Heterodox Academy: A Good Idea Gone Awry? | Nathan Cofnas

Comments · 47

• MI

  @michaels4255 · 3 years ago

  O'Sullivan's Law: "Any organization that is not explicitly right wing will eventually become left wing!"

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• JO

  @jonathan-anomaly · 3 years ago

  Excellent interview! Thanks for publishing the article and interviewing the author

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• DU

  @duncanweller1 · 3 years ago (edited)

  When I was a kid I hid my drawing talents because it made other children, just a few,  jealous. The fist instance was when I suddenly got a lot of attention in class in Grade five from the other students and from the teachers. I didn't think much of it then - it was fun. But when I got to high school I hid my abilities, except in art class, because my abilities seemed to upset some kids. In university it was very clear: I began to make some people very jealous. I was chased down by an older adult student one day who told me that I might be able to capture a likeness of someone, but I couldn't capture their soul. Anyway, things got stranger and stranger. I switched to English Lit and headed off into the real world when I lost interest in getting my Masters degree. I could make this a long story, but suffice it to say, I learned from my experiences and others that many people are utterly terrified of talented people. We're talking about Canada. It might be different in the U.S. The idea that some people might be born with a genetic propensity to be naturally good at something scares some people. I've never had that same feeling. When I meet people with natural abilities I'm always impressed. And I just assume I can learn something from them. I'm beginning to think that this woke ideology started in the arts - whenever it was in history when it was determined that anyone could be an artist, whether they were talented or not. And today, to be an artist, you certainly don't need talent. It is now a very egalitarian endeavour. Problem is, the public aren't fooled by it. They can tell when someone is talented and many do in fact support us. I have no problem selling my children's picture books because people really like them. I'm told, by parents, that books for children today are too dumb for their kids and the artwork and stories are generally terrible. Anyway, I could go on, but... you get the idea. I think the universities are suffering from Egalitarian creep and envy. Thanks for the video. Got me thinking.

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• JW

  @jwf2125 · 3 years ago

  I’d like to hear McWhorter’s  response to the claims made about him here. And I’d like to see a discussion between this guest and Haidt.

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• DA

  @danstewart2770 · 3 years ago

  Thank you Dr. Confas for an excellent discussion.

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• TH

  @theeuropeanperspective3391 · 3 years ago (edited)

  Great interview, thanks! &quot;Wokism ends when people understand the reason for racial disparities&quot;, says Cofnas. I think that more is needed. Wokism appears in many different areas, not just in the race area. It appears, for example, in sexuality, &apos;body positivity&apos;, religion, etc. These are identity categories, but arguably Wokism is also present in other areas like &apos;climate change&apos; and &nbsp;&apos;immigration&apos;. <br><br>All these have links to each other, and a person who has a particular view on any of these will probably have a predictable view on others as well. It&apos;s like a network of attitudes mutually supporting and reinforcing one another. Trying to fight Wokism by focusing only on the race issue is important but probably not enough.<br><br>Cofnas focuses on making people understand the empirical validity of the genetic basis of racial disparities. Again, this is important but probably not enough: there is also a value issue underlying Wokism with regard to race. It is the idea that races SHOULD be equal and that it is bad if they are not equal. One should ask: why is it bad if people are not equal? In fact, the example of West African sprinters, dominating Olympic games shows that most people have no problem living with this kind of inequality - even if this is caused largely by genetics. <br><br>Why is I*Q inequality different? Most educated people would nowadays reject a full-on blank slatism with regard to I*Q differences - WITHIN one race. In other words, they would accept that the I*Q bell curve of whites, blacks, etc. is at least partially caused by genetics. <br><br>What many of these same individuals would, however, reject, is the idea that the difference in the peak of the bell curves of whites and blacks might be partially caused by genetics. They desperately want this difference to be purely environmentally caused, and thus possible to be erased by some environmental measures like education, fighting &apos;racism&apos;, etc. The motivation behind this is the idea, as mentioned above, that it is not acceptable if races are &nbsp;unequal in the I*Q area. This idea of insisting on equality needs to change before Wokism can be defeated in the area of race (and presumably in other areas, too).

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• MI

  @mikegeld1280 · 12 days ago (edited)

  The older dude speaks really slow and stutters, its hard to stay with ,I hope people go back and listen to themselves speak in public, so maybe they can work on some improvements

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• TI

  @timothypye901 · 1 month ago

  Highlighting the attitudes and opinions of historical figures isn&apos;t &apos;cancelling&apos; is it?

• TI

  @timothypye901 · 1 month ago

  You lot need to read Ernst Mayr on the importance of statistics in understanding geographical populations.

• OL

  @oldspammer · 2 weeks ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTTsnozDF20&amp;t=4470">1:14:30</a> Your scheme neglects that they get our children starting in elementary school and then begins the rote memorization of what to know and how to think--the Prussian Education System criticized by John Taylor Gatto.

• HA

  @harrying882 · 3 years ago

  Only when plains start falling out of the sky, and theatre patients refusing to be operated by them will anything change.

• MI

  @MichaelConlon-j7z · 1 year ago

  As usual, I&apos;ve benefited from listing to Nathan. Also benefiting from learning about this group and site, and am now a subscriber. Good luck to you and all of us with this cause, Nathan. You and we all shall need it, as most are so mind-conditioned with this issue that most will immediately turn away and think &quot;this is racist! Ew.&quot;

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