Article The western world is besieged by criticisms - academics must be free to investigate

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The western world is besieged by criticisms - academics must be free to investigate - C C - Jul 21, 2023

https://www.irishtimes.com/science/2023/07/20/the-western-world-is-besieged-by-criticisms-academics-must-be-free-to-investigate/

INTRO (William Reville): We live in strange times. A host of highly contestable concepts and practices very critical of western world standards and based on gender theory, identity politics, political correctness and so on are being introduced into our institutions with little prior scrutiny or debate.

These concepts/practices are all amenable to professional investigation by the appropriate academic disciplines – indeed, I can think of no other way they could be adjudicated. One would therefore expect the higher academies to be working overtime examining and adjudicating these matters.

But the reality is that those sectors of the academy not busily promoting these highly contestable concepts are sitting silent, transfixed like rabbits in the glare of a blazing headlamp while pillars of the academy, such as academic freedom, teeter and wobble around them under the new pressures.

The current criticisms gain traction with the assistance of powerful new pressures, principally “wokeism” and cancel culture. Woke is an adjective derived from African-American vernacular meaning “alert to racial prejudice and discrimination”, eg sexism and “white privilege”. Cancel culture means ostracising/banning those deemed to act or speak in an unacceptable manner – usually conservatives who criticise the new order... (MORE - details)
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COMMENT: A problem, however, is that scholars themselves originally invented these unvetted "concepts and practices" now circulating in the public. Which have become popular at the administrative levels of research and education institutions, in terms of guiding policy. Capped in this era by the trend of academics themselves becoming activists -- including scientists. Thus, it's a potentially compromised situation of some of those who are qualified to critique or test _X_ being those who have facilitated those very special interests (i.e., biased evaluation, motivated reasoning, etc).

Science activism is surging – which marks a culture shift among scientists: "Science activism has long been considered taboo, as many in the field fear that politicizing science undermines its objectivity. Even so, scientist-activists have still managed to shape the U.S. political landscape throughout history [...] Two lessons emerge from our research thus far. First, our findings indicate that science activism may be gaining legitimacy within the scientific community. [...] As this newer generation of science activists moves into the profession, they will continue to shift the cultural norms of science."

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