Tag: SJW

Kirkus, converged

Kirkus is supposed to be a serious professional book review site. But, as has been written, SJW convergence always prevents an organization from being able to fulfill its primary purpose:

Around the time when diversity became the cause célèbre for young adult fiction’s most passionate activists, trade reviewer Kirkus implemented some unique rules to establish its bona fides at the forefront of the movement: characters were to be explicitly identified by race, religion, and sexual orientation in every YA book review moving forward; furthermore, the writers of those reviews would be selected according to their race, religion, and sexual orientation as well, critiquing texts for sensitivity in addition to entertainment value. A statement on the Kirkus website reads:

“[Because] there is no substitute for lived experience, as much as possible books with diverse subject matter and protagonists are assigned to ‘own voices’ reviewers, to identify both those books that resonate most with cultural insiders and those books that fall short.”

The implementation of these policies hasn’t been without hiccups, but overall, Kirkus had more or less successfully positioned itself as a reviewer striving to be sensitive to pressing contemporary concerns about diversity and representation in YA — right down to the use of the word problematic to describe books that aren’t adequately woke.

It was with these policies in place that Kirkus published its review last week for American Heart, a YA novel by author Laura Moriarty. American Heart takes place in a dystopian future where the U.S. has rounded up and relocated its Muslim population to internment camps in Nevada. Its protagonist, Sarah Mary, is a 15-year-old from Missouri who doesn’t question the validity of the ban until she meets a Muslim woman on the run, an Iranian immigrant and professor named Sadaf. In a story loosely modeled on Huckleberry Finn, Sarah Mary ends up traveling north with Sadaf in the hopes of helping her escape to Canada.

For some members of the YA community, the premise was objectionable from the get-go (the first Goodreads review, left on September 7, begins with “fuck your white savior narratives”). But after a research and review process including multiple sensitivity reads, Moriarty was prepared to stand by her work, and the notoriously prickly Kirkus gave the book a starred review. Published on October 10, it described American Heart as “terrifying, suspenseful, thought-provoking, and touching” and “a moving portrait of an American girl discovering her society in crisis.”

Only a few days later, the review was pulled amid continued criticism of the book from community members. The review was replaced by a statement from Kirkus’s editor-in-chief Claiborne Smith explaining that the editorial board and the reviewer — described as “an observant Muslim [woman] of color” and “expert in children’s & YA literature [who is] well-versed in the dangers of white savior narratives” — were “evaluating” the review. Shortly thereafter, Kirkus published an amended review that retracted the book’s star and condemned Moriarty’s choice to write the story from the first-person perspective of a white teenage girl.

“Sarah Mary’s ignorance is an effective worldbuilding device,” read the new review, “but it is problematic that Sadaf is seen only through the white protagonist’s filter.”

Add “book review sites that don’t review books” to the long list of SJW-converged organizations unable to perform their primary function. And speaking of SJW convergence and YA novels, look at what sort of creature Patrick Nielsen Hayden and Tor Books is now attempting to push on young readers.

Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author and io9 co-founder Charlie Jane Anders mashed up technology and witchcraft in her debut novel All the Birds in the Sky. Now, in her latest project, she’ll be journeying into space and delving into the teenage psyche, in a new young adult science fiction trilogy recently acquired by Tor Teen.

“Now it can be told: I’m a YA author at last!” Anders tweeted. “I’ve always loved YA and I have been toiling in secret on this for ages.”

I expect everyone in science fiction will be tremendously surprised when it gets arrested for something to do with YA readers within 18 months of publication. We may need to lower the time estimated for when Castalia’s sales pass Tor’s.

It’s NOT the protests!

Protests the NFL, unconvincingly:

Several NFL stadiums are nearly empty post kick-off as the National Anthem controversy rolls into week 7.

  • Plenty of empty seats visible at the Hard Rock Stadium in Florida as the New York Jets play the Miami Dolphins.
  • The Cleveland Browns are playing at home against the Tennessee Titans. Plenty of empty seats to go around.
  • More empty seats in Chicago as the Bears play the Carolina Panthers.
  • Lucas Oil Stadium has “tons,” of empty seats during the Indiana Colts vs Jacksonville Jaguars.

