Jodi Shaw on ‘Woke’ Academia: ‘The Virus Has Escaped the Lab’
“This ideology has now gone on to infect every corner and every crack of our society.”
We have followed the story of Jodi Shaw extensively.
She now writes at Substack:
My Apologies to the Academics
Last month I traveled to New York City where I was honored to receive the “Heroes of Intellectual Freedom Award” from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA). This award recognizes my efforts to combat the harms of the destructive ideology that now runs rampant in the Smith College community. More importantly, it was the first time the award was given to a non-academic.
Although I was employed by an elite liberal arts institution, I was not (and am not) an academic. I was a staff member. My job was to ensure the physical well being of students, not their academic pursuits.
In recognizing a “regular” person like me, ACTA has formally recognized that the fight for intellectual freedom is not just for academics. And I personally believe what academics do at this point is of little consequence.
The reality is that this thing (some call it “social justice ideology,” some call it “critical theory,” and others call it “woke”) was created by academics. As such, there was a time, when it was still confined to the ivory tower, that academics could have pushed it back. And have been a brave few —like Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying, and many of my fellow award recipients— who stood up and objected.
But it was not enough. And now the virus has escaped the lab.
This ideology has now gone on to infect every corner and every crack of our society. It is now attacking, in vicious earnestness, the load bearing pillars of our culture: Art, religion, sports, comedy, the workplace, and K-12 education. We find it in the most banal and seemingly non-political of spaces: the boy scouts, the shrink’s couch, the local library. It has even found its way into the most intimate spheres of life: our marriages, our children and even our bedrooms.
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Comments
Agreed. I was in a state college near Smith, and the infiltration/iinfestation of “woke” faculty and admins is appalling.
These wokerati are treated as “experts,” by the media and town gov’t, and cannot be questioned, hence the expansion into K12 and every other walk of life.
The pendulum must swing.
The virus has escaped the lab, but wearing masks won’t protect you. For this you need ear plugs.
Ms.Shaw deserves much kudos for her stance which sets forth how and why the inmates are running the asylum known as higher education
The church is under attack.
The Bride and I recently made the painful decision to leave the historically conservative and Bible based denomination we were raised in and unite with another which shows, so far, little sign of going down that same dark path. We see evidence that the leadership in our former denomination is getting increasingly distracted by feelings of guilt, which we were told has been forgiven, and a leaning toward reparations, which are insidious and unnecessary, concentrating more on temporary secular issues.
The process has been more difficult for her than for me since I have had experience with a different denomination but she has never left the church of our youth until now. It is both concerning and exhilirating. Interestingly, a deacon in our new church told us that roughly 30% of the membership in our new church came from our former denomination, so we are not alone in our concerns.
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