End of the year Twitter confession: Until recently, I was a conservative. I rolled my eyes at almost all talk of ongoing oppression, systemic racism, sexism and misogyny, microagressions, and any hint that speech could = violence. I considered myself a classical liberal /1
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The right talks of "red pill moments," in which a person of the left is mugged by reality and becomes rightwing. I prefer the term "paradigm shift," which describes a fundamental change in scientific disciplines. I went through a paradigm shift starting 5 years ago. /2
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Teaching at
@WabashCollege in Indiana, I spent some time with the students and faculty of the Malcolm X Institute for Black Studies. Learning (and seeing) the experiences of these students in small-town Indiana changed me. /315 replies 271 retweets 2,403 likesShow this thread -
Coming from Canada and then Ithaca, NY, it was easy for me to overlook and ignore the oppression other groups faced (though it was still there). But in Indiana, these students were regularly pulled over by cops (I never was), tailed by staff at stores (I never was). /4
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They also faced far more blatant acts of racism, like shouts of "white power" from passing cars, etc. There is simply no denying that African Americans face this kind of thing day after day after day. That I don't is just the very tip of my white privilege. /5
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I began to see the world and myself differently. I saw that I am extraordinarily privileged, that though I do work hard I am starting way ahead of others by being white, upper-middle class, with educated parents, etc. I'm not where I am just because of what I've done. /6
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Since meeting the students of
@WabashCollege and the MXI, I simply can't be a "classical liberal" any more. There simply isn't a level playing field, not in terms of race, educational opportunities, economic resources, etc. To act like there is is cruel and self-serving. /721 replies 609 retweets 4,528 likesShow this thread -
Many things have also happened since to change my view of the world (reading Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas, for one...), but in general I now err on the side of not presuming my experience is like others' experiences. I try to default to compassion and self-awareness. /8
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To end the confession, perhaps too honestly: Only 5 years ago I might have said "all lives matter"; "not all men"; "everything is up for debate"; "I'm a free speech absolutist"; "students need to be prepared for the real world". /9
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Now I say "black lives matter"; "I believe women"; "I don't get to debate the existence of others"; "free speech absolutism benefits the already powerful"; "marginalised students have already seen more of the real world than I ever will". That's my paradigm shift. 10/10
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