21AR26-12

( - previous issue - / - next issue - )

AR 26:12 - Exploring the 'dark side' of mindfulness

pdf = www.bit.ly/3tUsg9s

In this issue:

CRITICAL RACE THEORY - "Are diversity initiatives just theatre?"

IDENTITY POLITICS - "Turning politics into a religious venue of sacrificial offering"

MINDFULNESS - its "less-researched negative outcomes"

Apologia Report 26:12 (1,517)
March 24, 2021

CRITICAL RACE THEORY

The World Economic Forum is a popular platform for the Left. While exploring their digital territory recently, we found "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Have Failed." So begins the title. It goes on to suggest a new vocabulary for addressing this modern theory.

Under the heading "Systemic Racism," Aida Mariam Davis (Founder, CEO, Decolonize Design <decolonizedesign.com>) begins: "Over the past three decades, corporations, non-profits, foundations and universities have relied on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) industrial complex to create a workplace that is diverse in terms of race, ethnicity and gender. ...

"Though well-intentioned, DEI has not delivered. This is not by happenstance, but rather by design. The DEI industrial complex came into existence as a preemptive defense to avoid litigation by members of protected classes.... The fact remains that these efforts have had minimal impact...."

Two of the concerns enumerated by Davis are:

* - "Existing DEI initiatives only expose discriminatory attitudes, but do nothing to mitigate their effects on those who suffer from them."

* - "Such programmes are still rooted in white dominant culture."

Under the subhead, "Are diversity initiatives just theatre?" Davis explains that "a very popular DEI approach focuses on 'implicit bias trainings' that aim to expose the subconsciously held attitudes of anti-Blackness and racism in a workplace, but offers little to overcome or mitigate the practical effects of these attitudes....

"[T]o seek inclusion is to desire entrance to a workplace that uses white heteronormative values as the standard. This focus on the status quo, while purporting inclusion, is not only an illusion but an insidious tool for assimilation. ...

"To structurally address racism, ableism, sexism, dehumanization and anti-Blackness, we must equip people with the proper tools to dismantle, disrupt and demand more within organizations."

This approach can be monetized as well: "Decolonize Design offers organizations exactly this, one inspired by humanity’s most precious and universal values: Belonging, Dignity and Justice (BDJ)."

Davis recommends: "The key to BDJ is centering those people who are most on the margins, shifting the way we understand expertise. We must embrace the paradigm shift that occurs during the unlearning of dominant normative values." <www.bit.ly/3caG9JH>

How out of control are things getting? Well, try this on for size: "Social media erupts after cancel culture claims career of 47-year NY Times journalist" by Carlos Garcia (The Blaze, Feb 5 '21) -- Donald McNeil Jr. admitted to inadvertently uttering a controversial word. "Many on social media were outraged that a journalist with a celebrated 47-year career was undone by using a racial slur in an unintentionally offensive manner.

* - "This reads like a confession procured by the Khmer Rouge. It's both ridiculous and terrifying," replied Andrew Sullivan.

* - "A culture that lacks grace is both punitive and miserable. Does intent matter? Does forgiveness exist?" asked David French.

* - "It is now official NYT policy that for some words, intent does not matter, and it only takes one strike to sink a 47-year career," said Reason editor-at-large Matt Welch.

* - "This reads like a Bolshevik at his own show trial admitting he'd betrayed the revolution even though he never meant to betray the revolution because he loves the revolution," said Peter Savodnik of Vanity Fair." <www.bit.ly/2Oup8BX>

---

IDENTITY POLITICS

"The Federalist's Notable Books for 2020" -- Federalist contributor Rebeccah Heinrichs reviews (Dec 22 '20) American Awakening: Identity Politics and Other Afflictions of Our Time, by Joshua Mitchell [1], who describes "three main drivers [behind why] America feels like it is coming apart." The first and most severe is "identity politics, the anti-egalitarianism, illiberal toxin."

"The academic, political, and cultural elites who peddle the toxin bestow entire groups of people a platform for power and influence, while censoring other groups ... denouncing all they have touched. According to Mitchell, those who peddle identity politics proclaim who in society are the 'stained' and who are the 'innocent,' according to race and sex and any other descriptions outside of their control; and it leaves no possibility for reconciliation.

"It is a hideous distortion of Christian ideas, without God and without forgiveness."

The book's publisher elaborates: "America has always been committed to the idea that citizens can work together to build a common world. Today, three afflictions keep us from pursuing that noble ideal. The first ... is identity politics, which seeks to transform America by turning politics into a religious venue of sacrificial offering. For now, the sacrificial scapegoat is the white, heterosexual man. After he is humiliated and purged, who will be the object of cathartic rage? White women? Black men? Identity politics is the anti-egalitarian spiritual eugenics of our age. It demands that pure and innocent groups ascend, and the stained transgressor groups be purged.

