Another Demonstration Of The Harm Of Academic Philosophers

An enormous number of academic philosophers, some seven hundred, signed a hilarious "open letter" supposedly condemning "transphobia in philosophy", but in reality trying to slit the throat---metaphorically!---of a fellow academic who they falsely accused of a non-crime.

The prissy pack of professors went, torches in hand, after Kathleen Stock, a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sussex, accusing her of being "a prominent critic of trans-inclusive stances and policies" and being against the UK Gender Recognition Act.

Problem is, as Nathan Cofnas and many others pointed out, she isn't: "Stock supports the UK Gender Recognition Act."

When the mush-minded experts were informed of this, they decided their pride counted more than truth, and so let the false petition stand. They did not retract. They did not hide their blushing faces. Most importantly, they, academic philosophers all, did not rethink their position.

They instead, quietly, inserted a wee small footnote, buried in tiny print at the end of the false accusations:

Erratum: the original version of this letter incorrectly stated that Stock opposes the UK's Gender Recognition Act. This was an error; it should have said that Stock is well-known for opposing amendments to the Gender Recognition Act that would have made it easier for people to self-identify their gender. The bracketed amendment in the text above was added subsequent to some of the signatures. We apologize for the error.

Opposing additional bureaucracy is not equivalent to not supporting people claiming to be, and having the government using force of arms and other threats to insist everybody else also agree, whatever people feel like.

Feelings, these academics evidently say, cause Reality itself to shift, to change as if by miracle, and they're willing to use coercion, fines, and various forms of punishment, to make you say the same thing.

This is known as academic freedom.

Since Reality is indifferent to your feelings, and you can't turn from a man to woman, and back again, as many do, on whims, Stock is a nut, and the academic philosophers who signed the letter are nuttier.

Incidentally, if feelings turn a man into a woman, and vice versa, why is it feelings cannot turn a man into a frog or a dog---as the furries insist? Why can you not turn into a Buick, or a salad, or whatever your heart delights in? Why is it only sexual perversion that knows the secret location of the Reality switching knobs?

Never mind. That's just me blowing off steam. The questions are all rhetorical. Forget, too, that they're trying to stop (while saying they're not) people from discussing the philosophy while condemning "attacks on already marginalized people for courageous exercises of free speech." Hypocrisy is unknown to academic philosophers.

I do not argue the philosophy here, which is pointless when dealing with zealots. Instead, let's take a look at some of the institutions from those who signed the false accusations:

Cal State, University of Guelph, London School of Economics, University of Glasgow, Exeter University, University of Barcelona, MIT, University College London, Georgetown University, University of Vermont (and of many, many other states; any missing?), Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, Rutgers, Carnegie Mellon University, Villanova, Northeastern University, Vassar, Tufts, Boston, Princeton, York, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Osaka University (yes), National University of Singapore, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences.

On and on it goes. Near as I can figure (laziness stopped my looking), every university once considered "major" or "important" is on the list.

Which means this: the last place you want to go if you want to learn philosophy is a "major" or "important" university. Propaganda you will learn, not philosophy. They will instruct you in how to embrace your inner insanities. You will get to know all about fad and how it grips weak minds.

But about Truth you will not learn.

How many times have I insisted we need a new model of university if Truth and Reality are to survive? Who's got the money? Not I.

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