It’s really rather remarkable how SJWs just keep doubling down and keep lying, literally unable to admit the obvious even when it is right in front of their eyes. Keep this in mind whenever you are dealing with an SJW yourself and thinking “he can’t POSSIBLY be lying about something that stupidly obvious, can he?”

Yes, yes, he really can.

And if you doubt that Roger Goodell is willing to crash the league over this, read about his role model and then think again.

TIME’s profile also details Goodell’s road to the commissioner’s office. His father, Charles Goodell, was a congressman from New York, appointed to the Senate after RFK was assassinated.  As a Republican who opposed the Vietnam war, Charles Goodell fell out of favor with the party, and lost his seat in the 1970 election. This principled stand guides all of Roger Goodell’s decisions, especially the ones that fans, players, or even owners don’t embrace. “He loved being a United States Senator,” Goodell says of his father. “My personal view is, he never got over that. And that’s sad to me on a lot of levels. But he did what was right. He knew the consequences. He knew it was going to end his career. You can’t buy a lesson like that.”

He knows the consequences. He knows it could end the league. But he doesn’t care, because he believes allowing the players to protest America is the right thing to do.

So much for civic Christianity

Evangelicals are discovering that racial identity trumps religious identity:

It is critical to note that the issues for which they left the immigrant churches weren’t doctrinal or theological, but cultural.

Today, it seems like a “Reverse Exodus” is taking place for very similar reasons. Like Lecrae, people of color are finding that white evangelical churches and institutions fail to truly embrace them. After doing their best to carve out a space for themselves within white evangelicalism, give it a fair shot (or multiple shots), and even endure through the challenges for decades, there is a growing number of people of color who are seeking places where they can finally feel at home, while still yearning for the greater eternal home….

Well, the solutions are actually quite simple. This does not mean the solutions aren’t costly or difficult, but they are simple: at every layer of evangelical leadership, allow for a solid concentration of evangelicals of color to occupy culture-shaping positions of authority. Again, the problem wasn’t theology, but culture.

We need to be aware of how we bring unconscious biases to our own litmus tests of whether people of color are theologically correct enough based on their emphasis on justice issues. Often times, people of color are viewed with greater scrutiny simply because of their skin tone. We need to be concerned with the ways our political commitments co-opt our faith commitments. The fact that people equate Christians with a particular political party is problematic, especially if we consider how both parties are deeply flawed. We need to redefine our understanding of organizational fit. This means we need to reconsider what it means to be equipped. For example, is someone equipped for the pastorate if they have racist tendencies or beliefs? And who gets to decide if they do, white people or the people they disparage?

Isn’t it remarkable that the solution is always More Magic People of Color no matter whether the problem concerns football coaches, technology companies, or Christianity? I wonder what the common factor might possibly be?

SJWs Always Double Down addresses what is happening here. This is exhortation by an infiltrator, appealing to an extremely amenable authority.

Superconvergence

How converged does a commenting service have to be to refuse service to modestly controversial site anyway?

On Monday evening, I received an email from tos@disqus.com stating that they are suspending all Disqus services to Return Of Kings starting on October 20, 2017. Here is the full email:

Hi there,

We wanted to reach out to inform you that your site has been found to be in conflict with the terms of use of Disqus. Because of this, Disqus is unable to offer your site continued discussion services past the end of this week.

I replied asking what specific terms were violated but have not yet received a response. I’m guessing we were terminated because of their vague “hate speech” clause, which really means “speech our liberal employees disagree with.”

The amazing thing here is that without some disagreement, people have literally nothing to discuss. Disqus isn’t just elevating social justice above its primary purpose, it is actually eliminating its primary purpose for existing in the first place.

Another bite of the apple

SJWs are attempting to further converge the evangelical church in the name of “racial unity”:

The willingness of evangelicals of color to remain will likely change when they begin to realize that they too are the token/mascot/poster child for white evangelical churches or institutions. Unless white evangelicalism wakes up to the realities that it’s unwillingness to sufficiently change keeps it behind the culture, instead of leading prophetically with a clear vision of the Kingdom of God, the exodus will ensue.

My hope is we can work towards an equitable unity where all people mutually submit to and honor each other.

But how do we do this?

