Evergreen State College, Bret Weinstein & Heather Heying 3 part documentary

[PencilsInSpace]

This has been touched on in other threads but I thought it deserved its own now part 3 of Mike Nayna's documentary is up.

It's only tangentially related to feminism but postmodernist cultural theory and queer theory are the background to the transagenda (see for example No Outsiders) as well as the 'sex work' movement, 'sex positive' movement, surrogacy, transhumanism etc.

These videos show what happens when a group of students steeped in those theories decide to put them into practice. It's ugly as fuck. It looks like the start of the Chinese cultural revolution.

In a few years these dreadful spoilt children will have gained influential roles in campaigning non-profit organisations and will be advising various levels of government (cf. Jess Bradley).

Bret Weinstein's final words in part 3 are chilling.

3 x half hour episodes -

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Ooh. Thanks! I’ve watched a few of Benjamin Boyce’s Evergreen videos, but haven’t really joined up the whole narrative - this is exactly what I needed!

I watched a lot of Benjamin Boyce's videos over christmas. He was posting stuff in the order it came to light though, so it was difficult to work out the timeline.

These are really well put together and join up the narrative, as you say. There's also a lot of footage I hadn't seen before. They only go up to when Bret and Heather were got rid of. A lot has happened since then.

The Equity Canoe!

Holy fuck! It’s like something off of Brass Eye.

Ooh thanks Pencils, will watch these

I found Benjamin Boyce's videos on Evergreen via watching his excellent ones with young female detransitoners.
The more I learn about identity politics and grievence studies etc, the more I understand how the trans stuff snuck up on us.
I have since moved on to people like Dave Ruben of The Ruben Report and his in depth interviews, often with people I would have dismissed or derided only months ago. Don't always agree, but they don't shut down discussion.
My political views have changed so much. #walkaway, pretty much.
I'm learning so much.
The left is indeed eating itself.

I recall seeing the Dean grovelling to the students, trying to appease them only for them to scream "Fuck you George" at him.
Most telling was in the middle of the mass meeting in the cafeteria, when he was using his hands as people do when talking, he was screamed at for it, because apparently gesticulating with your hands as you talk is violence, ( who knew) and a student approached and shouted at him to put his hands by the side of his body which he did instantly like a little boy being shouted at by a parent,
Cue open laughter from students, mocking his reaction.
It truely was a perfect example of lunatics taking care very the asylum.
I read they are in deep shit now, apparently enrollment is down by 1/4
leading to staff layoffs.

I have never watched these before. Oh my actual fucking god.

Childrenofthestones, I remember that part and thinking what happenedin Evergreen was like something from Lord of the Flies.
The students (and some of the faculty) in so many of the Evergreen videos literally behave like toddlers, veering from upsetting themselves to crying point and then lashing out in temper. It is so pathetic. I could never figure out what their issue was - it seemed like a left leaning liberal arts college already?

What is so depressing about what is happening in the US academia (I'm thinking of the Boghossian et al hoax papers as well) is that real feminist and minority academic scholarship will get thrown out when this all comes to a head.

I have also dipped into the Rubn Report and Sam Harris. Are there any women IDW writers / podcasters?

The Equity Canoe!

Holy fuck! It’s like something off of Brass Eye.

at least some had the awareness to look embarrassed as they were taking part.

I find the videos really uncomfortable to watch.

The protesters didn't seem to have any achievable demands. It's as if they were angry and wanted to stay that way.

I don't know if it was a response to the growing right wing presence in the US, but they were protesting against the wrong people.

It was very uncomfortable to see lots just going along with it for an easy life, and some throwing others under the bus to protect themselves from attack.

If free speech and critical thinking is lost from universities, it's only a matter of time before it spreads across all aspects of life. These are the people who are our future politicians and policy makers.

Although judging by current policies, I think it's been happening for some time already.

NorasBarnacle

Apart from Heather Heying there's Ayaan Hersi Ali and, I think, Claire Lehmann (of Quillette fame).

