Plamen’s review of Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody > Likes and Comments
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Excellent review, thank you for sharing. Your final paragraph summed it up perfectly. Even if we all agree that racism, sexism, etc is running rampant, Theory is a horrific way to solve it.
Men Read Too wrote: "Excellent review, thank you for sharing. Your final paragraph summed it up perfectly. Even if we all agree that racism, sexism, etc is running rampant, Theory is a horrific way to solve it."
Thanks for the compliment:)
This is actually their own argument, repeated throughout the book. I have a somewhat different opinion, but I have tried to be objective here.
I am happy that you liked the book too, it is turning into quite the rave, at least on Amazon:)
If you've read it, you should read Camile Paglia.
I was wondering where strong proponents of this ideology would fall on a two dimensional political map, like that seen on the political compass website. While I would consider myself very left leaning, most of the ideas presented by wokeness are an overreach for sure. On an Authoritarian/Libertarian, Economic Left/Economic Right map, does “wokeness” represent the authoritarian left?
As a libertarian leaning leftist, I would regretfully say so. There are laws, at least in CA, that IF a confused, immature, easily-swayed, troubled male high school student, wants to be perceived as a female, that school must comply on official records. Those laws were pushed by legislators like the alphabet activist Mark Leno. Thankfully those cases are rare.
Thanks for this review Plamen!
Damn... well said! Thanks for the awesome review.
It absolutely matters what your political persuasion is when you pick this up. Conservatives will eat this like coco puffs cereal. Yummy. They won't likely notice the lack of substance or straw man arguments.
Would you say this would be a good read for someone with limited knowledge of political philosophy/theory? Is it written for the general public or is more esoteric?
Ironically, I am French and I know the names of all those philosophers, but I haven't seen their impact on my country at ALL ;o) I don't know whether to laugh or cry!!
Lol. Richard, that comment aged well...
DJ wrote: "Would you say this would be a good read for someone with limited knowledge of political philosophy/theory? Is it written for the general public or is more esoteric?"
Sorry for the very, very late reply, which is probably no longer needed. I think I have screwed up the settings of my account, and I no longer receive reminders of comments.
But to the point - no, this book is not meant for the general public. It uses a lot of professional jargon and is extremely dense. Also, you really need to read the footnotes (about 1/3 of the book) as they contain most examples. I recommend either professional experience in the area or reading very, very slowly😁. The latter is what I did myself, as I have zero professional experience.
Katelyn wrote: "Very well written and well said!"
Thanks to you and to everyone else who has commented. It is first now that I notice the comments (but hey, this is very typical for me🙄)
It definitely matters your politics. Of course conservatives will like a book criticizing the left. You need to understand, we don't consider progressivism "madness" and are progressives ourselves so understand how it works. Only conservatives will benefit from this.
First off, excellent review Plamen!
☝️Akachi wrote: "Only conservatives will benefit from this."
I'm not remotely conservative, and I couldn't possibly disagree more. You're totally missing every single reason why the left has fallen prey to "cultural authoritarianism". And what point could better highlight that then totally dodging the premise of the book and Plamen's review? And your argument is essentially that progressives already know how all the Social Justice issues work!? That kind of dogmatic response actually enforces the importance of this book.
Akachi, you'd be well off to read The Bias That Divides Us: The Science and Politics of Myside Thinking by Keith Stanovich. It's a very well balanced book towards both the left and right. But I'm mainly recommending it because your response showed a strong Myside bias!
Superb review.... I listen to James Lindsay on various podcasts and he is a brilliant, courageous intellectual who has paid a high price for speaking out on this topic. look forward to reading this book.
Gender identity was where I got off the liberal bus. Great review.
Admittedly, Pluckrose stands within her personal point of view and fails to assume the full guilt tripping burden of cultural culpability that her race imputes... and why should she? Critical theory is not reality. Even progressives are entitled to think for themselves.
It seems to undermine your argument that you compare gay marriage to “public lynching for posting on Twitter”, given that one of these things exists and one does not. I mean, to the best of my knowledge no-one us actually been lynched for posting on Twitter, have they? Or if so, it must surely be a far more rare occurrence than gay marriage.
Ben Winch - see the case of Jordan Peterson, what was done to him is worse than lynching as he lost his job and licence - and yes, for a Twitter post.
B wrote: "Ben Winch - see the case of Jordan Peterson, what was done to him is worse than lynching as he lost his job and licence - and yes, for a Twitter post."
Do you know what a lynching is?
I did not have "blaming critical theory for the ills of wokeness" on my conservative excuses for bad behavior bingo card.
I say this as a person willing to blame Foucalt for just about anything.
B, my good sir. How is losing a job and a license worse than a vigilante execution? Because that’s what lynching is.
