Books - Pope Francis, Wokeism, Scotch Eggs, Eton Mess, Marketing Nonsense,

 Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future - Pope Francis

Dreams
William Strang (1859-1921)
Photo Credit: Museums and Galleries Edinburgh [CC BY-NC-Nd]

... "This is a moment to dream big... to rethink our priorities - what we value, what we want, what we seek - and commit to act in our daily life of what we have dreamed of."

The Covid crisis, argues the pope, has given the lie to a "myth of self-sufficiency" that sanctions rampant inequalities and frays the ties that bind societies together. Pitilessly, the virus has demonstrated our mutual dependency and common vulnerability. We have collectively relied on the state as never before.

The doorstep applause for the nurses and doctors risking their lives and the key workers who kept essential services going, was a collective lightbulb moment. "They are the saints next door, who have awoken something important in our hearts... the antibodies to the virus of indifference. They remind us that our lives are a gift and we grow by giving of ourselves: not preserving ourselves, but losing ourselves in service. What a sign of contradiction to the individualism and self-obsession and lack of solidarity that so dominate our wealthier societies"... 

If we are truly to emerge from the ordeal of Covid less selfish than we went in, he writes, "we have to let ourselves be touched by others' pain"...

Let Us Dream thus joins a growing body of Covid-era literature calling for a communitarian reset of liberal values and institutions. In recent months, The Tyranny of Merit by Michael Sandel, The Upswing by Robert Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett, and Morality by the late Jonathan Sacks have all traversed similar territory...

(Julian Coman, The Observer, 2020)

(See Michael Sandel, Nov 13)

Wokeism

The First Madness of Ophelia
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)
Photo Credit: Gallery Oldham  [CC BY-NC-ND]

...Cambridge University is proposing a change in statutes that would require staff to display respect for the views of all colleagues - inter alia misogynists, fascists, Islamists, homophobes, flat Earthers, climate change deniers, racists and antisemites...

The defenestration of the veteran Guardian columnist Suzanne Moore marks the latest surrender. A letter signed by 338 colleagues declared the paper's offices no longer a safe place for trans people, after Moore wrote a column reminding readers that trans women are trans women and not women... in an impassioned online essay the writer accused her former employers of "cowardice" and being swept along in "witch-burning"...

Instead of defending progressive diversity our elites are becoming the enthusiastic enforcers of a Stalinist conformity...

Most wokery rests on unsubstantiated fears of "offence"...

In an ironic reversal, the authorities at Eton College are being taken to task by their own pupils. Hundreds have signed a petition contesting what they say is a ruling by the head master that "anything that can be deemed 'hostile' by any single member of one of the school's designated minority groups will be censored". They make a cast-iron case for the principles of natural justice. I agree; even the most militant feminist or anti-racist should balk at trial by jury of one. It is bizarre to find the most entitled "kids" in our nation admonishing the adults for losing the plot but increasingly, the tide is turning...

They (the woke) demand obedience from the unorthodox and silence from the insubordinate. Fear of being denounced as sexist, racist, Islamophobic or transphobic is destroying freedoms so many have worked so long and hard to achieve.

I find it hard to blame the millennials for falling for the nonsense of wokery. They are too young to recall the stifling white, middle-class, patriarchal orthodoxy that Britain began to leave behind half a century ago. But there is no excuse for the grown-ups in the room to capitulate to what they must know is the return of grey, repressive, mindless conformity.

(Trevor Philips, The Times, 2020)

*Cambridge University has been forced to drop rules requiring students, lecturers and visitors to "respect" opposing views after overwhelming opposition from academics.

In a vote crucial to the free-speech issue and watched closely by other universities, dons successfully challenged a "vague and authoritarian" policy they feared would stifle debate and threaten staff with disciplinary action.

The amended version will also make it almost impossible to "no-platform" speakers by cancelling their invitation...

Arif Ahmed, a senior philosophy lecturer, put forward the amendments that replaced the word "respectful" with "tolerant" and made it harder to disinvite speakers. Supporters said that being "respectful" to people such as antivaxers raised a risk of not being able to publicly criticise them...

Stephen Fry, a Cambridge alumnus, had backed the campaign, saying:

"Even if someone were to pull out a gun, point it at my head and demand respect for their opinion, I could not, with any honesty offer it. Fear and dread would certainly elicit a trembling acquiescence - but real respect? That cannot be supplied to order."

