Arab woman and professor in Canada cancelled by woke white mob

[bugsymalona]

Dr Rima Azar a professor of psychology at Mount Allison University in Canada has been suspended without pay for writing on a personal blog that she believes Canada isn't systematically racist. Students have since come forward to complain that Azar also refused to use They/Them pronouns.

Dr Rima Azar, a survivor of civil war, wrote on her gofundme for legal fees that she moved to Canada for democracy/freedom of expression and that she is the target of cancel culture.

Link:
nationalpost.com/opinion/jonathan-kay-a-white-mob-comes-after-an-arab-canadian-professor-in-the-name-of-anti-racism

No my point was they try to do everything rather than sticking with what works for us. Trying to apply either model on our system is unworkable without serious money.

But yes, yields poor results for creating critical thinkers.

If you talk to Chinese people, they're critical of their school system. With students just learning information and not being allowed to discuss things and think for themselves. They have very large classes, too.

You can encourage critical thinking from an early age, just by questioning little things, eg in a story.

This doesn’t surprise me in the least. The diversity push isn’t about diversity at all, it’s about constructing boxes for people who aren’t white and then attacking everyone for saying the box is ridiculous. I’m currently a diversity hire in a place where guess what? I’m paraded around as a diversity hire, the brown monkey for pennies. And guess what happens whenever I step out of my diversity hire box and talk about anything that isn’t to do with being brown?
Back in the box brown girl!

Meanwhile everyone I work with has diversity meetings where they sit around self flagellating and congratulating themselves on “growing” and “learning”

Yes, I'm very aware of the problems with the Chinese system as I used to work in an international school and we regularly got transfers from the local Chinese school where they hit children with books and rulers.

Like I said, the British system was working until the government started messing with it without consulting educators.

Wanda that reminds me of a school I know who are super smug about their black history month but failed to stop pupils being appallingly racist to a member of staff who then left.
People are such wankers at times...

I am sure the same people cancelling Dr Azar kept schtum about their serial black facer PM Trudeau.

The Canadian Tourist Board must be delighted that the official position of the white majority is that Canada is a hostile and racist country

@Wandawomble

This doesn’t surprise me in the least. The diversity push isn’t about diversity at all, it’s about constructing boxes for people who aren’t white and then attacking everyone for saying the box is ridiculous. I’m currently a diversity hire in a place where guess what? I’m paraded around as a diversity hire, the brown monkey for pennies. And guess what happens whenever I step out of my diversity hire box and talk about anything that isn’t to do with being brown? Back in the box brown girl!

Meanwhile everyone I work with has diversity meetings where they sit around self flagellating and congratulating themselves on “growing” and “learning”

This is the logical outcome of Critical Race Theory and identity politics. Unfortunately many people have been led to believe that is the right way, the only way, to be against racism.

Had a squiz through the article.

I'm more wondering if these reactions are part of a wider behaviour pattern.

In general views seem to be becoming more polarised. Across the board. EG trump supporters not believing trump had lied, even in the face of irrefutable evidence that trump had lied.

The internet allows for echo chambers and exposure to really off the wall ideas which go unchanged. And a tribal approach- with us or against us.

I think in general that the 24 hour media, being exposed to all the horror that is going on all around the world. The risks. Things people can't do anything about.

Wars overseas pics of children dying. Environmental risk. North Korea Russia etc. Economic threats. More exposure to lots of parts of the world where the whole society feels alien.

I think it's freaked a lot of people out and in response they are taking comfort in becoming more closed off. It's easier to say I'm in this group and I'm one of them. These are the people we don't like. And sort of put all these fears and lack of control into tribalism.

And so you don't want to hear. You don't want to discuss. Hearing all this stuff and thinking about it is, in the current global context, overwhelming.

If it's sort of their fault but they have good reasons and sort of your tribes fault and they have their reasons then the anxiety is back. There is no certainty. Awful things happen and you can't do anything.

So I think this knee jerk thing is not just the 'woke'. It's the right it's the left, it's the extremists it's the men who can't get a girlfriend. It's the people who worry about job security and climate change and their children's future and everything and everyone. Well not everyone. But lots.

I think intolerance in general is rising and that feeds into this approach, and so it spirals.

Anyone challenging your 'safe space' ( I hate that term) is challenging the thing that gives you comfort in a world that is scary and now beamed at us 24/7 with no downtime and no limit on where things are happening or a limit on showing the full horror.

@darkpink

You can encourage critical thinking from an early age, just by questioning little things, eg in a story.

There a couple of funny books that do this by an author called Yvonne Morrison, Little Red Riding Hood ( Not Quite) and The Three Bears ( Sort Of) where a kid asks questions about everything, particularly point out the illogicality of these fairy tales.

storytime.rnz.co.nz/book/little-red-riding-hood-not-quite/

“So her parents named her after her clothes?!”

storytime.rnz.co.nz/book/the-three-bears-sort-of

“Are you saying this chair could support the weight of a baby bear but not a 30kg girl? Come on!”

And when the attempts to put another side etc come from groups who are supposed to be on your side, on message. Then it's really disturbing. And needs to stop.

There a couple of funny books that do this by an author called Yvonne Morrison, Little Red Riding Hood ( Not Quite) and The Three Bears ( Sort Of) where a kid asks questions about everything, particularly point out the illogicality of these fairy tales.

I don't think it even has to b anything so deliberate. But the stories have to be good, and substantial.

I remember reading a story book as a little girl, The Story About Ping. It was about a duck who doesn't want to be spanked by the duck-keeper, so he runs off from the boat where he lives with his family. He goes out on the river and sees a few disturbing things and finally is almost eaten. He finds the boat at the end and goes back, puts up with being spanked for being late, and stays safe and warm with his family.

It was a compelling story, well written, and it raised so many questions. Was it unjust to spank the ducks or did it keep them safe? Was Ping better off taking his chances free on the river, or safe with his family in captivity?

The story gave no real direction about these kinds of questions, I had to think about them and come to my own conclusions. I don't think it would be read to school children today, or given to them by most parents, because the messaging would be seen as wrong or unclear. And too serious and scary. Books without clear answers upset the parents.

I feel like one of the problems is you're expected to have an opinion on everything, even if you're not well informed about a particular subject. So people take shortcuts of looking at what others who they agree with on X think about Y and then become intransigent.

I've had people get really irate because my answer to "what do you think about x?" was to admit I hadn't got a good enough understanding of the situation to make a judgement. Equally when I do understand a situation, I get really frustrated by someone on "my side" intentionally misrepresenting the opposing argument and will correct them which then leads to accusations of disloyalty as though its like supporting a football team.

This story is insane and I really really feel for the poor woman. It's just so ridiculous, don't they see the irony?

It reminds me of the reaction to the report in the UK that said that systemic racism isn't the cause of inequalities as people thought. Same response.