Not sure if you would consider herself part of the IDW. But Helen Pluckrose is really interesting.

I follow her on twitter. She also edits the online magazine Aero.

Thank you for this thread - I had not heard of this before. NorasBarnacle I knew about the Sokal hoax but had never heard of the more recent Boghossian et al papers. I found this short clip about it -

The whole thing is so close to parody it's virtually indistinguishable. The 'professor of whiteness studies' made me ROFL.

This is what happens when academia gives in to students, when "woke" educators/agitators such as Naima Lowe go over to the other side and encourage anarchy amongst the people they should be teaching.
Evergreen State seemed to be a messed up place anyway, long before this happened.

www.realwomenofcanada.ca/transgender-man-may-continue-using-girls-locker-room/

www.kiro7.com/news/transgender-woman-told-leave-womens-locker-room/246633184

Apparently, Naomi Lowe now has PTSD after her bout of rabble rousing - yes, of course she does?

skepticreview.com/2018/10/21/naima-lowe-made-famous-by-viral-video-from-evergreen-college-breaks-silence/

I have delved a bit more into this, and it appears that Brett Weinstein was targeted because in March 2017, he refused to stay away for a "Day of absence" on campus, an event which excludes all white people from campus.
Weinstein was simply pointing out, correctly IMHO that an action like that would be "Racial segregation".

www.thecollegefix.com/students-harass-white-professor-refusing-leave-campus-anti-white-day-absence/

twitter.com/williamtreseder/status/867442967664934912/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E867442967664934912&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thecollegefix.com%2Fstudents-harass-white-professor-refusing-leave-campus-anti-white-day-absence%2F

Apparently a lot of the problems caused at Evergreen State, were down to a large group of Gender Studies students (One of them was the person with the three pink roses (?) in their hair.

www.thecollegefix.com/evergreen-state-thugs-attack-student-chalks-apolitical-messages-campus-video/

I've been watching Benjamin Boyce's videos for a few months; the Evergreen ones are worrying because it is behaviour we are seeing elsewhere though not to the same extent (yet).

Rewarding the perpetrators of violence at Evergreen

Wasabiaddiction yes I've recently found areo and I really like it. I've just started listening to their podcast tea for two. Hosted by iona Italia and pluckrose. They interviewed 2 sociologists on victimhood culture, and Jonathan haidt of 'coddling of the American mind' about the exact type of thing which has led to the things seen at evergreen. It's v interesting and v serious.

I havent watched the vids yet but I share concerns raised above that all this might end up with swathes of good scholarship including feminist approaches being discredited as grievence studies.

Naima lowes own essay on medium is worth a read if you can stomach it (and the ephusively supportive comments). Though to be fair to her it sounds like she received some v nasty online abuse and phone calls after the events.

I have delved a bit more into this, and it appears that Brett Weinstein was targeted because in March 2017, he refused to stay away for a "Day of absence" on campus, an event which excludes all white people from campus.

The original Day of Absence’ involved black students voluntarily missing college. Weinstein supported black students protesting; he drew the line when they made it impossible for him to teach those who chose not to take part.

Weinstein was simply pointing out, correctly IMHO that an action like that would be "Racial segregation".

We are seeing the rise of ‘affinity’ housing for students too; halls segregated by race.

It will be separate drinking fountains next.

I think good quality feminist scholarship has mostly already been kicked out of the academy. I can't imagine there are many 2nd wavers on the reading lists of all these queer gender studies departments. Otherwise we wouldn't be in this mess.

The same probably goes for good quality black scholarship. Towards the end of part 3 Heather Heying describes a meeting she and Bret had with the college just before they left -

We said, we love this college and we are interested in having it turn around. Because it is now a laughing stock. It's now a complete laughing stock and the opposite of what a liberal arts college should look like. But one of the things that's happened as a result of all of this is that we now know lots of good people in the civil rights movement and in the free speech movement. Both. You know, people who were in the original civil rights movement, who actually marched with Martin Luther King. And people who are contemporary now, in the free speech movement. And we could bring these people to campus and have a conference on what campus life should look like.

