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   Tim Verstynen (tdverstynen@neuromatch.social)'s status on Saturday, 31-Aug-2024 03:15:54 JST Tim Verstynen

   No one:
   Absolutely no one:
   John McWhorter: Joy is really just coded racism

   (How this clown is considered an expert on anything is just beyond me at this point)

   • Embed this notice
     SewBlue (sewblue@sfba.social)'s status on Saturday, 31-Aug-2024 03:15:53 JST SewBlue

     in reply to

     @tdverstynen This one lost my respect for him as well.

     I loved loved his Great Courses on language - it really made me reevaluate my thoughts on language, what it does and why/how it is used in certain ways, especially to control and enforce class and power dynamics. I've listened to it a couple times, all 26 hours or so. I went through a John McWhorter period for a while, seeking out his stuff. Was super excited when he got this column.

     That did not last long. He can not be more infuriating than about politics. He is an expert in his field and is entirely overconfident outside it. He's using language to enforce the class boundaries, rather than break them.

     He is shaming people for being excited. He's calling out racism while ignoring that it's misogyny at play. People started to get excited over Hilary too, they just had to hide it. Pantsuit Nation, remember that? Now we don't have to hide it. With the adde excitement for a fresh face breaking new ground, for someone willing to fight.

     Paul Cantrell repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Tim Verstynen (tdverstynen@neuromatch.social)'s status on Saturday, 31-Aug-2024 03:15:53 JST Tim Verstynen

     in reply to

     • SewBlue

     @sewblue

     Yeah, this pattern of many academics in this heterodox space. Steve Pinker, Jonathan Haidt, and Nicholas Christakis are people who had great insights in a narrow domain who then embraced the image of a generalized genius as a brand. Incidentally they all share one thing in common. They all have the same literary agent named John Brockman. So, not to sound too like a conspiracy theorist, but my guess is that this type of pivot sells a lot of books because it fits with a cultural frame/stereotype that "elite" academics are general geniuses (instead of specialists).