Big words are scary and express ideas that are not easily understood and are not easy to be logical about. Apparently, the word neurodivergent is woke now. While the woke want to call pedophiles “minor attracted people” and conservatives are outraged by this (for all the wrong reasons). Of course, simple mathematical ideas that one would learn beyond grade school are also woke and therefore bad. The left has had similar issues with the technical names of chemical compounds such as (DiHydrogen Monoxide) and the psychological idea of Autogynephilia.  That last one I don't 100% buy myself but I would stand for the right of an academic to pursue knowledge even that which I am not a fan of. For example, I do not agree with Richard Dawkins on transgender issues, but I’d not want him to lose a job based on that. Likewise, I will take a stand for Allyn Walker Who has experienced threats of violence.

I am biased in favor of the integrity of academic freedom to research difficult topics that rouse the emotions of the masses. Astronomy and Astrophysics which deal with the origin and evolution of the universe were the original science to get such backlash. Just ask Galileo about that. Likewise, there are people on the right at this time who make their living off of precisely this hunger to be outraged.

TLDR: Certain conservative commentators have decided that big words used by academics studying human science or even physical science are "woke".  They and their supporters need to think over the goals they want for society and ask if outrage really achieves that.  Certain academics who do research in STEM or even human sciences need to steel their backbones and realize there will always be someone to whom every scientist is Frankenstein and may create a monster.   This applies even to chemistry and physics let alone psychology or sociology. 

Neurodivergent Is “Grating.”

There is a conservative impulse of the “I just found out about this, and I am outraged for some reason” variety.

 See so much of what is retweeted under this to see what I am about to give an enlightened well sourced response to. 

The word neurodiverse/ neurodivergent has been around since at least 2002. Irony is that conservatives love this concept when it is in the form of IQ and general intelligence. Concepts which they misuse and do not understand yet have strong opinions about. There cannot be diverse levels of intelligence as measured by IQ without neurodiversity. makes the hierarchy that favors the group they identify with seem naturally destined for power. That a term which encompasses a concept they love to use to argue against equity and for a form of “equality” in which they come out on top is grating proves they do not understand the concepts they are using at all.

Most of the objection conservative people seem to have with neurodivergent is the idea that people who are on the left, who are non-conformist in general, are more open about discussing this. It is in fact a result of genetic abnormalities or should we say genetic diversity.

Neurological diversity is part of the human genome. That said not everything that could be natural is good. A particularly disgusting example of something that may be natural but is wrong as it involves violating the rights of the most vulnerable among us is the following.

Allyn Walker's Research Pedophiles VS Minor Attracted People.

Those who research human populations need to gain the trust and voluntary participation of those groups. So, they have to use the words for members of those groups they use for themselves. The need to consider the human rights of even odious people is one challenge I am glad my own area of expertise does not have. This is also a misunderstood aspect of the human sciences.

 

 

I agree with 100% of Blaire White’s emotional sentiment about this. Pedophilia should not be normalized, but her logic as to what should be done here, what she is directing outrage at is all wrong and is counter to her own goals. This is not equivalent to being LGBT or autistic.

Walker made it “Extremely Clear that Child Sexual Abuse is never OK.

“I want to be clear: child sexual abuse is morally wrong and an inexcusable crime. As an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice, the goal of my research is to prevent crime.”

Prof Walker who has agreed to resign when her contract ends this academic year should stick to their guns. Nothing is yet irreversible. The goal of learning how to prevent child abuse is more important than pandering to the outrage of online mobs. People like Blaire White will always exist. They are like the inquisition that once would burn renaissance astronomers for heresy or sentence them to house arrest for life.

The goal of preventing child sexual abuse before it happens is laudable and damn anyone who thinks enough outrage after the fact somehow makes up for not learning how to identify those who will engage in it and stop them. 

Anyone who thinks they can know based on someone being GLBT or something needs to remember the Penn State Football scandal, and the sex abuse scandal in elite Gymnastics, and all of the abuse in the catholic church, and even in protestant churches....  Those were the straightest most gender normed things and that's where the abuse was going on.   The devil you are after won't have horns or rainbow glasses but be instead on a box of Wheaties. 

Mathematics and Mathematical Science

Math in the broad sense is not the strong suit of activist or political ideologues. This is true if they are left wing wokesters who think that math is inherently racist, due to it being taught as if only one or two races are good at it. This is true if it is conservatives whose arguments fail basic logic (see anything to do with counting votes if they do not win). This is true in all cases since all such ideologically driven people have a loose relationship to statistics.

Liberals will argue against an objective mathematical result based on the emotional idea that it can do harm somehow. Conservatives will argue against any math that is something they did not learn by 10th grade. You know like their big self-own with the idea that 2+2=4 in all forms of mathematics and ANY other result in ANY form of mathematics is woke and wrong. Try telling someone who spouts off about that about vector algebra, or the relativistic velocity addition where 0.9c + 0.9c does not = 1.8 c but has to be less than c the speed of light no matter what.

 

“Hurr this is complicated I don’t like it therefore it is woke Durrh.”

The feeling unschooled people of any political stripe have that they can “do the research” and know enough to discuss expert topics needs to be done away with. The related feeling of some experts caring way too much what randoms think needs to go away.

Embrace the idea that an appeal to the neocortex will never make one as popular as an appeal to the limbic system. Art class in which there are no wrong answers just feelings will always be more fun than mathematical science class where there are exacting answers.  In fact if you are like Allyn Walker and you read this loose some of the sensitivity and be more like the following three people when it comes to standing up for your research program.  Sabine Hossenfelder above is a great example. 

Professor Dave going hard after flat earthers. 

Thunderf00t who goes really hard against well funded and popular ideas of the rich and powerful. 

Last but not least this young woman goes hard after creationist and creationism. 

TLDR: Certain conservative commentators have decided that big words used by academics studying human science or even physical science are "woke".  They and their supporters need to think over the goals they want for society and ask if outrage really achieves that.  Certain academics who do research in STEM or even human sciences need to steel their backbones and realize there will always be someone to whom every scientist is Frankenstein and may create a monster.   This applies even to chemistry and physics let alone psychology or sociology. 

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