Well, the solutions are actually quite simple. This does not mean the solutions aren’t costly or difficult, but they are simple: at every layer of evangelical leadership, allow for a solid concentration of evangelicals of color to occupy culture-shaping positions of authority. Again, the problem wasn’t theology, but culture.

We need to be aware of how we bring unconscious biases to our own litmus tests of whether people of color are theologically correct enough based on their emphasis on justice issues. Often times, people of color are viewed with greater scrutiny simply because of their skin tone. We need to be concerned with the ways our political commitments co-opt our faith commitments. The fact that people equate Christians with a particular political party is problematic, especially if we consider how both parties are deeply flawed. We need to redefine our understanding of organizational fit. This means we need to reconsider what it means to be equipped. For example, is someone equipped for the pastorate if they have racist tendencies or beliefs? And who gets to decide if they do, white people or the people they disparage?

We also need to be mindful of how networks and credibility is established. Consider who is promoted within evangelicalism through publishing deals. If a Christian publisher looks through their catalogues and white people overwhelmingly occupy the authorial space, it is likely because the people they have come across were developed through their white evangelical network. Consider who speaks at conferences like The Gospel Coalition and Together for the Gospel and you’ll see how people who had local or regional platforms, now have national or international ones. Whether you are aware of it or not, we normalize whiteness in evangelicalism by having an overwhelming majority of white speakers and only one or two plenary speakers of color. Consider the ways in which people get mentored. There are tremendous barriers to mentorship felt by Christians of color who would say they hold the same faith commitments and convictions as evangelicals do, but don’t either know or have an entry point into these networks (I fortunately, had people who helped me navigate in, but I am a part of the exception, not the rule). Consider who is appointed the most senior level leadership roles and how they are found and determined upon. It cannot be true that only white people are “called” to these positions of authority and influence and people of color are not.

If white evangelicalism is serious about representing the unity Christ calls us to in this world, this means you cannot find successors who preach like you do, see the world like you do, and share the same skin tone as you. This means Thabiti Anyabwile or Bryan Lorritts (or any of the small handful of others) cannot be the only black preachers in your conferences (despite their wonderful gifts). This means that conferences need to provide substantial opportunities for Asians and Latinos and Native Americans to speak as well. This means that senior leadership at churches cannot be satisfied with a disproportionate percentage of white pastors/elders to non-white pastors/elders.

Further, we need to look deeply into the reasons why leaders of color who occupy the top spots in Christian (evangelical) organizations and churches do not last. This means we need to have the humility to listen, but not just listen, and act upon the problems we see. This also means evangelicalism needs to allow people of color to speak for themselves and on their own terms. We also need to create pipelines for evangelicals of color to grow in leadership opportunities (see what Intervarsity did with the Daniel Project) because we know that leadership matters and that leadership shapes organizations.

Is there any problem that more Magic People of Color can’t solve? It’s rather remarkable how the solution to every “problem” identified by SJWs is the same, no matter whether the institution is a technology company, a position on the football team, or the evangelical church.

How do Christians not see the evil in this? How do they not smell the sulferous stink of Babylon?

Cucktriotika

I suspect that more than a few of those who backed the Patriotika kickstarter are going to regret having done so. Apparently the gentleman responsible for it is considerably more of a cuck than he is a patriot.

However, it is very illuminating to observe that the comics industry is so converged that not only are the SJWs at Marvel and DC intent on banishing all badthink from the industry, but so are those professing to offer an alternative to them. A false alternative, as it turns out.

It should be readily apparent that Patriotika is not “A SJW’s Worst Nightmare” or “what SJW Marvel loathes”, as had been previously claimed. Is there any doubt that the part-time goddess, part-time college student would be majoring in Women’s Studies and dating a black football player by issue #3?

I wonder how these delicate cucks would have reacted to The Dukes of Hazzard? In any event, we will be more than happy to utilize more of Tim’s work, and were in fact discussing that with him even before he was informed that his work on the Alt★Hero project rendered his previous work for Mount Olympus Comics unusable.

UPDATE: It would appear that I was correct. Patriotika backers are, to put it mildly, displeased by Ron Z’s decision to sit in for Marvel in playing thought police for the comics industry. The caption accompanying the picture below: “Blacklisting is not cool. Never another dime.”

Boom!