"The second affliction is that citizens oscillate back and forth, in bipolar fashion, at one moment feeling invincible on their social media platforms and, the next, feeling impotent to face the everyday problems of life without the guidance of experts and global managers. Third, Americans are afflicted by a disease that cannot quite be named, characterized by an addictive hope that they can find cheap shortcuts that bypass the difficult labors of everyday life. Instead of real friendship, we seek social media 'friends.'

"Instead of meals at home, we order 'fast food.' Instead of real shopping, we 'shop' online. Instead of counting on our families and neighbors to address our problems, we look to the state to take care of us. In its many forms, this disease promises release from our labors, yet impoverishes us all. American Awakening chronicles all of these problems, yet gives us hope for the future."

Reviewer Sumantra Maitra, notes a related volume, You Say You Want a Revolution? Radical Idealism and Its Tragic Consequences, by Daniel Chirot [2] - "is anyone cognizant of the threat we face from left-wing radicalism? Daniel Chirot's new book argues in the negative. Studying revolutions and providing empirical evidence, this book argues that history usually repeats simply because we forget lessons of history, that idealism is the ultimate destructive force in the history of humanity. Liberals opposed to tradition and culture, and in thrall of an idealistic worldview, result in radicals taking power. Violence ensues. Moderates always instinctively and naively oppose conservatives and support radicals, only to lose power to radicals, who then cull the moderates.

"This book is a neo-Burkean warning against attempted revolutions and revolutionaries of both left and right, with all the modern research methodology and empirical evidence one requires. Perhaps this book should help change the mind of the FBI directors that ideas are not always inherently neutral." <www.bit.ly/3t1As7G>

Princeton University Press adds that according to Chirot, throughout history "moderate solutions to serious social, economic, and political problems were overwhelmed by radical ideologies that promised simpler, drastic remedies. But not all revolutions had this outcome. The American Revolution didn't, although its failure to resolve the problem of slavery eventually led to the Civil War, and the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe was relatively peaceful, except in Yugoslavia. From Japan, North Korea, Vietnam, and Cambodia to Algeria, Angola, Haiti, and Romania, You Say You Want a Revolution? explains why violent radicalism, corruption, and the betrayal of ideals won in so many crucial cases, why it didn't in some others - and what the long-term prospects for major social change are if liberals can't deliver needed reforms."

---

MINDFULNESS

"Being Mindful About Mindfulness: Exploring the Dark Side" by Sue Parker Hall -- included in the inaugural issue of International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation (1:1 - 2020, pp17-28) published by the International Cultic Studies Association. "IJCAM encourages, supports, and reports on the work of researchers, mental health professionals, and social scientists who have studied the common psychological dynamics underlying different forms of coercion, abuse, and manipulation across diverse contexts."

From the abstract: "In this paper, I acknowledge the rising popularity of mindfulness and analyze research into its positive, and less-researched negative, outcomes. ... [Mindfulness] is contraindicated with those who have experienced significant life or developmental trauma. I discuss the potential for the abuse of mindfulness in terms of its use in military conflict, recruitment of people into cults, and the purpose of influencing people to accept and tolerate oppressive environments." <www.ijcam.org/issues>

See also "Where Mindfulness Falls Short" by Christopher Lyddy, Darren J. Good, Mark C. Bolino, Phillip S. Thompson, and John Paul Stephens, who surveyed "almost 1,700 employees in a variety of roles and industries, including banking, health care, finance, sales, and consulting." They caution that "some level of awareness is essential to ensure you’re making good decisions - and if you’re constantly unhappy and stressed at work, it may be time to start considering an alternative career path. But at the same time, excessive awareness of your strongest negative emotions can be crippling. There are no easy answers, but one thing is clear: Organizations cannot afford to be mindless about their approach to integrating mindfulness." Harvard Business Review, Mar 18 '21 <www.bit.ly/3tRXbmO>

-------

SOURCES: Monographs

1 - American Awakening: Identity Politics and Other Afflictions of Our Time, by Joshua Mitchell (Encounter, 2020, hardcover, 296 pages), <www.bit.ly/3quKFrv>

2 - You Say You Want a Revolution? Radical Idealism and Its Tragic Consequences, by Daniel Chirot (Princeton Univ Prs, 2020, hardcover, 192 pages), <www.bit.ly/3v5LSZT>

------

( - previous issue - / - next issue - )