‘Idea Laundering’ in Academia: nonsensical jargon like ‘intersectionality’ and ‘cisgender’

Wall Street Journal ^ | November 24, 2019 | Peter Boghossian

[karpov]

You’ve almost certainly heard some of the following terms: cisgender, fat shaming, heteronormativity, intersectionality, patriarchy, rape culture and whiteness.

The reason you’ve heard them is that politically engaged academicians have been developing concepts like these for more than 30 years, and all that time they’ve been percolating. Only recently have they begun to emerge in mainstream culture. These academicians accomplish this by passing off their ideas as knowledge; that is, as if these terms describe facts about the world and social reality. And while some of these ideas may contain bits of truth, they aren’t scientific. By and large, they’re the musings of ideologues.

How did this happen? How have those working in what’s come to be called “grievance studies” managed to extend their ideas far beyond the academy, while convincing people that their jargon adds something meaningful to public discourse? Biologist Bret Weinstein, who was run out of Evergreen State College by a leftist mob in 2017, calls the process “idea laundering.”

It’s analogous to money laundering. Here’s how it works: First, various academics have strong moral impulses about something. For example, they perceive negative attitudes about obesity in society, and they want to stop people from making the obese feel bad about their condition. In other words, they convince themselves that the clinical concept of obesity (a medical term) is merely a story we tell ourselves about fat (a descriptive term); it’s not true or false—in this particular case, it’s a story that exists within a social power dynamic that unjustly ascribes authority to medical knowledge.

[karpov]

Boghossian is a philosophy professor at Portland State who has coauthored "How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide" (2019).

[FreedomPoster]

Just bought the book.

[Buttons12]

I’ve watched some vids of libertarian Kaitlyn Bennett interviewing college students. The mindless regurgitation of propaganda has to be witnessed, to be believed. These people are not getting their scripts from their parents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abHDtSz9Dog

[Buttons12]

Peter Boghossian is an atheist who thinks religious people are delusional.
I have impossible conversations with indoctrinated fools every day, so I will have to read his book, in case there’s some useful technique in there. :(

[Dilbert San Diego]

I’ve heard how I’m “cisgender”, and this has colored my view of the world. Apparently being “cisgender” can cause one to be “homophobic” and bigoted against the “transgendered” or “LGBT” peoples, whatever flavor any given “LGBT” person favors.

I need to go to re-education camp, because I have no clue about what the 50+ gender identities are nowadays. I know about men and women, and “gay”, but I’ve only scratched the surface with such descriptions, so off to the camp I will go someday.

[null and void]

Even though washing brains has fallen out of favor, you can always launder the ideas going into the brains.

[Skooz]

bfl

[I want the USA back]

PAYWALL!

[GreenLanternCorps]

You need a Dad who lets you use his password to his WSJ account... :)

[Don Corleone]

University course descriptions are loaded with linguistic gobbledygook . They love to write like that because it makes them think they are sophisticated and smarter than the commoners that pony up big bucks to hear them bloviate.

[chajin]

Peter Boghossian is an atheist who thinks religious people are delusional.

So was C. S. Lewis.

An honest atheist can be converted, and Boghossian seems to be an honest atheist. Most who call themselves atheists are in reality, to use the kind of language Dr. B is writing about, theophobic.

Correct use of language leads to successful critical thinking, and successful critical thinking leads to reasonable discussions. Critical thinking is the opposite of what is being taught in most university courses, which is why reasonable discussions have been replaced with fascist indoctrination diatribes.

[Sergio]

bkmk

[LibsRJerks]

I’m in a psychiatric program now and it’s murder with all of this stuff. I dare not admit I think it’s a bunch of horseshit or I’ll be ostracized, or perhaps even dumped out of the program.

It’s truly made me wonder if I’m just gonna bow out and take my leave out of healthcare altogether. Not gonna get sued because I don’t refer some kid for hormone therapy.