SJWs Always Double Down is now available in audiobook. Narrated by Bob Allen, it is 6 hours and 34 minutes. Truly an astonishing performance from the Castalia House audio department; I’ve never seen an audio book completed and approved this quickly.

Convergence in a nutshell

The NFL is discovering that social justice convergence comes at a price:

“If we are disrespecting the flag, then we won’t play. Period.”

Those words from Jerry Jones on Oct. 8 were widely taken as a salvo delivered from an owner to all the players using the national anthem as a platform for protest.

But as I see it, that was no declaration of war on guys kneeling. I don’t think the Cowboys boss was even talking to players. My feeling: he was talking through the players, and hoping his message would land in living rooms from El Paso to Wichita Falls.

And to explain why, I’ll give you the three words that should serve as your guidepost in explaining almost everything NFL: Follow the money.

The Cowboys need those people in West Texas and on the Oklahoma border to watch. The NFL needs those people tune in too. And the proof came in the ratings not that you read about this week, but rather the ones that were privately presented to the owners over the league’s two-day meetings in lower Manhattan.

The focus Tuesday and Wednesday was on the players’ desire to have a stage to address social causes, and the associated protests during the anthem that resulted. But in the background loomed the reality that the discord of the past few weeks wasn’t good for anyone’s bottom line, and the ratings might just be the first proof.

“There’s no question this had an impact on the business,” said Giants owner John Mara. “But this is an important social issue. And sometimes you have to put the interests of the business behind the interest of issues that are more important than that.”

That sounds very noble. But there is ALWAYS an important social issue for which the interests of the business must be sacrificed. These owners would benefit greatly from someone in their inner circle reading SJWs Always Double Down, because they clearly do not realize that the SJWs will never be content no matter what concessions are made to them.

Mailvox: convergence in the churches

SC wonders where it starts:

In your chapter in SJWADD on the SJW convergence sequence, you talk mostly about corporations and how they can be slowly infiltrated. You do mention churches in places, particularly the saga of North Heights. I have one question about the infiltration/reinforcement stage as it applies to churches. You point to HR as the primary locus of SJW infiltration in companies. What do you think it is in a church? I would say the two best places would be children’s ministry and a deaconess ministry (if a church already has one); basically, stuff that allows someone to have behind-the-scenes or administrative influence.

The first place it starts is the Sunday Schools, because it is always hard to find the teachers and women are much more inclined to take on the role of educating children. The second place is the administrative functions, because those are not traditionally considered to be subject to the various strictures relevant to the Biblical standards. After all, the Bible may limit pastoral duties and the Elders to men, but says nothing about accountants and secretaries.

The third place is the singles ministry. Because no one, least of all good Christians, wants to blame single mothers for their poor choices, and because too many of the men who attend the singles’ groups tend to be low in socio-sexual status, there is a natural tendency to gravitate toward secular standards and feminism that provides an entry point for convergence. Be particularly wary of any pastor who moves into leadership from either the singles or women’s ministry.

It would probably be very useful to research how the women who end up in the pulpit at converged churches began their careers in the church. That would provide a sound basis for what is merely casual observation and conjecture at this point. Where, for example, did Mindy Bak first begin her career at North Heights?

For more about this, read SJWS Always Double Down.

Mailvox: another reader notes that a female family member, my sister is a “minister” in a thoroughly converged church, got her start in the women’s ministry in college.

Mailvox: successfully fighting SJWs

HS writes to tell how SJWADD helped her rout an SJW attempting to converge her neighborhood’s site:

Just wanted to send my thanks for your great primer on fighting SJWs.  Today on a social networking site used in my neighborhood I saw an attempt at an SJW convergence.  I instantly recognized the technique from reading your book about SJWs, and used the methods you described to stop it.  Of course she used the SJW argument about “civility” and “inclusion” but I was able to predict and rebut her arguments, and those of her white knight.  My instant fighting back and strong rhetoric encouraged others neighbors to attack her, and she ended up leaving the site.  I’m glad I read your book because I would probably have argued in good faith and not been aggressive, and we may have lost a great tool my neighborhood uses for security, recommendations, and finding services.  It was really amazing to watch how she argued exactly as you said she would, it was like being psychic.  Thanks for your effort in fighting these people!

This stuff actually works because it’s real and it is battle-tested. It’s not all just theory and hypotheses.