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Men Read Too
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Oct 17, 2020 12:11PM
Excellent review, thank you for sharing. Your final paragraph summed it up perfectly. Even if we all agree that racism, sexism, etc is running rampant, Theory is a horrific way to solve it.
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Men Read Too wrote: "Excellent review, thank you for sharing. Your final paragraph summed it up perfectly. Even if we all agree that racism, sexism, etc is running rampant, Theory is a horrific way to solve it."Thanks for the compliment:)
This is actually their own argument, repeated throughout the book. I have a somewhat different opinion, but I have tried to be objective here.
I am happy that you liked the book too, it is turning into quite the rave, at least on Amazon:)
If you've read it, you should read Camile Paglia.
I was wondering where strong proponents of this ideology would fall on a two dimensional political map, like that seen on the political compass website. While I would consider myself very left leaning, most of the ideas presented by wokeness are an overreach for sure. On an Authoritarian/Libertarian, Economic Left/Economic Right map, does “wokeness” represent the authoritarian left?
As a libertarian leaning leftist, I would regretfully say so. There are laws, at least in CA, that IF a confused, immature, easily-swayed, troubled male high school student, wants to be perceived as a female, that school must comply on official records. Those laws were pushed by legislators like the alphabet activist Mark Leno. Thankfully those cases are rare.
Thanks for this review Plamen!
Damn... well said! Thanks for the awesome review.
It absolutely matters what your political persuasion is when you pick this up. Conservatives will eat this like coco puffs cereal. Yummy. They won't likely notice the lack of substance or straw man arguments.
Would you say this would be a good read for someone with limited knowledge of political philosophy/theory? Is it written for the general public or is more esoteric?
Ironically, I am French and I know the names of all those philosophers, but I haven't seen their impact on my country at ALL ;o) I don't know whether to laugh or cry!!
Lol. Richard, that comment aged well...
DJ wrote: "Would you say this would be a good read for someone with limited knowledge of political philosophy/theory? Is it written for the general public or is more esoteric?"Sorry for the very, very late reply, which is probably no longer needed. I think I have screwed up the settings of my account, and I no longer receive reminders of comments.
But to the point - no, this book is not meant for the general public. It uses a lot of professional jargon and is extremely dense. Also, you really need to read the footnotes (about 1/3 of the book) as they contain most examples. I recommend either professional experience in the area or reading very, very slowly😁. The latter is what I did myself, as I have zero professional experience.
Katelyn wrote: "Very well written and well said!"Thanks to you and to everyone else who has commented. It is first now that I notice the comments (but hey, this is very typical for me🙄)
It definitely matters your politics. Of course conservatives will like a book criticizing the left. You need to understand, we don't consider progressivism "madness" and are progressives ourselves so understand how it works. Only conservatives will benefit from this.
First off, excellent review Plamen!☝️Akachi wrote: "Only conservatives will benefit from this."
I'm not remotely conservative, and I couldn't possibly disagree more. You're totally missing every single reason why the left has fallen prey to "cultural authoritarianism". And what point could better highlight that then totally dodging the premise of the book and Plamen's review? And your argument is essentially that progressives already know how all the Social Justice issues work!? That kind of dogmatic response actually enforces the importance of this book.
Akachi, you'd be well off to read The Bias That Divides Us: The Science and Politics of Myside Thinking by Keith Stanovich. It's a very well balanced book towards both the left and right. But I'm mainly recommending it because your response showed a strong Myside bias!
Superb review.... I listen to James Lindsay on various podcasts and he is a brilliant, courageous intellectual who has paid a high price for speaking out on this topic. look forward to reading this book.
his latest oxford debate was fun.
Gender identity was where I got off the liberal bus. Great review. Admittedly, Pluckrose stands within her personal point of view and fails to assume the full guilt tripping burden of cultural culpability that her race imputes... and why should she? Critical theory is not reality. Even progressives are entitled to think for themselves.
It seems to undermine your argument that you compare gay marriage to “public lynching for posting on Twitter”, given that one of these things exists and one does not. I mean, to the best of my knowledge no-one us actually been lynched for posting on Twitter, have they? Or if so, it must surely be a far more rare occurrence than gay marriage.
Ben Winch - see the case of Jordan Peterson, what was done to him is worse than lynching as he lost his job and licence - and yes, for a Twitter post.
B wrote: "Ben Winch - see the case of Jordan Peterson, what was done to him is worse than lynching as he lost his job and licence - and yes, for a Twitter post."Do you know what a lynching is?
I did not have "blaming critical theory for the ills of wokeness" on my conservative excuses for bad behavior bingo card.I say this as a person willing to blame Foucalt for just about anything.
B, my good sir. How is losing a job and a license worse than a vigilante execution? Because that’s what lynching is.
