult child sex" 
>>> comments, stances on abortion, "critical race theory", confederate statues, etc.
>>> They (the AFA) may have good intentions to some extent. But by 
>>> ignoring actual academics, cases of actual academic freedom, and 
>>> focusing on peripherally kinda-sorta academic divisive issues, they 
>>> effectively incite the divisions rather than treating them. They're 
>>> directly responsible for turning the "academy" into the equivalent 
>>> of a Rupert Murdoch gossip rag. Chelsea Polis deserves way more 
>>> defensive attention than anyone the AFA is claiming to defend.
>>>
>>> [⛧] And I mean bullshit in the technical sense, not false, not true, 
>>> but designed to target divisive "culture war" type stuff, designed 
>>> as a confidence trick.


--
glen
When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.


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