DEI is inextricably connected with an illiberal, authoritarian cult

As Helen Pluckrose writes in her 2024 book 'The Counterweight Handbook: Principled Strategies for Surviving and Defeating Critical Social Justice-at Work, in Schools, and Beyond', the DEI regime is "Inextricably connected with an illiberal, authoritarian ideology," which has assumed a few names since the summer of 2020, among them: "Woke" and "Cancel culture." But, Pluckrose summarises, it can be more precisely referred to as "Critical social justice," which she understands as a particular "Approach to social justice activism."

What is Critical Social Justice? Two pillars of the CSJ theory readily manifest themselves to people familiar with neo-Marxism and postmodernism.

Pluckrose points out to her readers that CSJ theory interprets social justice, commonly understood as a principle advocating fairness and equality for all, in a profoundly different way - it is a "Critical approach," referring to a distinctive standpoint ingrained in identity-based power dynamics.

The buzzword "Critical," thus construed, the spirit of which is epitomised in overblown academic jargon such as "Critical learner," "Critical pedagogy," and "Critical scholarship," bears no resemblance to the commonsensical understanding of the concept of "Critical thinking" as the evaluation of truth claims on the grounds of reasoning and evidence, but refers to the scrutiny of prejudices and discriminations assumed to have woven into the social fabric, policing the use of language that perpetuated oppressive attitudes, beliefs and narratives, and ultimately dismantling the imbalanced power structures.

To quote the CSJ theorist Alison Bailey, "a critical learner is someone who is empowered and motivated to seek justice and emancipation."

It should be patently clear to even casual observers that what those CSJ assumptions and declarations constitute is a doctrine that is, in Pluckrose's apt words, "Dogmatic," "Authoritarian" and "Cynical." May I add that the CSJ dogma is also blatantly anti-intellectual and manipulative? How could it not be, when critical researchers claim that Critical Scholarship is "Not out to create truth" but "An active identification of and engagement with power," and critical pedagogy does not regard claims students make as "Propositions to be assessed for their truth value, but as expressions of power that function to re-inscribe and perpetuate social inequalities"?

The Explosion of a "Dogmatic and Authoritarian Ideological Movement" Pluckrose and her co-author James Lindsay, in their 2020 best-seller book Cynical Theories, chronicled how CSJ started as a fringe faction in academia but quickly evolved into a significant cultural force in mainstream society in 2015 and finally ignited a "Dogmatic and authoritarian ideological movement" in the late spring of 2020 against a period of lockdown, an ambience of fear over a virus and a black man's death. 

https://expose-news.com/2024/08/07/dei-is-connected-with-an-authoritarian-cult/