And they said, no thanks, we're actually really pleased with how things are going.

It reminds me a bit of the ill fated NUS trans conference last year.

In both cases, the students' main aim seemed to be to exact 'reparations'. The Evergreen lot wanted college credits without doing the work, tuition fee remissions and they helped themselves to other people's food. NUS trans wanted pizza, cigarettes and other people's antidepressants. And those with privilege should feel grateful to pay these reparations and have the chance to atone for their original sin privilege.

And of course all this BS leaks out of the academy and affects the lives of people who are actually underprivileged. This is from a (sadly now deleted) Twitter thread from March 2018:

Statement from Working class community workers from Deptford. We are attending the women’s meeting at the House of Commons today. We would like to offer an explanation as to why this is necessary. See below

After many years of working at grass roots within our community we have recently been made aware of an issue that directly effects the working class and women in our area.

You must understand we are not graduate activists or or women’s rights campaigners. We are community workers and our concerns regarding changes to the GRA come from a lifetime of personal experience and having worked with some of the most marginalise people in our area.

The majority of our recent projects have been working with rough sleepers, the homeless and those that have been excluded from society. The issues they face include: unsupported/ mental health illness, sexual violence and prostitution, childhood trauma and abuse...

domestic violence, poverty, ex care system issues, addiction, prison,rehab,homelessness and austerity.

The people in our community that we represent are the most likely to access/ be placed in sex segregated services.Some have and will access all of these services.

Our local political and community organisations have been infiltrated by a group of well meaning white middle class goldsmith (uni) students. These people although well intentioned have rail roaded many vital projects by introducing identity policies and intersectional thinking. They do this without truly understanding or experiencing working class issues.

Meetings we have attended for the purpose of discussing community housing projects and women’s wellness etc have been used as a platform to re educate working class people on the new academic language expected within our organisations.

As anyone from a working class back ground will tell you, these theories and ideologies rarely translate into working class communities.

The extremely small number of transsexual (I use the old term as this has a very different meaning to the university umbrella term currently thrown about) members of the community are and have always been excepted and protected by community organisations.

We are now informed that transgender people are being routinely abused (mis gendered) and should be protected above all other marginalised groups. All that has changed is privileged students have adopted a set of gender identities that allow them to be considered marginalised.

The people we encountered were far from marginalised. In fact they were highly educated, openly classist and aggressive.

This new politics doesn’t equate in our community or for the people we support. We are dealing with working class issues with severely marginalised people and the trans lobby is a gentrification of working class social and political movements. Note the difference between trans lobby and trans people who we support.

No one will discuss our concerns regarding self id. Our local Labour Party has refused to comment or debate with the working class people.

We are attending the meeting this evening as this is only place that is willing to discuss theses issues.

When we are being verbally abused and called fascists because we are concerned about the effects of policy change on marginalised people it is a direct attack on working class women and grass roots organisations.

when sharing information about this event and attempt to shut it down be aware that you are complicit in the silencing of not only women but working class people who have not afforded the privileged of a safe space or university education. Thank you x

NUS Trans conference 01/05/18

'Between a trans rep making a joke on stage about colonialism, Border Force staying at the hotel too & calling someone a 'tranny' (allegedly), absolute meltdowns over the food & gender neutral toilet signgate there's quite the drama at the NUS trans conference this year.'

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3237230-NUS-Conference-breaks-down-after-the-UK-Border-Force-Arrive

All that has changed is privileged students have adopted a set of gender identities that allow them to be considered marginalised.

The people we encountered were far from marginalised. In fact they were highly educated, openly classist and aggressive.

I couldn't agree with this more.

For those asking about female members of the IDW, I've just managed to dig out an interview a few years back with Ayaan Hirsi Alli. She is formidably, formidably bright.