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Panel: Grievance Studies | Boghossian, Lindsay, Nayna, O'Fallon, Pluckrose

New Discourses

New Discourses

Education

4.82.4K Ratings

🗓️ 14 November 2024

⏱️ 54 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In October 2019, James Lindsay, Peter Boghossian, Helen Pluckrose, and filmmaker Mike Nayna gathered in London for a panel moderated by Michael O’Fallon to reflect on the infamous "Grievance Studies" project (https://grievanceproject.com/), often called "Sokal Squared." This provocative project involved writing and submitting intentionally absurd papers filled with ideological jargon to academic journals. Their aim was to demonstrate how deeply critical social justice ideologies had compromised academic rigor, making it possible for nonsensical submissions to be accepted as legitimate scholarship. During the panel, Lindsay traced the project’s origins to a simple yet unsettling question about whether fields like gender studies had become akin to a secular dogma. This led to a series of papers, including the now-notorious "dog park" paper, which absurdly linked canine behavior to human rape culture. Mike Nayna, who documented the process, admitted his initial skepticism but explained how his own research into these academic fields revealed the seriousness of the problem. The panel highlighted the broader societal implications of their work. Lindsay and his co-authors warned that when ideology replaces the pursuit of truth, it threatens not only the integrity of scholarship but the foundations of public discourse itself. For them, the "Grievance Studies" project was a stark reminder of the dangers of allowing political agendas to override intellectual honesty and critical thinking. Viewers will find this look back five years in time interesting and informative not just in the content as presented but also in how the panelists' insights have developed and matured over the intervening years. New book! The Queering of the American Child: https://queeringbook.com/ Support New Discourses: https://newdiscourses.com/support Follow New Discourses on other platforms: https://newdiscourses.com/subscribe Follow James Lindsay: https://linktr.ee/conceptualjames © 2024 New Discourses. All rights reserved. #NewDiscourses #JamesLindsay #grievance

Transcript

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0:00.0

Okay, well, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back.

0:05.0

I hope you enjoyed your lunch.

0:08.0

It's great to have you with us this afternoon.

0:10.0

We are going to explore a few things.

0:12.0

I know that many of you have heard before the story of really what is behind the current controversy

0:20.0

that's surrounding Peter Bogotian, James Lindsay,

0:23.6

Helen Pleckrose, Mike Nenya, but we've never had all of them at the same time on camera

0:29.6

to really go through the genesis of what happened with their project, which has shed a tremendous

0:36.6

amount of light

0:38.3

on some of the issues that are occurring today in academia

0:41.3

and as well in other places.

0:43.3

So what I want to do is just kind of start from the beginning

0:47.3

of Peter, James, Helen, first from you,

0:51.3

how did this all get started, what would be known as, I think we call it Sokol squared?

0:58.2

So I look at Dr. Sokol here, but we call it Sokol squared.

1:03.6

How did all of this get started and where did this lead into?

1:10.1

Can you hear me okay?

1:11.5

How close to my face do I have to put this thing?

1:13.8

Is this good?

1:14.9

More?

1:15.5

Yeah.

1:16.0

Like this?

...

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