(Nicola Woodcock, The Times) 

(See Wokeism, Jan 5, 2021)

Scotch Eggs

And speaking of scotch eggs, the novelist Ian Rankin offers us his detective Inspector Rebus's patented recipe for the delicacy: "1) Put eggs on to boil. 2) Pour a Scotch while you wait. 3) Keep drinking. 4) Throw away the eggs."

(TMS, The Times, 2020)

Eton Mess

Britain's most famous school has dismissed a teacher for uploading a lecture containing " dangerous ideas" to the internet. Will Knowland, who has taught at Eton for almost a decade, had intended to deliver his lecture to older students as part of a series encouraging critical thinking. Instead, Eton's headmaster, Simon Henderson, forbade him from giving it, saying the boys should not be exposed to its content. When Knowland posted it online, he was sacked for gross misconduct, losing both his tied home and job.

Milton Visiting Galileo when a Prisoner of the Inquisition
Solomon Alexander Hart (1806-1881)
Photo Credit: Wellcome Collection [Public Domain]

What thesis could be so inflammatory that Eton could not contemplate its pupils hearing it? A defence of fascism, or paedophilia, of public executions? None of the above. Knowland's lecture was a defence of the patriarchy and a criticism of radical feminist thought.

This is far more than a spat within a school. It is an ominous indication of how frightened our society is becoming of free discussion. Some ideas are now defined as beyond questioning. As a journalist and  feminist, I could not be more dismayed by Eton's fear of letting boys hear a counterargument...

It  (Eton) boasts a "longstanding commitment" to independent thought and creative thinking. But here it is betraying that fundamental role by sacking a master attempting to do just that. The chilling effect goes far beyond a particular issue. It tells the school, and the rest of us, that some controversies are too incendiary to be discussed...

The right to think must be defended, regardless of whether one agrees with a particular view...

Eton is on the wrong side here, not of history, which is moving against tolerance and open debate fast, but of everything it and our liberal society is based on: fearless intellectual exploration, challenging discussions, and the acceptance that even well-educated people will and should arrive at a variety of conclusions about how society ought to be ordered...

(Jenni Russell, The Times, 2020)

*An Eton master has claimed that staff members with "unorthodox views" fear that they could be next in the firing line after an English teacher was sacked over a video on patriarchy.

Luke Martin, who preaches in chapel, wrote to Dr Andrew Gailey, the school's vice-provost, claiming that it was coming close to "indoctrinating" pupils with a "Progressive world view" akin to religious fundamentalism...

Dr Martin said that Mr Knowland, whose YouTube channel is called Knowland Knows, had offered a perspective on masculinity in the video.

"I don't agree with all the views expressed, but then why should I? The point of perspectives is that boys are exposed to various perspectives, some of which they will disagree with."

(Fariha Karim, The Times, 2020)

The critical commentator came into being as a consequence of a series of lectures given on "The Critical Spirit many years ago. In them, the teacher argued that ideas should be questioned, debated and examined. The notion that any ideology - political, economic, religious or social - had a monopoly on truth should be looked at critically. Free and open discussion, independent thinking, the embracing of counter arguments and respecting other people's views were all to be seen as part and parcel of the process of education.

If one disagreed with what someone said was fine as long as the person in question had the freedom to express a viewpoint. 

*Sir, Eton pupils report that the stated position of their head master is that "anything that can be deemed hostile...by any...member of...the school's designated minority groups will be censored".

Since any expression of scepticism or criticism could be "deemed hostile", such a subjective rule will make open dissent on matters of gender, race, or colonialism (however honest and reasonable) too dangerous to risk.

The authorities at Eton - or Cambridge - cannot unburden themselves of the responsibility for distinguishing objectively between malicious abuse and disturbing criticism, if the freedom to question prevalent orthodoxies is to survive. 

(Nigel Biggar, Professor of moral and pastoral theology, University of Oxford, The Times, 2020)

Having read Kate Maltby I am much less sympathetic towards Will Knowland than I was before. However, the point at issue is not what he believes, but whether he has the right to put his views forward.

Surely the appropriate response is to explain to the Eton boys why he is wrong, not to run crying to the headmaster, and get his views suppressed, and him sacked.

(John Duffield, Loughton, Essex, The i, 2020)

Marketing Nonsense

We are excited to announce an evolution of the company's global marketing strategy: humaning. Humaning is a unique, consumer-centric approach to marketing that creates real, human connection with purpose...Humaning is a natural fit for a company that creates the snacks that form the basis for connections with people all over the world...Humaning is when storytelling becomes storydoing.

(Press release from Mondelez, makers of Ritz biscuits, Toblerone etc, Private Eye, No 1536)